ATJS All Stars Show Review
June 20, 2010
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This year's ATJS All Stars gave us the best All Star concert in recent years. This was due in most part to the addition of Erik Hokkanen on guitar. He is an absolute Austin treasure, not that the rest of the group was far behind. The front line consisted of Pierre Poree on reeds, Larmon Maddox on cornet and Dave Stoddard on valve trombone. The rhythm section had Mark Hess on piano, Tim Paco on bass, Budge Mabry on drums along with the aforementioned Mr. Hokkanen on guitar.
The New Orleans standard "Royal Garden Blues" led off the concert with great solos all around. Especially notable was the guitar solo by Erik Hokkanen. "Melancholy Baby" was next followed by "Sunny Side of the Street" featuring Pierre Poree's singing and clarinet. "Somebody Stole my Gal," played faster than is normal for this tune, featured a strong bass solo from Tim Paco. Dave Stoddard sang "Sweet Sue" and the first set closed with a wild version of "After You've Gone" with strong solos from everyone. It was a wonderful set closer.
The second set opened with another N. O.. classic "Clarinet Marmalade." This tune had great solos by the band with Budge Mabry taking the spotlight with his drum solo. "Mama's Gone Goodbye" featured Pierre Poree on sax. At this point, David Jellema joined the All Stars giving them a two-cornet front line. "Canal Street Blues" featured fine solos by David Jellema and Erik Hokkanen. Two pop tunes were next on the agenda: "Lulu's Back in Town" and "I'm Confessin" with fine solos by all. "Beale Street Blues," with fine ensemble playing and solos, brought the second set to a close.
The Original Dixieland Jazz Band's "Fidgety Feet" started the third set. The band offered fine soloing and ensemble playing on this very fast tune. "Dallas Blues" and "South" were the next two tunes. Again, fine solos were played by all. "Poor Butterfly" featured Pierre Poree on sax with Tim Paco bowing his bass.. David Jellema again joined the band for a fine version of "Blue Turning Gray over You" featuring a vocal by Pierre Poree. The concert closer was "Bourbon Street Parade" with great soloing and ensemble playing. One of the features was a collective chorus played by just the front line. This tactic can bog down in the wrong hands, but the All-Stars made it fly.
It is not often that one hears such fine ensemble playing from a band put together on a moment's notice, but that is what we got. Kudos to Dave Stoddard for putting such a fine band together. Let's see if he can top it next year.
Ron Snell