HARVEY SIDERS: BIG BAND ACTION TONIGHT AT JAZZBONES >>>
There was a time when 15 pieces meant "big band," but as with the dinosaur, the care and feeding and especially the booking of such monstrous musical entities proved unwieldy. Eventually their sheer size- four trumpets, three trombones, four saxes plus rhythm- led to the virtual extinction of the swing species. And don't forget cultural evolution, personal tastes and the economy, stupid. While dinosaurs really went south, there are stubborn bandleaders who never got the memo, Rich Wetzel being one of them. Either that, or he's just plain ornery. Let's call it the latter, and spell it hornery.
Whatever you call him, Wetzel and his trumpet and brass-plated Groovin' Higher Jazz Orchestra will be reverberating throughout both levels of Jazzbones tonight in what he labels "keeping the holiday going." What keeps Wetzel going these days is the realization that "the band is finally playing three full sets on a Saturday night," as opposed to opening for a blues or rock show, or being relegated to some off-night. So we hope to draw a big crowd to prove to (Jazzbones) we can do it says Wetzel.
He'll do it; he always does. Rich is dedicated to resuscitating the big-band era in general while focusing on the legacy of Stan Kenton and Maynard Ferguson in particular. In addition to the usual big Groovin' Higher excitement, at Jazzbones Saturday Wetzel will be presenting the big band debut of singer Mitch Reems he of the Blues Brothers. (Steve Stefanowicz had a long-standing commitment for Dec. 27.)
Talk about commitment. Wetzel, poster boy for Bach Stradivarius Trumpets as a recording artist/clinician, recently became Northwest regional sales manager for Conn/Selmer Instruments (Bach's parent company) covering eight states and combining sales with college and high school clinics. He found outstanding trumpeters in unexpected places, -like a jazz festival near Wasilla, Alaska. When he got back to Tacoma, Wetzel told everyone, "I went moose hunting with Sara Palin."
He'll be serious Saturday night, devoting the first set to Christmas tunes he played at his recent all-Christmas concert, then concentrating Ã"on my big-band book for the second and third sets, letting my guys stretch out. Got a new lead trumpeter, Jeff Smith, from Olympia" very exciting; tenor player Dan Wager will be back with the band; trumpeter Tracy Hooker will do "Children of Sanchez" and there's a new conga player.
Like Rich needs more energy in his kinetic rhythm section.
[Jazzbones, Saturday, Dec. 27, 8:30 p.m., $10, 2803 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.396.9196]