Classic Jazz Stompers CD review:
Rough Winds and Darling Buds

Dave Greer and his band of traveling minstrels have a new recording. The title comes from Shakespeare’s Sonnet #XVIII: Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, and summer’s lease hath all too short a date.

The CD leads off with Jelly Roll Morton’s “Sidewalk Blues.” On the original, there was a car horn sound and Morton said, “Hey, what’re you trying to do, run the streetcars off the tracks? Why, you’re so dumb you ought to be president of the deaf-and-dumb society.” To which one of the band members would reply,” I’m sorry, boss. I got the sidewalk blues.” Greer has modified it to, “Why, if you don’t get out of the way, these rough winds are gonna be shakin’ your darling buds.” Drummer Jim Leslie replies, “I’m sorry, boss, but I don’t even know what that means.”
Many people think of the Stompers as “just another Dixieland band.” Not true. “Classic jazz” means just that. They play several tunes by Morton (the self-described “inventor of jazz”), King Oliver and Luis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, and early Duke Ellington. They also do many pop songs from the 1920s and 1930s. And they do have some Dixieland standards in their book.

Their new CD shows off their range. The band has some of the best local purveyors of early jazz in the area. Chris Moore can play King Oliver on his cornet, switch to Bix and then give a stirring rendition of Ellington stalwart Bubber Miley. Erik Greiffenhagen plays clarinet and all the saxophones, including baritone. Greg Dearth is proficient with strings and reeds, playing violin, banjo, guitar, alto saxophone, clarinet and bass clarinet. Gordon Moore, like Chris Moore (no relation), sticks to one instrument, the trombone, and can go from tailgate style to Sammy Kaye.
In the rhythm section, Ted Des Plantes is probably the best barrelhouse and boogie-woogie pianist around. In that tradition, bass is alternated between Jack Butler on brass (tuba) and John McQueen on strings. The youngest member of the group is drummer Jim Leslie, who moves easily between Big Band, Greek, theatrical, and modern or classic jazz. That leaves the leader, Dave Greer, who plays banjo and guitar while singing in a self-described whiskey baritone.

After “Sidewalk Blues,” which includes a nice muted, trombone solo by Gordon Moore and a clarinet duet by Greiffenhagen and Dearth, the recording goes into “I’m Confessin,’” which features a vocal by guest Barbara Rosene. Greiffenhagen does a nice clarinet obbligato in the chalimeau register. Then, it’s back to Morton with “The Chant.” The band really seems to have fun with Morton’s tunes. Every CJO recording includes an Ellington tune, and this one has “East St. Louis Toodle-oo” (or “East St. Louis Toddle-o,” as it was originally called). Chris Moore recalls the great Bubber Miley on this one.

The standard “Avalon,” named after the famous California ballroom, is next, followed by the great Beiderbeck and Frankie Trumbauer tune, “Singin’ the Blues.” Dearth’s alto sings like Trumbauer’s C-melody, Chris Moore evokes Bix and Butler plays tuba. “Tia Juana” is another Bix song and features a drum solo by Leslie. DesPlantes gets to sing one of his racy numbers on “Four or Five Times,” originally done by Jimmy Noone at the Apex Club in Chicago.

“Wa Wa Wa” is a Joe “King” Oliver number that features a clarinet duet with Dearth and Greiffenhagen circling each other. For the band’s answer to Russ Columbo, Jim Leslie sings “Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams,” and then the group swings into a free-for-all on “High Society.”
Greer finally gets to sing one on the old blues tune, “Trouble In Mind.” There’s some great bass clarinet work by Dearth, and Gordon Moore chips in with a trombone solo.

Barbara Rosene comes back with a vocal on Fats Waller and Andy Razaf’s “Concentratin’ On You” and Greg Dearth shows he can vocalize as well on the obscure, “That’s You, Baby.” He also plays alto and Greiffenhagen does nicely on baritone sax.

“Diga Diga Doo” closes out the record with Jim Leslie sounding a lot like Ray Bauduc on a solo that starts on cymbals, then moves to wood block and drums.

The Classic Jazz Stompers play Wednesday nights at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, 33 E. Fifth St., and they (and the audience) have a lot of fun. If you’re interested, you might talk them into selling you a copy of Rough Winds And Darling Buds, or one of their other CDs. For more information, call (937) 224-0800.

— Don Henke