10A • February 13, 2015 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com
Seaside Jazz
Festival just
can’t be beat
Dance till you drop
By Andrew R. Tonry
for EO Media Group
The Seaside Jazz Festi-
val is becoming one of the
longer-running events in the
city’s history.
Originally dubbed the Or-
egon Dixieland Jubilee, it’s
32 years old and draws nearly
2,000 attendees each Febru-
ary.
Most of those — about 98
percent — are from outside
the North Coast, and at least
80 percent are repeat custom-
ers, say the festival’s coor-
dinators, Ruth Johnson and
Judy Shook.
“There’s quite a friend-
ly group that just meet up at
jazz festivals and share what’s
happened to them in the last
year,” Johnson said.
A sense of return and re-
union permeates performers
this year as well. Of the 12
groups scheduled for this
year’s festival Feb. 19 through
22, 11 have played the festival
in years past.
The lone newcomer to the
Seaside Jazz Festival is Port-
land’s Mardi Gras All-Star
Band, which is also the only
act from the region (with the
exception of the Seaside High
School jazz band).
Led by drummer and vo-
calist Gary Smith, the Mardi
Gras All-Stars play tradition-
al Dixieland jazz. Another
scheduled group, High Sierra,
performs a similar brand.
“They’re traditional jazz,”
said Johnson of High Sierra.
“They play a lot of the Dixie-
land-style music, and they’re
very good at it. Most of the
traditional bands have seven
members. They have piano,
banjo, tuba, a reed-man, trum-
pet, trombone and drums.”
So, too, are acts at the
Seaside Jazz Festival whose
inspiration comes from out-
side the traditional sphere
of early jazz (although only
by a few decades — nothing
here is sourced from the 21st
century).
“Tom Ridney does some
blues,” said Johnson. “His
band will also play a waltz. He
does Cajun, zydeco. He plays
an electric ¿ ddle. His band is
Th ose attending the Seaside Jazz Festival in 2014 dressed up in their jazziest outfi ts and
danced the days — and nights — away.
ABOVE: Dave Bennett, of
Dave Bennett and the Mem-
phis Boys, will be back again
at this year’s festival Feb.
19 through 22. LEFT: Th e
Memphis Boys, of the band
Dave Bennett and the Mem-
phis Boys, now called Dave
Bennett and the Memphis
Speed Kings, will kick off
the festival at a special event
at the Elks Lodge Feb. 19.
only ¿ ve members. There’s
guitar, bass and a piano player
— and she’s a boogie-woogie
champion on the piano.”
Johnson highlighted Dave
Bennett and the Memphis
Speed Kings as another group
performing outside the pur-
view of traditional jazz.
“Dave Bennett is just an
awesome young man,” John-
son said. “I’ve seen him play-
ing in jazz bands since he was
about 13 years old. He played
the clarinet.”
“But he not only plays the
clarinet,” added Johnson. “He
reinvented himself as an old-
time fan of Jerry Lee Lewis.
So when he’s playing with the
Memphis Speed Kings, they
do Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny
Photos by
Nancy McCarthy
Cash, Elvis Presley. And he
plays the piano like Jerry Lee
Lewis. It’s rock and roll!”
Bennett and the Mem-
phis Speed Kings kick off the
weekend with a special event
Thursday evening at the Elks
Lodge.
The festival begins in ear-
nest Friday, with concerts
scheduled concurrently on ¿ ve
stages — three at the Seaside
Civic and Convention Center,
plus the Shilo Inn Oceanfront
and the Elks Lodge.
All but one of the venues
will be prepared speci¿ cally
with dancers in mind.
“Four of our ¿ ve venues
have dance À oors, and we
bring in wooden À oors,” said
Johnson. “We don’t ask peo-
ple to dance on concrete all
weekend.”
“There are young people,
and they just dance all day
long,” added Shook. “Some of
them have a favorite band they
follow from place to place.”
Aside from bands simply
performing their regular ma-
terial, a few special sets are
planned.
“Saturday, we have three
bass saxes playing at the same
time,” said Johnson. “That
is an awesome sound. If you
know what a bass sax looks
like or sounds like, you really
should show up for that set.
That’s my favorite set.”
Winners
abound on
game night
Uptown Lowdown will
be playing, she added. “They
have two band members who
play the bass sax, and Peter
Meyers will join them; he’s the
reed player for High Sierra.”
Saturday is the big day,
packed across the board, with
45 shows spread across ¿ ve
venues from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
The festival’s closing show,
at 3 p.m. Sunday, will present
a smorgasbord of short perfor-
mances.
“We will bring a band on
that will play two or three
songs, and then they’ll rotate
off and another band rotates
on,” said Johnson. “We will
rotate about ¿ ve bands through
just as a way of saying ‘good-
bye and see you next year!’”
The Seaside High School
jazz band will also play in the
“closing” this year.
“It gives them an oppor-
tunity to play in the big room
at the convention center,” said
Johnson. “So that’ll be kind of
fun.”
Indeed, Johnson and
Shook — along with the rest
of the many volunteers that
comprise the Lighthouse Jazz
Society — enjoy spotlighting
Seaside, whether it be by host-
ing old friends, welcoming the
high school band or boosting
tourism during the wet winter
months.
“The reason why I do this
is because I think it’s a great
event for Seaside,” Johnson
said. “I just like to see peo-
ple having a good time. And
when I go to other jazz festi-
vals and I say that I’m from
Seaside it’s just nice to hear,
‘Seaside! That’s our favorite
festival!’ That’s why I keep
doing it. I like to see people
having a good time, and I like
to make people happy.”
Fundraiser
for Children’s
Center needs
volunteers
Bring some good luck
and good cheer to the Can-
non Beach American Le-
gion Hall for the eighth an-
nual Casino Game Night, a
fundraiser for the Cannon
Beach Preschool and Chil-
dren’s Center.
From 7 to 10 p.m. Feb.
28, the legion building,
1216 S. Hemlock St., will
be transformed into a scene
from a Reno or Vegas casi-
no, with craps, blackjack
and roulette offered, said
Barb Knop, the center’s
board president.
Scrip will be available
for purchase at the door;
no minimum will be re-
quired. Players could win
merchandise from local
businesses and gift certi¿ -
cates from local stores and
restaurants.
No skill is necessary;
the dealers (center staff,
board members and vol-
unteers) will help play-
ers learn the rules of the
games, she said.
Historically, the fund-
raiser has brought in an av-
erage of $2,100 every year,
according to Knop.
The equipment is do-
nated by the Seaside and
Gearhart ¿ re departments
and local candy-maker
Brian Taylor and his fam-
ily, she said.
Community members
who want to volunteer that
evening can contact An-
nette Campbell, the cen-
ter’s director, at 503-436-
1040.
“We particularly need
volunteers who would like
to be blackjack dealers,”
Knop said.
“It’s going to be a fun
night,” said Christy Bisp-
ing, the center’s develop-
ment director. “It de¿ nitely
bene¿ ts our center, and we
rely very heavily on all the
money that we bring in.”
If you go
WHAT: Seaside Jazz
Festival
WHEN: Feb. 19–22
WHERE: Seaside Civic
and Convention Center,
Shilo Inn Oceanfront,
Elks Lodge (shuttle bus
provided)
COST: $10 to $95
FOR INFORMATION:
1-866-345-6257; www.
jazzseaside.com
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