Festival All Stars – 2 sets – 4 to ? pieces – with Buffalo’s Jon Seiger as leader-trumpet-piano-vocalist-mc, Albie Bernard-sousaphone (we could actually see his face!) Bob Bequilard-drums and Jeff Barnhard-piano… and any other pro that wanted to sit in. It was two rolicking, hot, hard driving, fun loving sets with talent dripping from the stage. “The quartet of four that drew in more!” Two of the best all star sets I’ve ever seen. Lauren Humpage
The All Stars are just that – Stars in their own right, and Jon Seiger was a shrewd choice to lead them. He is known all over the world and even has his own All Star Band. A charming entertainer and unique performer, he loves preserving the legacy of Louis – sounding unbelievably like Louis whether he’s playing trumpet or singing.
In this set, they recruited a few younger musicians who are well on their way to becoming All Stars. They opened with Indiana. Shake That Thing, Georgia. The crowd joined in with Jon leading the Hi De Ho on Cab Calloway’s Minnie The Moocher. Jon and Ray Skalski challened each other over who was the best ‘Louis’ on Armstrong’s Old Rocking Chair’s Got Me.
Darktown Strutters’ Ball Jon quoting snippets of Ipanema, and A Train, featuring Ben’s fabulous trombone trading twos with each instrument.
Ben Griffin puts heart and soul into his playing, energizes the band. He’s been playing all over Connecticut and environs since leaving the Coast Guard Band a couple of years ago.
Basin St. revealed his lightening dexterity on trombone!
A quiet, 21-year-old unassuming young man, Frank LiVorsi has a fondness for Ragtime, a knack for picking up tunes from the old masters by ear. He’s played at West Coast Ragtime Festival, Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival, Sacramento Jazz Festival, and many others.
He slipped into fine stride piano for Sweet Georgia Brown, and took the intro for The All Stars on a blistering King Porter Stomp. This is Frank’s version on YouTube. Frank is enrolled at URI in Mechanical Engineering. We may have him around for a few more years!
Ben Griffin and Ray Skalski played scorching duet on trombone.
The All Stars covered other genres of music, moving into Rock and Roll with Rocking Is My Business, with Jeff Barnhart playing some mean boogie woogie, and everyone in the band started dancing out of Jon’s control!
except for New York’s Alex Owen. Another promising young trumpet player, he not only played with a crystal clear tone, he maintained his composure when everyone else was goofing off!
Bob Bequillard kept this unruly troupe on time, with the help of Albie Bernard on tuba. Great tuba solo on Darktown Strutters’ Ball.
Jon Seiger finally coerced them back into some kind of sanity with Show Us The Way To Go Home.
In spite of all the tomfoolery, and maybe because of it, these All Stars consistently play exciting, outstanding jazz!