HOT SPRINGS — “There is no rock, no blues. Just jazz, true to the tradition of the music from Dixieland, big bands and fusion. Most of the big festivals don’t do that,” said Gretchen Taylor, executive director of the Hot Springs Jazz Society.
The group of the city’s jazz enthusiasts, with more than 300 members, has for 20 years attracted jazz musicians from across the country to perform in the Hot Springs Jazz Festival. The 23rd edition of the annual festival will open Tuesday evening at the Arlington Resort and Hotel & Spa on Central Avenue.
“It’s going to be great,” Taylor said last week as the final arrangements were being made for the ninth festival since she joined the jazz society in the Spa City. “Work goes on year-round putting the festival together. Clyde Pound (music director of the festival) is always working on new ideas to make the festival bigger and better. He also seems to know and can find so many special musicians to make each festival special.”
“I like the idea that we are perpetuating jazz for those who love it, and I enjoy seeing the festival opening greater awareness to those who don’t know about it,” Pound said in an earlier interview with the Tri-Lakes Edition. He has had a long career as a pianist and performance manager working with some of the world’s top performers.
Opening night of the festival features Guitar-rama, six Arkansas guitarists, each performing their own music styles, with a twist of jazz thrown in for good measure. The featured musicians are Michael Carenbauer, Bill Huntington, Ted Ludwig, Ed Smith, Les Pack and Larry Womack. Accompanying them will be Joe Vick on bass and Brian Brown on drums. The master of ceremonies of the show will be Shirley Chauvin — a local jazz figure and a past president and founding member of the society — who will be featured throughout the festival.
“This opening concert will be different than past years,” Taylor said. “We have never had so many players in the concert, each working their own styles into the music.”
If there are those who are reluctant to go to the festival
because they don’t know enough about jazz, Wednesday evening offers an enjoyable class that’s also a free concert.
Jazz 101 presents an exploration of jazz music, along with its musicians, styles and instruments, starting a 6 p.m. at the Garland County Library on Malvern Street.
Plans are for the evening to be both educational and entertaining. Presenting artists will include saxophonist Gary Meggs, an assistant professor of music at the University of Arkansas at Monticello; the festival’s own Clyde Pound on keyboard; Jay Payette on drums; and Byron Yancey on bass.
At the historic Quapaw Baths & Spa, Shirley Chauvin will return with what she calls her “little big band,” S’Wonderful. The evening will include vocalist Chauvin in an intimate setting where the audience can be up close with the musicians during a swinging musical experience, Taylor said.
“Friday night’s concert will be very special,” Taylor said. “Classical music will be presented by the Quapaw String Quartet, featuring members of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, who will perform along with the Anything That Moves Jazz Band. The room only holds about 140, so it is a great place to sit and listen so close to the musicians.”
The quartet features violinists Drew Irvin and Meredith Maddox Hicks, violist Katrina Weeks and cellist David Gerstein. The jazz band includes local performers Ce Askew on drums, Les Pack on guitar, Stuart Coles on bass and Pound on keyboard.
The evening will include performances from each musical group before the two converge in an effort to create a different sound.
“Also playing will be Ray Blue, an amazing and well-known jazz performer from New York,” Taylor said. “There will be also be Tyler Stephenson, a baritone who is a new resident of Hot Springs. I met him a month or so ago. He is known for his musical-theater work.”
The ensemble will include Chauvin, who will also serve as master of ceremonies for the concert.
On Saturday, the festival will move outdoors with the annual free day of music Jazz in the Streets under the Broadway Street Sky-Bridge. The music will include six Arkansas jazz groups presenting music ranging from Dixieland to Latin jazz, including the University of Arkansas at Monticello Jazz Band, as well as Pound’s band with guest artist Ray Blue.
“At 4 p.m., Jazz in the Streets becomes dancing in the streets,” Taylor said. “This is a first for us; you can just get out and dance or enjoy the group Twice Sax.”
A new feature will be Jazz After Church, starting at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at First United Methodist Church on Central Avenue.
This program will feature jazz interpretations of hymns and other material of a sacred nature with respect to the original intent of each composer and text author, Taylor said.
The musicians presenting the selections will be Gary Meggs, woodwinds; Byron Yancey, bass and vocals; Ron Hall, keyboard and vocals; John Henley, trumpet; Mike Lovelady, percussion; and Lucas Murray, guitar. Featured vocalists will be Fedette “Lady J” Johnson and Kayce Glasse.
The concerts on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday are free and open to the public. Tickets are required for the other concerts. Tickets can be purchased separately, or a combo ticket is available for $75. For tickets or more information about the festival, call (501) 627-2427 or visit HSJazzSociety.org.
Staff writer Wayne Bryan can be reached at (501) 244-4460 or at wbryan@akrkansasonline.com.