Local (Springfield, Ohio) jazz artist, Dean Simms, has created a 90 minute full length musical stage play called that tells the story about the amazing life and career of Louis ‘Satchmo’ Armstrong. This musical tells the story about the amazing life and career of Louis Armstrong in a full 90 minute bigger than life stage production. His script was selected out of 100’s by the DC Black Theater Festival to be performed in the nation’s capital on June 21-29 2013.
I have always considered Dean an outstanding trumpet player ever since the days when Rosemary and I first caught him performing at the old Silver Fox Night Club in Dayton. As it’s my nature to mentally track the players I like, I took great interest of an email I received from Dean in October of 2011: “Hello Ron, here is the link to my next Satchmo concert. It is sponsored by the Springfield Arts Council, and the Clark County Historical Society. This show is both educational, highly entertaining and I have a great group of Ohio State players as backup.
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My next involvement with Dean’s Satchmo project: “Once upon a time in America there was a young boy who learned to play a horn in reform school, became the ambassador of jazz to all nations and left us with a wonderful world. On Saturday, March 10th, 2012 a tribute to Louie Armstrong was held at Jazz Central, the club that’s bringing jazz back. Dean Simms and a very talented group of Ohio State players brought “Satchmo” back on that evening. This resurgence of jazz project was sponsored by Jazz Advocate and WDPS-FM radio.”
After the tribute to Louie at Jazz Central, which ranks #1 to any live performance I’ve ever seen, I was able to convince the folks at the Dayton Art Institute to include Dean’s show in this year’s “Vectren Jazz and Beyond” series. You will be able to catch them on September 12, which would be a wise move because I have a feeling the big times will be taking this group on high. As Dean says “My tribute to Louis Armstrong has been presented in concerts, festivals, state fairs, and night clubs as a band only. I have now taken it much further to bring his life into a full length musical play from the various time periods in his life when his career began in the 1920’s to 40 years after his passing. His accomplishments in over 35 movies, touring abroad, hit records, civil rights movement, all done in a bigger than life stage production.”
I recently backed the 1st American Rock Star Louis Armstrong the Musical on Kickstarter with a small contribution to help Dean with this endeavor. He needs our help for travel, set design, hotels, food, rehearsal venue etc, which we can provide through Kickstarter. Check this out and if you can kick in a small donation and share this link with your friends you will be helping to keep the jazz alive.
Jazz Calendar
Here are some (not all) of the upcoming jazz events for the next couple of weeks:
Wednesday, April 10 – The Stan Kenton Alumni Band will be at Cline Elementary School in Centerville and The Blue Wisp Big Band performs in Cincinnati.
Thursday April 11 – The Jazz Central Jammers is the Dayton Art Institute and Dottie Warner and Ricky Nye are at Arnold’s Bar & Grill in Cincinnati.
Friday April 12 – Shawn Stanley Trio is at Carvers Steaks & Chops in Centerville and The Ansyn Banks Quartet is at the Thompson House in Newport, KY.
Saturday April 13 – Internationally Acclaimed Saxophonist Tim Warfield is at Blue Wisp In Cincinnati and James & Moore is at C’est Tout Bistro in Oakwood, OH.
Sunday April 14 – The Jam Session w/ Kenny Baccus continues at Dayton’s Jazz Central and the Four Freshmen are at the Gallagher Student Center Theater, Xavier University inCincinnati.
Monday April 15 – The John Taylor Trio is at Brio Tuscan Grille in Beavercreek and Vaughn Wiester’s Famous Jazz Orchestra is at the Clintonville Woman’s Club in Columbus.
Tuesday April 16 – The Part St. Tavern is having a Jazz Jam and Tony Monaco is at the Rumba Café both in Columbus.
Wednesday April 17 – The Eleven piece Different Hats Band is at The Dayton Event Connection and Rich Lopez is at Rigsby’s in Columbus.
Thursday April 18 – The Generations Big Band plays at Jazz Central in Dayton and Dave Powers is at Amano’s Sports Bar in Worthington, OH.
Friday April 19 – Sinclair Jazz Ensemble w/Tom Walsh is at Blair Hall in Dayton and The Mark Lomax Quartet w/ William Menefield is at The Thompson House in Newport, KY.
Saturday April 20 – Big Song Music House has Ricky Nye & the Paris Blues Band w/Lisa Biales in Oxford, OH and James & Moore is at C’est Tout Bistro in Oakwood,
Sunday April 21 – There are jazz jams at Victory’s in Columbus and at Jazz Central in Dayton.
Monday April 22 – Mark Flugge, Derek Dicenzo & Jimmy Castoe are at Due Amici in Columbus and Youngstown Jazz Collective is at Nighttown in Cleveland Heights.
Tuesday April 23 – Ed Moss & the Society Jazz Orchestra is at the Schwartz Point Jazz Club and JazzCab is at The Greenwich both in Cincinnati.
More info and jazz listings can be found at JazzAdvocate.com
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