REMEMBERING - New Jersey Jazz Society

JerseyReviewsJazzHurricane Bill Fails to Dampen13th Annual Riverboat SwingBy Don Robertson Former Jersey Jazz EditorThe forecast for Sunday, August 23, was notencouraging, with the backlash fromHurricane Bill threatening the Jersey shorewith high tides and rough water. Nevertheless,the day opened promisingly and things gotbetter as the ’noon sailing approached. Theenthusiastic crowd of 100 might have been justas happy to sit dockside and listen to themusic, but they would have missed seeing allthose million-dollar waterfront properties—more of them showing “For Sale” signs thanlast year.This was the 13th annual cruise that NJJSersChick and Audrey Krug had organized. Thisyear as an added benefit, Chick extended thecruise by an hour to 4:00 PM, for which wewere all grateful. Music like this doesn’t hit thewaterways all that often. If you didn’t know,Chick and Ed Polcer were high school classmates,which explains why Ed’s always incharge of the music. As if an explanation wasneeded!Ed brought pretty much the same band of allstarsas last year — Ed on cornet and his wife,singer Judy Kurtz, Joe Midiri on clarinet andalto sax, Paul Midiri on vibes and trombone,Mark Shane, piano, Joe Ascione on drums and,returning after a few years absence, Frank Tateon bass. This was the second year for theMidiris and they fit into this group as thoughthey’d always been there. Their multi-instrumentalabilities add greatly to the band’svariety. Most of the band got to sing at somepoint, too.As the River Queen cast off from the Brielledock promptly at noon, the sun was breakingthrough and the band was playing “C’estMagnifique,” a harbinger of things to come.Last year, with Benny Goodman’s centennialcoming up, they devotedsome tunes to BG’s honor.This year we have ArtieShaw’s centennial comingup in 2010 and theydedicated the next tune,“Star Dust,” to Shaw’smemorable recording. JoeMidiri reprised Shaw’sfamous clarinet solo almostnote-for-note and Ed andPaul Midiri sounded a lotlike Billy Butterfield andJack Jenney on their turns.Judy Kurtz was up nextwith “I Can’t Believe ThatYou’re in Love With Me.”Next was a feature for theMidiris appropriately titled“Together.” The band cameback with a rousing “BealeStreet Blues” and then a dreamsequence; Judy doing “Dream aLittle Dream of Me” and theband closed the set with arousing “If Dreams Come True.”They did, they did.Did I mention the open bar andfood buffet? They were busy bythis time, and the band took awhile to get the second setstarted. They opened with “TheOne I Love Belongs toSomebody Else” followed by Judy’s singing “IDon’t Know Why…” If you looked closely onthis one, the vibes soloist was Ed Polcer, whoexplained that he was proficient onvibe/marimba before he took up the trumpet.The band swung into an up-tempo “Goody,Goody,” again featuring Ed on vibes. “My GalSal” was followed by what Ed described as “theorchestra,” composed of Mark Shane and JoeAscione. “Lonesome Me” was their offering, anobscure Fats Waller composition, completewith Mark’s relaxed vocalizing. The band cameback with “Roses of Picardy,” and then theMidiris were featured in another tuneassociated with Artie Shaw, “Moonglow.”Keeping with the relaxed atmosphere, Judybrought out the lead sheet for “But Not ForPhotos by Charles Krug& Don RobertsonMe” for the band to runthrough. Joe Midiri playedhis alto sax on this one andit’s clear Johnny Hodges isone of his idols. And whynot? The almost-set closerwas “Blues My NaughtySweetie Gives to Me” withEd handling the vocal —and the tricky stop-timepatter chorus. And henailed it. They could havequit there, but gave us onecool-down, “It Had To BeYou.”The third and final setstarted off with “Once In aWhile,” followed by Judy’srendition of “Our Love isHere to Stay.” The Midiriswere featured on a burningrendition of “Shine,” withstrong assistance from JoeAscione. I am sure somebodysang “What a WonderfulWorld,” but my notes got a bitwobbly by this time. (Youunderstand.) Judy Kurtz sang“But Beautiful” and then theband took things out with“Please Don’t Talk About MeWhen I’m Gone” with JoeMidiri doing a gravelly imitationof Satchmo on the vocal. There wasplenty to talk about, and savor, as the crowddisembarked for the drive home—in the rain.It may be a sign of the times, but it seems tome that there was less boat traffic —particularlythe large, fast and noisy ones — and thatmade things more pleasant for everybody. AndI like to think we made things more pleasantfor those boaters who throttled back enoughto listen to the music wafting from The RiverQueen. Even some people on the verandas ofthose shore-side mansions probably envied us,but I can’t be sure about that.If this has whetted your appetite for next year,circle August 22 on your 2010 calendar andwatch for the announcements.JJLeft, Ed Polcer. Photos above, top to bottom: The setting at the beautiful Jersey shore; the players fill the lushRiver Queen with delightful music; Joe Ascione in the drivers seat.October 2009_________________________________ 41