Dixie Diehards at Ma Glockner's

June 21, 2007  by Ron L'Herault

The band played to an almost capacity crowd, due mainly to the move from the usual room to a small room off the bar.  It worked to the band's advantage and they were able to easily engage the listeners with hand clapping and singing along to some of the songs.
The DDs lead off with "Royal Garden Blues" at a nice medium tempo, allowing the listener to savor the harmonies.  They followed that with The Wabash Blues.


Dick Jenkins

 This tune was slow paced and full textured, with great harmonic interplay.  Vocals were handled by Dick Jenkins, one of the three banjo players and by Rick Foster, cornetist and band MC.  He, along with trombonist Jim Kelleher wrote the tune that opened the second set, "Aku Aku", (pronounced Eh Coo), a romantic medium tempo song which I would like to hear again soon.


Rick Foster
Although the band reads most of the time, this allows them to use some nice arrangements which added variety to many of the well known tunes they played.  A good example was "Muskrat Ramble", written by Kid Ory.  It had a nice, ragtime feel to it, harking back to the time before this music was called jazz, when bands such as this were ragging the music.


Jim Kelleher
Two more tunes should be singled out for special mention.  One is "Midnight in Moscow" which had a delightful Klezmer flavor to it.  The other tune was "Tuck Me to Sleep In My Old Kentucky Home" (Words by Sam M. Lewis, Joe Young/Music by George W. Meyer, 1921). It is a great tune with fun lyrics and is based on Stephen Foster's "My Old Kentucky Home".  It was quite refreshing to hear a tune that I have not heard done by any of the other local bands.  It's another one I look forward to hearing again soon. 

Intense Rhythm Section
Dick Jenkins,  Chris Wadsworth, Paul Jacobson
back: Dr. Dale Ellenberg, drums, Steve Shaw, tuba,
Bill Kiesewetter piano

 
Santo Pullara, clarinet, Paul Peterson, sax

The band wrapped up this pleasant evening of music and good food at Ma Glockner's with "Just a Closer Walk with Thee" segued with  a rousing version of "The Saints Go Marching In" during which members of the band threaded their way through the tightly spaced tables, much to the delight of their fans and of the patrons in the bar who were keeping a close eye on the proceedings. 

Updated 6/27/07