Lagniappe - Stumptown Jazz 2001

Lagniappe - Stumptown Jazz 2001

Lagniappe, what does it mean?

Lagniappe derives from New World Spanish la ñapa, "the gift," and ultimately from Quechua yapay, "to give more." The word came into the rich Creole dialect mixture of New Orleans and there acquired a French spelling. It is still used in the Gulf states, especially southern Louisiana, to denote a little bonus that a friendly shopkeeper might add to a purchase. By extension, it may mean "an extra or unexpected gift or benefit."

Before we retired in British Columbia I had been with the Cllimax Jazz Band for 25 years and the the unexpected gift came in the form of being invited to join Stumptown Jazz from Portland Oregon which enabled me to continue playing at jazz festivals for another 5 years. Another unexpected gift was that we found the Okanagan Valley, some 350 km inland from Vancouver and were able to settle there in 2002. In the case of this clip I thought to combine the two and present you with music from Stumptown Jazz (unfortunately there are no films I can show you of that band performing) with pictures I took the last few days during my morning walks of our beautiful surroundings.

I recorded the music with my Sony minidisc recorder at the 2001 Sacramento Jazz Jubilee. The Sac. festival is the largest traditional jazz festival in the world and I played there almost every year since 1975. It used to be one of the tradional jazz "Meccas"

Our reedplayer Phil Hatton, originally from Australia, was intrigued by the recording of this seldom heard tune composed and recorded by clarinetist Omer Simeon. Phil introduced it to the band and we have been playing it with a lot of pleasure.

In Stumptown: Leader Gary Peterson piano, Bob Erwig cornet, Phil Hatton reeds, Rex Rice trombone, Dave Brown banjo, John Walling tuba and Bill Franklin drums.
In this clip we were joined by alto saxophonist Noel Kaletski.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• jazz
• classic
• revival
• stumptown