By PHILLIP LUTZ

WHEN the National Endowment for the Arts gives the 2011 N.E.A. Jazz Masters Award to the saxophonist David Liebman in January, it will represent more to him than a personal achievement. It will also mark the establishment’s de facto validation of the fusion aesthetic, he said, because few, if any, of the 118 other award recipients since 1982 have been as strongly identified with fusion and its challenge to mainstream jazz conventions as he has.

“It got a really bad rap for years, the fusion thing, no question about it. Miles got killed for it,” he said, referring to Miles Davis. “Suddenly it’s become the holy grail. ‘Oh boy, he was there before everyone.’ Of course he was. We knew that.”

Vic Juris, Tony Marino, Marko Marcinko, Dave Liebman

Mr. Liebman’s defense of 1970s fusion will be reflected in his appearances over the next few months, including one on Sept. 19 at the Turning Point in Piermont. He and his longtime working band — Vic Juris on guitar, Tony Marino on electric bass and Marko Marcinko on drums — will be employing more of the tone and textures he developed nearly 40 years ago with his own groups, like Lookout Farm, and the Davis-led bands that recorded “On the Corner” and “Get Up With It.”

“I’m kind of entering a new stage with the band: a little bit more electronic, a little bit more free, back to only soprano — putting the tenor down for a while,” he said.

Whatever direction Mr. Liebman is taking at any moment — and over the years he has explored jazz of the free, fusion, straight-ahead and various European schools, in addition to his special brand of world music — he reveals certain constants. He takes, for example, the impressionistic view of melody: he breaks up a theme from the first note and makes it his own.

At the same time, he makes the case for the horn as a band’s prime mover — a view he came to hold more strongly watching Davis take control onstage with his trumpet. “Standing next to him even in the midst of the stuff we played, which was certainly not melodic or in song form, it didn’t matter, because you could still see the way he transformed something and set the mood for the listeners and, most importantly, for the band.”

That attitude, he said, will be evident in his set at the Turning Point, whether he is playing an original or “Lonely Woman,” the haunting classic on “Turnaround: The Dave Liebman Group Plays Ornette Coleman.” Voted the 2010 record of the year by German jazz writers, the album probes the mind of another horn player who upended jazz conventions of his day — and found his ideas validated years later by the N.E.A.

THE DAVID LIEBMAN GROUP WILL PERFORM AT COTA ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 12, 2010

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11

David Coulter Photography

David Coulter is the official COTA photographer, and here are links to the last four years of COTA Cats. Proceeds of print orders benefit COTA!

COTA Cats 2006  Photographs of the COTA Cats at the Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts, 2006.

COTA Cats 2007  Photographs of the COTA Cats at the Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts, 2007.

COTA Cats 2008  Photographs of the COTA Cats at the Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts, 2008.

COTA Cats 2009  Photographs of the COTA Cats at the Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts, 2009.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10

Music Motif Art Show

Music Motif Art Show
The Dutot Museum, Main Street
No Admission Charge

ART ~ FOOD ~ WINE

Area artists submit their musically themed pieces in all types of media for judging by a panel of 3 jurors that changes every year.
more information HERE

Music Motif Art Show

Music Motif Art Show
The Dutot Museum, Main Street
No Admission Charge

ART ~ FOOD ~ WINE

Area artists submit their musically themed pieces in all types of media for judging by a panel of 3 jurors that changes every year.
more information HERE

2010 COTA Poster - Artist: Andrei Protsouk

The Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts (COTA) is proud to announce that it has selected the artwork of Andrei Protsouk for its 2010 festival poster.

Andrei Protsouk was born in Donetsk, Ukraine where his obvious talent found him at the Donetsk Art School, and then to the Lugansk School of Fine Art. Later on, Andrei was recommended to the prestigious Repine Academy of Art in St. Petersburg.

Moving to the United States in 1994, Andrei found inspiration in his new experiences as an émigré. Exposure to the exciting and often strange culture infused his works with a liveliness characterized by bright colors and a dance of images part real and part fantastic.
Andrei has displayed his art in many exhibitions around the world and his works are a part of private and corporate collections.

The poster is widely displayed throughout the Tri-State area, and is the primary marketing tool of COTA. In addition to the poster, the design is used on the official COTA tee shirt, as well as the brochure and program.

The 33rd Annual Celebration of the Arts will feature the music of Nancy Reed and Spencer Reed, Bob Dorough, the COTA Festival Orchestra featuring a tribute to the 30th year of the COTA Cats, Matt Vashlishan, Urbie Green, the 2010 COTA Cats: Edition XXX, Bobby Avey, and the Jazz Artists Repertory Orchestra (J.A.R.O.), just to name a few.

For additional information about the COTA festival, please visit the website at www.cotajazz.org or contact COTA at (570) 424-2210.

The Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts is presented in cooperation with the Borough of Delaware Water Gap, Castle Hill Development, Inc, and the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission.

THE 2010 COTA POSTER IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE IN OUR STORE. CLICK HERE

The COTA fest offers two days of world reknowned musicians at a bargain price. If you check out some of the other festivals you will see that our prices pale in comparison and we offer a great deal more. Our goal is not to make money but to keep arts in the community and continually support jazz and our local artists. We are a non profit organization and return our proceeds to the community.

- in which the recording is released...

***PURCHASE THE CD***

Confessions of a Sideman

Or... A View from the Side (and the Back): How Spanish Jazz Producer Jordi Suñol Moved the 18 Musicians of the Phil Woods Big Band Relatively Unscathed in and out of 8 European Countries 17 Times, on 20 Planes and 15 Buses, Performing 21 Sets of Music in 23 Days (and Nights).

Or... How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bus.

By Patrick C. Dorian
East Stroudsburg University
of Pennsylvania Music Department

Although primarily known worldwide as an astounding improvisor in small group settings such as his own quartets and quintets (February 1999 marked the 25th anniversary of The Phil Woods Quartet containing bassist Steve Gilmore and drummer Bill Goodwin for the group's entirety), Phil Woods has also been composing and arranging music for big band for five decades. It has been a dream of his to front a working big band of five saxophones, four trombones, four trumpets, piano, bass, drums, and percussion. As he became quite proficient at using a computer in the mid-1990s to compose and orchestrate his music, he entered a substantial portion of the oeuvre from all segments of his career into his computer, revising some of them and gearing most of them to feature the melodic statements and virtuosic improvisations of his quintet as the nucleus of the eighteen-member ensemble. This way he could keep his working quintet intact while enjoying the deep variety of textural densities and orchestral colors that a big band may afford an experienced, artistic arranger. To students of Western music history, I've often thought that this approach must parallel in a striking manner the compositional technique used in the concerto grosso of the latter part of the Baroque Era (1600-1750), where a small group of virtuoso soloists called the concertino would be featured among the larger accompanying ensemble that formed the main orchestral body known as the ripieno or tutti.

At the annual Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts (COTA) jazz & arts festival, founded in 1978 by Phil Woods, trombonist Rick Chamberlain, and the late Ed Joubert in Phil's home village of Delaware Water Gap, PA, a big band had been performing since the late 1980s. The ensemble was founded by former New York City rehearsal band leader, composer, and copyist Dick "Uncle Dickie" Cone as a rehearsal band in the late 1980s and was called Grandma's Soup after a concoction that Uncle Dickie's grandmother used to produce from whatever ingredients were on hand. The group rehearsed and performed at the legendary Deer Head Inn in Delaware Water Gap. Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, and Paul Motian recorded a live trio album, At the Deer Head Inn (ECM records ECM 1531 517 720-2) at the inn on September 16, 1992. Keith states in the liner notes that the Deer Head Inn was his first serious trio job on piano and that this recording at The Inn is "what jazz is all about." Pat Metheny and Dave Liebman recently performed at The Inn and as of this writing, The Inn has run live jazz for almost 50 years and now presents over 160 jazz events yearly.

After Uncle Dickie's death in 1991, Phil Woods began leading the big band's performances each September at COTA and the ensemble became known as the COTA Festival Orchestra.

Phil set his big band dream in motion by bringing this group into Red Rock Recording Studio in Saylorsburg, PA, for three days in January 1997 to record a compact disc. It was released in July 1997 as Phil Woods & the Festival Orchestra Celebration! on the Concord Jazz label (CCD-4770-2) and in January 1998 the disc was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Performance (not a bad calling card!). All of the printed compositions and arrangements from this CD, along with dozens of other brilliant Phil Woods works are available from: Music DuBois, PO Box 278, Delaware Water Gap, PA 18327. (2006 editor's note: Arrangements now available online at http://www.philwoods.com. They are no longer available by mail order.)

That same week the group performed to a standing-room-only audience at the 25th Annual International Association of Jazz Educators International Conference at the Times Square Marriott in New York City. Within weeks the ball continued to roll on Phil's fantasy via the formation of a summer 1998 European tour of several major international jazz festivals by the Phil Woods Big Band a.k.a. Phil Woods and the COTA Festival Orchestra. Spanish jazz producer Jordi Suñol organized the tour and it was thought that "Big Band" would be more easily understood than trying to explain and sell the "Festival Orchestra" concept. Not to embarrass Phil, it is believed that he accepted this tour well knowing that it would sacrifice both his health and finances. The personnel of the tour were:

Phil Woods: director, alto saxophone, clarinet(quintet)

Saxophones: George Robert, Jesse Heckman, Tom Hamilton, Lew Del Gatto, Jim Buckley
Trumpets: Ken Brader III, Brian Lynch (quintet), Paul Merrill, Patrick Dorian
Trombones: Jeff Galindo, Evan Dobbins, Kevin Haines, Jim Daniels (bass trombone)

Rhythm Section:
Piano: Bill Charlap (quintet)
Bass: Steve Gilmore (quintet)
Drums: Bill Goodwin (quintet)
Percussion: Ed Hudak

Presbyterian Church of the Mountain
Admission Charge: $8.00

Calliope
Gina Bertucci - Flute
Barbara McMahon - Flute
Laura Goss - Bassoon

The Water Gap Players
Greg Back
Dennis Carrig
David Hymes

Anita Bondi and Friends
Anita Bondi
Stan Stewart
Susanne Wilson
Patti Posten
Heidi Minich
Stacy Nonnemacher
Susan Bradford
Michael Jones
Marlene' Druhan
Marci Molina
Amber Freda
Betsy Jackson
Claire Collins

Vicki Doney Trio
Vicki Doney - vocals and piano
Bill Washer - guitar
Alan Gaumer - trumpet

Please consider becoming a 2010 COTA Patron. A tax-deductible gift of $10 or more helps COTA continue to present the best local jazz festival.

Highlighters
"Sweet" Sue Terry
Alex (Buzz) Bensinger
Michael D. Collins
In Honor of Winston
Bill Charlap
Deer Head Inn
Denny & Jan Carrig, Mary Carrig, Bobby Mancuso, Jay Wilson
Sally & Bob Dorough
Terry & Pat Gaughan
Jim & Diane Pallitto and The Jazzy Cats
Christine Trembly
Thomas J. Levy, Rosemary Levy
Jim Martin Productions
Donna Z. Martin

The Big Band
 Bill Goodwin, Lisa Tso, Max Goodwin,
Grace Goodwin & Ava Goodwin
The Kendall Family
Gail Phillips
Jill, Phil, Gray Girl & Clyde
Frank & Pat Brown
Darcy, Rick & Emelia Chamberlain and Douglas McCoy
David & Bonnie Childs
Jim, Nancy, Ben & Kate Daniels
Teri, Jim, James & Thea Dellaria
Dave & Sue Eilenberger
Ian, Sally & Kevin Foster
In memory of Nancy Coyle & In honor of Helen & Gilbert Foster
John & Marie Kleinle & Madelyn O’Connor
Jason, Stacey, Cal, Grace & Ellie Leon
Betsi Olmstead & Ron Midwood
The Baader Bunch
In honor of Bill Cohea
Mark Connors & Cindy Crowner
Mildred Edinger In memory of David Edinger
The Harlacher Grandchildren:
Christina, Jennifer & Stephanie Kealey
and Alyssa & Katelyn Harlacher
Valerie & Jeff Higbee
Lynn, Alia & Kevin Johnson
In memory of Joan Kaiser—Bruce, Roxanne & Madison
Dan Karcher
Spencer, Nancy & Olivia Reed In memory of Arlene Savakus
Elaine Shuey & George Munn and Larry, Zoe & Oscar de la Shuey
Andy & Wanda Szoke

The Chorus
33 Years, Dad!  Love, Cheryl
I love you, Grandma!  Casey
Adon, Brandon, Orien & Mabel
Allisen, Rocky, Chase & Chance
Jim, Carrie, Mason & Diesel
Bea’s Bags
Lauren Chamberlain
In honor of Bob & Pat Clarkson
Charles & Susan Cooper
The Crank Family
Jane Davis
Patrick & Mary Dorian
Carol Dorshimer & Ralph Bond
Bob & Jamie Garner
Larry, Rebecca & Kenton Freshcorn
Happy Birthday, Joe!—Jim, Angie & Rose Gloria
Nancy Gould & Sandy Rader
Kevin Haines
Gary Lambert
Norma & Ron Hart
Ralph & Fran Harrison
Bob Hartman
Tim Helman & Mary Hayes
Leroy & Vivian Kaiser
Lucy Kosmerl
Steve & Mollie Krawitz
Gary Lambert
Barbara & David Lantz
Fay Lehr & Beau
Linus & Lucy
Wayne & Ruth MacWilliams
Mandala Design Works
Rick Madigan & Jan Selving
Music for the Moment
Bob & Winnie Napoli
Bob & Karen Nickels
Harry & Joan Powlus
Cheri Read
The Reish Family
Jim & Jody Reynolds
Kate & Richie Roche & Family
Security Brat Pack
Connie, Dewey & Christian Walck
Dottie Weightman
Wellspring Holistic Center
John & Jean Wilson
Marty, Susan & Sara Wilson
Garth Woods & Lorraine Gramlich
Jim Wyckoff & Sue Predl

The Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts Festival is still recruiting volunteers to assist at the 33rd  Festival slated for September 10 to 13, 2010. Volunteer positions include hospitality, production, set up, security, and office assistance. This is an exciting and fun way to experience the COTA Festival from behind the scenes and meet new people.

• Why Should You Volunteer? By volunteering for COTA, you participate in an incredible event in our community, make new friends, socialize and have fun! Join us in welcoming the many visitors and residents who celebrate the Festival each year.
• Who Can Sign Up? We are looking for friendly, helpful, reliable volunteers to help with this exciting festival. Volunteers 18 and over are welcome.
• What Will You Have To Do? Volunteers are asked to assist in various areas including but not limited to event set-up, visitor interaction, security, and site maintenance (see list below)
• How Do You Register? To volunteer for the Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts Festival, use our on-line contact form or come to the next meeting! (meeting dates and times are found on the front page of the web site)

...more

Presbyterian Church of the Mountain
Admission Charge: $8.00

MARTHA CAHN ENSEMBLE - Classical Music
Mark Woodyat - violin
Wendy Davis - violin
Marsha Cahn - viola
Agnieszka Rybska - cello

WATER GAP PLAYERS - Theater
Joe Arner
Dennis Carrig
David Hymes
Betsy Jackson
Leah Thomas

TOTTS GAP DANCERS - Dance
Angeline Wolf - choreography
Emily Perkins
Rose Gloria
Laura Buzzard
Maeve Godshalk
Music by Bob Dorough, Eric Doney and John Coates, Jr.
Performed by Bob Dorough and Eric Doney

MICHAEL STEPHANS - Poetry

URBAN MOUNTAIN VOICES - Poetry
Tricia McGarvin - coordinator

COTA strictly forbids recording devices of any kind without permission.

- in which Celebration! is nominated...

Jim Daniels and I were on a reconnaissance mission. We were to travel from Stroudsburg, PA, to Vienne, France, one day before the other sixteen musicians to set up the music stands, microphones, etc., for the first performance of the 1998 European tour of the Phil Woods Big Band (PWBB). We left Newark Airport around midnight, getting us to Zurich, Switzerland, at 1:35 p.m. This was fine because it was already midafternoon in Europe and our jet-lagged bodies were that much closer to the evening sleep. We had a three-hour layover, so I took my trumpet mouthpiece and credit-card-sized pitch tuner to a deserted part of the departure area to practice softly. Bad move. After about 20 minutes a uniformed airport employee approached and commenced shrieking. I assumed that I appeared to be doing something wrong as this person reminded me of the Charlie Brown TV specials where Snoopy's tiny bird friend Woodstock is complaining a mile a minute in a language that only Peanuts' characters can understand. I pointed to my mouthpiece and said "musique!" to no avail. I then pointed to my tuner and said "nonincendiarie!" as the employee proceeded to get a colleague/supervisor who then made a vain attempt at caring. I rejoined Jim sheepishly in the crowded waiting area.

The connecting flight to Lyon, France, was on a Swissair subsidiary crossair (remember that name!) and featured continuous champagne and sandwiches as we passed over Berne, Geneva, and the beautiful snow-covered Swiss Alps. I think we eventually landed, and as Jim and I retrieved our luggage we suddenly realized that we had no idea as to how we would get to our hotel. While standing on a long line waiting to be searched, I spotted a person near the front of the line holding up a paper. We thought: Could it be? Yesssss!!! The paper had our names on it. Christoph flashed a mysterious orange card, taking us entirely around the Customs cavity search. He quickly loaded us into a new Peugeot (a corporate sponsor of the first gig) and kept flashing that magic orange card so that guards would raise gates. Out on the highway he tailgated anything he could at 100 kph as Jim regretted taking the front seat. The next day, another driver informed us that Christoph's nickname was "Trouble." That evening, Jim and I walked a couple of miles up the Rhône River and at 21:00 met saxophonist Jesse Heckman in the hotel lobby upon his arrival from Oslo.

Qualified Artisans are invited to apply to exhibit their work at the 2008 CELEBRATION OF THE ARTS Festival on September 10,11 and 12, 2010

PLEASE ONLY APPLY IF YOUR WORK HAS BEEN APPROVED BY TIM HELMAN, AND YOU HAVE READ AND UNDERSTAND ALL OF THE FOLLOWING:

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COTA ARTISAN REGULATIONS

The Celebration of the Arts provides an opportunity for established and developing artists to display and sell their work in a public forum. Since its inception, the festival has had a policy of nurturing the arts in all disciplines.

To enable the participants to have a positive experience, a few guidelines have been established, and we must have your cooperation.

• Do not extend beyond your assigned space.
• Provide your own 25 foot heavy duty extension cord.
• For spaces without electric service, provide yourself with a Coleman lantern for lighting at night.
• Provide a professional display for your work. (If you need information for sources, contact the show committee.) Dining canopies are not well-suited without heavy weights for the corners. (Sidewalk spaces do not have a place for stakes.) Market umbrellas are well-suited with a heavy, weighted base.
• Designated parking is provided for exhibitors. Other street parking is for our customers.
• If you have a question or a problem, please leave a message in booth #5 and the committee will see you as soon as possible.
• Please respect these regulations and our volunteers. Our volunteers work countless hours due to their dedication to the Arts.
• All work must be the original work of the exhibitor. No kits or assembled work is allowed.

Please list on your application items you intend to sell (under "media") and describe.

This is a juried exhibition of quality work. The quality will be checked during the festival. Failure to respect these regulations may result in you not beiong re-invited to COTA.

Thank you.

Tim Helman, Artisan Director

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SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12

This Friday, jazz lovers have a good opportunity to support the Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts retain its local flavor and identity.

The annual jazz festival, held on the second weekend of each September, is struggling to stay solvent. Bad weather hit in 2008 and again in 2009, reducing attendance and hitting revenues hard. A fundraising event this Friday evening at the Willowtree Inn in Stroudsburg aims to help.

Festival organizers are hoping to drum up enough donations to avoid seeking major corporate sponsors, who might want their name front and center, or who would impose a more commercial flavor to what's always been an all-volunteer, all-arts festival. A number of businesses have offered anywhere from $3,000 to $15,000 as sponsors. But organizers don't want to cede control, or possibly even change the event's name.

There are many such examples: The former Garden State Arts Center is now called PNC Bank Arts Center, and could be anywhere. Likewise the Pittsburgh Pirates used to play in Three Rivers Stadium, a geographical reference to the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio rivers' confluence in their host city. Now, thanks to the bank's generous sponsorship, they play in PNC Park. It's a beautiful new ball park, but its name connotes nothing about Pittsburgh or its storied baseball team. It could be anywhere, too.

Devotees of the Poconos' rich jazz community founded the festival more than 30 years ago. Each year they showcase the finest in performers, from the Gap's own Grammy-winning saxophonist Phil Woods to promising newcomers like Jay Rattman. The festival organization fosters young musicians through the summer COTA jazz camp, and the COTA Cats band, comprising local students, anchors part of the performance schedule each year. Volunteers organize and run the festival, but it runs close to $60,000 for equipment, musicians' fees and other costs. Still, organizers fiercely defend the festival's independence and unique name.

Friday's fundraiser will include an art auction featuring more than 25 works donated by the artists. The event begins at 6 p.m., with the auction starting at 8 p.m. The $30 admission includes hors d'oeuvres.

Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts supporters don't want to lose their beloved name, and if the Pocono Mountains community shows a sense of civic pride through willing donations, they won't have to.

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SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11

The input from the clinicians taught me a lot as well. Different techniques of approaching the music were introduced to me. Many different aspects of my "musical horizons" were broadened. It was also a great joy to play with Phil Woods and Rick Chamberlain. Both of these men are very talented, and it was a pleasure for me to meet Phil Woods for the first time.

Jim, Jesse, and I got to the concert site, Jim being the "stage meister" to guide the resident stage crew as to how Phil likes his band set up. Jim is not only an accomplished bass trombonist, what with his 20 months with Woody Herman's Young Thundering Herd in the mid-1970s (he's on five of the Herd's recordings) and years subbing and recording with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, he also paid major dues as a member of Woody's setup crew and has been heading the local COTA stage crew for years! The band arrived intact with time to spare, Phil handed out some new additions to the band's repertoire, everyone warmed up, and we soundchecked. Bill Charlap immediately sat down at the piano to give it his test, executing Puccini's Nessum Dorma! from the opera Turandot. Hmmm . . . why would he be warming up with that piece? Interesting . . . will we be hearing Giacomo's beautiful melody again? Time will tell.

The 18th annual Jazz à Vienne was a 15-day festival with 11 major sponsors held in an absolutely magnificent stone amphitheater built by the Romans around 200 B.C. It seems to be in better condition than the Coliseum in Rome! During the performance, proud Papa Phil showed his experience as a great leader, realizing that the band was jetlagged and sightreading as he counted off tempos slightly slower than expected. Nice and relaxed and no one got hurt. No train wrecks here! Trumpet wizard Brian Lynch ripped off several typically blazing solos. Unfortunately, ripping was the operative word as his sound was being amplified through a large monitor speaker next to my left leg, angling the sound straight up to my ear, ripping through my left tympanium, and coming out the other side of my head. So much for preconcert soundchecks. I probably broke French stage crew by-laws and turned the speaker directly at the trombone section.

Speaking of trombones, it was our first opportunity to hear Rick Chamberlain's replacement on lead trombone, Jeff Galindo. Unfortunately (?) Rick is principal trombonist of the New York City Ballet Orchestra in Lincoln Center (yes, he wears many hats equally well) and was committed to their July season in Saratoga Springs, NY. Jeff is on the faculty of the Berklee College of Music in Boston and he immediately established himself as a powerful lead player plus an accomplished improvisor. He has a fine CD entitled Locking Horns by the Galindo/Phaneuf Sextet on TTwin TTower Records, available by contacting Jeff by phone (617/547-6763) or e-mail ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ). Thanks to former Phil Woods Quintet member and Berklee College of Music faculty member, trombonist Hal Crook for recommending Jeff. The second half of the concert was a performance by Carla Bley and 23 musicians of her operatic-type work Escalator Over the Hill written with Paul Haines in 1971. The PWBB viewed some of it via TV monitor while dining underneath the stage. Dinner included pâté and a fine regional beaujolais. Admission for the evening was around $30, approximately 4,000 people attended, and it was broadcast on French Radio and TV.

With COTA approaching its 33rd annual event, we can offer potential advertisers some interesting opportunities to reach a very distinct and targeted market.

PRINT (PROGRAM) ADVERTISING

(Click HERE to flip through 2008's program)

The cost to advertise in the COTA program is:

Full Page - $325  -  (7-1/2" X 10")
Half Page - $195  -  (7-1/2" X 4-7/8")
1/4 Page - $110  -  (7-1/2" X 2-3/8" or 3-5/8" X 4-7/8")
1/8 Page - $65  -  (3-5/8" X 2-3/8")

ONLINE (BANNER) ADVERTISING

The cost of online advertising is:

468 x 60 banner - 5000 impressions - $60
468 x 60 banner - 10000 impressions - $100
468 x 60 banner - unlimited 3 month - $225 (includes 1/8 page program ad - $65 value)
468 x 60 banner - unlimited 6 month - $450 (includes 1/4 page program ad - $110 value)
468 x 60 banner - unlimited 12 month - $900 (includes 1/2 page program ad - $195 value)

CLICK HERE TO ORDER

This is more dynamic, targeted and substantially less expensive that newspaper or radio advertising and offers the advertiser a great return on investment. Click though rates vary but we are looking at about 1 - 3% for some of our current advertisers.

In terms of visitors we have a growing audience (as you can see from the graph below we are getting over 500 unique visitors on some days), plus a number who take the site rss feed.

Please contact Lauren Chamberlain at 570-424-2210 or by email for more information...

Courtesy Pocono Record
By Michael Sadowski Pocono Record Writer May 12, 2010 12:00 AM

Everything with a name is for sale these days.

But for years, one thing that decidedly wasn't on the market was the Celebration of the Arts (COTA) jazz festival in Delaware Water Gap every September.

Festival organizers are facing a dilemma for this year's festival and for the future as they continue to turn down the offers of corporate sponsorship and keep the event a Poconos original.

"That's the way it was intended when it started," said Lauren Chamberlain, president of the COTA board of directors. "And that's the way we want to keep it. It's always been local and independent."

Rising costs and bad weather have put COTA in financial dire straits, and now the organizers are starting to whisper: Should we start taking sponsorship money?
The answer, so far, has been a resounding "No," and the festival is looking for other ways to defray the cost of the yearly event that brings thousands into the Delaware Water Gap.
Held over two days on the second weekend in September, rainy and dreary conditions all but wiped out COTA in 2008 and 2009.

It was still held each year, but attendance — where COTA makes its money to pay for next year's festival — was way down, especially in 2008.

"It absolutely poured," Chamberlain said. "We had to have the whole thing under the tent, which gave it a different feel and made it more intimate. "But where we get more than 3,000 people on Saturday, we were lucky if we had 500 people under the tent. And most of those were our volunteers who don't pay for admission."

There had been a reserve fund to pay for the festival if the weather didn't cooperate for a year, but when rain and low temperatures hurt festival attendance again in 2009, the organizers started to worry about how they would raise about $60,000 to pay for the 2010 festival.

One way is Friday's COTA Spring Fling Celebration art auction at the Willowtree Inn on Ann Street in Stroudsburg starting at 6 p.m.

Another method not on the table — not yet — is corporate sponsorship dollars. Chamberlain, whose father Rick was one of the founders of the festival, said she gets at least one call a year from businesses offering to sponsor the COTA, offering anywhere from $3,000 to $15,000.

"Last year, it was a time-share company that just wanted to set up a booth," she said. "But we don't want people soliciting our customers, and that's one of the things a sponsor asks for.
"If this keeps up, some day we're going to have to ask ourselves the question: Do we want to get corporate sponsorship, or do we want to stop the festival?"

Tim Helman, who has worked at the festival for 30 years, said Friday's fundraiser is a start to keeping it an all-local, all-volunteer event, and COTA organizers will continue to do whatever they can to keep it a local endeavor.

"We will not let it go corporate," said Helman, COTA's local artisan coordinator and a member of the board of the directors. "Once you have a corporate sponsor, they take over. We have certain standards we want to uphold ourselves."

For more information on the fundraiser or COTA, visit www.cotajazz.org.

What: Celebration of the Arts Spring Fling Celebration
Where: Willowtree Inn, 601 Ann St., Stroudsburg
When: Doors open 6 p.m. Friday, live auction starts at 8 p.m.
Auction: More than a dozen local artists have donated more than 25 pieces to the auction, and local businesses also have donated items.
Tickets: $30, available at www.cotajazz.org or at the Willowtree Inn. Includes hors d'oeuvres and music. All proceeds go to the planning and operations of the yearly COTA Festival in Delaware Water Gap in September.
Live performances: Local jazz artists Bill Goodwin, Nancy and Spencer Reed, Jesse Green and others will supply the music.

Music Motif Art Show

Music Motif Art Show
The Dutot Museum, Main Street
No Admission Charge

ART ~ FOOD ~ WINE

Area artists submit their musically themed pieces in all types of media for judging by a panel of 3 jurors that changes every year.
more information HERE

May 14th, 2010 - 6:00 - 9:00 PM - $30

Come Celebrate Spring creekside with the Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts. Enjoy live jazz, a silent and live fine art auction, cocktails and complimentary hors d’oeuvres. All proceeds go to COTA to keep the festival going.
Tickets available here and at the Willowtree Inn

Music Motif Art Show

Music Motif Art Show
The Dutot Museum, Main Street
No Admission Charge

Area artists submit their musically themed pieces in all types of media for judging by a panel of 3 jurors that changes every year.
more information HERE

I'm so happy that I had the chance to participate in the "COTA Cats," and I'm sad that it is over.

I thank all those that made this wonderful experience possible. I'll never forget the lessons that I've learned and the fun that I had, and I hope that some day, I'll become a great musician and be able to come back and participate in the COTA Cats as a teacher.

The band took over the hotel and the saxophone, trumpet, and trombone sections met in different rooms and rehearsed . . . loudly! starting at 10:30 a.m. It was not a large hotel, but other music groups were also housed here, including popular Dutch saxophonist Candy Dulfer. Also, Bobby Byrd with guest trombonist Fred Wesley from James Brown's famous 1960s band, The JBs. Bobby co-composed James's famous opus Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine, Pt. 1.

The PWBB traveled to a midafternoon soundcheck that would also serve as a rehearsal for some of Phil's new arrangements. Arriving right on time as per the contract, the band ascended the portable stage to find that nothing was set up. The sound people were, however, operating a keyboard (that had a terrible layered sound) through the large sound system that reminded us children of the '60s of preparations for a concert by The Who, documented at one time as being the loudest rock band in the world. You know, the late 1970s type of concerts where people got trampled to death in concrete coliseums. After some sincere, appropriate expletives on the part of the performers and mention that three pages of stage setup information had been sent to the site from Phil Woods Enterprises months ago, one stage crew member sprung into action! The band smelled a long interval of time and immediately scattered into dozens of directions to exchange salary for Swiss francs and to shop. Forty-five minutes later we started a severely shortened rehearsal/soundcheck. Midway through the rehearsal one of the stage crew members slammed a forklift into the stage. I, being a caring partner, turned to my section mates and asked: "Did the stage move for you, dears?" Dinner was back at the hotel outside on the lakeshore. Jordi and Phil were telling stories about encounters with Duke Ellington and Stéphane Grappelli. Fascinating! Also, Bill Charlap and Steve Gilmore made first mention of "Bow Tie," a remarkable singer of whom they possess a tape recording. We were interested in hearing this person, but Bill and Steve made us wait.

Returning to the concert site, the Roy Haynes Trio was performing and the overflow crowd of 3,000 was responding. The performance was broadcast over Swiss National Radio. The 20th Lugano Jazz Festival ran seven days and had 10 major sponsors. Admission was free and this audience heard the PWBB deliver top-of-the-line artistic statements, which was the way the entire tour would go. It wasn't just some nights. It was every time the band performed. The consistency was amazing! Upon returning to the hotel, the moonlight reflecting over Lake Lugano was striking.

Skip Wilkins

Skip Wilkins - piano
Dan Wilkins - saxophone
Paul Kendall - saxophones
Tom Kozic - guitar
Tony Marino - bass
Gary Rissmiller - drums

SKIP WILKINS BIOGRAPHY (Full Length)

Skip Wilkins was born and raised in eastern Massachusetts. He grew up in a musical home and began listening to jazz at a very early age. His father played drums locally, so Skip was able to interact with professional musicians as a small child. He first found his way to the stage in kindergarten and has not left the stage since. In many ways his earliest experiences have proved the most enduring. He learned to love singing and listening to subtle harmonies before entering school, taking particular delight in the Great American songbook repertoire of such composers as Richard Rodgers, George Gershwin and others of the first half of the twentieth century. Also drawn to syncopated rhythms and polyrhythms of jazz recordings that he heard at home, it is readily apparent that the seeds of his future style were already planted in pre-school. Many years later, a seasoned professional pianist, Skip is noted for his lyricism, fascination with harmonic color, boundless rhythmic energy, and interest in exploring songs from the Great American Songbook.

On April 15, 2010 the Sherman Theater will be filled with the sounds of swing music with local high school musicians and the COTA Festival Orchestra performing music from the Al Cohn Memorial Jazz Collection. A special treat will be the appearance of “Blue” Lou Marini of SNL and the Blues Brothers fame. The concert is at 7:30 PM tickets are available at the Sherman Theater box office for $15.00 and $5.00 for students.

This will be a unique educational experience for young jazz musicians from the Pocono Mountain East, Delaware Valley and Stroudsburg Area School Districts. Each band is preparing music from the Al Cohn Collection and will be participants in a workshop/clinic with members of the Festival Orchestra and special guest “Blue” Lou Marini. They will then perform with Mr. Marini and evening will close with a set by Lou and The Festival Orchestra.

Lou Marini is no stranger to either the Poconos or the music of Al Cohn. About Al, Lou states, “To me, his charts are the embodiment of a natural inherent swing. They just feel right and natural to play. They reflect his intelligence and great sense of humor and above all, they swing.” Lou has performed with the East Stroudsburg High School (South) band in 1985 and with the University band in 2000.

It’s been said a person can be described by the company he keeps.  When wind player Lou Marini, Jr. is introduced on stages and recording projects worldwide, it’s amidst luminaries like James Taylor, Aerosmith, Eric Clapton, Buddy Rich, Aretha Franklin, Tony Bennett, Stevie Wonder, Doc Severinson, Blood Sweat & Tears, Steely Dan, Woody Herman, Steve Tyrell, the Rolling Stones, and the Dan Akroyd and John Belushi cult phenomenon, The Blues Brothers, born out of Saturday Night Live, where Lou’s signature wailing sax is imitated to this day.

COTA CampJazz an educational outreach program of the Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts Fund for Young Musicians will benefit from a portion of the proceeds from the concert This program, the 4th annual, held from July 26 – August 1 in Water Gap, provides an opportunity for young musicians to study the art of jazz improvisation by working in small groups with the jazz masters of the COTA organization.

Dedicated to preserving all forms of jazz from all eras, the Al Cohn Memorial Jazz Collection (ACMJC) was founded in 1988 to honor the life and legacy of Al Cohn—legendary saxophonist, arranger, composer and conductor, and long-time Pocono resident.  The collection is housed in Kemp Library on the ESU campus and consists of jazz recordings, oral histories, sheet music, photographs, books, videos, and original art and memorabilia, all generously donated over the years by supporters from around the world.

The COTA Festival Orchestra has performed at the annual COTA Jazz and Arts Festival throughout its 31-year run, and has twice toured Europe as the Phil Woods Big Band.  The members include: Nelson Hill, Jay Rattman, Tom Hamilton, Bob Keller, and Jim Buckley (saxes); Ken Brader, Danny Cahn, Eddie Severn, and Patrick Dorian (trumpets); Rick Chamberlain, Fred Scott, Kevin Haines and Jim Daniels (trombones); Eric Doney, Evan Gregor, Bill Goodwin and Marko Marcinko (rhythm).

Eager to bring this Big Band music into the heart of the community, the Sherman Theater offered to partner the “Library Alive” series.  Built in the 1920s, the recently renovated Sherman Theater is equipped to present many of today’s biggest shows.  Complete with full bar and restaurant, it offers everything needed for a complete evening of entertainment.  Audiences and performers alike have been awed by the fantastic acoustics, comfort, and historic feel of this rejuvenated downtown performance venue.

Get Tickets HERE

Eric Doney - piano Zach Brock - violin
ERIC DONEY Eric Doney, a graduate of Pen Argyl High School, began classical studies in first grade and gave his first public performance by the age of seven. He started playing jazz in junior high school and began performing professionally at the many Pocono Mountain jazz clubs with local legends such as Al Cohn, Bill Goodwin, and Steve Gilmore. He earned a bachelor of music degree from Susquehanna University.	Eric Doney
ZACH BROCK Heralded by Patricia Barber as "the one on whom to place your bets in jazz" and dubbed "the great bright hope for jazz violin" by the Chicago Tribune, Zach Brock's performances have a reputation for combining instrumental virtuosity with an emotional connection that transports his audience beyond the concert hall. Brock's own music has been described as both "classic American jazz with one eye on the fringes" and as "Jean-Luc Ponty meets Chuck Palahniuk in Fight Club." Two years ago, when Jean-Luc Ponty was asked by Stanley Clarke to recommend the "new cat" that had "the stuff," Ponty recommended Zach Brock.	Zack Brock

...Read more

Since we own no land and must obtain yearly permission from three property owners, it is impossible to do more than minimum improvements. The concession area belongs to Castle Inn Development and the Toll Bridge Commission, the hill and the street is the Borough’s and the stage sits on land owned by Castle Inn Development. All these property owners kindly lend us their spaces for the festival and we are very grateful to them for doing so.

The band was up by 5:45 a.m. to depart by 6:30 a.m. for a four-hour bus ride to the Zurich Airport. Heading north through the valleys between the Alps was some great scenery; however, inside the bus, two dogmas were becoming well established. The first was who was sitting where. Since most humans tend to be creatures of habit, they usually sit in the same seat, even when changing buses. Thus, each PWBB bus had established an area of permanent personnel known as the Back of the Bus (BOTB). This was a rather vocal group of about eight sidemen who tended to destructively analyze any travel problem whether real, imagined, past, present, or future in a rapid-fire, nonconstructive manner. Any time a potential problem was sensed or reminisced upon, the group erupted into about 35 seconds of verbal violence (usually dominated by people who play an instrument that relies on a slide to change the pitches) that never but never offered a solution to the problem. Yes, the BOTB was very dark, even at nine in the morning (it's an attitude). If the 20 flights would have allowed a back-of-the-plane group to form, more wasted energy would have been expended (fortunately air travel seating is random). In Europe, most buses even have a second door toward the back, conveniently creating "attitude segregation!" By the way, the front of the bus in any big band is reserved for intelligent, responsible persons capable of making important split-second decisions. This is where our leader Phil, tour producer Jordi, and tour guide Billy were encamped.

The second established set of rules involved a Jim Daniels project known as The Program. To be in The Program, a sideman could not spend any of his salary unless absolutely necessary (bring it home!). Since breakfast and dinner were always provided, being on The Program meant when the band stopped for lunch, Program members chose not to eat (not that anyone needed a meal three hours after a large breakfast). If you wanted to spend a little money you had to ask Jim if it fell within the rules of The Program. If it didn't and you still spent the money, you were brought up on charges, risking possible banishment from The Program. Reinstatement could take literally a couple of hours depending on if Jim could be found. Laugh all you want, but this is serious stuff. Sidemen need strict, detailed rules, especially when carrying salary. If you haven't already guessed it, Jim sat in the corner in the very back seat of the bus, surveying all before him, and it was wise to ask permission to sit anywhere near his corner, especially if you needed to stay in The Program.

While heading toward Zurich, the bus passed through Gotthard, the longest tunnel in Europe: 12 miles! (Ever feel like the world is closing in?) This information comes courtesy of lead alto player George Robert, director of the Professional Division at the Swiss Jazz School in Berne and admirer of all things beautiful. George was subbing for woodwind wizard George Young. You must already be assuming that to play lead alto saxophone in Phil's Band you must be formidable, but what I can't understand about George is how such a sweet, friendly person can strap on a sax and play so wonderfully dirty, nasty, greasy, and stankful. Phil featured George several nights on Leonard Feather's composition I Remember Bird as arranged by Oliver Nelson, and every night George had the audience screaming for more. George's 1999 CD The Summit is on the German-based MONS label and features guest artist Phil Woods.

At the Zurich Airport I laid low so as not to be seen by my acquaintance of the first day. Trombonist Evan Dobbins was exhausted, and as we emptied the bus and entered the terminal, Jim Daniels and I had to convince Evan that his trombone and carry-on were not in the building. He claimed that theyíd already been checked and we explained that we didn't even know what airline we were on yet! Jim and I ran and caught the bus before it left, we found the items, and put them in his arms. Evan is not a morning person but functions and performs quite well during the afternoon and night. We boarded the flight for Lisbon, Portugal. Three hours later we were on another bus headed for Cascais, the farthest western point in mainland Europe.

The evening performance was at the Estoril Jazz Festival, in a palm-tree-lined park near the ocean. We arrived to find music stands constructed from wire even though the contract specifically stated "no wire music stands." Our heavy folders really needed sturdy
stands but maybe there were none in the country? Or maybe they didn't care?

The moderate-sized audience took its time taking their seats and as the concert started it seemed like a very low-keyed environment until halfway through the first set someone figured out that Tony Bennett was sitting in the front row checking out Phil and his band. After intermission, Phil was the most gracious of hosts and invited Tony to come up on stage and sing. They decided on Don't Get Around Much Anymore, starting out with the rhythm section as Phil and Bill Charlap presented beautiful improvisations and then the entire band took it home.

This five-day festival had five major sponsors and the audience of 400 paid $17 to attend. Dinner that night was from 12:30 to 2 a.m. (a 20-hour day) at a great little sidestreet restaurant (hang rating: 10). Jordi said that Portuguese wine is one of Europe's best-kept secrets and this restaurant proved him correct, once again. He left us for a few days and would later rejoin us.

Sue Terry

Sue Terry - saxophone, clarinet, vocals
Nelson Hill - saxophone
Jesse Green - piano
Evan Gregor - bass
Bill Goodwin - drums

"Sweet" Sue Terry began her professional playing career at the age of sixteen, playing for church performances and musical theater. She began playing Jazz gigs while attending the Hartt School, a well-known music conservatory in Hartford. Though she was accepted as a Classical clarinetist, her secret agenda was to study with the late Jazz legend Jackie McLean, which she did for five years. The Hartt School elected her Alumna of the Year in 2001.

Matt Vashlishan

Matt Vashlishan - saxophone
Phil Markowitz - piano
Evan Gregor - bass
Ian Froman - drums

 www.mattvashlishan.com

live in the area, like: (insert favorite big name performer here)?

The Celebration of the Arts was started by local musicians Phil Woods and Rick Chamberlain with businessman Ed Joubert and the Delaware Water Gap Chamber of Commerce. We do not pay the musicians their regular fees and would not have the budget to include anyone who wanted more than the small per-day honorarium each musician receives. The musicians are essentially giving the community a gift, as are our many volunteers. Aside from the scholarships and commissions we provide every year and over 100 musicians (some playing both days) we have services for which we must pay such as: piano rental, sound and lights, electricity, phone, postage, printing, etc. We rarely make a “profit" and, if we do, these moneys go to local arts organizations, the Borough Park and other not for profit organizations.

A reprieve! The bus left at noon for a four-hour ride up the coast of Portugal to Povoa de Varzim. The band stayed at a highrise hotel on the ocean. Other than initially attempting to cram the band into two small tables for dinner, an inconsideration that Phil wouldn't allow, a fine dinner was had by all, especially the flan. The performance was at the Casino de Povoa (perhaps for a group of high-rolling jazz lovers?) and the dressing room was intimately guarded by the close Portuguese relatives of Vegas or Atlantic City mob goons who made sure that we musician types didn't steal any of the four walls or a refrigerator or two. One of the stranger scenarios of the tour!
 Back to the hotel by 1 a.m., wake-up calls were set for 3:45 a.m. Several of us wouldn't even think of sleeping for two hours, waking up and feeling worse, so we headed to the disco in the hotel that opened at 1 a.m. and operated until 7 a.m. The observed Portuguese mating rituals were strange to us and any attempted analysis didn't lead to understanding. The loud music consisted mostly of Bee Gees tunes from the 1977 soundtrack of Saturday Night Fever. To bring all of this strangeness to closure for me was the sound system blasting the finale of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana!!! I left in a state of total confusion. Back at the room at 3:15 a.m. I phoned home. After a shower it was time for . . .

It may have seemed like a thankless job putting on the 31st Celebration of the Arts Festival this month.

As the event crept closer, it became more and more obvious that torrential rains were going to chase away some of the crowd and put a damper on the event.

But this week, someone did thank the organizers.

The state announced original co-founder and local jazz legend Phil Woods and the COTA organizers would be recognized with the Governors Award for the Arts.

The 28th set of awards were announced Tuesday and will be presented at a Nov. 12 ceremony in Williamsport.

The award is being presented to Woods and COTA organizers under the title "Pennsylvania Creative Community Award."

There are six categories for the awards, with the biggest award — the Distinguished Arts Award — going to Pittsburgh-area native and Hollywood star Michael Keaton.

In a recent interview with Sharp magazine, before this year's COTA, Woods gushed about the uniqueness of the event and the pride he felt that the festival still had the same spirit now as it did when he and other local jazz greats Rick Chamberlain and Ed Joubert started the festival in 1978.

"It's the only jazz festival around that was actually started by jazz musicians," he said. "And I'd say it's the last real festival you can find around here. There are no corporate sponsorships, and no matter who you are, you get paid the same as everyone else."

Woods also said in the interview with Sharp that what has kept the festival going this long is the quality of the musicians.

"Even from those humble beginnings 30-some-odd years ago, we had great players," he said. "The level of musicians is very elevated in this part of the world. Something in the water, I guess."

Bob Dorough

Bob Dorough - piano, voice
Zach Brock - violin
Steve Berger - guitar
Pat O'Leary - bass
Tom Whaley - drums

Born in the decidedly non-bustling Arkansas town of Cherry Hill and raised in Texas, Bob Dorough played clarinet in his high school band and earned a BA in Music from what is now North Texas University. Before that, three years with a Special Services Army Band had given him loads of valuable experience in both playing and arranging.

In 1949, Bob made a bee-line for New York, where he took classes at Columbia University, immersed himself in the city’s rapidly evolving jazz scene and took whatever musical jobs he could land. For two years, he toured with Sugar Ray Robinson as the ex-boxer’s musical director and often shared stages with notables like Armstrong, Hines and Basie. Later in Paris, Bob did five months as a singing pianist at the Mars Club and began what has proven to be a long musical association with Blossom Dearie.

Urbie & Kathy Green

Urbie Green - trombone
John Jensen - trombone
Kathy Green - voice
Jesse Green - piano
Paul Rostock - bass
Bud Nealy - drums

Most of our concessionaires are non-profit organizations and do not have liquor licenses. Alcoholic beverages are available across the street at the Deer Head Inn.

Phil Woods

The bus started loading at 4:15 a.m. and the BOTB was there first, laying in wait for latecomers. The BOTB always came through! A few of the younger members were a bit late, barely functioning, which led to a slight eruption from the BOTB: "We stayed up all night so that you could be late!?!?" Sounds like fun, doesn't it? We traveled to the Porto Airport and the employees who dealt with us at 5:15 a.m. didn't look happy, perhaps because only a few of us looked happy? We were flying on TAP Air Portugal and Phil informed us that TAP was an acronym for "Take Another Plane" just as TWA was an acronym for "The Worst Airline." The small jet was so crowded that they told us all carry-on musical instruments would have to be stacked on top of each other in the lavatory. Couldn't they hide their disdain for musicians just a little bit? The one saving grace was the impressive outfits worn by the flight attendants. I asked one of them if we could mail order a few of the outfits home for our loved ones. She didn't understand my question.

We arrived in Lisbon and proceeded to sweat out if our British Airways boarding passes would be printed in time to get on the flight to London's Heathrow Airport. Bill Goodwin was on the case and was the epitome of calm, collected coolness as British Airways gave several last calls for our flight as we stood a few feet from the gate. Our substitute road manager Mario was new at this and was too much of a nice person to get results, but everyone's hero George Robert seemed to be making some inroads with the Portuguese contingent of British Airways. Finally, tarmac contact and we were the final 18 people to step on the jammed 767 Airbus. After this flight, the BOTB came up with suggestions for airlines around the world. From now on, install depth charges under the seats of:

 1. people who are sitting next to each other who insist on talking loud enough to drown out the huge Rolls Royce engines for two hours straight.
 2. children who revel in kicking the seat in front of them.
 3. said children's accompanying adults.

Upon arrival at Heathrow, several pieces of luggage were MIA for 45 minutes and Bill Goodwin continued his reserved heroism, this time in the form of a baggage search until trombonist Kevin Haines spotted all missing luggage spewing out onto a far carousel (from Istanbul!). Yes Kevin! . . . the BOTB always came through!

The band rode four hours north to Wigan, a city of 90,000. Upon arrival at the hotel, the band learned about British law that closes pubs at 11 p.m., so the only time to visit was before the gig.

The band performed at the Wigan International Jazz Festival in a small performance hall that sold out over 500 seats at $26 per ticket. We figured out that these jazz lovers spent more than that per person at the busiest bar on the tour. The festival runs eight nights and sponsors the Wigan Youth Jazz Orchestra, not unlike our COTA Cats.

During the concert I spotted a tiny red light at the back of the hall. At the beginning of one of Brian Lynch's formidable several-minute trumpet solos I quickly left the stage (Phil later told me that he thought I was getting sick) and made my way to the back of the hall. Sure enough, an unauthorized videotape was in production. I found our road manager Mario and he put a stop to it. Jill Goodwin (Phil's wife and Bill's sister) would have been proud of me! These people feel that since they have made a sizable investment in a video camera, they have a right to videotape anything they wish. If only they would ask permission and offer Phil a copy of the tape, maybe it would be possible. There were dozens of these thieves throughout the tour and we began to ignore them. Anyway, I made it back to the stage in time to play my background parts toward the end of Brian's solo. Brian has released an impressive CD entitled Keep Your Circle Small (Sharp 9 Records C E 1001-2).

The bar back at the hotel had a "late-night license" (whatever the heck that is), but after about 30 minutes some of the band figured out that they'd been up for 40 hours so why not get some sleep.

Alex Gordon - baritone guitar
Jesse Green - piano
Daniel Gonzalez - drums

myspace.com/thealexgordon3

Michael Stephans Spatial Edition

Michael Stephans - drums
Zach Brock - violin
Jim Ridl - piano
Steve Varner - bass

www.michaelstephans.com

...the Church of the Mountain AND the Deer Head Inn on Friday night?

The Deer Head Inn is a privately owned business. We have nothing to do with their music bookings on Festival Weekend or any other weekend of the year.

Travels with Phil resumed today as the band rode 45 minutes to the Manchester Airport and bid an emotional farewell to yet another bus. Large lettering on the facade of the terminal at this airport indicates "Welcome to the World's Best Airport." Okay, then why do departing passengers have to go up escalators with their luggage and equipment in two different sections of the airport? Is it because weary travelers enjoy these types of challenges? Shouldn't arriving vehicles be able to drive up a ramp to the departing area? One more important contribution from the infamous architect Frank Lloyd Wrong. If this is the world's best airport, can you imagine what the world's worst airport is like? Several days later, we were to find out.

Upon our arrival in Amsterdam, we got our luggage, Brian Lynch stepped away from the band for a moment, and the rest of us found the bus. Brian subscribes to the Clark Terry philosophy that when asked why he stays so animated in his never-ending performance travels, CeeTee replies "because it's harder to hit a moving target!" Bad timing this cycle, Brian, as a crowd and marching band quickly assembled to meet the Dutch soccer team as they returned from being eliminated from the World Cup finals and then an additional defeat in the consolation game. The crowd went wild as an impromptu parade was formed to escort the team bus containing the returning losers. I can't imagine what the crowd would have been like had they won. Our bus was ready to leave via a side road but . . . where's Brian? He's on the other side of the parade unable to break through! Waiting it out until the unconquering heroes pass.

The band rode past windmills and arrived at The Hague within one hour. The night's performance was at the North Sea Jazz Festival, The Hague. This three-day, $60-per-person-per-day event has been referred to as a "Jazz Supermarket." Several stages operate at once with well-known jazz performers, very crowded, and not always comfort oriented, plus they charge the public 50 Dutch cents to enter the lavatories. Isn't this discrimination against folks with bladder problems? I'm thinking about applying for a lavatory assistance grant. The PWBB followed the Maria Schneider Orchestra and the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. We were able to say hello to two formidable musicians in the VJO who often perform with us in Pennsylvania and New York City: composer and piano virtuoso and former member of the Phil Woods Quintet, Jim McNeely, and the accomplished trombonist Ed Neumeister. Hang potential was impeded as the VJO had a 4 a.m. departure the next day. Two thousand people attended the concert and it was broadcast on Dutch radio and TV. Hang rating: 6.12.

JARO

Wolfgang Knittel - director, piano
Nelson Hill - alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, flute
Jay Rattman, - enor saxophone, soprano saxophone, flute
Pat Turner - tenor saxophone, clarinet, flute
Richard Barz - baritone saxophone, bass clarinet, flute, piccolo
Danny Cahn - trumpet
Pete Hyde - trumpet
Patrick Dorian - trumpet
Richard Chamberlain - trombone
Jim Daniels - bass trombone
John DiVivo - French horn
Paul Rostock - bass
Bob D'Aversa - drums
Judy Lincoln, vocals

JARO

Wolfgang Knittel - director, piano
Nelson Hill - alto saxophone, clarinet, flute
Jay Rattman, - tenor & soprano saxophones, clarinet, flute
Pat Turner - tenor saxophone, clarinet, flute
Richard Barz - baritone saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet
Danny Cahn - trumpet
Peter Hyde - trumpet
Patrick Dorian - trumpet
Richard Chamberlain - trombone
Jim Daniels - bass trombone, tuba
John DiVivo - French horn
Tony Marino- bass
Bob D'Aversa - drums
Judy Lincoln, vocals

JARO is dedicated to preserving and promoting the rich heritage of big band jazz. Its musicians reflect the many respected artists who live in the Pocono region, including such favorites as Trombonist Rick Chamberlain, Saxophonists Nelson Hill and Richard Barz, Trumpeter Danny Cahn, Vocalist Judy Lincoln, and Pianist and Musical Director Wolfgang Knittel. Three of its members are employed at ESU: Trumpeter Patrick Dorian and Trombonist Jim Daniels are music professors, and Drummer Bob D’Aversa is the director of computing services. JARO has been a fixture at the annual Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts jazz festival, and its members have appeared individually and collectively at many other major jazz festivals and venues both regionally and around the world.

We met up with our next road manager Billy Hoogstraaten from Amsterdam. He has a Ph.D. in anthropology and 20 years of experience guiding jazz groups through Europe. This guy was a real people person and really knew what he was doing. We rode back to Amsterdam and flew to Oslo. Going through the metal detector, something on my person set off the alarm. Steve Gilmore followed me and also set it a-ringin'. We were both subjected to an enthusiastic, intimate, lingering search. I know that they're just doing their job, but wouldn't etiquette warrant that they at least take us to a movie and buy us dinner first? (Days later, after several more airport security trysts, I was to eventually conclude that my belt buckle was the culprit.)

Flying from Oslo to Molde included spectacular views of fjords and large cruise ships. We arrived in the town of Molde, population 25,000. For this jazz festival, the town swells to 80,000 and volunteers camp in tents outside of town. Our hotel overlooked the harbor with snow-covered mountains in the background and impressive cruise ships pulled up in front of the hotel. Phil was sitting on the balcony, ecstatically looking out at the water, islands, and mountains with his Norwegian friend of 30 years, Anton Rasmussen. They invited George Robert and me to sit down and have a Norwegian beer with their friend Herbie Hancock. George asked Herbie about his musical soundtrack to the 1967 Michelangelo Antonioni film Blow Up that featured Phil's saxophone performance, and Herbie was forthcoming with lots of private information as to how he made that project fly. Don't worry Herbie, your secrets are safe with the Gappers! Hang rating: 10.

About 400 people paid $21 to hear the band in the club in the basement of the hotel that night and the next night. The six-day Molde Jazz Festival has a few dozen sponsors led by Mobil oil. As the band was announced by a gentleman speaking Norwegian, it was entertaining to hear his only English words: "Grandma's Soup!" Uncle Dickie Cone was probably smiling down at Molde. Another source of entertainment for the band throughout the tour was that no matter what language the emcee was speaking to introduce the band each night, the final words sounded the same: Pheel Woods Beeg Bond! Because of its northern latitude, Molde stayed in daylight until well after midnight. Many festival attendees stayed up all night as part of this Norwegian celebration (ah, the never-ending quest for a great hang!). The sun rose and blazed back into the room around 3:30 a.m.

Hosted by Phil Woods
Phil Woods - alto saxophone
Eric Doney - piano
Evan Gregor - bass
Bill Goodwin - drums
Additional participants will be announced from the stage

Spoken Word Performing Artist Tricia McGarvin
 

Unfortunately the waiting list is long, but we are always looking for new and exciting products for the festival. Please click on Contact COTA, choose the department you want to contact from the pull down menu, and e-mail the appropriate committee head. For general inquiries e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

David Liebman

David Liebman - saxophone
Tim Hagans- trumpet
Vic Juris - guitar
Tony Marino - bass
Marko Marcinko - drums

David Liebman's artistic growth has always been intrinsically linked to maintaining a working group in order to frame each particular stage of his musical evolution. Liebman grew up musically in the 1960s, when groups led by Miles Davis and John Coltrane were his inspiration for playing jazz. Since those memorable days, Lieb understood that he had to have his own group, at all times. When he apprenticed with Miles and Elvin in the 70s, personnel remained relatively constant. Nowadays, this is not the case, except for a few well known artists who have the political and financial capability necessary to keep a group working. But no matter what the obstacles, David Liebman has continued to pursue his goal of keeping together a working group, as it is a necessary component of his musical life. 

Bob Dorough

Bob Dorough - piano, vocals
Steve Berger - guitar, vocals
Pat O'Leary - bass
Bill Goodwin - drums
Ed Hudak - percussion
Matt Vashlishan - alto saxophone
Jay Rattman - baritone saxophone
Rick Chamberlain - trombone

Born in the decidedly non-bustling Arkansas town of Cherry Hill and raised in Texas, Bob Dorough played clarinet in his high school band and earned a BA in Music from what is now North Texas University. Before that, three years with a Special Services Army Band had given him loads of valuable experience in both playing and arranging.

In 1949, Bob made a bee-line for New York, where he took classes at Columbia University, immersed himself in the city’s rapidly evolving jazz scene and took whatever musical jobs he could land. For two years, he toured with Sugar Ray Robinson as the ex-boxer’s musical director and often shared stages with notables like Armstrong, Hines and Basie. Later in Paris, Bob did five months as a singing pianist at the Mars Club and began what has proven to be a long musical association with Blossom Dearie. ...Read more

Performers are by invitation only but we welcome new and upcoming bands for consideration. The Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts only presents bands that are affliated with the local area. Please send a press kit, restricted to jazz only, to Post Office Box 249, Delaware Water Gap, PA 18327. We get many inquiries per year and only invitations will be sent out due to to the high volume. We can not deal with managers or booking agencies as the small per-day honorarium we can pay is not a normal fee.

The Testosterone Tour '98 continued by taking three planes and a three-hour bus ride. Not bad, only 13½ hours of travel. The band flew from Molde to Oslo, then to Brussels. Going through the metal detector in Brussels, something upon or in my person activated the security alarm . . . again. The BOTB crowd was laughing at me . . . again. This time I was escorted by my new friend to a booth, he closed a curtain behind us, and he pulled out a large, long object that he rubbed most places, occasionally emitting a high pitch (the object emitted, that is). I was told to lift my arms, then one leg at a time (?!?!?!). Our encounter concluded and I confidently pushed the curtain aside and reentered the world with a look of just being "checked" on my face. Any further description of this rendezvous doesn't belong in this publication.

The third plane of the day from Brussels to Rome wasn't a Sabena flight as our tickets indicated but contracted out as a Virgin Express charter flight. Uh-oh! Economic? You bet! Comfortable? Not a chance! Two hours of squashed knees, a small, warm soft drink, and many, many screaming children. Thank you Sabena!!! What will you do with all the money you saved? Hang rating: -3.91.

Arrival at the Rome Airport was uneventful (we would return several days later to pay our dues). We rode the bus 3½ hours to Perugia, making for 13½ hours of total travel time that day. We checked into the hotel and had 30 minutes to shower before leaving for the soundcheck. Dinner was at 11:15 p.m. underneath the theater stage and we hit at midnight. Throughout the tour, the goal each day was to reach the vicinity of the performance with hopefully a little time to spare and cool out a bit, but even if time was tight a feeling of relief seemed to come over the band upon arrival at the venue. No reference of what the band had gone through that day was mentioned. It was a done deal and mental energy focused on the impending performance. The unspoken hope was that maybe tomorrow would be just a bit easier.

The 12-day Umbria Jazz Festival '98 had major corporate funding from Heineken, is in its 25th year, and the concert was held in the lovely Teatro Pavone in the incredibly beautiful hilltop town of Perugia in Tuscany. Now this was a festival! Striking architecture, quaint coffeehouses, and lots of quality music. Phil and the band performed for an audience of 700 who paid $17 and the event was broadcast on RAI (Italian National TV and Radio). We ate before the concert and the band loved the white lasagna. Could our taste have been influenced by the fact that we hadn't had a meal in 14 hours? Once again, the well-meaning sound crew didn't understand much about acoustic-based jazz and the monitor system was a nightmare. Bassist Steve Gilmore seemed to never give up, diplomatically pleading with the person on the monitor control board to rebalance the monitor mix on stage to reflect the acoustic nature of the ensemble. At the soundcheck during a few concerts the bass could be heard (and felt) in the next country. If they really wanted to hear how the bottom line is supposed to sound, they could listen to Steve's 1996 CD Reflections in the Night (Jazzmania Records JCD 6018) with Bill Charlap and guitarist Steve Brown.

Several nights, Phil asked the rhythm section to perform a feature selection. Each time they played a different selection and each time Bill Charlap, Steve, and Bill Goodwin delivered stunning works. This night was no exception as Bill Charlap started the trio feature with a prelude of Nessun Dorma! from this theater in Pucciniís home country. Ah, so that's why Bill was going through this piece before the first concert back in Vienne, France! Many audience members could be seen mouthing the operatic lyrics from Act III of Turandot during Bill's performance, reflecting the wonderfully constructed melody and Bill's sensitive, expressive interpretation. Absolutely lovely! Bill's recent CD All Through the Night features Peter and Kenny Washington on the Criss Cross label (Criss Cross 1153). Outstanding jazz writer Ira Gitler attended this concert.

Another interesting musical characteristic of the tour was the several nights that the tenor saxophonists on the band, Tom Hamilton and Lew Del Gatto, followed each other on virtuosic improvised solos during the same selection. They have very contrasting styles yet they complement each other beautifully. Personality wise, they too are opposites: Tom would seemingly say a few words each week, but when he did, they were killers with such great timing and striking intelligence; Lew talks to anyone at any time, despite his illustrious career of decades in the New York City studios and through the 1980s and 1990s as band member, arranger, and contractor of the NBC Saturday Night Live Band. His recent CD Katewalk features Randy Brecker and Steve Turré and may be obtained by leaving a message for Lew at 770/592-1241. Lew remains one of the most unassuming and kindest people I know. Just ask his good friend, the equally unassuming and kind Jim Buckley in the bari sax position. He, Jim Daniels, and I had the right side of the band sown up, each of us "anchoring" our sections.

The band arrived back at the hotel at 2:40 a.m. and wake-up calls were set for 8:30 a.m.

Sherrie Maricle

Sherrie Maricle - drums, leader
Sharel Cassity - alto saxophone
Lynne Gruenewald - alto saxophone
Janelle Reichman - tenor saxophone
Erika VonKleist - tenor saxophone
Leigh Pilzer - baritone saxophone
Tanya Darby - lead trumpet
Jami Dauber - trumpet
Carol Morgan - trumpet
Nadje Noordhuis - trumpet
Deborah Weisz - trombone
Sara Jacovino - trombone
Leslie Havens - bass trombone
Tomoko Ohno - piano
Evan Gregor - bass

Hard-charging. Powerful. Immersed in the history of their craft and in total command of their instruments. That's The DIVA Jazz Orchestra - an ensemble of 15 extremely talented and versatile musicians who just happen to be women. They can't help it - they were born that way.

Headed by swinging drummer Sherrie Maricle, DIVA exudes the excitement and force found in the tradition of the historic big bands but with an eye towards today's progressive sound of originality and verve. With New York as their home base, DIVA performs all over the world playing contemporary, mainstream big band jazz composed and arranged to fit the individual personalities and styles of the musicians themselves. Audiences can expect to hear high-energy performances packed with unique improvisation, spontaneity and fun.

Dennis Jeter

Dennis Jeter - trumpet, vocals
John Jensen - trombone
Jesse Green - piano
Evan Gregor - bass
Bill Goodwin - drums

Dennis Jeter began playing the trumpet at the age of 16 after attending a Wynton Marsalis concert in Washington, DC. Soon after, he was accepted into the Peabody Preparatory program in Baltimore, MD to study with Wayne Cameron. In the spring of 1987, he graduated from the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, DC with honors and later was enrolled as a computer science major at the University of Florida on a full merit scholarship. While attending the University, he participated in their marching band and held the principal trumpet chair in the symphony orchestra. In the Summer of 1987, Mr. Jeter was the recipient of the first Wynton Marsalis scholarship to study music at the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, North Carolina. The following year, he transferred to the Manhattan School of Music in New York City, NY to study trumpet with William Vacchiano. While at the Manhattan School, his interest in the music industry broadened and he soon became very active in the business of music. In the Fall of 1990, Dennis was sponsored by William Vacchiano to become a Yamaha Young Performing Artist.  ...Read more

Bus service is available between New York City and Delaware Water Gap. The round-trip fare is around $65. Information and tickets here: www.martztrailways.com

The bus left at 10 a.m. and we arrived at the hotel in Torino, Italy, at 6 p.m. Metropolitan Torino has 1.4 million residents. At 9 p.m. representatives from the JVC Newport Jazz Festival Torino picked us up in Ford cars (Ford was one of the sponsors) and drove us to some park to have dinner before the performance. We locked several of our instruments in one of the cars and ate. After dinner, we rode across the city in the cars that didn't have the instruments, arriving at the Piazzetta Reale, a plaza surrounded by gorgeous architecture. Only one problem: the car with several instruments (including mine) was still back at the park because the lovely person driving it for the evening misplaced the keys. This incident also stranded three or four band members across town. Just as the lovely person gave permission to have the car window smashed with a rock so that the instruments could be accessed, someone arrived, having found her keys. Emotions ran the gamut from frustration to joy: only in Italy! Those of us at the stage were ready to go on as the car finally arrived. Whew! (The next day Phil told a great, relevant, humorous Jerry Dodgion story about the similarities between Italian Hell and musicians on a live TV show in Italy. Rehearsals went beautifully for both days but, when the live broadcast started all mayhem broke loose and the punch line is "they found the hammer.") This solved problem totally overshadowed the weak wire music stands that the trumpet and rhythm sections had to work with . . . again. Paul Merrill and I spotted several unauthorized videographers, we informed Billy, and he got security and nixed several of them, but they seemed to be everywhere. Six hundred people paid only $9 to hear the band close this eight-day event as this festival had major corporate (JVC) and government sponsors.

Co-Op Bop

Alan Gaumer - trumpet
Nelson Hill - saxophones
Tom Kozic - guitar
Ron Oswanski - Hammond B3 organ
Gary Rissmiller - drums

CO-OP BOP, a Quintet, has developed in various combinations since the late 1950’s. Alan Gaumer (trpt.) and Craig Kastelnik (org.), coached by Craig’s father (KAL) appeared on the Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour as “kids”. Their association continued to grow. Along the way, Tom Kozic, @ 17 years of age, began to play guitar with Alan’s Quartet. By the late 1970’s Gary Rissmiller took over the drum chair. And while this group was playing one of its’ common steady “gigs” at a local venue, Nelson Hill (sax) burst on to the scene. Since that time they have continued to perform together building a library of standard and original compositions. They have consistently played under each others’ names sharing leadership roles. Recently because of their mutual respect for one another, they came to the conclusion that a group name was in order, SO……it’s official……. ...Read more

How to turn an 8-hour trip on a day off into a 13-hour trip
The bus left at 10 a.m. from Torino, headed back east to Savona on the Mediterranean Sea, then traveled west along the Italian and French Rivieras, ending up two-thirds of the way across France in Toulouse. Our printed itinerary indicated a leisurely eight-hour ride. I don't think so! However, the topography is killing! Incredible vistas exist every few minutes. Mountain villages on the right, seaside villages on the left. Go through a tunnel beneath a mountain, over a bridge over a gorge with the sea on the left. After three hours we stopped for lunch near the town of Ventimiglia just before the French border at what appeared to be be a tiny truck stop. Good! We'll stop for 20 minutes and get a snack. Wrong again, oh trumpet section anchor! A tiny concrete box of a building with a bland facade was in actuality a really good Italian restaurant right off the highway. Home base! Phil said "Let's have lunch!" Five courses and 2½ hours later we were back on the bus, passing Monte Carlo, Nice, and Cannes.

As the band entered its tenth hour of travel and the consensus was reached that we still had a way to go, trombonist and BOTB aristocrat Kevin started a betting pool to guess the arrival time at the hotel. Fun, except he allowed tour director Billy in on it. Bad move! The man does this for a living! He has insider information! Of course, he won the pool. By the thirteenth hour the bus was quite loud as we reached the hotel close to 11 p.m.
Evening off.

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SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13

Gypsy Jazz Quintet

John Curtin - guitar
Vince Marrone - guitar
Nick Driscoll - clarinet
Mark Woodyatt - violin
Bob Wilson - bass

The Gypsy Jazz Quintet was formed in 2006 as a musical tribute to the 1930’s “hotclub” jazz of gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt and Parisian violinist Stephane Grappelli. This is the high-energy swing music played in the dance halls of Paris from 1934 to 1939. Organized by guitarist/music arranger, John Curtin, the GJQ has performed at music festivals, taverns and resorts. The band is made up of 5 players from very diverse backgrounds who come together to make this special music. ...Read more

The bus departed at 10 a.m. and the printed itinerary indicated a three-hour ride to Bayonne, France. Would we manage to turn that into six hours? No, the trip took three hours as planned. Through the sound system on the bus Steve Gilmore and Bill Charlap finally treated us to the recording of the singer "Bow Tie." An indescribable experience other than that I think traditional holiday selections were the original intent. During the listening session a remarkable occurrence: finally, after over two weeks, the BOTB was stone silent! No comments, no observations, no nothing. This is how remarkable (and drastic) this recording is. "Bow Tie" must be experienced to even attempt an explanation.

We arrived at the hotel in Bayonne and were elated to see Bill Dobbins (Evan's father), the accomplished piano performer/composer/transcriber formerly of the Eastman School of Music and now director of the amazing WDR Big Band in Germany. He had just finished performances in Spain and drove up to hear the PWBB at the ninth Jazz-aux-Remparts, a six-day event with 24 sponsors held in three venues around town. We performed in a huge tent near the seventeenth-century fortification (rempart = rampart). The concert was going very well, and halfway through, as the band prepared to perform Goodbye Mr. Evans, Phil's 1980 stunning memorial to the great pianist Bill Evans, Phil spoke French to the audience, discussing the passing a few days ago of important French tenor saxophonist Guy Lafitte. Phil dedicated this performance to Guy's memory and renamed the piece Au Revoir Monsieur Lafitte for this performance. Phil proceeded to play the heck out of this miniature symphony. This is one more example of where Phil has dedicated this haunting melody to an important person's memory as he did at COTA in 1996 with Goodbye Mr. Lehr in tribute to Bob Lehr, owner of the Deer Head Inn for 40 years. Six hundred people paid $27 to hear the band and a French jazz group.

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SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 12

We had two days off to relax and walk to town to do laundry and shop. George Robert is Swiss-French, so he could indoctrinate Steve Gilmore and I in the ways of French soap dispensers in a local laundry. You put the francs in a coin slot on one wall and the soap is dispensed across the room at the opposite wall. Wow!!! We were amazed!

Upon returning to the hotel someone told me that trumpeter and vocalist Clark Terry had arrived and was looking for me. At 78 years young, CT is one of the most important figures in the jazz history of the second half of the 20th century and has been guest soloist with our University Jazz Ensemble at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania in 1989, 1991, and 1999. I found him with Phil near the pool and we exchanged affectionate greetings. CT proceeded to tell me a funny story. Less than 24 hours ago he had been the guest artist at the July Jazz Getaway workshop at Moravian College in Bethlehem, PA (45 minutes southwest of the Gap). He had asked several musicians if they knew Pat Dorian and how he sincerely hoped that Pat would be stopping by to say hello. They told CT that they knew Pat but hadn't heard from him recently. Clark returned to his home on Long Island late Saturday afternoon and a few hours later went to the airport and flew to Paris and then Bayonne. He arrived at the same hotel that we were staying in, met Phil, asking him who's in his big band. When Phil said that I'm on the band, CT exclaimed that he was looking for me yesterday in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, but had to fly to France to get to visit with me!

CT asked me what trumpet part I was playing and I told him fourth. He asked me why I was playing fourth and I told him because there were no fifth trumpet parts (or sixth trumpet parts). I continued to discuss this with Clark by explaining that I was playing "low-lead" trumpet in the band because my fourth trumpet part often doubles the lead trumpet part down an octave (and you better play in tune with the lead player). The fourth part doesn't have the physical challenges of the lead part and Clark asked jokingly if I ever needed an assistant on the fourth part. He and Phil came up with the term for me of "split fourth" trumpet player, which big band musicans find very funny that the part would ever need to be split up for endurance sake. It stuck and for the rest of the tour when George Robert would call my room he would ask for "the well-known split fourth player." Phil also saw me warming up at subsequent performances and jokingly encouraged me to continue getting ready as the "split fourth" trumpet part is absolutely crucial to the evening's presentation. Our poolside discourse concluded with the proposal of a new category in the DOWN BEAT magazine "Reader's Poll": Talent Deserving Wider Recognition: Split Fourth Trumpet Performer in a Big Band Setting. Each and every IAJE member is encouraged to vote for Patrick Dorian when this most important category is established, whether you believe he is deserving or not. Please, won't you help?

It's a small world in the global jazz community and Dr. Clark Terry is one of the biggest people in it. A huge heart, mega-artistic capabilities, and a sense of humor that never stops.

Walking into town along the river, we noticed discoloration flowing into the water from the riverbank about every 50 feet. You guessed it! Raw sewage and lots of it! The kicker is that the fish love it and the locals know to drop their fishing line at these junctures. I believe I now know where the inspiration to name Bayonne, New Jersey, came from.

That evening Phil and I went to hear our Easton, PA (45 minutes south of the Gap), neighbor, the formidable pianist Mulgrew Miller, perform with his trio at the cloister area of the magnificent 13th-century Bayonne cathedral. A passageway with a wall on one side and an open, grassy area on the other, all within the confines of the church property, a great place to listen to music. Before the concert we went inside and marveled at the several incredible, priceless stained-glass windows. Phil's observation was, "At least they [the Church] did something beautiful with the money!"

COTA Jazz Mass

Church Service - No Admission Charge
Wolfgang Knittel - composer/conductor/orchestrator/piano
The Reverend Karen Nickels - worship leader
Teresa Marino - choral director
Robert Hartman - choral coordinator
Michele Bautier - vocal soloist
Bob Dorough - vocal soloist
Bonnie Childs - vocal soloist
Nelson Hill - saxophone
Pat Turner - saxophone
Richard Barz - saxophone
Jonathan Searfoss - trumpet, flugelhorn
Dan Wolfe - trumpet, flugelhorn
Patrick Dorian - trumpet, flugelhorn
Danny Cahn - trumpet, flugelhorn
Rick Chamberlain - trombone, euphonium
Jim Daniels - bass trombone, tuba
Spencer Reed - guitar
Tony Marino - bass
Bob D'Aversa - drums
Ed Hudak - percussion
Bud Nealy - percussion
The JazzMass Choir

Another day off in Bayonne. George Robert and I checked in on Clark several times in case he needed anything and later I helped him check his blood sugar (he is diabetic) and to get dressed for his performance. We went back to the tent for dinner and I said hello to Stanley Turrentine, our guest soloist at ESU in 1996. "Mr. T," CeeTee, and Mulgrew's trio performed . . . great artists and human beings.

Music Motif Art Show

Music Motif Art Show
The Dutot Museum, Main Street
No Admission Charge

Area artists submit their musically themed pieces in all types of media for judging by a panel of 3 jurors that changes every year.
more information HERE

Church Service - No Admission Charge

COTA Jazz Mass

Wolfgang Knittel - composer/conductor/orchestrator/piano
The Reverend Karen Nickels - worship leader
Teresa Marino - choral director
Robert Hartman - choral coordinator
Michele Bautier - vocal soloist
Bob Dorough - vocal soloist
Bonnie Childs - vocal soloist
Nelson Hill - saxophone
Pat Turner - saxophone
Richard Barz - saxophone
Jonathan Searfoss - trumpet, flugelhorn
Dan Wolfe - trumpet, flugelhorn
Patrick Dorian - trumpet, flugelhorn
Danny Cahn - trumpet, flugelhorn
Rick Chamberlain - composer, trombone, euphonium
Jim Daniels - bass trombone, tuba
Spencer Reed - guitar
Tony Marino - bass
Bob D'Aversa - drums
Ed Hudak - percussion
Bud Nealy - percussion
The JazzMass Choir