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The Birth of the Hot Club of Spokane
A New Era of Trad Jazz and Swing in Spokane
Hot Club of Spokane started back in 2007 as a band, performing in local pubs and at dances at places like ZOLA and CenterStage. But before we ever set foot on stage, we planned a local jazz festival called “Think Swing New Orleans Jazz Festival” at the nonprofit CenterStage/ella's supper club. This 2006 event celebrated New Orleans jazz, and provided a little bit of work and respite for New Orleans musicians in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The festival featured four distinct bands, all from New Orleans, including the New Orleans Jazz Vipers, the Palmetto Bug Stompers, Linnzi Zaorski, and St. Louis Slim. The entire event was recorded by Som Jordan of the Spokesman-Review for his blog on their weekend section The 7. Links to those recordings, plus interviews with Som and many of the New Orleans musicians, are available below.
Think Swing kicked off a new era of traditional jazz and swing in Spokane, led by the Hot Club of Spokane, and later, by the more recently formed Zonky Jazz Band and the Red Hot Kitten Stompers.
Think Swing New Orleans Jazz Fest, 2006 - photos courtesy of Brook Whitney Photography
New Orleans Jazz Vipers at Think Swing 2006 at CenterStage in Spokane, WA
Recordings of Think Swing 2006 available here - click the arrows, left and right, to advance to more episodes of the podcast.
Think Swing continued for three more years, with New Orleans musicians present at most of the events. 2008 had the largest budget and largest program, including the Hot Club of New Orleans, Hot Club of Cowtown, Matt Munisteri, Pete Petersen, Solomon Douglas Swingtet featuring Bria Skonberg, Bob Curnow Big Band, Casey MacGill, The Stolen Sweets, Julia Keefe, and Andreas Oberg.
Our 2009 event, which was our last year of the festival, included the Shanghai Woolies with Gavin Bondy, and the return of St Louis Slim, Washboard Chaz, and Robert Snow from New Orleans.
Sadly, the economic downtown of 2008 made it impossible to continue the festival, but Hot Club of Spokane continued to perform locally, and the festival's four year run inspired our local music community to continue building a thriving pre-war jazz scene.
Think Swing 2007 highlight video, with audio of Casey MacGill and friends recorded at the event.