Jazzistry Rent Party
On February 24, Jazzistry held its 22nd annual Rent Party. Quite a party it was, especially as the date demanded the theme of…Mardi Gras, with the room decorated to reflect that theme.
And it took a big room — Eastern Michigan University’s Student Center — to hold the band, the many large tables of jazz lovers and the dance floor, which got some good use as tune followed tune.
In addition to the band members (including Sean Dobbins on drums), bandleader Vincent York (mostly on sax) had the help of a vocalist: his sister Joan, who flew up from Florida and into the Michigan snow to sing a wide range of tunes, including that song made famous by Etta James: “At Last.”
At one point the band played a classic — “Just a Closer Walk with Thee” — and York led most of the musicians — sax, trombone, trumpet — around the room, weaving between tables, picking up jazz lovers to follow their “first line” as they went. That song led into the more up-beat “When the Saints” as more and more people stood up from their tables and joined the parade in a “second line,” a New Orleans tradition.
York’s natural talent was nurtured early on by the famous New Orleans clarinetist Alvin Batiste. York’s creation — Jazzistry — was named to blend three things, he explained: jazz, its history, and its artistry. Its purpose is to go into schools and teach/demonstrate what jazz is. That activity obviously was eclipsed during covid but is back and running now. So it was wonderful to be part of the rent party that should help Jazzistry keep helping schools.
So much fun was being had, by musicians and listeners alike, that the show ran a half hour over. But no one complained. And the cold night seemed less cold from the warmth of the music we’d all shared.
The Jazzistry Band:
- Vincent York, saxes & woodwinds
- Joan York, vocals
- Pete Kahn, clarinet & sax
- Jauron Perry, trumpet
- Ron Kischuk, trombone & tuba
- Rowan Tucker-Meyer, piano
- Josef Deas, bass
- Sean Dobbins, drums