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Classic Stompers leave footprints far and wide
Sunday, May 11, 2008
If the recent jazz acts we've seen and heard are any indication, Dayton plays an important part in the itineraries of many big-name artists. But we're not just on the receiving end of all this musical activity; one local jazz group uses the city as a launching pad for its own periodic tours.
Enter the Classic Jazz Stompers, an important part of the city's jazz scene since banjo player/attorney Dave Greer founded the band in 1981. Greer has described his group as a "territory band from Dayton, Ohio, which is magnetized by the moment in the late 1920s and early 1930s when classic jazz evolved into small band swing."
Extras
The Top 40 cover bands of their day (they were at their prime from the '20s up until World War II), these orchestras played an important part in disseminating popular music to the audiences that made up their base city and about one day's drive surrounding it. Their music was often on par with national bands in terms of quality.
Of course, their numbers have dwindled with the passage of time and the seismic shifts in popular music, and with that their territories have grown to include far more land than they once did; the Stompers have taken their act everywhere from Cincinnati to Missouri to Belgium, where they've toured on three occasions.
Upcoming tours will see the group visiting Decatur, Ill., and Hannibal, Mo., this weekend followed by more destinations during summer and autumn. Thankfully, we can catch the group's driving rhythms, pervasive melodies and joyful group improvisations every Wednesday evening when it plays at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Dayton.
Contact this writer at kalavattam@gmail.com.
How to go
What: Dave Greer's Classic Jazz Stompers
When: 7:30 to 11:30 p.m. Wednesdays
Where: Stars Lounge, on the top floor of the Crowne Plaza Hotel, 33 E. Fifth St., Dayton
Cost: Free
More information: Call (937) 224-0800 or go online to www.classicjazzstompers.com
