How to go
What: Jazz jam session
When: Sundays from 8:30 p.m. to midnight
Where: Jazz Central, 2931 E. Third St., Dayton
Cost: No cover charge
More info: (937) 254-8130 or www.jazz centraldayton.com
In the year 1976, Dexter Gordon released four albums, Ellington’s trumpet player Ray Nance passed away and a new jazz club opened on East Third Street in Dayton. Since then, Jazz Central has become one of the area’s most esteemed venues for live jazz.
“When you walk in the door, it’s like walking back in time,” said Charles “Butch” Stone, owner of the club. “This place is like it was 35 years ago.”
Every Sunday night, Jazz Central hosts an open jam session for musicians and vocalists eager to test their chops.
“We have different people sit in,” said organist Kenny Baccus, who has led the jam session for five years. “Sometimes we have steel drums, sometimes vibes, maybe five or six horn players, so it’s a different combination of instruments each week.”
Digging deep into the catalog of jazz standards, someone in the audience or on stage calls out a tune and the band leaps into action, unrehearsed but unhesitating. In between numbers, the musicians pause for some jokes and good-natured ribbing. Although players are of different skill levels, the group conveys a sense of camaraderie instead of rivalry.
“It’s not like anybody is above anybody else,” said John Hampton Wagner, who plays trumpet and sings, and also serves as emcee for the jam session.
“Jazz Central’s like going to school,” Wagner said. “You come down here to learn, and we’re all learning.”
Over the years, many prominent jazzmen have dropped by unexpectedly to join the jam. “You never know what’s going to happen,” Stone said. “I’ve had some pretty big guys walk in here.”
One night a man came to the door claiming to be organist Richard “Groove” Holmes, but Stone didn’t know him by sight. “So he took me out to his old Lincoln with a trailer on the back,” Stone recalled. “That big Hammond B3 was sitting in there, so I thought, ‘This must be Groove.’ ”
Stone believes that such big name players are drawn to Jazz Central because of the club’s longevity. “They know who we are,” he said. “They know we’re not going anywhere.”
Contact this writer by email at music@adamalonzo.com.
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