Arts & Entertainment
Gatsby Era Music is Soundtrack to Ridgefield Library's 'Big Read'
The Bearcats Jazz Band, led by Joe Hanlon of Sandy Hook, is booked to participate in the National Endowments for the Arts "BIG READ" event.
Press release:
The Bearcats Jazz Band, led by Joe Hanlon of Sandy Hook, is booked to participate in the National Endowments for the Arts “BIG READ” event at the Ridgefield Library on Oct. 12 from 2-3:30 p.m.
The library has chosen “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald as the reading choice, so what could be more appropriate than having the Bearcats JB supply the music of the JAZZ AGE.
Music starts at 2 PM. For details, directions etc, go to the library web site:
Ridgefieldlibrary.org
From there, navigate to EVENTS then Events Calendar.
Scroll to the Oct 12 date.
Joe has assembled most of the original Bearcats for the day including Skip, Charlie, Gim, Greg and special guests Russ Whitman and Eric Starr.
The library recommends registering for the performance by using the “REGISTER” link at the bottom of the day’s page. Fill out the form and click ”Send Link.”
One of the Northeast’s favorite Jazz and Swing bands, The Bearcats were formed in 1977 by Joe Hanlon for the purpose of preserving and promulgating one of America’s national treasures- traditional jazz--and to enjoy doing it. After achieving wide local recognition, THE BEARCATS were soon performing for jazz societies and festivals in CT, DE, NY, NJ, PA., VA and Florida. The band made its West Coast debut in August, 2000 at Big Bear Lake in CA. For the eleventh straight year we return to the Connecticut Traditional Jazzfest at Guilford, CT in July, 2004 and we returned to Florida again (having played for the Sarasota Jazz Club in 1996) for our second consecutive appearance at the Suncoast Classic Dixieland Jazz fest in Nov, 2002. In 2002 we played for the Spokane Jazz Festival and the PA Jazz Society. In 2004 we played at the Orange County Jazz Fest, CA, Old Time Jazz Fest in Cleveland, OH and once again at the Suncoast Jazz Fest in Clearwater, FL.
In 2006 we also appeared at the Sacramento Jubilee Jazz Fest in CA. The members of THE BEARCATS are devoted and skilled musicians with a style firmly rooted in the New Orleans tradition and a flair also for the variations known as Chicago and West Coast. The band can appeal to a wide variety of Trad audiences by easily migrating from a strict 1920’s Louis Armstrong style with clarinet, tuba and banjo to a driving Eddie Condonesque, four-beat rouser with guitar and string bass. For dancing, the repertoire also reaches to Glen Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Ellington, Basie and Louis Prima.
Locally, the Bearcats have played around Westchester NY and Conneticutt since 1978, from big shows to small concerts, parades and private parties and affairs such as weddings, concerts and dances, the Bearcats are always ready to swing the crowd.
