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Entertainment

Still waters, moving jazz

The Still Waters Jazz Quartet features a female singer to go with its improvisational instrumentals.

By JORGE SANCHEZ
Published September 9, 2005

The residents of the Crown Court Assisted Living Facility in downtown Inverness are a lucky bunch.

Most Saturday afternoons, they are treated to a jazz concert when the Still Waters Jazz Quartet rehearses in the main dining hall. As improvisational jazz music wafts out of the near-empty hall, many residents wander in. They sit and dream of the days when the music was the soundtrack of their youth.

The rest of us can hear the Still Waters Jazz Quartet when it returns to Stumpknockers on the Square restaurant in downtown Inverness at 9 p.m. Saturday. Admission is $5.

The band turned in an energetic and polished musical performance there last month, with a full house staying until the last notes. The Still Waters Jazz Quartet jams with the seamless efficiency of tenured veterans but they have been together less than a year.

The Still Waters Jazz Quartet has Ted Stauffer on drums, Howard Glitt on saxophone and trumpet, Bill Waters on acoustic bass and trombone and Rick Dahlinger on keyboards.

And, what's more, the boys in the band have found a singer for this gig. She's Janice Marie, from Washington, D.C., now living in Marion County. Her rich voice can capture Billie Holiday's plaintiveness and Cole Porter's lyricism.

At a recent rehearsal, Marie showed her chops with heartfelt renditions of Holiday's East of the Sun, West of the Moon and Porter's You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To.

Marie not only sings the words, but turns her voice into a musical instrument with a scat solo, before tossing it over to the band mates for their turns.

Playing improvisational jazz only looks easy. Musicians have to be masters of both note and ear. Too much improvisation and the melody becomes personal, risking the loss of the listener. Too little, and the creative drive that makes jazz music rise to greatness vanishes like a wisp of smoke, leaving behind the stale odor of music presented badly.

Jazz is best enjoyed live, where one can appreciate the adroitness of the musicians tossing the creative ball around. It's like watching The Harlem Globetrotters play basketball. After a while, one ceases to wonder about those no-look, behind-the-back and between-the-leg dribbles and simply takes in the spontaneity of the scene.

In other musical performances:

- Boone's Fork will perform from 1:30 to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Lakes Region Library in Inverness. Boone's Fork is led by Jeff and Donna Palmyra and the folk group plays folk and Appalachian music on guitar and dulcimer.

- The Citrus Jazz Society will have a jam session at 1:30 p.m. Sunday in the Hampton Room of the Citrus Hills Golf and Country Club, 509 E Hartford St. Interested musicians can contact Tony Caruso at the session or call him at 795-9936, or visit the Jazz Society Web site at www.Citrusjazzsociety.net Donation of $5 per person for nonmembers at the door. Annual memberships are available for $40 for couples; $30 for singles.

- Jon Semmes and the Florida Friends open the season at the Sunday Sampler Concert Series in Dunnellon. The group plays Florida folk music, along with originals and some acoustic folk-rock. The Sampler is from 2:30 to 4:45 p.m. Sunday at the Lions Club in Dunnellon, at the corner of Cedar Street (State Road 40) and Walnut Street. Admission is $8 at the door. Call (352) 489-2181.

Jorge Sanchez covers arts and entertainment in Citrus County. Call 860-7313 or e-mail sanchez@sptimes.com

[Last modified September 9, 2005, 01:18:20]