Swing in the Street: Betty's Jazz Fest Lowdown
Ray Gelato Giants/Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers
Friday and Saturday night were the Ray Gelato Giants from London. He's smokin'! One of the most entertaining performers I've ever seen, and the band is amazing...their drummer Steve Rushton even looks a bit like Mr. Bean.
My partner Sean and I danced onstage (well, there are two smaller dancers' stage on either side of the band stage) on Friday night and had a blast. What an honour! Ray's vocals were smooth and peppy -- Louis Prima would be so proud! I especially loved his renditions of "Angelina Zooma Zooma", "Ain't That a Kick in the Head" and "Buona Sera". Magical. And then there's my favourite, Tu Vuo' Fa L'Americano. The trumpeter Maestro Enrico Tomasso is a genius, and Richard Busiakiewicz is right up there with Chris Siebert (of Lavay's Red Hot Skillet Lickers) as one of the finest jazz/swing pianists I've ever heard. I was fortunate to get comps to a special extra "taped for TV" show that Ray did at the Spectrum last night, and he really brought down the house. People, even non-dancers (of which the audience was mostly) were going nuts with enthusiasm.
Sunday and last night was Lavay, and she put on a stellar performance as usual. Last night a downpour began about 20 minutes before the end of her show and nobody left they were enjoying themselves so much! So many of us got completely drenched, but we didn't care! Everyone sang along to "Walk Right In" and the songs off their new album, including the fantastic instrumental "Jet Propulsion", brought the house down. Bill Ortiz's solos were truly amazing, and Chris's fingers knew no limits on the keyboard. I was so glad they brought Lavay up to Canada (she also did a show at the Toronto Jazz Festival) -- it's a shame more people don't know her up here, but I know that'll change after this festival. There must've been over 2,000 in the crowd last night.