The Josh Duffee Orchestra
"A serious student of traditional jazz, he organized his
orchestra to play the music of the '20s and '30s. Rich Johnson
of the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Society said, "He looks and plays
just like he'd stepped out of a Roaring '20s speakeasy."
- Julie Jensen
http://findusat309.com/articles/swing_into_spring_2003.html
Alan Knapper - Cornet
Bruce Bogen - Trombone
Chuck Comella - Trombone
Crystal Duffee - Flute
David Abdo - String Bass
Greg Fitzpatrick - Trumpet
Holly Free - Vocals
Jason Comella - Trumpet
John O'Meara - Vocals
Josh Duffee - Drums/Leader
Julie Craighead - Saxophone
Lauren Young - Vocals
Matt Craighead - Saxophone
Neal Smith - Saxophone
Scott Angelici - Saxophone
Scott Morschhauser - Xylophone/Vibraphone
Scott Silver - Banjo/Guitar
Tim Schwaegler - Violin
Vanessa Free - Vocals
http://www.joshduffeeorchestra.com
From their press kit, resized and sepia-toned. Scott, Tim,
Crystal, Josh, David, Julie, Tuba, Sax, Trombone, Sax, Trombone, Neil,
Trumpet, Scott Silver, Trumpet.
2005 Performances
Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival - Davenport, Iowa
- Thursday, July 28th, 9pm, Col Ballroom
- Friday, July 29th, 1pm, Holiday Inn
- Friday, July 29th, 7pm, LeClaire Park
- Saturday, July 30th, 7pm, Col Ballroom
- Saturday, July 30th, 9pm, Danceland
- Sunday, July 31st, 8pm, Holiday Inn Afterglow Concert
Madison Jazz Society - Madison, Wisconsin
- Sunday, October 23rd, 2-5pm. This event will be held at the Marriott Madison West, 1313 John Q. Hammons Drive, Middleton. This concert is for their concert series that they hold on Sunday afternoons/evenings, and this is our first time performing in Madison. Let's hope we can perform for the Madison Jazz Society whenever possible!
Illiana Club of Traditional Jazz - Chicago, Illinois
- Sunday, November 20th, 2-5:30pm. This event will be held at the Glendora Ballroom, 10225 S Harlem Avenue in Chicago Ridge, Illinois. The ballroom is a large pink brick building with a fence around it, across from their big Wal-Mart.
Swan Lake Resort - Plymouth, Indiana
- Saturday, April 29th, 2006, 7-10pm. This will be the first time in over 70 years that the music of Jean Goldkette will have come back to his hometown in Indiana after coming over from Russia in 1910. The Goldkette's lived in Plymouth and LaPaz for many years, and it's our honor to bring this music back to their hometown. For more information and reservatons for the resort, please visit their website at www.slresort.com
Press
"The band leader's passion for the Jazz Age is far from the only
respect in which the drummer is unique. As the clean-cut, baby-faced
leader of the Josh Duffee Orchestra, one of the headliners at this
year's Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival, he's the linchpin of
a group of seasoned vets -- many of whom are twice his age or more
-- playing music first popularized by guys much older than all of
them." - Sean Leary
http://findusat309.com/articles/2004/Josh_Duffee_04.html
Reviews
The orchestra was in the auditorium at 7 pm and started with a rehearsal of some Bix tunes - "I'm Coming Virginia," "Since My Best Gal Turned Me Down," (a new arrangement by Frank van Nus in the style of Bill Challis), and "I'll Be A Friend With Pleasure." Around 7:30 the formal portion of the event began. The best way I can describe it is as a "Historical Concert." Josh gave a chronological/musical account of the Jean Goldkette Orchestra. Before each number the orchestra played, Josh provided an explanation of the number and its context in terms of the musical evolution of the Goldkette orchestra. It was a lesson in history and in music. The Josh Duffee Orchestra gets better and better every year. Now it is a true orchestra, tight, well-rehearsed, professional. The orchestra provides a terrific emulation of the sound of the Goldkette band. Although the musicians in the band (four reeds, three trumpets, two trombones, string bass, drums, xylophone, violin, guitar/banjo and flute) read their parts, they do so in such a manner that the sound they create sounds fresh, spontaneous, new. The orchestra started with "In the Evening," the first recording of the Goldkette orchestra in 1924. They continued, in an illustration as to how the orchestra evolved, with "It's the Blues," "Dinah," "Blue Room," (a number played but not recorded by Goldkette). The orchestra went on with a series of numbers recorded by the Goldkette Orchestra with Bix: "Idolizing,", "I'm Looking Over A Four Leaf Clover," "Proud of a Baby Like You," Hoosier Sweetheart," Stampede," "Tiger Rag" (the last two tunes were played but nor recorded by Goldkette), "In My Merry Oldsmobile." The orchestra ended with a rousing version of "My Pretty Girl Stomp" and the Bix-Goldkette classic, "Clementine." The audience was highly appreciative of the great performance by this band of young people playing, superbly and expertly, very old music. - Alann Krivor
Booking
Josh Duffee and His Orchestra
1210 East Ninth Street
Davenport, Iowa 52803
jgoldkette@mchsi.com
Background On Jean Goldkette
Jean Goldkette emigrated from France to the United States in 1911. He was a classical piano player. Jean Goldkette 's importance to jazz is as a bandleader in the 1920s. Goldkette actually had over 20 bands under his name by the mid-'20s, but it was his main unit (which recorded for Victor during 1924-29) that is the only one remembered today. In 1926 the band included Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey and Joe Venuti and the legendary cornetist Bix Beiderbecke ; Bix's inability to sight-read at the time kept his first stint with Goldkette quite short. However in 1926 Bix became the orchestra's top soloist and the jazz lineup was pretty impressive with such musicians as Frankie Trumbauer , Joe Venuti , Eddie Lang. The orchestra was among the best of the period, even defeating Fletcher Henderson at a Battle of the Bands contest in New York.
http://www.redhotjazz.com/goldkette.html