Austin's Young & Hot on Riverwalk Jazz This Week

Source: Don Mopsick
September 29, 2011
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Residents of Austin, Texas are proud that their city boasts more live music venues than any other, including New York and Las Vegas. Austin music fans can choose between a wide variety of styles and genres—from Texas swing and bluegrass to a thriving cohort of traditional hot jazz. Our special guest artists on this week's Riverwalk Jazz are active players in this lively scene, performing regularly in live venues across the city.

The program is distributed in the US by Public Radio International, on Sirius/XM sattelite radio and can be streamed on- demand from the Riverwalk Jazz website.

Jim Cullum Jr.

cornet
b.1941

" data-original-title="" title="">Jim Cullum Jr. welcomes Austin's top young traditional jazz artists—guitarist/violinist Erik Hokkanen, guitarist J.D. Pendley and vocalist Albanie Falletta, to the stage of San Antonio's premier venue: Pearl Stable, on the banks of the San Antonio River. Jim and The Band play it hot with piano man

Shelly Berg

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Shelly Berg. Series favorites Vernel Bagneris and Topsy Chapman sit in with an impromptu blues improvisation.

Guitarist J.D. Pendley is from Salt Lake City. In 2000 he earned a music degree from the University of Utah. Since moving to Austin in 2001 he's been working as a full-time musician with Erik Hokkanen, the Jazz Pharaohs, the Giant Three and many others. You can hear in his playing the influence of

Eddie Lang

guitar
1902 - 1933

" data-original-title="" title="">Eddie Lang,

Louis Armstrong

trumpet and vocals
1901 - 1971

" data-original-title="" title="">Louis Armstrong,

Django Reinhardt

guitar
1910 - 1953

" data-original-title="" title="">Django Reinhardt, and

Sidney Bechet

saxophone, soprano
1897 - 1959

" data-original-title="" title="">Sidney Bechet. J.D. is “passionate about rhythm, acoustic music and continuing the tradition pioneered by the guitarists of the early days of jazz."

Erik Hokkanen is one of Austin's most colorful and distinguished players. Of Finnish ancestry and raised in Florida, Erik relocated to Texas in the early '80s and rapidly built a reputation as a fiddler, guitarist and songwriter. Erik's songs or playing can be heard on the soundtracks of motion pictures DOA, Michael, Texas Chain Saw Massacre 3 and The Newton Boys. In Austin these days, Erik plays electric guitar and fiddle in his band, Hip Replacements, the sound of which he describes as “gypsy surf."

Ryan Gould began his musical life playing the guitar, which led him to play in “death metal" and punk-rock bands around Philadelphia in the early 1990s. After serving in the US Marine Corps, Ryan returned to southeastern Pennsylvania with a keen interest in traditional Irish music. Currently, Ryan performs regularly in Austin with The Hip Replacements, The Jazz Pharaohs, Aunt Ruby's Sweet Jazz Babies, and Albanie Falletta and her Fellas. Ryan says that he draws great inspiration from a vast pool of musicians from various genres as well as from the experiences of his daily life.

Youthful guitarist and vocalist Albanie Falletta has become much in-demand on the Austin live music scene. Albanie lists among her influences

Fats Waller

piano
1904 - 1943

" data-original-title="" title="">Fats Waller

Billie Holiday

vocals
1915 - 1959

" data-original-title="" title="">Billie Holiday

Lester Young

saxophone
1909 - 1959

" data-original-title="" title="">Lester Young and especially the gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. Albanie performs live in Austin with her own group, Albanie and her Fellas, and with combos led by reedman Jonathan Doyle.

Here is a photo and video gallery from this Pearl Stable concert/recording event.

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