JAZZ AND BALLOONS

I look forward to the Old Webster Jazz & Blues Festival every September. I have performed at the festival for eight consecutive years. While I don’t play sax or sing, I’m proud to be a featured artist. While, I don’t occupy space on the main stage; I always have an enthusiastic audience.

As a fan of jazz music, this is a great day for me. I get to make wonderful balloons, entertain my audience and listen to some fantastic music. The bands included the Dogtown Allstars, the Soulard Blues Band, the St Louis Jazz & Blues Revue and the Funky Butt Brass Band. While I didn't get to hear the Funky Butt Brass Band, Michael "Tunes" Brooks says their great. And that's good enough for me.

My own performance was interrupted several times by self-imposed “dance breaks” whenever the music moved me. Of course the crowd didn’t mind as they were usually tapping or snapping or head-bobbing to the beat anyway. Everyone was enjoying the great music and the cool vibe that moved through the air.

The Old Webster Jazz & Blues Festival was founded in 2001 to promote music and culture in the Old Webster Groves Historic District. The festival has been a HUGE success over the years. The event started with a stage at the end of a street and four bands. Every year the festival has grown and now includes two stages on different streets, a kid’s area, food vendors, a jazz clinic, eleven bands and hundreds of music fans. By the late afternoon, the streets are full of folding chairs and blankets and families from miles around.

The organizers hire me to arrive early so I can get a good spot. Far enough from the stage to be able to entertain but close enough to hear every note. I get to listen to classics from the golden age of jazz, the funky rhythms of new age, the big bands, the sultry vocals, the percussion, the fat sax, the brassy horns.

This year, a light rain began to fall in the afternoon. Did the crowd scatter? Did the audience thin out? Not a chance. It was quite a sight seeing the umbrellas pop-up and start swaying to the beat.

Major congrats to the committee: Joe Rath, Jennifer Bellm, Dawn DeBlaze, Mary Chambers, and Katy Sommer. Of course, the biggest thanks to the hardest worker of all: Matt.

See you next year!


Thad James
SAMMY J Balloon Creations
www.sammyjballoons.com
“Balloon entertainment with a twist”