Skyler Hagner alto sax, with the Galvanized Jazz Band
The Galvanized Jazz Band was one of the first Jazz Bands to bring New Orleans Traditional and Dixieland Jazz into the New England area.
Fred Vigorito cornet, Russ Whitman clarinet alto sax, Bill Sinclair piano, Bob Bequillard drums, Art Hovey tuba/string bass, Craig Grant trombone, Cynthia Fabian vocals.
They immediately set sparks flying with a feisty Oh Baby. Louis’s Hot 5 – 1920’s set the stage for all that came after, Louis’s Sunset Café Stomp.
Fred Vigorito drives the band with his hot, dynamic cornet. His major influences were Louis Armstrong, Kid Thomas, Kid Howard, Wild Bill Davison, Bobby Hackett, Muggsy Spanier, Ruby Braff. No wonder.
With a variety of instruments, versatile Russ Whitman is one of the most sought after reed men in the business. He’s played with Jimmy Dapogny’s fabulous Chicago Jazz Band.
Louis Prima wrote their next tune in1946, Sunday Kind of Love
Craig Grant began playing Dixieland while attending Harvard University, first at Boston’s Red Garter with banjoist Joel Schiavone, then at several of Joel’s ‘Your Father’s Mustache’ clubs in Mass, NJ and NY.
Bill Sinclair has an incredible feel for New Orleans jazz and plays from the heart. He drives the rhythm section.
The rhythm boys drive the band…
Bob Bequillard
Art Hovey
This was Bob Bequillard’s 80th birthday!! Bob still pushes the band with a sturdy, dependable beat.
Art Hovey also has a solid beat, whether on tuba or string bass. Art has been playing tuba since he was a teenager. He became a high school physics teacher, but his love has always been Traditional Jazz. He spends a great deal of time impressing young musicians with his enthusiasm for the music. Some of his protégées are already playing professionally – see young Skyler Hagner playing saxophone with the band above, and with Jordan & Friends.
Cynthia Fabian sang her own version of a traditional African American spiritual, most famously recorded by Sister Rosetta Tharpe in late 1944, Strange Things Are Happening Every Day. It was really something romantic to dance to.
Cynthia is an amazing vocalist from the Blue Lights Jug Band, and has been singing off and on with the Galvanized J.B. for many years, giving new life to old melodies.
You Gotta See Your Mama Every Night or You Can’t See Your Mama At All, A Good Man is Hard to Find
She put heart and soul into Crazy, a tune Willie Nelson wrote in 1961, and made famous by Patsy Cline.
Driven by Freddy’s vigorous cornet, the band continued with a barn-burning Wrought Iron Rag, and closed with a sizzling Fidgety Feet.
The Galvanized Jazz Band plays stimulating, revitalizing jazz. They played at the Millpond Taverne in Northford Connecticut for 25 years. Now well into their 41st year, the band plays at various venues around Connecticut, and on the 3rd Sunday of the month at Aunt Chilada’s in Hampden, CT.
New England Traditional Jazz Plus 