Jerry Rife's Rhythm Kings at 1867 Sanctuary At Ewing

$20 General Admission, $15 for members of the New Jersey Jazz Society or Friends of the 1867 Sanctuary, $5 for school and college students. Tickets available online and at the door.

"A traditional band in swing style."

Jerry Rife's Rhythm Kings Jazz Band was organized by Jerry Rife in 1984 and was modeled after several bands including the Great Lakes Rhythm Kings, Rife's band in Wisconsin, Lou Mercuri's popular Dixie Devils from Burlington,NJ and the legendary Chubby Chatten Jazz Band. We continue to be inspired by the recordings of the great early bands of New Orleans, most notably the New Orleans Rhythm Kings and the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. From our first concerts together, we were committed to the hot-jazz style of performance prevalent in the post World War II dixieland jazz bands that became known as "revival dixieland." This style of jazz was a reaction to bebop jazz and a return in repertoire and concept to the roots of New Orleans Jazz....

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$20 General Admission, $15 for members of the New Jersey Jazz Society or Friends of the 1867 Sanctuary, $5 for school and college students. Tickets available online and at the door.

"A traditional band in swing style."

Jerry Rife's Rhythm Kings Jazz Band was organized by Jerry Rife in 1984 and was modeled after several bands including the Great Lakes Rhythm Kings, Rife's band in Wisconsin, Lou Mercuri's popular Dixie Devils from Burlington,NJ and the legendary Chubby Chatten Jazz Band. We continue to be inspired by the recordings of the great early bands of New Orleans, most notably the New Orleans Rhythm Kings and the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. From our first concerts together, we were committed to the hot-jazz style of performance prevalent in the post World War II dixieland jazz bands that became known as "revival dixieland." This style of jazz was a reaction to bebop jazz and a return in repertoire and concept to the roots of New Orleans Jazz.

One trait we share with the early traditional jazz bands is our commitment to ensemble jazz. Collective improvisation is the trademark of our music especially in the heads, and extended out choruses. Each member of the band improvises solos, but under the solos you will hear background riffs that continue tot ensemble sound of the heads and recall the integrated, dense style that characterizes music early jazz music. Our stylistic trademarks are fresh rhythmic vitality regardless of tempo, close melodic interaction in the front line instruments, spontaneous or spur-of-the-moment arrangements, and a solid swing rhythm section with emphasis given to beats two and four.

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