Photos: Rudy Lu

Sometimes the senior members of our music community pass on their love of the music quietly and with the help of younger generations.

Joe Sorrentino just turned 92 and at the end of last season, he expressed his desire to contribute to Jazz on Jay. He got his wish on August 1, the series was moved to the GE theater to prevent the heat and humidity from interfering with the band and audience.

Joe appeared with a spare kit of snare drum, 2 cymbals and a high hat and masterfully accompanied his quartet through a series of old time dixieland and swing jazz.

He has never been a flashy drummer, preferring to support the other musicians on the bandstand. He was mostly playing with brushes, so the beat was soft, subtle and needless to say swinging! But yes, he did play a few solo breaks.

Guitarist Crick Diefendorf was the spokesperson introducing the tunes and sharing with us the history of the band. Tyler Giroux provided piano for the set and Bobby Kendall provided the bass for the band.

As the main theater was featuring a matinee of Tina, part of the waiting crowd for that show stopped in to hear some of this performance.

As if to show us all, the music was danceable. A young boy enthusiastically danced to the music with Betsy Sandberg as his partner!

The performance next week will be trumpeter/ flugelhornist Terry Gordon and his band. Hope to see you there,

Much thanks to Proctor’s for providing a backup space for this performance.

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