Firecracker Jazz Band features explosive Dixieland
By Jedd Ferris CITIZEN-TIMES CORRESPONDENT

The Asheville local music scene has taken a turn back to the early 20th century, all thanks to the Firecracker Jazz Band. For more than a year the six-piece ensemble has been shaking down venues with its ambitiously studious interpretation of early New Orleans jazz and Dixieland, turning bars, clubs, and restaurants into the dance halls of the roaring ‘20s.

“People can’t help but dance to it,” says Je Widenhouse, who plays cornet and trumpet. “We just try and bring a good, positive energy to the stage, looking good and sounding good.”

While the band’s increasingly large crowds boogie the night away, they may not realize that they are also getting quite a history lesson. The origin of the music comes from Louisiana’s early years as a French colony, when armies charged down the streets of New Orleans, introducing The French military with drums and horns.

With the later introduction of African rhythms, the music of the Crescent City then evolved into the romping piano-led Dixieland of the Storyville district. Firecracker stays true to this, as well as the 1930s period pop made famous by the likes of Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton.

“We stick to the early 20th century repertoire and we’re always trying to add to what we play,” says Widenhouse. “It’s just so rewarding studying the existing body of work. There’s a lot of music that Louis Armstrong and Django Reinhardt did that’s excellent material to work with, and nobody ever hears this obscure stuff.”

The band started in the fall of 2003 at the hand of some of the area’s most accomplished local players: Widenhouse from the mainstream swing act, the Squirrel Nut Zippers, Joe Edel (sousaphone) of Scrappy Hamilton, Bill Smith (drums) of the Stephanie Morgan Quartet and pianist Reece Gray of the Asylum Street Spankers.

Smith initially formed the group and booked the quartet some weekly gigs at Tressa’s and the now defunct Thibodaux Jones Creole restaurant. After some initial success the band decided to beef up in accordance with traditional line-ups, adding banjoist Jason Krekel, who’s done time with the Larry Keel Experience, Snake Oil Medicine show and his own Mad Tea Party and Earl Sachais, a New York jazz veteran who’s done backing work with Sammy Davis Jr. and Barbara Streisand. read more - Back to news