The John Hunt Jazz Band is a collection of solid professional musicians
dedicated to the performance of Jazz. The vast experience of these players
allows us to play music across the broadest spectrum of American Popular Song
from traditional to swing, jump blues, be-bop, and beyond. Our particular
interest and area of concentration is Swing Music of the 1930’s and 1940’s. This
was the golden age of American music, created by the confluence of three
elements:
1) great composers writing for the musical theater and the movies
2) great instrumental and vocal innovators performing night after night in concerts, dance halls, night clubs, and recordings
3) the technological development of movies, recordings, and radio making the various strands of popular culture available to the broadest audience.
To demonstrate the greatness of this era one has only to list a few names :
Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, George and Ira Gershwin, Billie Holiday, Louis
Armstrong, Cole Porter, Benny Goodman, Cab Calloway, Rodgers and Hart, Jack
Teagarden, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Irving Berlin, Lester Young, Count
Basie, Fred Astaire…….only the tip of the iceberg. During the 30’s and 40’s
these and hundreds of others I haven’t lingered to name created a cultural
explosion, a vital outpouring of energy into a song-and-dancin’,
sweet-romancin’,finger-poppin’, lindy-hoppin’, honey-huggin’, jitter-buggin’,
sassy-swingin’, ring-a-ding-dingin’ glorious musical sensation, that very
quickly swept the nation, and then laid hold of all creation !
It is our great privilege in the John Hunt Jazz Band to play this music. It
is our hope that you will enjoy it as much as we do
Our Leader
John Hunt has been a professional musician since 1967. While attending Tulane
University he began playing trombone in various Dixieland Jazz establishments on
Bourbon Street in New Orleans. He was a charter member of the New Orleans Saints
band. Starting in 1969 a two year hitch in the U.S. Navy interrupted his music
career.
In 1971, following his release from active duty, John returned to his home
near Houston, Texas and for the next three years studied music, first at Lee
College (Baytown) then at the University Of Houston. From 1971 through 1981 he
made his living playing music in a wide variety of styles and venues: Swing,
Dixie, Society Dance Orchestra, Symphonic, Soul, Rock & Roll, Country;
playing at concerts, dances, private parties, theaters, country clubs, picnics,
and of course a lot of night clubs.
In late 1981 the band John was working in disbanded following the theft of
his van and several thousand dollars worth of instruments and equipment. Like
many people before him, he decided to start fresh in California. He arrived in
San Francisco in March 1982 with no money and quickly started playing on the
street with the San Francisco Medicine Ball Band. From that toehold he gradually
became well established in the club and casual scene. From then until the
present he has worked numerous casuals throughout Northern California as well as
steady engagements: 5 years with the San Francisco 49ers Band, 13 years at the
Gold Dust Lounge, and 2 1/2 years at the New Orleans Room of the Fairmont Hotel
with Don Neely’s Royal Society Six.
In 1998 this thirty-one year musical journey culminated in the formation of
the John Hunt Jazz Band , a group of solid professionals dedicated to the
continuance of the great American Jazz and Swing tradition played with
enthusiasm and joy
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