Arioli snares herself a swingin’ big sound

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This article was published 03/06/2002 (8716 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

IT’S minimalist, intimate and it sings and swings.

The Susie Arioli Swing Band (it’ll be a trio when it hits here) performs for three nights at the Jazz Winnipeg Festival and you can expect some good acoustic swing from singer (and snare drum player) Arioli, guitarist Jordan Officer and bassist Shane McKenzie.

Arioli first heard jazz at home. “My parents had a nice collection,” she said in a phone interview from her Montreal home. That collection included Ray Charles, Nina Simone and early Billie Holliday. “It was natural for me to have the music in the house and sing along to it.”

She did try other types of music first, then began singing jazz tunes at jam nights, where she met Officer, then a blues player. “We encouraged each other to keep up this stuff.”

If a trio seems like an unlikely configuration for a swing band, nobody told these musicians.

“It’s easy to get a big sound with minimal instrumentation,” Officer said. The band’s latest disc, Pennies From Heaven on the Justin Time label, uses four pieces for the most part, which Officer says gives a little more musical support, in a way. But he likes the freedom of a trio “for dynamics and how to develop a song.”

“I like being able to do four-piece and trio; different things happen,” Officer said.

Arioli and Officer, who have performed together for a half-dozen years, used to go and see each other’s shows and went to jam nights at clubs together, he said. At one of those jams, they put a band together because a club owner needed to hire one.

They put together whatever they could, Officer said, but “Susie playing snare just made it. We found our sound.”

Susie Arioli Swing Band performs June 20, 21 and 22 at Pockets Bar & Grill. The Jazz Winnipeg Festival runs June 14-22; tickets available at Ticketmaster, 780-3333.

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Trumpet great Clark Terry closes out the Asper Foundation Jazz Performances series when he performs two shows at the Berney Theatre on Sunday, 1 p.m. and 8 p.m., with the Ron Paley Quartet.

It is Terry’s second appearance in the three-year-old series and the living jazz legend, in his 82nd year, can always be counted on to swing, sing and entertain the house. Tickets at Ticketmaster, 780-3333.

Next season’s Asper series, the fourth, is shaping up well, including an act that is a bit of a surprise for the generally old-school lineup. The T.S. Monk Sextet will perform March 9 and while the son of that other Monk isn’t exactly an exponent of free jazz, he’s not a name that would readily come to mind. The drummer will perform his own tunes as well as those of his legendary father. It should be an excellent show.

Other acts include: season-opener pianist Junior Mance (Oct. 6); pianist and vocalist Buddy Greco (Nov. 3); cabaret singer Barbara Carroll, with bassist and singer-songwriter Jay Leonhart (April 13); Bill Charlap Trio (May 4); tenor saxophonist Scott Hamilton, with the Ron Paley Trio (May 25); pianists Dick Hyman and Derek Smith (June 8) and pianist Adam Makowicz in solo and trio formats (June 16).

Mance performed beautifully in this series a couple of years ago; Hamilton can swing, swing, swing; and Bill Charlap’s latest disc, a tribute to Hoagy Carmichael, is simply great.

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Guitarist Jeari Czapla, a former Winnipegger billed as the only aboriginal jazz musician in Canada, will perform in Winnipeg from June 12-15 fronting a trio that includes a couple of ex-pat E.K. boys.

Edmonton-based Czapla, Gordon Graber on drums and David Graber on bass perform at the Royal George (June 12), Eddie’s Garage (June 13), Academy Coffee Company (June 14) and the Pyramid Cabaret (June 15). Guitarist Chet Breau will sit in with the band, Czapla said.

The band hasn’t played at home in 10 years, the guitarist said, and will perform again at the North American Indigenous Games this summer.

chris.smith@freepress.mb.ca