Since its inception in 2005, the New Orleans Swing Festival has been continually raising the stakes. Not only have the leading lights in Hungarian ragtime, Dixieland and swing paid their respects to traditional jazz at the Palace of Arts, they have also been joined by outstanding musicians from the region at large and even from across the Atlantic. For the eighth edition of the series, the musical horizon extends from Austria to Finland and from Switzerland to the USA. First up on the Festival Theatre stage is the Antti Sarpila Swing Band, now celebrating its 30th anniversary. The Finnish clarinettist and bandleader was just 18 years old when he founded his swing ensemble, but even then he brought an impressive stylistic authenticity and virtuosity to interpretations of a musical genre that is clearly close to his heart. The secret is to be found in the foundations: his clarinet teacher in the 1980s was the legendary American Bob Wilber, who himself learned every nuance and trick of the traditional jazzman’s trade from the great Sidney Bechet four decades earlier. For Sarpila, the collaboration with Wilber brought important and memorable moments in his career, such as participation in a Benny Goodman memorial concert at Carnegie Hall in 1988, but their work together has also been immortalised in six joint recordings. The way soon opened to Sarpila for musical collaborations with no lesser masters of the genre than Doc Cheatham, Wild Bill Davison, Buddy DeFranco, Vic Dickenson, Scott Hamilton, Jake Hanna, Milt Hinton, Thad Jones, Dave McKenna, Bucky Pizzarelli, Zoot Sims and Frank Wess, as well as stints as a guest musician for the likes of the Count Basie Orchestra and the Metropole Orkest. His stature is reflected in the publication of a biographical work by Hans Westerberg entitled The Swinging Beginning at the turn of the millennium, which contains a complete discography of almost 100 albums.

Presented by: