Pianist and vocalist Toni Blodgett has been the heart and soul of the Victoria traditional jazz community for decades.
In the recently formed Dixie Sweethearts jazz band, she offers a fresh take on the New Orleans-inspired genre with many of her long-time collaborators, including clarinet star Al Pease.
The mastermind behind the band, banjo player and vocalist Avram McCagherty, dug into Victoria’s traditional band culture and hand-picked this all-star sextet last year.
The Sweethearts will bring their playful, fun-loving repertoire to Pat’s House of Jazz in the Osborne Bay Pub on Sunday Oct. 29.
Steeped in the riverboat, Prohibition-era, New Orleans musical traditions, the sextet puts on a show that evokes such traditional jazz greats as Bix Beiderbecke and Louis Armstrong.
McCagherty, also the band’s front man, has a gift for regaling his audiences with an almost endless string of witticisms.
Don Cox is Victoria’s go-to guy for anyone wanting a jazz-playing sousaphonist.
Matt Pease, son of clarinetist Al, plays drums and washboard, and trumpeter Mike Broadley is filling in for regular Patrick Boyle for this show.
The performance is part of the weekly Pat’s House of Jazz series, presented by the Chemainus Valley Cultural Arts Society.
It runs every Sunday from 2 p.m. the Osborne Bay Pub, 1534 Joan Ave. in Crofton.
Admission is $20. For information, phone 250-324-2245 or visit http://osbornebaypub.com.