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Southern Fried Jazz Band
Southern Fried Jazz Band stirs the appetites of its audience with some of the most authentic and refreshing Dixieland music available anywhere.
The band is led by veteran trumpeter, Don Edwards, whose extensive career includes performances backing the Dixieland legends, including Louis Armstrong and the World’s Greatest Jazz Band. Don also shared the stage with many legends during his tenure in Las Vegas, including Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Mel Torme, Sarah Vaughn, Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack.
With impressive resumes reflecting famous Big Band tours and early New Orleans jazz club shows, the experienced members of this 8-piece ensemble include three horn players, four rhythm musicians and a female vocalist.
Each member is a show-wise performer and artist in his own right who enjoys some time in the spotlight, and has learned to welcome and expect the unexpected from Edwards. This results in a freshness and excitement in each and every performance that is contagious to see and hear.
The band’s first CD, It’s What’s Cooking, received considerable air time on local radio before it was picked up by the legendary George Buck in New Orleans who has featured several of Southern Fried Jazz Band’s songs on his nationwide Jazzology radio show.
Attempting to immerse audiences in “that Dixieland state of mind” during each live performance, the band plays spirited versions of the classic Dixieland tunes such as Bill Bailey and Sweet Georgia Brown as well as the old favorites like Give Me Your Kisses. Their programs include a flavorful recipe of instrumentals spiced with vocals and stirred with lots of seasoning and spontaneity. These ingredients have launched Southern Fried Jazz Band from the Piedmont foothills of North Carolina into the national spotlight.
Everywhere these veterans of Dixieland and Jazz grace the stage they receive rave reviews. Their exceptional performance and contagious enthusiasm cause the most conservative audience to demand an encore.
Having watched the decline of that vibrant era in music in recent years, Edwards uses the Southern Fried Jazz Band as a vehicle to show how vital good jazz is to the nation’s landscape. Representing total entertainment on one level, the current show also serves to educate its audience through both music and narration. From its beginnings on the levees of Louisiana up the Mississippi to the early jazz clubs in Chicago, it tells the story of how early Jazz developed into the only art form America has given the world. This is accomplished through both music and narration that help people share in an experience that is an important part of the nation’s past, present and future.
Along with its show, the band has outreach programs for jazz students at all educational levels designed to motivate and expand the horizons of the students. It offers both mini concerts and clinics tailored to the particular age group and performance level of the students involved.
For kids and grown-ups alike, each performance of the Southern Fried Jazz Band evolves into an experience to be remembered long after it has left the stage. Instrumentals are stirred with lots of seasoning and spontaneity into a tasty recipe that never fails to “WOW” its audience. It was these ingredients that launched Southern Fried Jazz Band from the Piedmont foothills of North Carolina into the national spotlight in short order.
To view the accolades from audiences that Southern Fried Jazz has received, , stop the audio player in the upper right corner of the page, and click on the "play" button in the video below.