Soaring Jazz

Wings Of Swing Take Listeners With Their Brand Of Gypsy Jazz To Highest Heaven

SOARING JAZZ:  Wings of Swing, a Chico, CA-based group that plays sweet and hot jazz 1930s style, perform at

a crowded Cafe Flo in Chico on Feb. 11, 2005. Group members are (l-r) Pamela Ohliger, violin; Mark Wilpolht, bass;

Pamela Laughlin, clarinet; and Gordie Ohliger, guitar.

at

Cafe Flo  -  365 East 6th Street  -  Chico, CA

Friday  -  February 11, 2005

by

Stephen Fratallone/Jazz Connection Magazine

       Wings Of Swing know how to make the jazz they play soar. And the throng of jazz enthusiasts who crowded into the diminutive but rustic bohemian-flavored Cafe Flo in Chico on Feb.11 to hear them present sweet and hot jazz 1930s style were taken to the highest heaven.

In the spirit of the Quintet of the Hot Club of France (led by guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stephane Grappelli), the group that pioneered "gypsy jazz" in 1934 that combined a dark, chromatic gypsy flavor with the swing articulation of the period, Wings Of Swing played a gregarious form of the idiom that got toes tapping while making the evening's experience an aural delight.

Guitarist Gordie Ohliger, his wife and violinist, Pamela, clarinetist Pamela Laughlin, and bassist Mark Wilpolht  -  all Chico locals and professional musicians in their own right  -  wasted no time getting into the groove for the Cafe Flo elite. In fact, their overall sound was so infectious, that it only took just a few bars into Sweet Sue, Just You, their opening number, to put smiles on people's faces. 

Pamela Ohliger	Gordie Ohliger

The ensemble's repertoire can best be described as "standard fare"  -  the dusting off those priceless gems from the Great American Songbook and polishing them off with the mesmerizing rhythms associated with the blithe nomadic life of a gypsy.

Gordie Ohliger, an internationally touring multi-instrumentalist, is recognized as the only musician accomplished in all the banjo styles from its 19th century African/Yankee roots to the present. His impressive credentials can be viewed at www.banjoman.info  His swinging guitar and light-hearted mannerisms provide the "backbone" for the group's overall sound.

Pamela Ohliger, a published violin teacher, fiddled up a storm all evening putting her heart and soul into every piece whether it be "sweet" selections such as You Are My Lucky Star and I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me or "hot" tunes like I've Got A Feeling Your Foolin' and Rose Room. She could also get her violin to sound authentically Central European on the Reinhardt-Grappelli composition, Souvenirs or "schmaltzy" on Edith Piaf's signature tune, Vein E Rose. 

Pamela Laughlin, whose brother recorded with Miles Davis, is one of the few clarinetist out there who can play the "licorice stick" in the old traditional jazz style. Her edgy tone complimented her imaginative and swinging play on songs such as Exactly Like You, Stompin' At The Savoy and Jersey Bounce. (Laughlin also plays in the all-female group, Mama's Hotcakes, with Pamela Kather, fiddle/vocals/ piano; Lise Welsh, vocals/guitar/ piano; and Christine LaPado, bass/ vocals. Look for the group perform at Cafe Flo, Friday, March 11, 8-10 p.m., $2 at the door.)

Bassist Mark Wilpolht who has toured Europe extensively as a musician, kept a solid beat going for the group all evening interspersing his ingratiating smile between choruses to fellow band members and audience members alike. He took the vocal spotlight on an original novelty song, Gotta Have That Walkin' Stick, thus bringing down the house.

Mark Wilpolht	Pamela Laughlin

Sitting in with Wings Of Swings on a few numbers was teen guitarist Jimmy Grant, a recent transplant from Grass Valley. Immersed in the Django style of acoustic guitar, Grant wowed the audience with his technical and imaginative techniques on Charleston Swing. This young man can play!

Also joining the band was Henry, a senior who wailed on the chromatic harmonica on a bluesy version of Up A Lazy River.

Jimmy Grant	Henry

Wings Of Swing will perform their infectious music to the college crowd when they perform at California State University, Chico, on Wednesday, March 30 at 12 noon outside in the Free Speech Area as part of the university's Noon Concert series.

*****