JAMIE LEE CARDY SWINGS ACROSS REGION,
Jamie Lee Cardy knows how to swing, baby!
He plays saxophone and flute in two local swing dance groups, The Iron Tonic Band and Uptown Sound.
The Kitchener-based musician says he started playing jazz as a way to mix with a different crowd, make new friends, and have some fun. “But now it has really become the whole bane of my existence,” says Cardy with a laugh.
“To be honest, I really did not get into jazz standards until four or five years ago. My first real jazz influence was Frank Zappa. I got my hands on some bootleg tapes of the Boston Globe Jazz and Blues Festivals. It was just phenomenal what Zappa was doing with Captain Beefheart on trumpet,” says Cardy. “That was my first taste of jazz fusion and from there it just snowballed into this huge love for jazz.”
He started playing alto sax three years ago, and decided to learn the flute as well, which has similar fingering.
“I felt that the alto sax best described me, my personality and my voice as well,” says Cardy. “When I used to sing in the choir through Grades 6 to 8, they put us through a test to find out where your best range was. I thought, well, if I am going to sing through my horn it had better be in my range, right?”
He says his first taste for flute came from listening to progressive rock band Jethro Tull.
The Iron Tonic Jazz Band features band leader Dave Trinh on clarinet, Cardy on alto and flute, Caleb deGroot-Maggetti on piano, and Gethyn Beniston on bass.
“We are a New Orleansbased jazz band and we hold swing dance workshops,” says Cardy. “We play for swing dancers and other swing dance communities and we have just started taking our act on the road.”
The band is also hosting a “Winter House Blues” party. “It gives our students a chance to come out and mingle with each other and show us some of the dance moves they have learned,” says Cardy. “Then they can hear some of the music that we have been working on as well. This gives us an opportunity to debut stuff that might not be perfect for a public venue. It’s like ‘wood shedding,’” says Cardy, adding that Iron Tonic also plays the Adult Recreation Centre once a month.
“There’s an introductory swing lesson and a cover charge for the dance afterwards.”
Cardy’s other unit, the Uptown Sound quintet, recently became the resident band for the weekly Monday Night Swing at the Hepcat Swing Community Dance and Music Studio in Waterloo, stepping in for the now-retired Hepcat Hoppers. a.k.a. the Hepcat Swing Band.
“They were a great band swinging it up and creating awesome music for several years,” notes Cardy. “We threw them a farewell party with a guest list as long as your arm. After Hepcat Swing retired, Uptown decided to step in.”
Uptown Sound features Cardy on alto sax/jazz flute, Toronto musician Bob Cotter on bass, John Nevin on piano, Steve Montgomery on drums, and Antonia Mohilla on vocals.
When he has the time, Cardy also likes to play local music jams, including the monthly open stage jazz jam held at The Jazz Room hosted by Robin
Habermehl and Steve Montgomery. This is a way for Cardy to hone his saxplaying chops, meet more local players, share ideas, improvise and basically jam out in front of an audience.
Uptown Sound is also part of a new comedy night called “Kickin’ It Old School,” hosted by young comic Nathan Teixeira that just started at The Jazz Room.
“This is a comedy show featuring some of the hottest Ontarian talent that is on the comedy circuit today,” proclaims Cardy. “It is a free show and it runs every two weeks so it would be two Thursdays a month. Uptown Sound will be opening for them and there’s a possibility of a free intro swing dance lesson as well. We are still trying to work that part of it out,” he adds.
“Uptown Sound loves playing together and we don’t play as often as we would like. So doing this new show gives us a chance to play more often and get warm again.”