Valparaiso welcomes back Original Chicago Five
Original Chicago Five opened Concert Association of Valparaiso’s 75th season in 2017 and have been booked for a return appearance during the 2021-22 season.
The band performs Oct. 8 at First United Methodist Church in Valparaiso.
“It’s a fun experience and a unique experience for us to play an actual concert for people because most of our work is for dances, bars and that kind of thing,” said Andy Schumm, who led Original Chicago Five’s first show for Concert Association of Valparaiso.
“Most of our audiences are not listening audiences so it’s nice to come back and play for people who are interested in the history of music and actually listening.”
Schumm leads Original Chicago Five, who also perform as Chicago Cellar Boys, but he will not be part of the Valparaiso set due to a gig he is scheduled to perform Oct. 5-9 with Mike Davis’ New York Classic Seven at Marians Jazzroom as part of Internationales Jazzfestival Bern in Switzerland.
Pianist and vocalist Paul
Asaro of Chicago’s Rogers Park community serves as bandleader for the Valparaiso concert, which also features fellow Chicago Cellar Boys member and Darien, Illinois, resident John Otto, who performed with Original Chicago Five in 2017, on reeds.
Rounding out Original
Chicago Five’s lineup this time are Natalie Scharf of Forest
Park, Illinois, also on reeds; Jim Barrett of Bensenville, Illinois, on banjo; and Jeff Parker of Chicago on string bass.
“We like to have a mix of songs that are obscure — things that people haven’t heard of before — and also some things that people have heard before,” said Schumm, whose father, Wayne Schumm, grew up in La Porte.
“We like to have a lot of vocals as well because I know that people like to have something that they can connect to. It really feels like modern music even though it’s from 90 to 100 years ago.
“One that we really like to play is called ‘I’ve Got My Fingers Crossed’ and that was recorded by Fats Waller. Our piano player, Paul Asaro, is, in my opinion, the world’s specialist in both singing and piano playing that style.”
Chicago Cellar Boys, who perform from 6 to 9 p.m. Sundays at Honky Tonk BBQ in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood, released their first CD, “Busy ’til Eleven,” in 2019. The title referenced their previous set time of 8-11 p.m. at the family-run restaurant.
The album featured Schumm on cornet, clarinet and tenor saxophone; Otto on clarinet and alto saxophone; Asaro on piano and vocals; John Donatowicz on banjo and guitar and Dave Bock on tuba.
“We like to play music from the 1920s,” said Schumm, of Chicago’s Norwood Park community.
“That means, of course, jazz and also what we used to call hot dance, blues, popular tunes, a couple of rags. We do basically everything that was popular in those days — 1920s and 1930s — and it’s music that happens live in the room.
“It’s music that people are not familiar with typically and when it’s played at a high level, like how we play, it’s extremely exciting and it sounds fresh and not like a museum piece.”
After canceling the rest of the 2020-21 season when closures for the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, Concert Association of Valparaiso returned to live shows on Sept. 17, when Aero Quartet opened the 2021-22 season at First United Methodist Church.
The venue also will host Heartland Marimba Ensemble at 4 p.m. Nov. 14 and pianist Cole Burger playing a Spanish repertoire at a time to be announced on Jan. 28. Concert Association of Valparaiso closes its season with Ball State University Singers at 7 p.m. March 18 at a venue to be announced.
“We want to be your live entertainment provider of choice,” said Christopher S. Ebert, president of Concert Association of Valparaiso, in a statement.
Subscriptions for the 202122 season are $55 for adults,
$15 for ages older than 12, free for ages 12 and younger, $70 for single-parent families and $110 for two-parent families.
Season subscribers also may attend reciprocity concerts by La Porte Community Concert Association at Kesling Intermediate School in La Porte and Portage Township Live Entertainment Association at Portage High School East Auditorium or Woodland Park Community Center’s Sycamore or Oakwood halls.