Free Tuesday in the Plaza Concert

The King Street Giants

When: Tuesday, June 4, 6 – 8 p.m.
Where: Healdsburg Plaza

With their emphasis on the historical, trad-jazz bands sometimes forget that the music is bottom-line about fun. Louis Armstrong certainly understood this, and so do the King Street Giants.

This Sonoma County band playing the Healdsburg Plaza June 4 consists of seven highly-proficient musicians dedicated to early jazz, but the last thing they want are spectators standing around looking serious. The band is animated and can get a bit antic. For example, they do a second-line version of the Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” that’s so amazing it might knock the original right out of your head. For certain it will make you dance – that’s expected with this outfit.

Pitched somewhere between the house band for Keystone Cops studios and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, the King Street Giants can really play, ample evidence for which is on the two CDs streamable on their website, A-Salted and Dressed & Ready to Go. The players are trombonist Jason Thor, clarinetist/tenor saxophonist Casey Jones, alto saxophonist Jesse Shantor, sousaphonist Nick Pulley, banjoist Dan Charles, and drummers Dylan Garrison and Libby Cuffie.

And for a special treat this gig, they will be joined by Sonoma trad-jazz legend Dave Stare, banjo ace with Healdsburg Jazz faves the Russian River Ramblers. You may decide the King Street Giants are a bit goofy. But so was Satchmo, wasn’t he?