Phil DeGreg's Swan Song?
This weekend could be Phil DeGreg's last performance at the Blue Wisp (at least for a while). The business was sold last week to Ed Felson, bassist and attorney, and three business partners, who bid on it and won.
Today, those of us on the CCM-Wisp listserve got a message from DeGreg, who for 13 years led the house trio, telling us that his relationship with the Blue Wisp is now terminated. Besides playing gorgeous piano, DeGreg was also a dedicated volunteer, who did all the musical bookings, arranged the monthly calendar, sent out press releases (to us) and monthly newsletters (to you), organized special events, and much more. I'm wondering if the Wisp can survive without him.
"For me, my tenure at the Blue Wisp has been a gratifying experience," wrote Phil. He hopes to have a chance to play there again "from time to time."
So, DeGreg and his trio are playing this weekend at the Wisp with a great trombonist, John Fedchock, who was music director for Woody Herman's Orchestra for many years and has made four CDs with his New York Big Band. For more info on him, click here.
After that, the club's bookings look a little sketchy, except that, thankfully, the Blue Wisp Big Band is continuing on Wednesday evenings. Check out the Wisp's new Web site, and do come downtown and support jazz in Cincinnati.
Better than that, come out this weekend and show Phil how much you appreciate what he's done for jazz in our city.
Friday and Saturday, 9 p.m.-1 a.m. $10 cover.
posted by Janelle Gelfand at 4:44 PM
7 Comments:
at 11/13/2007 09:41:00 PM 
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at 11/15/2007 06:04:00 PM 
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at 11/16/2007 08:07:00 AM 
Janelle Gelfand said...
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at 11/16/2007 09:09:00 AM 
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at 11/18/2007 11:36:00 AM 
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at 11/23/2007 02:20:00 AM 
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at 11/23/2007 01:44:00 PM 
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Post a Comment*A huge loss for the Wisp if Phil no longer is music director there. Unfortunate to lose a regular who has an international reputation as he does and who has brought in so many great musicians.
As the producer of the 3 volumes of J Curve Cincinnati Jazz Collection, which featured a plethora of great Cincinnati musicians and bands, as leader of the nationally acclaimed PsychoAcoustic Orchestra, and as the original house pianist at the Wisp in 1978 with Jimmy McGary's group, I feel that I am uniquely qualified to comment upon the dire pronouncement on the future prospects of the Blue Wisp that seem to be stated by the author of this blog. While Phil DeGreg is a fine pianist, there are many other great musicians in this town and the quality of music and booking at the Blue Wisp will not suffer - if anything, more great music will be presented. The new ownership has decided to make a change. The prospects for sustaining jazz in Cincinnati are better than ever. I wish Phil DeGreg the best and welcome the changes. As organist Jimmy Smith said, " Jazz was, is, and always will be!"
Pat, I think you've misinterpreted this completely. Dire pronouncement? I wish nothing but success for the Blue Wisp's future.
I think it's fair to wonder if the club will survive/thrive under untested and inexperienced management when their first move is to oust the man who has held the place together.
"Dire pronoucement" is a pretty over-dramatic interpretation of what Janelle wrote.
what a shame that such a wedge was caused because of a bidding war to gain ownership of the wisp.cincinnati has a minuscule jazz community as it is and cutting 1 of it's best known and most talented pianists off of the blue wisp tree is perhaps the dumbest thing done since the old carousel
fired frank vincent.how many heavy pianists does this city have...really...world class? 3? 2?
and now the wisp dumps one of them?!
way to go "Felton"...
as the new music director of the wisp, i can assure everyone phil degreg is not "ousted."
his band, brasilia, is playing the 2d weekend in february.
he was also offered the gig when
we open for the FIRST time on new years eve. he was already working.
the headliners are free to use any pianist they want. i dont tell the leader who to hire or not hire.
we are bringing in a wonderful vocalist, annie sellick, from nashville and 7 sting guitarist craig wagner from univ of louisville. both have recorded extensively.
on anniesellick.com you can hear her with reknown organist joey defrancesco.
we are negotiating to bring in joey in feb.
cincy symphony violinist paul patterson and his jazz quartet featuring great young drummer anthony lee take over thursdays in dec. thru the end of january.
tuesdays will hopefully bring latin jazz groups from all over.
as will cocktail hour jam sessions for amateur non-collegiate musicians to dust off their axes from college days and feel the joy of playing music again.
jamey abersold coming 12/15.
from 4 nights a week wed-sat for the last 2 years we will open sundays beginning 12/16 with the psychoacoustic orchestra led by pat kelly. followed by tim watson's quartet. tim is a wonderful top professional level bassist with great time and harmonic knowledge as well as technique. he happens also to be a cincinnati police officer. this combination was so unique i felt the city should know about him. the musicians all do.
in january mondays are no longer "dark." every mon is dedicated to college musicians. i am hiring a pro rhythm section to support the young musicians in a nightclub setting.
the ccm combos w/rick van matre and john von ohlen coming in feb.nku will host once every 2 months. xavier and high school bands will also be a part of monday night.
amy lipshutz london a vocalist in nyc who went to walnut hills high is coming in march. so is nyc tenor sax phenom jim snidero.
current negotiations with icon david fathead newman, world reknown larry coryell, fred hersch fresh from his recent carnegie hall performance, nyc guitarist joe cohn and more.
phil is a great musician and gave much of his time to promote music in cincy. but after 13 years as the music director and himself playing piano virtually every weekend for those 13 years, it was time to feature some of the other great pianists in cincy and the rest of the country.
i am committed to keeping jazz alive in cincy and to providing musicians with as many playing opportunities as possible. and dont forget we MUST create this music in a financially responsible way. the listener must come to the club and support the music or it will die out.
so dont pass judgment yet. come and listen to the music and experience the atmosphere. count the additional gigs we create for the professional musicians and the learning environment for the less experienced but similarly dedicated musicians.
write me if you have ideas to enhance the experience of the music we love. or an idea of who to bring in to the club.
give me a year then decide if the wisp has improved.
meanwhile come to the club and SUPPORT it. bring your friends, spend a few bucks on a drink or our new desserts or servatiis pretzels we now sell. buy cd's of the musicians that play there, buy a t-shirt, get on our email list. be a part of the blue wisp. ed felson (aka ed felton) www.thebluewisp.com
Well, I was a bit worried when I read Phil's email about being terminated. In my line of work that means fired; gone for good. Now it does not appear to be that way. Good. Frankly, Phil's group "Brasilia" is what brought me to the Wisp and kept me coming back. This summer, two young visitors from the Czech Republic attended a Brasilia performance with me at the Wisp. They were impressed. I also attended the performance of Santos-Netos when he performed there. I've emailed the people at the Wisp that Latin jazz is something I really enjoy. The more they play the more I'll attend.
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