DIVA carries on the legacy of all-female big bands

Following in the footsteps of pioneering big bands such as Ina Ray Hutton & The Melodears and the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, the DIVA Jazz Orchestra proudly carries on the hallowed tradition of swingin’ all-female outfits.

Hutton, a singer widely known as “The Blonde Bombshell of Rhythm,” led the Melodears from 1934 through 1939.

The Sweethearts – which DownBeat labeled “America’s No. 1 All-Girl Orchestra” – swung from 1937 through 1949 before reuniting for concerts in 1952 and 1980.

‘ u nder-recognized legacy’

“There’s a rich, important and often under-recognized legacy of all-female big bands,” reported National Public Radio as it aired a melodious feature on the DIVA phenomenon. As inheritors of that legacy of all-girl bands, drummer/leader Sherrie Maricle and her 14 musicians are extending that legacy well into the 21st century, and they’re doing it with style and stamina.

Syracuse jazz collector and photographer John Herr calls DIVA “one of the hardestdriving big bands on the scene.” He applauds their “tight section work and assured solos.”

The Washington Post concurs, reporting that Maricle and company “played with the vigor and complexity of the big-time big bands.” Ditto The Hartford Courant which declared that “DIVA’s ensemble sound crackles with clarity, precision and power.”

D i VA at LHS May 12

You can catch that crackling clarity when DIVA headlines the 25th annual Jumpin’ Jazz Jam, at 7 p.m. Friday, May 12 at the Liverpool High School Auditorium, 4338 Wetzel Road, in the town of Clay.

Opening the show will be three of the high-school outfits, the Stage Band, the Jazz Ensemble and the Jazz Lab Band. Tickets cost $10, and are available at ticketspicket.co m ; 315-453-1500.

Over the course of its 30-year history, the DIVA Jazz Orchestra has produced nearly a dozen discs from a “Swingin’ Life” to “Something’s Coming.” In 2018, they concentrated on the original contempt.

Where did that little girl’s adoration go? I was looking at her through a child’s eyes and it was only when I had children of my own and understood the power of that mother-child bond that I began to understand her in even the smallest way.

As a young mother who also worked outside the home, as she had, I complained that I didn’t have enough time to play with my children. She smiled and told me that she never had time to play with us.

“Always so much to do,” she said. I spent a week with her about a month before she died. We did nothing of great import. We ate out at her favorite restaurants, simple family places tucked here and there around St.

Livin’ in Liverpool

russ tarby material band members wrote for “The 25th Anniversary Project” CD. Those tunes –some of which we’ll surely hear here Friday -- include baritone saxophonist Leigh Pilzer’s propulsive “East Coast Andy,” multi-reedist Janelle Reichman’s “Middleground,” trumpeter Barbara Laronga’s “Jami’s Tune,” alto saxophonist Alexa Tarantino’s pensive “Square One” (a showcase for flugelhornist Rachel Therrien and the composer) and pianist Tomoko Ohno’s buoyant “La Americana,” with Sherrie Maricle pushing the beat at the drum kit. Dig it!

The village is gonna be abuzzin’ come Saturday, May 13. Not only is it the village-wide garage sale all weekend, but several groups will get Johnson Park jumpin’ as the Liverpool Community Gardeners and the chamber of commerce host their second annual Dig It with The Arts event, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

A primary vendor will be the Mother’s Day Weekend Hanging Plant Sale on Saturday, sponsored by Liverpool First United Methodist Church, the purple door church at 604 Oswego St.

BTW, the leadership of Liverpool Community Gardeners has recently changed. Founding director Rebecca Battoe has stepped aside, and longtime Liverpool activist Kelley Romano has stepped up. Those two ladies have helped keep Liverpool’s landscape lookin’ good!

And Dig It! Live entertainment! The musical duo the Power of Two will perform folk, rock and country tunes at the park from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Power of Two is husband-andwife Patrick and Gwen McCarroll, who live in Liverpool.

And about a block away, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church is hosting a combined rummage and bake sale, at 210 Hazel St. The sales will continue from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday, May 12 and 13; cash only.

Last word

“Our band comes with a high energy and power, and we’re going to swing you out of your seat.”

–.Sherrie Maricle, bandleader for the DIVA Jazz Orchestra.

Pete. We talked, we listened to the gulls on the beach and watched some TV. I helped her plant flowers in the bed by the side of her house.

She told me that she always wanted to be a nurse, but she had to leave school at the end of the eighth grade to help support her parents. And she loved nice clothes. When you have four growing children and an invalid spouse, money for nice clothes wasn’t possible.

Her vices, she would smile, were romance novels and licorice. She loved her small gardens, always with her favorite portulacas front and center. She was an expert seamstress, like her mother, and we were the recipients of her talents for years. She had a faith in God that was strong, a belief in her children even stronger. We could do no wrong. Ever! She cared for us even