Oakland County

Jazz quintet finds fans in Oakland retirement communities

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It is a Tuesday night at Piedmont Gardens, a retirement group in Oakland, the place about two dozen residents collect in an eleventh-floor lounge. It is a particular night for the residents as they’re about to be handled to a reside jazz present courtesy of the Bob Roden Quintet.

Bob Roden and his bandmates, Ron Jackson, Mark Rossi (filling in for Larry Walter), Jamie Dowd and Richard Freeman, are playing shows not only at various traditional music venues in the Bay Area because the quintet fashioned eight years in the past, however since 2019 additionally in retirement communities in Oakland, Albany and different close by cities.

Roden calls Piedmont Gardens “house base” for the band. A lot in order that the quintet will play its fourth New 12 months’s Eve present there in December. In any case, the healthcare establishment was the primary the place they ever performed.

Band member Larry Walker made the connection that began the performances within the gardens. Walker volunteered on the care group and commonly performed piano for the residents. Walker invited Roden to play trombone, and from there they made a deal to have the quintet come and play.

Mark Rossi performs piano whereas the Bob Roden Quintet performs for the attentive viewers. Credit score: Estefany Gonzalez for The Oaklandside
Richard Freeman, left, performs drums with the quintet. Credit score: Estefany Gonzalez for The Oaklandside

“I instantly found that the senior facility was like a live performance surroundings. Residents weren’t there to return in and discuss to one another. They arrive, sit within the chair, take a look at you and hear,” Roden stated. “That in itself led to a sure degree of involvement that’s good on my half. And also you add that we play music from their period, and so they love that. They do not hear it that always.”

Earlier than every music on the night’s setlist, Roden shares details concerning the composition. The opening music was “A Foggy Day,” which Roden defined was first launched within the 1937 movie “A Damsel in Misery.”

When Roden began enjoying the trombone, heads began transferring and ft tapped on the ground.

Roden is aware of his viewers and understands that the residents are jazz followers who know all the old fashioned classics.

From the beginning of the present, 90-year-old Corky Wick was one of the crucial attentive viewers members. She sang alongside to each music and rocked backwards and forwards in her chair.

“I do know many of the phrases; the music is from my period,” Wick stated. “I needed to stand up and dance, however I could not. I can not even stroll proper now, but it surely feels good to maneuver.”

Corky Wick, 90, middle proper, sings alongside because the Bob Roden Quintet performs. Wick has lived in Piedmont Gardens for over a yr and placed on her mom’s orange coat for the event. Credit score: Estefany Gonzalez for The Oaklandside
Jamie Dowd performs bass and has been with the quintet because the band’s inception. Credit score: Estefany Gonzalez for The Oaklandside

At 73, Roden is a music veteran, as evidenced by the vary of musical devices he performs, together with the trombone and guitar, and by the jazz songs he has chosen for the quintet to carry out that night.

One other music residents sang out loud was “On the Sunny Facet of the Road,” launched in 1930 and first recorded by Ted Lewis. Notable artists corresponding to Louis Armstrong, Billie Vacation and Ella Fitzgerald additionally coated the music throughout their careers.

Roden began his music profession on the age of 18 in Los Angeles, enjoying at a number of Vacation Inn motels, after which went on to play bass for Italian singer Frankie Fanelli. From then on, as his identify turned recognized, he joined the band Sidro’s Armada, which earned him a spot within the Vegas Corridor of Fame. Roden later fashioned one other band, however a vocal damage pressured him to pause his music profession.

Roden then took a tough flip. He went again to school and acquired a legislation diploma, which led to him finally working within the authorized division of Bay Space giants LucasFilm and Pixar.

the setlist of the Bob Roden quintet

“Foggy day”
“I am only a comfortable so-and-so”
“Harlem Nocturne”
“On the sunny aspect of the road”
“On the Groene Dolfijnstraat”
“Vaccinated girl”
“To Tom Particular”
“Moonglow”
“Loopy”
“The place or when”
“Because the Saints March In”

Throughout his time at Pixar he turned concerned in screenwriting. After Disney acquired Pixar in 2006, he realized he not needed to observe legislation.

It was round this time that his buddies from Sidro’s Armada contacted him to let him know that the band had been chosen for induction into the Las Vegas Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame. Roden was a part of the inductees and the band reunited for a present.

After the reunion present, Roden’s spouse, Sherry, inspired him to take music classes the place he might meet different musicians. Then he enrolled on the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley, also referred to as the Jazz College.

“In one of many courses, a gaggle of scholars acquired collectively who simply sounded notably good, and we determined to make all of us right into a band as a result of we sounded actually good,” Roden stated.

Throughout the October 14 live performance, Roden made certain his bandmates confirmed off their expertise with solos. Alto saxophonist Ron Jackson sang a solo for the music “Harlem Nocturne,” because the viewers was mesmerized by the nice and cozy and raspy melody.

Buddies Linda Blackstone, 82, middle proper, and Ann Whalley, 79, clap as Bob Roden Quintet performs for residents. Credit score: Estefany Gonzalez for The Oaklandside
Ron Jackson performs “Harlem Nocturne” on alto sax. Credit score: Estefany Gonzalez for The Oaklandside

After every present ends, Roden and his bandmates at all times stick round to talk and mingle with the residents.

“That is virtually my favourite a part of the evening as a result of they’re all comfortable and grateful and so they need to specific that,” Roden stated.

On the finish of Thursday’s live performance, residents Ann Whalley and Linda Blackstone needed to ensure they might inform Roden how a lot they loved it.

When Blackstone launched himself, Roden instructed her his sister’s identify was additionally Linda. “I will not neglect your identify,” he instructed her.

Blackstone has lived in Piedmont Gardens for simply over three years and has been to each New 12 months’s Eve present the Bob Roden Quintet has performed.

“I really like jazz, and the band is nice,” Blackstone stated. “I appreciated all of the songs they performed tonight.”

Her buddy Ann Whalley, who sat subsequent to Blackstone throughout the present, did have a favourite music from the set listing.

“Harlem Nocturne was my favourite,” Whalley stated. “I really like how simple it’s to return and take heed to jazz.”

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