SSMF Jazz Cats take the stage for the first annual Summer Jazz Camp concert Friday afternoon July 19, 2013 at the LA Exibit Musuem

Several groups of  Shreveport Summer Music Festival Jazz Cats and friends "WOWED" the audience with their melodic and rhythmic jazz cuts this afternoon at the LA. Fairgrounds Exhibit building and Museum. The kids with their instructors have been rehearsing intensely while learning and sharing jazz idioms, reading charts, belting out impromptu solos and playing in ensemble ONLY A WEEK, but I would have believed it to be a whole summer's worth of work.

Sitting about half way back in the audience so I could photograph the various groups, large and small, I was absolutely enthralled and just nostalgic -  had to sing harmony to myself to some of these recognizable lyrical oldies, such as "Bye, Bye Blackbird" (a favorite of my own trio, The Whipple Sisters, long years ago when we were school kids here), Summertime, Ole black Magic and a couple of others.

Be sure you catch the Faculty performance tomorrow evening (Saturday July 20) @ 6:00 pm also in the Fair Grounds State Exhibit Building on Greenwood Rd. Front gates will be open. Come early for easy parking and have a jazz blast.

MORE jazz talk and photos to come

Can't wait until Saturday evening