Founded in January, 1980 by drummer John Von Ohlen and trumpeter Don
Johnson, the Blue Wisp Big Band got its start in and its name from the
late Blue Wisp Jazz Club. Von Ohlen, a native of Indianapolis, moved
to the CINCINNATI area after many years on the road playing with world
class jazz orchestras, most notably those of Stan Kenton and Woody
Herman.After hearing all of the fine musicians in the area, he felt
there was a need to form a group because most of them “weren’t
playing any jazz, which is the reason they started playing in the
first place.” He felt the desire to start a “world-class big band
and wanted to put it in a tavern, a beer joint.”
Don Johnson, who had been on the Cincinnati scene for years, suggested
which instrumentalists should play in the band. Von Ohlen states,
“Don was the horn connection.” Pianist Steve Schmidt and bassist
Michael Sharfe were already playing with Von Ohlen at the Blue Wisp,
in the Steve Schmidt Trio, Wednesday through Saturday nights, so the
rhythm section was easily formed.
Von Ohlen remembers approaching Paul and Marjean Wisby, the original
owners of the Blue Wisp, with the idea, “Wednesday is a slow night.
Why don’t we bring in a big band and blow the roof off the place. It
worked real good.”Since its inception, the Blue Wisp Big Band has
been the top jazz orchestra in Cincinnati. The hard bop-oriented big
band started recording in 1981: first, an LP sponsored by the
Cincinnati television station, WKRC and then four for the Mopro label,
founded by Fred and Helen Morr, in the 1980’s. The Mopro LP’s were
reissued in the mid -’90s on two CDs on the California label, Sea
Breeze, with one of the sets recorded in Los Angeles during a West
Coast tour in 1984. Through the devoted and hard work of Helen Morr,
the LP’s were distributed around the country and Europe, garnering
notice, good reviews and airplay around the world. Among the group’s
more notable members were trumpeter Tim Hagans and bassist Lynn
Seaton.
The band continued to perform at the Blue Wisp Jazz Club in Cincinnati
on Wednesday nights until its closure in the summer of 2014.After a
six month tenure at Japp’s Annex in downtown Cincinnati, and a short
stint at Pirate’s Den in Westwood, and three years at the Urban
Artifact in Northside, the band has a new home at Caffè Vivace in
Walnut Hills playing on Wednesdays from 8:00 p.m. until 10:30 p.m.
$10 DRINK MINIMUM charged per person in party if the total for
beverages purchased by the party does not meet the minimum.
_IMPORTANT NOTICE: __If you do not check-in by the start of the show,
your reserved seat will not be held._
concerts
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05/03/2020 Last update