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Music-lovers feast in Medford photos by Bob Pennell Izzy, left, and Mac McNamara of Gig Harbor, Wash., dance to the Pieces of Eight band during the Medford Jazz Jubilee at the Reston Hotel Friday. Jazz Jubilee brings dancers to their feet By Bill Varble Mac and Izzy McNamara Lindy-hop to the big beat of Louis Thomas and his Pieces of Eight Band for the second year in a row. If you ask the Gig Harbor, Wash., couple, the Medford Jazz Jubilee is just about as good as it gets. Guitarist Terence Thomas tours with rhythm and blues star Barry White when he's not with Pieces of Eight. "It's my favorite," says Izzy, 83. "It's tops," says Mac, 75. As good as Sacramento or San Diego festivals, maybe even better, they say. "We've been to a lot of them," Mac says. "We wouldn't come if you couldn't dance," Izzy adds. The dance floor here at the Reston Hotel takes care of that. It's early Friday afternoon, just the start of Medford's annual jazzfest, but the floor fills with swing-dancing couples when the band launches into uptempo numbers like "Kansas City," then quiets as couples push each other around the floor to slow numbers like singer Jerry Brooks' version of "Ebb Tide." It's the kickoff of Jazz Jubilee weekend, but Thomas' classy band has already packed in a good crowd at the hotel. Bill Engel, 81, and Eleanor Hoppe, 76, say they're avid Dixieland fans. Former members of the board of the Arizona Classic Jazz Festival, they'd planned on making the Jubilee but almost abandoned those plans when Hoppe had to have hip replacement surgery three months ago. She got back into dancing shape again, then caught a shoe on the carpet dancing with Engel's granddaughter and took a fall. After all that, being in a wheelchair again couldn't keep her away. "No dancing, but we're enjoying the music," he says. "The beat goes on," she says with a laugh. Mac and Izzy McNamara say there's a good reason people are willing to do whatever it takes to get here. "The best bands," they say. "They have the best bands." The crowd would testify to that after one of Terence Thomas' guitar solos. Terence, 38, is bandleader Louis' son. In his day job he accompanies singer Barry White on tours all over the world. Is it hard to switch between bands? "Not really," the guitarist says. "R&B is so close to the blues. It's just a matter of changing my suitcase when I get back." Thomas had classical music training as a youngster growing up in New Orleans and joined his father's Top 40 band when he was just 14. He's heading to Europe in three weeks with the famously deep-voiced White, next to whom, he says, "my voice sounds like Mickey Mouse." Another star in the band is Jerry Brooks, who spent 20 years with the Ink Spots before joining Pieces of Eight in 1996. "I'm a second-generation Ink Spot," he says. During his tenure with the famed singing group (the only surviving original member, Harold Jackson, is 91), Brooks handled the lead vocal on the group's signature tune, "If I Didn't Care For You." He's cut a new solo album titled "I'll Be There If You Ever Need Me," that's being shopped around major labels. Meanwhile, he's an ambassador for jazz, blues and swing music as much as he is a performer. The band played for 14 Rogue Valley grade schools and two middle schools right before the Jubilee gig. "Our primary objective is to get the little ones to pursue this kind of music," he says. The Jubilee continues with a full slate of music at various venues today and Sunday. Organizer Jan La Joie says that while no specific salute to Jubilee founder Patti Bills is planned, many of the musicians plan dedications to her memory. "We figure she's got the best seat in the house," La Joie says. "She wouldn't miss a beat of this." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA