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Ashland jazz enjoying renaissance MT file photo Martino's Lounge is one of at least nine venues offering jazz in Ashland these days. From left are jazz musicians Joe Cohoon, Dave Swan and Ed Dunsavage. New club will add to revival By Dani Dodge of the Mail Tribune From a single note nine years ago, Ashland's jazz scene has crescendoed into a full forte of musicianship, venues and promise. "There are a lot more jazz dates in Ashland at this point than ever before -- more than even blues or rock," said Gary "Chicken'' Hirsh, musician in the Good Bait Jazz Quintet and a number of other jazz configurations. "There's more energy in the scene." After the closure of night spots such as Jazmin's and the Vintage Inn in the '80s, the jazz scene died out in the area, musicians say. Other than Jim Quinby playing his jazz-influenced piano at Alex's each Sunday, there was nothing. But about six years ago, Martino's added a jazz combo to its Monday evenings. Then, Evo's Java House brought in a group on Sunday nights. And the resurgence was on. Now there are at least seven Ashland restaurants and bars featuring jazz on their menus. On another high note for jazz aficionados, builders Allan Sandler and Ed Bemis -- of the Kat Wok fame -- are building a club devoted solely to jazz and blues on an empty Lithia Way lot across from Copeland Lumber. David Walper, who will be one of the owners, tentatively has named it the Mojo Cafe and said he hopes to open this spring. The Mark Antony, with a new stage and dance floor, will reopen about the same time. Walper said his club will bring in jazz greats such as Chick Corea, George Shearing and duo Tuck and Patty, as well as the likes of blues legend John Lee Hooker. The club will have a New Orleans French Quarter theme inside and out. Creole and Cajun food will dominate the menu. It will seat between 150 and 200 people. "The thing that will set us apart is we will be built for live music," Walper said. "There will be good lighting and a good sound system. A big stage. A roomy dance floor." He expects the club to fill the gap between the smaller restaurants and bars now offering jazz, and larger venues such as the Britt Festival or the Craterian Ginger Rogers Theatre. "There's nothing else like this in Southern Oregon," he said. He notes, though, his establishment is "just part of the wave" in Ashland's jazz revival. Some -- including Jim Quinby, a fixture in the Ashland jazz scene for decades -- credit part of the most recent renaissance to a new, younger group of players who arrived in Ashland this past year. The Om Jazz Trio, three 20-somethings from New Jersey, has been attracting younger audiences to its frequent gigs, which includes Sunday afternoons at the bohemian Evo's Java House. "The jazz is really great because the young people who had never been exposed to it are really liking it," said Evo's owner, Jane Almquist. "They hang out for awhile and listen. And you can't help but like the guys. "They put out a lot of good vibes." Om's drummer, 23-year-old Ilya Stemkovsky, said he and his group came to Southern Oregon after hearing about Ashland from friends. "We just blindly jumped in the car a couple weeks out of college and came out," he said. "When I thought of Oregon my whole life, I thought it was a vast wasteland of barrenness. I was glad there was fast food and phones." Quinby also credited local longtime musicians for the resurgence because they are stretching the jazz form and attracting larger audiences. Drummer Hirsh -- whose sticks from his days with Country Joe and the Fish are in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame -- mixes traditional jazz up a bit when he plays sexy Latin rhythms with the Back Deck Latin Jazz Quartet Sundays at Standing Stone Brewing Co. Just as the Om Jazz Trio diverts from its traditional jazz at Evo's and Alex's when it performs funky fusion jazz at Kat Wok. "Everything is mixing up together -- it's the best thing that could happen to music" Quinby said. "There are periods when jazz elites itself right out of a job." Well-known jazz pianist and vibraphone player Larry Cavalier travels from his home in Grants Pass to head up a jazz trio at Wild Goose Cafe on Sunday evenings. "I'm more likely to be found playing jazz in Ashland than anywhere else," he said. "Ashland is a relatively sophisticated community and culturally aware. That's why you find it more there than in Grants Pass." Cavalier and others are thrilled with the increasing interest in jazz in Ashland -- especially having a club devoted solely to blues and jazz. Hirsh said the added benefit of having so many venues and an influx of new players is that local musicians are growing. "It's like anything you do, the more you do the better," he said. "The guys I was playing with six years ago are six years better. "There's just so much more going on." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA