Jazz Wednesdays helped warm winter nights

Local music veteran John Cassel spiced up his decades-long residency behind the grand piano in the lounge at Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe with a duo series this past winter season.

Bassist Will Patton was a frequent guest at the Wednesday night jazz series, featuring selections from the Great American Songbook, often mixed with tunes requested by the crowd.

This reporter and aspiring jazz crooner has often found himself sitting in the elegant lounge, trying not to take up too much room and obviously angling for a chance to sing.

Kinda tacky, I suppose, and presumptuous, but as Cassel works the room you can see the opportunity. He often calls out for requests and has rarely been stumped, letting those in the lounge bask in the good vibes of the past — but not always that far back in it. Months ago, as Cassel played a continuous set of solo standards, I was at a loss to identify the moody, dark strains of a piece he was playing with a classicist’s intensity. Eventually, I realized he was improvising on the main theme from the newest James Bond movie.

“Poaching” is a common term used by alpine skiers and riders for those moments when the snow behind a roped-off trail is just too nice to resist. In mid-March, Cassel graciously gave this reporter a chance to lift the proverbial rope and poach a version of Duke Ellington’s “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore.” It was fitting; anyone who’s seen Cassel play says the same thing: “Why don’t I find myself up at the Trapps lounge more often?”

The Winter Duo series was an attempt to do just that — draw local folks up to the show — and an apology is in order for my failure to spread the word until now. My own selfish desire to play with one of our area’s best musicians clouded my judgment at the high altitude of the Trapps lounge. Sorry seems to be the hardest word, which I bet Cassel knows.

The final planned “Jazz Night” of the season kicked off in late March, and it was one of the best shows yet. People at a lounge come not so much for the show but mainly to relax. Cassel explained this to me once: “You’ve got to hold their attention,” he said before a pause. “But not for too long.”

I understood. At the Trapps lounge, you can often see people react to the first notes of a favorite tune, but then divert their attention to their company, or even just the warmth of the fire, closing their eyes to bask in the cozy atmosphere. But, during the last show of the winter, the room had an extra glow.

Clyde Stats played bass that night. I was delighted when, after a quick run through “The Birth of the Blues,” Cassel, who’d seen me mouthing the words, motioned me up for the vocal. Mouthing the words, it turns out, is easier than actually singing them. A favorite of my mom and dad, it’s one of those familiar tunes to which you know half the words of each line — at least if you’re me.

After bounding up I had to ask, “First ... line?” “They say some people...” Cassel said, leaning over as he and Stats ripped through a rousing arrangement. “Some people long ago,” I began, “were searching for a different tune — one that they could croon.” And I was on my way for another few lines before Cassel had to help again.

Later, with the closing number announced and the audience thanked, Cassel and Stats worked out the first bar of Thelonious Monk’s “Blue Monk,” and simultaneously nodded in a “got it” manner. But they were interrupted in the brief pause by a request, and Cassel quickly changed course. “The old Glenn Miller number,” he said to Stats, and they were off into Miller’s “Moonlight Sonata.”

An older couple was seated at a neighboring table, and one rose and presented to the other. The partner rose with a concentrated effort and made the yard’s difference between them in a quickened shuffle before dropping into the settled position of the slow dance and swaying to the familiar melody. The scene, and the expert playing of the music, moistened this reporter’s eyes.

Afterward, the performer’s grace was evident as I made my final gaff. “I really liked ‘Moonlight Sonata,’” I said. Without a beat missed, Cassel said, “Moonlight Serenade.” I had simply confused Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor with the 1939 big-band classic. An easy mistake for the knowledgeable, if not “studied.”

Cassel plays up at the Trapps lounge almost nightly, offering everything from classical to jazz to pop to rock to something heard on the radio on the way in. He says he’s open to continuing the series, and we at the Performer’s Journal hope there will be many more “Jazz Nights” for local music fans and long-term lovers.

John Wilson is a comedian, singer and former lift attendant at Stowe Mountain Resort. Comment on this article at stowereporter.com, or email letters to news@stowereporter.com.