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Sam Rivers' Jam Sessions
Sam Rivers and the Rivbea Orchestra
What: An open rehearsal.
When: 10 p.m. and midnight, Wednesday.
Where: Will's Pub, 1850 N. Mills Ave., Orlando.
Cost: $8 at the door (age 18 and older).
Call: 407-898-5070.
Monthly Jazz Jam
What: Session with Michael Kramer, Eddie Marshall, Steve Walters, Bobby Brennan and Tom Swartz.
When: Noon-2 p.m. Sunday.
Where: Altamonte Chapel, 825 E. State Road 436, Altamonte Springs.
Cost: $7 donation.
Call: 407-339-5208.
There aren't many legitimate traditions on the Central Florida music scene, but there's the sense that one might be lost when Will's Pub closes its doors for the last time.
On many Wednesday nights for the past two years or so, jazz icon and Orlando resident Sam Rivers has conducted open rehearsals with his Rivbea Orchestra, a rafter-rattling, spirit-lifting routine that unfolds for the final time next week.
Rivers' reputation is well-documented, from his work with Miles Davis to the music that keeps pouring out of him at age 82. In a phone conversation this week, he reports that he has some 400 compositions ready to rehearse and perform, the majority yet to be played for an audience.
Where they might be explored after next week is up in the air.
"We have a lot of options," says Rivers, who will initially relocate his rehearsals to the American Federation of Musicians' Union Hall near Orlando Executive Airport. It offers no spotlights, no stage, no accommodations for an audience, which is fine for the moment.
"I want to work on some new material and some of the material is quite complex, so we'll have to stop now and then," says Rivers, pausing a beat. "Of course, we did that at Will's and a lot of the audience found that really interesting, the complications of a work in progress when it's taken apart piece by piece."
It sometimes seems that the notion of a world-class avant-jazz genius working out material in a neighborhood bar has been taken for granted by local music fans. Turns out that the Rivbea musicians don't feel that way at all.
"The crowds have been great," says saxophonist Jeff Rupert, who also is the director of the Jazz Studies program at the University of Central Florida. "It's like an East Village Pub, but it's in Orlando; a lot of regulars out, and it's a really good hang."
Rupert frequently spies his students in the audience.
"They know about this guy from jazz-history classes, but for them to experience it live is priceless."
While Rivers is looking for another audience-friendly rehearsal spot with the right ambience, the Rivbea Orchestra is keeping busy. The ensemble is playing a Hurricane Katrina benefit show Sunday at House of Blues and will embark on an East Coast tour in October.
Rivers was hospitalized with pneumonia three times in two months this spring and was using a cane this week after a recent fall, but otherwise acts remarkably young:
"I'm really amazed at it myself," he says.
He expects to find another home for "playing music just for the sake of playing interesting music."
Not the end of a tradition, just a brief interruption.
More jazz on tap
I met Michael Kramer about 15 years ago, when the jazz pianist was touring local elementary schools, teaching kids about Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie in his Jazz University program.
Kramer is still playing jazz in a variety of Central Florida bands and on occasional excursions to New York. He also still happens to be one of the nicest guys on the planet, which doesn't apply to everyone with musical talent.
On Sunday, Kramer is playing the monthly jazz jam at the Altamonte Chapel (across from Sam Seltzer's Steak House on State Road 436). The ensemble also will feature reed player Eddie Marshall, trumpeter Steve Walters, bassist Bobby Brennan and drummer Tom Swartz.
The music runs from noon to 2 p.m. and local musicians are invited to jam. A $7 donation is requested at the door.
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