Toledo Jazz Newsletter April 2025
Toledo Jazz Newsletter
Toledo Jazz Newsletter April 2025
Spring and Jazz Appreciation Month!
Winter is over, spring is upon us and jazz is blooming everywhere. Please remember, April is Jazz Appreciation Month, so get out and support live jazz at the venue of your choice. Here is a link to some cool information on Jazz Appreciation Month: https://americanhistory.si.edu/explore/projects/smithsonian-jazz/jazz-appreciation-month
Happy birthday wishes go out this month to several jazzy performers: Kim Buehler, April Varner, Jeff Halsey, Keith Bernhard, and all the other local jazz players and vocalists who are not on the TJN birthday list.
Jazz Voice Students -- Songs For Our Sister at Lucille’s Jazz Lounge
The Toledo School for the Arts is the area’s premier school for all things artistic and jazz voice is definitely in their wheelhouse. Lori Lefevre is bringing her students to Lucille’s Jazz Lounge on April 10, 2025, to showcase their progress in jazz voice studies. Not only is this a cool gig and a good opportunity for the kids to get on a stage in a real jazz club, but the gig is free; just go online and reserve a ticket. You can’t beat that. Here’s the link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/toledo-school-for-the-arts-jazz-voice-students-present-songs-for-our-sister-tickets-1298113013969?aff=oddtdtcreator
John Pizzarelli with the TJO
The Hartmann Bogan Jazz Series comes to a smashing conclusion this month with the arrival of international jazz phenom John Pizzarelli for a concert with the Toledo Jazz Orchestra on April 12. This gig is going to swing like you can’t believe. Pizzarelli is a guitarist/vocalist and his capacities in jazz are immense. Recently I replayed, several times, one of his CDs, “Dear Mr. Cole,” and it just got better with each listening. Pizzarelli tears into the inside of the song and the chords, moving beyond pure technical facility from the outset. Pizzarelli made the leap to a seven-string axe back around 2010, he can make the intervalic leap seem as natural as breathing, and he will make you leap with joy doing it. He can fuse harmony and melody in novel fashion, and he keeps a bass figure overtop with a deft touch not often achieved. Don’t miss this show!
Tickets: https://www.artstoledo.com/events/2025/04/12/toledo-jazz-orchestra/an-evening-with-john-pizzarelli/227/#BuyTickets
An Afternoon of Jazz Piano
There is an extra special afternoon of jazz happening on April 19, 2025, from 2:00pm – 4:00pm, in the Toledo Center for the Live Arts, which is located at 4747 Heatherdowns Blvd. Now, this show features 5 of the region’s amazing jazz pianists and a bassist! Chris Buzzelli, Pete Ford, John Cleveland, Jeffrey Maxie and Gene Parker will be on keyboards, with special guest Norm Damschroder on the bass. The cats will be holding forth on a Shigeru Kawai concert grand piano, which was a gift from Craig M. Whitaker. Best of all, this gig is FREE!
Get What’s Comin’
Jason Quick just released his latest album, called Get What’s Comin.’ A resident of Toledo, Jason Quick is a guitarist, composer and bandleader who is active making records of original music and playing shows across the region with his group Quick Trio/Quartet. As a jazz guitarist, he has also lately been frequenting jam sessions at Lucille’s, The Golden Road, Parts and Labor, and Spread Art, to name a few. He also performs in a solo act on acoustic guitar and vocals, playing a deeply personal mix of Americana folk and cover tunes by prominent blues artists and rock groups. He’s backed up on this outing on the organ by Ypsilanti-local Galen Bundy, a multi-disciplinary keyboardist, freelance musician and composer. Also, appearing on drums is Travis Aukerman. Hailing originally from Toledo, Aukerman lives in Detroit and has a studio at Spread Art, where he teaches, does shows and hosts a monthly first Thursday jam session. Aukerman is an in-demand freelance jazz drummer and co-leads the performing and recording project Bunkerman with Galen Bundy.
I’ve only managed the time to listen to the first track on the CD, and it grooves, hitting all the right keys, and all of the guys’ skills shine on that track, so it is very good sign for the whole affair. Cannot wait to hear the rest of the selections on the CD. Here is a link to purchase Get What’s Comin’: https://jasonquickmusicproductions.bandcamp.com/album/get-whats-comin
Save the Dates
If I listed all of the cool upcoming gigs in May and June and beyond this newsletter would be 50 pages long. But here are four amazing dates for four special performers to save, for sure. And it just happens that three of the four performers have dedicated chapters in my forthcoming book, Toledo’s Jazz Legacy. First, vocalist Jean Holden will be at Lucille’s Jazz Lounge on May 3, 2025. Holden is one of Toledo’s most beloved vocalists and vocal coaches. She’s been performing around the city since the 1960s and always turns in a crowd-pleasing performance in venues large and small. Second, on May 17, 2025, vocalist Ramona Collins will perform at Lucille's Jazz Lounge. Ramona's live shows are full of great songs, excellent vocal work, wonderful stories, humor and more. She is Toledo's hardest working jazz performer. Third, on May 23, 2025, keyboardist/vocalist, Bill Heid will be performing at Lucille’s Jazz Lounge. Heid has worked with Sonny Stitt, Grant Green, Henry Johnson and others. He toured with Jimmy Witherspoon and John Lee Hooker and other blues greats as well. Heid has been on multiple TV shows and has been included in PBS documentaries. Finally, pianist Larry Fuller will be at Lucille’s Jazz Lounge on June 20, 2025. Fuller trained in Toledo under the great Floyd “Candy” Johnson, who was a veteran of both the Basie and Ellington orchestras. As a kid Fuller performed at Rusty’s and Murphy’s Place and then toured with noted jazz vocalist Earnestine Anderson for almost a decade. Fuller was part of the Jeff Hamilton Trio and was part of the internationally famous Ray Brown Trio. Now he’s running his own group, The Larry Fuller Trio, and that’s just for starters. Get hip, get tickets and get to the shows. Link: https://lucilles.tolhouse.com/
Morning Glories
Local vocalist and educator Ellie Martin, who happens to be one of the world’s leading authorities on Jon Hendricks—after all, she was his graduate assistant, she sang with him, and she wrote a masters’ thesis and a dissertation about Jon—has a new CD coming out in May 2025, titled Morning Glories.
Statue of Jon Hendricks?
NASA took satellite photos for the Toledo Jazz Newsletter this month. It was thought that the resolution of their instruments would find a statue of Jon Hendricks, but sure enough, there is still no statue of Hendricks in Toledo. TJN associates will keep looking; hope springs eternal.
Make sure to check out the graphics below, plus there are two short articles pertinent to Toledo’s history that readers will enjoy.
Please remember to share the newsletter or share the link for a free subscription.
Subscription link:
Thanks for reading the Toledo Jazz Newsletter
Every Monday Night at the Golden Road -- no cover, free parking, and jazz.
Every Tuesday Night at Lucille's Jazz Lounge, no ticket needed, no cover, free parking and tons of jazz.
Every Wednesday night The Tip Jar at Maumee Bay, plenty of free parking, no cover, great jazz.
B-Bop Records Spring Outdoor Sale is set for April 6, 2025, at 1936 N. Cove Blvd., just across from Ottawa Park. [Note: If the weather is uncooperative, the Rain Date is April 26]
April 1925 Announcing the Grand Opening of the Hotel Lorraine
Hotel Lorraine -- 100 Years Ago
You read it here first. April is the 100th anniversary of the opening of the Hotel Lorrain. The Hotel Lorrain, designed by Sidney E. Aftel, the same architect who designed the Ohio Building, opened to great fanfare on April 15, 1925. It offered 150 rooms, with black walnut woodworking found throughout the building. Even the furniture was made of black walnut. There were family suites on the upper floors and single rooms on the lower levels; all rooms were equipped with ice water lines for the summer, when temperatures soared during the age before air conditioning was commonplace. Most of the furniture and even the lamps were specially designed for the hotel. The entry to the hotel was called Peacock Alley and was lavishly decorated and equipped with sumptuous chairs and sofas. The hotel opened with a well-appointed Coffee Shop, with linen-covered tables and ultramodern equipment. The Hotel Lorraine offered ample parking, wonderful entertainment facilities, and fine dining, too.
Recurring Gigs
Monday Nights – Golden Road Jazz Night. 3560 Dorr Street, Toledo, Ohio, 7:00pm – 10:00pm.
Tuesday Nights – Sessions at Lucille’s Jazz Lounge – Gene Parker and Damen Cook with special guest each week. 1447 N. Summit Street, Toledo, Ohio. Gig runs 7:00pm – 10:00pm. Cover $5, two drink minimum, drink can be water or soft drinks.
Wednesday Nights – Organic Ingredients—Bob Manley, Tim Tiderman, John Johnson, and Clark Brooks with guests, are live every week at, the Oliver House, in the former Mutz Bar space, every Wednesday from 7p-10p.
Wednesday Nights – BGSU Jazz Ensemble at Arlyn’s Good Beer.
520 Hankey Avenue, Bowling Green, Ohio. 7:00pm – 10:00pm
Thursday Thru Saturday – Solo jazz piano at the Chop House, 300 N. Summit Street, downtown Toledo. Solo jazz piano in the evening.
Thursday Night – Jazz Collective at the Peacock Café. Each week the Jazz Collective features a different guest. 2007 Monroe Street, Toledo, Ohio, 7:00pm -10:00pm.
Friday & Saturday Nights – Jazz Collective at the Peacock Café will feature a jazz artist or group. 2007 Monroe Street, Toledo, Ohio, 7:15pm – 11:00pm
Sunday Nights – The Ministry of Jazz – The Village Idiot at 309 Conant Street, Maumee, Ohio 6:00pm -9:00pm.
See Below for More listing.
Courtesy Toledo Lucas County Public Library
April is Jazz Appreciation month, but April also means the baseball season has begun. Here we see an image of the Mud Hens from 1922, along with an April 13 notice that they will be playing the Detroit Tigers at the historic Swayne Field. Imagine how much people would pay to witness such a game a in 2025.
Gigs April 2025
4/2/2025 Wed Ragtime Rick & His Chefs of Dixieland The Sodbuster Bar
5758 Main Street
Sylvania, Ohio
7:30pm 4/2/2025 Wed Mike Lorenz Trio with guest Chris Burge Slater’s Food and Spirits
1634 East Perry Street
Port Clinton, Ohio
6:30:00pm – 9:30pm 4/4/2025 Fri Jason Quick Solo Quenched & Tempered
1210 Jackson Street
Toledo, Ohio
7:00pm – 10:00pm 4/4/2025 Fri Ariel Kasler Guitar Duo Series featuring Elijah Steward and William Macintosh Arlyn’s Good Beer
Bowling Green, Ohio
7:00pm – 10:00pm 4/4/2025 Fri Ellie Martin with Rob Crozier and Friends Weber’s Hotel & Restaurant
3050 Jackson Avenue
Ann Arbor, Michigan
9:00pm 4/5/2025 Sat Ellie Martin Quartet Arlyn’s Good Beer
520 Hanky Avenue
Bowling Green, Ohio
7:00pm 4/5/2025 Sat Blues Man Bobby G. with The Third Street Cigar Band
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/blues-man-bobby-g-with-the-third-street-cigar-band-tickets-1275366317989
Lucille’s Jazz Lounge
1447 N. Summit Street
Toledo, Ohio
7:15pm – 10:30pm 4/8/2025 Tues Bowling Green State University Jazz Lab 1 Arlyn’s Good Beer
520 Hanky Avenue
Bowling Green, Ohio
7:00pm 4/9/2025 Wed Mike Lorenz Trio with guest Lori Lefevre Slater’s Food and Spirits
1634 East Perry Street
Port Clinton, Ohio
6:30:00pm – 9:30pm 4/9/2025 Wed Brad Billmaier, Ariel Kasler, David Bixler and Aidan Plank Arlyn’s Good Beer
Bowling Green, Ohio
7:00pm – 10:00pm 4/10/2025 Thur Songs For Our Sister Jazz Singers at Lucille’s Jazz Lounge
Free tickets at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/toledo-school-for-the-arts-jazz-voice-students-present-songs-for-our-sister-tickets-1298113013969?aff=oddtdtcreator
Lucille’s Jazz Lounge
1447 N. Summit Street
Toledo, Ohio
7:30pm – 9:00pm 4/11/2025 Fri The Ben Maloney Trio
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-ben-maloney-trio-tickets-1224102536639?aff=oddtdtcreator
Lucille’s Jazz Lounge
1447 N. Summit Street
Toledo, Ohio
7:15pm – 10:30pm 4/11/2025 Fri Pin Up Project Hillside Winery
221 Main St.
Gilboa, Ohio
5:30pm – 8:30pm 4/12/2025 Sat An Evening with John Pizzarelli and the Toledo Jazz Orchestra
Tickets: https://www.artstoledo.com/events/2025/04/12/toledo-jazz-orchestra/an-evening-with-john-pizzarelli/227/#BuyTickets
Peristyle Theater
Toledo Museum of Art
2445 Monroe Street
8:00pm 4/12/2025 Sat Tumbao Bravo
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/tumbao-bravo-tickets-1245438854139?aff=oddtdtcreator
Lucille’s Jazz Lounge
1447 N. Summit Street
Toledo, Ohio
7:15 pm– 10:30pm 4/12/2025 Sat Swingmania Big Band Benefit Dance for Lutheran Disaster Response & Church Building Fund Community of Christ Lutheran Church
6517 Finzel Road
Whitehouse, Ohio
7:00pm – 10:00pm 4/13/2025 Sun Second Sunday Jazz Jam featuring – Ryan Erard (kbd), Norm Damschroder (b), Keith Bernhard (d), Jim Seibold (d) and a ton of musical guests 1117 Independence Road
Toledo, Ohio
2:00pm - 6:00pm 4/15/2025 Tue Bowling Green State University Jazz Lab 2 Arlyn’s
8:00pm 4/15/2025 Tue Monroe Big Band Harbor Hook & Grill
13993 Laplaisance Road
Monroe, Michigan
7:30pm – 9:00pm 4/16/2025 Wed Bowling Green Jazz and Classical Guitar Ensemble Bowling Green State University
Bryan Recital Hall
8:00pm 4/16/2025 Wed Mike Lorenz Trio with guest Isis Jones Slater’s Food and Spirits
1634 East Perry Street
Port Clinton, Ohio
6:30:00pm – 9:30pm 4/17/2025 Thur Randy Richie Solo Piano at the Chop House 300 N. Summit Street
Downtown Toledo
6:00pm – 10:00pm 4/17/2025 Thur Chris Buzzelli Band with drummer Brad Billmaier Peacock Café
2007 Monroe Street
Toledo, Ohio 4/18/2025 Fri Djangophonique
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/djangophonique-tickets-1269311076599?aff=oddtdtcreator
Lucille’s Jazz Lounge
1447 N. Summit Street
Toledo, Ohio
7:15pm – 10:30pm 4/18/2025 Fri Randy Richie Jazz Cabaret with special guest Joel Zmuda Rosaria’s on 3rd Street
135 W. 3rd Street
Perrysburg, Ohio
6:00pm – 9:00pm 4/18/2025 Fri Lori Lefevre and Chris Buzzelli Hillside Winery
221 Main St.
Gilboa, Ohio
5:30pm – 8:30pm 4/19/2025 Sat An Afternoon of Jazz Piano with Chris Buzzelli, Pete Ford, John Cleveland, Jeffrey Maxie, Gene Parker featuring Norm Damschroder on bass Toledo Center for the Performing Arts
4747 Heatherdowns Blvd.
Toledo, Ohio
Robert Bell Studio
2:00pm – 4:00pm 4/23/2025 Wed Mike Lorenz Trio with guests Russell Mascia and Chris Tulupan Slater’s Food and Spirits
1634 East Perry Street
Port Clinton, Ohio
6:30:00pm – 9:30pm 4/26/2025 Sat The Ben Maloney Trio
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-ben-maloney-trio-tickets-1224123017899?aff=oddtdtcreator
Lucille’s Jazz Lounge
1447 N. Summit Street
Toledo, Ohio
7:15pm – 10:30pm
Courtesy of the Toledo Lucas County Public Library
Above: 1950s gig at the Belmont Ballroom featuring Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt
Jazz On the Radio & Streaming
The Sunday Morning Extravaganza with host Ragtime Rick. “Music you won’t hear anywhere else on the radio dial.” Show details: 6am –9am FM 100.7 The Ticket, or available for streaming on the internet at 1007TheTicket.com.
Friday: then Saturday overnights -- WGTE broadcasts the Jazz Spectrum -- Friday 8pm – 12am, Saturday 8pm – 12am, then Jazz Spectrum Overnights Saturday from 12am – 4am, hosted by Fritz Byers. https://www.wgte.org/jazz
Other info at: https://www.facebook.com/jazzspectrumtoledo/
Listen to WXTS Jazz 88.3 FM 8a-8p Monday-Friday or 24/7, live stream at rdo.to/wxts
Deep Mix: Music & More with DJ Amjad: Radio show distilled & curated from 50 years knowledge & experience of people’s music & culture. Drawing on a wide spectrum of genres & styles. Broadcasts Sat. 8 PM & Wed. 4 PM EST on WAKT 106.1 FM, streaming on www.toledoradio.org and the WAKT 106.1 app
*Shows feature a mix of musical styles, with jazz showing up frequently.
H-Factor Jazz Show, 24hr/day Jazz:
Hosted by Hugh Ross, Jr. http://hfactorjazzshow.com/
Mark Zaborney’s "Jazz Unlimited" on WBGU FM 88.1 and via bgfalconmedia.com Monday, Tuesday, Wednesdays, Thursdays & Fridays from 9:00 am to noon. Note: Live in studio 9am - 12:00pm on Wednesdays. Every Friday Mark posts a new, hip jazz playlist on Spotify, too.
Thursdays, you can watch jazz broadcast live from the Peacock Café on BCAN, Watch BCAN on channel 109 (sd) or 609 (hd) or on Stream TV 26, or you can login with your Buckeye Broadband account here: https://www.bcanarts.com/watch/
Stream WXTS: rdo.to/wxts
Photo Below: Patsy Goode
A Young Lady From Toledo
Patsy Goode (1924 – 2019)
I had to leave a detailed investigation of Patsy Goode out of my book, Toledo’s Jazz Legacy, as there are just too many vocalists and musicians from Toledo to include in a sub-10k page volume. Patsy Goode was a tap dancer, acrobatic dancer and a vocalist as she grew up in Toledo. Goode began singing in the church as a child while she attended Burroughs School. By the age of six she was singing on WSPD radio. As a kid, Goode performed on stage at Toledo’s palatial Paramount Theater. After high school she became the vocalist for Herb Miller’s big band. Herb was Glenn Miller’s brother. After finishing her stint with the Miller band, she returned to Toledo and became the vocalist with the Cecil Ogle Band, which held down the gig in the Rainbow Room at the Willard Hotel in the early and mid 1940s. By 1947 she was the vocalist with the Bill Bardo Orchestra at the Hotel Claridge in Tennessee. Bardo’s group rose to some degree of fame during WWII and was well known in the era. Goode eventually left the entertainment world, married an Air Force officer, learned to fly, and had a successful career in real estate.
Select Photos from March 2025
Under the Sign @ Lucille's Jazz Lounge
Kelly Broadway (v), Gene Parker (kbd), Damen Cook (d, v)
Jordan Parrish (sx)
Below: Randy Richie (p), Gretchen Richie (v) at the Toledo Club's Music and Mixology night.
Above: Second Sunday Jazz Jam (March 2025): 1st photo -- Ramona Collins (v), Allen Warmanen (d), Kevin Eikum (b), Randy Richie (kbd); 2nd photo - Joel Zmuda (v), Allen Warmanen (d), Kevin Eikum (b), Randy Richie (kbd)
Lake Erie Jazz Trio at Brewhouse in Downtown Toledo
Gene Parker (vibes), John Wilson (d), Parick McDonagh (kbd) and Andy Boren (kbd)
Ben Sidran and his crew performing at the Collingwood Arts Center, circa 2017. This gig was sponsored by the Art Tatum Jazz Heritage Society.
Clifford Murphy (b), Jon Hendricks (v), John Richmond (cl) at the Aqua Bar; circa 2013
May Gigs of Note:
SAVE THE DATES - Holden May 3, 2025; Collins May 17, 2025 @ Lucille's Jazz Lounge
Noted Jazz entertainer Bill Heid will be at Lucille's Jazz Lounge on May 23, 2025 - SAVE THE DATE
Larry Fuller set to play Lucille's Jazz Lounge on June 20, 2025 - SAVE THE DATE
