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Jazz, TX: A Dirty River Runs Through It

A band is coming to the Pearl's Jazz, TX on Thursday night and the band members may not be what you'd expect for their style of music. They're called the Dirty River Dixie Band, and co-founder Chris Alvarado explains their music.
"We play tunes that are pre-1940s. Jazz, kinda Louis Armstrong and Jellyroll Morton and all kinds of other stuff."

Most bands that have this kind of retro focus tend to be older. Not so with Dirty River.

"Nobody's over 30 and I think the oldest member is 26, and that's me. We're just young guys that really like the style of music."

And while they're young, they're already quite musically accomplished.

"Pretty much all the members of the band have studied music at the collegiate level. About half of us have already graduated and are band directors, actually. The other half of the guys are still in college, finishing up their degrees."

The band is happy to perform live for audiences, but they also like those audiences to get up and do what the music moves them to.

"We have a pretty good partnership with the San Antonio Swing Dance Society and also the Austin Swing Syndicate in Austin, and the Alamo Swing Revival group that's in San Antonio. Without the music the dancing wouldn't be what it is right now, the dancing scene.  It's exciting to watch, and it's an awesome partnership."

Their Thursday night gig at Jazz, Texas will feature an 8-piece band and vocalist Sarah Ulloa.

"She's an amazing singer. She can scat and she can really do it all. She's really reminiscent of Ella Fitzgerald."

Dirty River Dixie Band hits the stage at 8:30, but the Doc Watkins Trio will play from 5:30 to 7;30. 

Find more on the Dirty River Dixie Band here

Find more on Jazz, TX here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFyxaA8e36g

Jack Morgan can be reached at jack@tpr.org and on Twitter at @JackMorganii