Dr. Jazz and the Jazzbugs

Most people alive today have never heard anything quite like our music-- hot, exciting 1920's and 30's jazz. And they've never seen a jazz musician play like the eccentric virtuoso Dr. Jazz.

Our archaic style is perfect for historical events and venues, and leaves audiences with a sense of having witnessed something unusual and wonderful.

We have played for weddings, riverboat cruises, casinos, swing dances, anniversary and 1920's theme parties. (Evidently, modern ladies have discovered that 1920's apparel is very flattering.)

And don't forget--- the Twenties are coming back soon!

BRIAN BAUER (leader, clarinet/saxes, vocals) is a virtuoso musician who has performed in the Buffalo, NY area for over fifty years, including gigs with well-known musicians Leon Redbone, Bonnie Raitt, and John Hammond Jr., as well as countless jazz/blues/rock combos of all sizes and styles.

Well-known around Buffalo as "Dr. Jazz", Brian is expert in all styles of jazz from ragtime to bebop, but his first love is 1920's jazz, which he performs with dazzling technique and vaudevillian flair, aided by a vintage microphone and saxes ranging from bass to sopranino.

Brian began performing in the 1950’s, forming a dixieland band while still in elementary school. Brian's father, who had been a professional drummer in the twenties and thirties, arranged for the young prodigy to study with legendary Buffalo teacher Marvin Kam, disciple of a now-forgotten sax virtuoso from the early 1920's named Rudy Wiedoft. Brian still plays several of the Wiedoft virtuoso compositions he learned under Kam’s tutelage; "Sax-o-phobia", "Sax-o-Phun" and "Saxema"

Brian is one of the few jazz clarinetists to play the older "Albert system" clarinet instead of the newer "Boehm system". This gives him an unusual style featuring weird slides, slurs and sound effects, such as the famous long glissando which begins Gershwin's famous "Rhapsody in Blue".

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ED WOODS (bass, vocals) had already been a jazz musician around Buffalo for many years when he met Brian in the 1990's when they both played in an R & B band "The Jump Kings".

Initially self taught, Ed later studied with Ted Meyer of the Buffalo Philharmonic and jazz workshops with renowned jazz pianist Al Tinney, who recognized and encouraged his development. Ed has participated in the Young Audiences Concert Series in schools throughout NY State and provided music for film and television projects.

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WILL WILSON (banjo, guitar, vocals) has played guitar and banjo since age thirteen, dabbling in various genres before specializing in the dixieland/early jazz style which has inspired him for over forty years.

While living in Toronto in the 1980’s, Will was one of the founding members of the "Rainbow Gardens Orchestra", a tuxedo-clad eight piece group playing orchestrations from the twenties and thirties.

Will has played in countless jazz groups throughout southern Ontario and western New York, as well as Alaska cruise ship gigs on the Princess Line. In 1998, Will was featured as banjo soloist for the Niagara Symphony's centennial salute to George Gershwin.