Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services

NNSL (Feb 26/99) - Yellowknife is in for a really big treat on March 6. The New Orleans Connection of Canada will share with us the sheer joy and earthiness of traditional old-time jazz at the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre (NACC).

The world-renowned sextet riff off the "lusty influence of the swing era and musical trends beyond." The six are George Pallos-Haden on clarinet, Donny Clark on trumpet, Jack Fulton on trombone, Tommy Banks on piano, Michael Lent on bass and Jerry Fuller on drums.

Banks has conducted most of Canada's major orchestras, as well as studio orchestras for radio, television and recordings. As a conductor/pianist, he has accompanied the likes of Aretha Franklin and Mel Torme.

He has worked as a composer, conductor, arranger, pianist, jazzband leader, arts bureaucrat, educator, actor and radio and television host.

Maclean's magazine has written that it would "be easier to list the things he doesn't do."

"He's my hero," says Ina Murray, artistic director at NACC, who adds that Banks is an officer of the Order of Canada.

The list of his accomplishments is endless.

The clarinetist Pallos-Haden was all set to become a conductor, following in his father's footsteps, until he saw jazz clarinetist Edmond Hall, now Pallos-Haden's idol.

The group as a whole have had praise showered on them wherever they've performed.

Other concerts, and they give over 100 each year, have featured early American jazz, Dixieland to be precise, and spiced-up baroque. Expect finger-snapping lessons, epic drum solos, and enchanting between-song wit.

"There are hundreds of ways to say a band is good," said reviewer Eric Tapley. "There must be a thousand ways to say that a performance was outstanding. But with the New Orleans Connection's performance, words come hard. Suffice to say that this kind of jazz, with its rough corners and raw surfaces, is satisfying to listen to."

"It was brilliant and exciting entertainment. Don't you dare miss the next one," he concluded.

I would suggest that none of us miss this one.

Tickets are $20 for adults, $16 for seniors, students and NACC members, and are available at the Birchwood Gallery.