Open to any attendee of Week One — any level, any instrument, any of the week’s genres– including wind instruments and voice. We will have an eye to showing the crossover opportunities that exist between this week’s musical genres.
This will be a relaxing after dinner activity which gives you a chance to play your instrument either in the foreground or the background and seal some of the day’s learning into your brain– and just for fun!
We will introduce songs with a chord chart everybody can see and by singing or playing them, then pass them around the circle. Everyone who is willing will have a chance to solo or sing/scat. You also may introduce songs, but be prepared to specify the key and provide guidance with chords if needed, so we can put them on the board.
Our objectives are to:
1. Show you songs with classic or all-purpose changes that will add to you bag of mental tricks for future jam sessions.
2. Give you the chance to practice chord shapes/progressions/rhythm.
3. Give you chances to solo, although it’s OK to be shy.
4. Expand your repertoire by introducing tunes you might not know.
5. Get to know other players you can informally jam with (including us).
If you have a wind instrument, please bring it to camp! Dancing is encouraged!
Instructor Bio
Kathy Reitz has attended Augusta for 30 years. She plays a big bass and a little uke. She appears on The Zombies of Swing (Swing Cat Records, recorded at Augusta with Paul Anastasio and other swing faculty in 1992), Home by Miss Tess, Razz’em Jazz’em’s album on Patuxent, 2 albums by the Buffalo Nickel Band on Patuxent, and a small variety of other people’s recordings. She freelances around DC and plays in most of the same bands as her music and life partner, Marv Reitz. These include the Buffalo Nickel Band, Paramount Jazz Orchestra, Big Bang Swing Band, Swing Underground, and Sunshine Skiffle Band. Besides playing with Marv, Kathy’s favorite people to play with are her friends from Augusta.
Marv Reitz was warned by his music teacher father not to be a jack of all trades and a master of none. But Marv thought his true choice was being a jack of all trades or a jack of one, and so he learned to play a lot of instruments and musical styles. He plays sax, clarinet, guitar, steel guitar (badly), and sings. Last year marked more 28 years at Augusta and 23 on the faculty. A molecular biologist/virologist by profession, Marv has nightlifed on the Washington, DC, music scene for 45 years. He was an original member of Doc Scantlin’s Imperial Palms Orchestra and now leads the Paramount Jazz Orchestra, a 10 piece’20s and ‘30s band, and Swing Underground, a 17-piece swing big band. He also plays with the Big Bang Big Band, the Buffalo Nickle Band, a western swing-oriented sextet, and Vladimir and the Reitz Stuff, a Dixieland/swing trio. He and his wife share a vast and varied repertoire of music. He can be heard with the Sunshine Skiffle Band on Rounder and on Patuxent Music with the Buffalo Nickel Band and Razz’em Jazz’em.
Check out Kathy and Marv at Augusta 2021: