Peter and the Social Climbers
By Stanley Naftaly
On Sunday, November 3rd 2013 The Santa Barbara Jazz Society hosted Peter Clark and The Social Climbers at its roughly monthly concert at SOhO. It was another house-full of happy jazz enthusiasts enjoying an up-tempo afternoon of high quality straight-ahead jazz played by an ensemble of powerful, creative veterans, all of whom have long ago paid their dues, and are now enjoying the fruits of their considerable careers.
Peter Clark, a stalwart of our local jazz scene for many years, played piano and did vocals on several tunes. Craig Woods, the leader of the Social Climbers, was on a hot trombone. John Crosse did his typical masterful job on Saxes and Flute, Jeff Elliott, another pillar of our local scene, skillfully and sensitively wielded the trumpet and flugelhorn, again, one of our top local jazz musicians, Jim Connolly was on bass and Craig Thatcher, yet another home-grown player was his usual tenacious self on drums.
Lest I have given you the impression that this was a “serious concert” allow me to dispel that notion right now. This was major fun with everyone workin’ out on the tunes. Even though there were only six musicians, the combination of sax and trombone along with Peter’s skill as an entertainer as well as a musician and the excellent support of the rhythm section filled my ears with the sound and the feeling of big band… a very sharp one.