Mad Hatters Jazz Band History

A Dixie/Blues/Jazz Band formed in 2013 and performs regularly around the Conejo Valley/Los Angeles area. The 8-piece group plays songs from the Roaring 20's to the 40's Swing Era. Events have included celebrating life at Memorial services to Charity fundraisers, Chili Cook-offs, Art Shows, Parties, Banquets and everything in-between.

The original members of the band were:

	Dale Ewing	Drums	The guy with the crazy idea to start this band
	Marty McCambridge	Vocal and Banjo	Stolen from a church choir with the promises of everlasting fame and fortune
	Mike McClellan	Clarinet	Found lost in Craig's List looking for paying gigs
	Mike Engstrom	Trombone	Mike tried to slide away from this group by claiming work was more important. Dale was more forceful though
	Jerry Bell	Piano	Rescued from the boring life as a concert pianist
	John Carpenter	Bass	He just showed up with a bass looking for something to do.
	Kenn Lewis	Guitar	What else can you say. He was a package deal with Marty.
	Jill Sewell	Trumpet	It appears that life on Pt. Mugu Navy Base just didn't have that zing.

Eventually, Jill decided her family just wasn't big enough and decided that she would need some time off to complete that increase. As a result Doug Hardie was dragged kicking and screaming in on cornet. As the band became more eclectic, it decided to rename itself as the Mad Hatters Jazz Band. Rumor has it that this transformation was caused by one of the members collection of weird hats and the proclivity to wear them.

Then, the Navy decided to transfer Jill's husband to the Washington D.C. area and we were unable to convince her to either remain here or commute for rehearsals and gigs.

Jerry Bell decided to leave the band. Probably because we tried to force him to play 12'th Street Rag every gig.

Dale Ewing decided that painting was more enjoyable that music. Really??

John Carpenter just slipped away. Well, sort of. He slips back in occasionally. We try to corral him but it's amazing how he can make that big bass vanish without anyone noticing.

Jeanne Hardie was brought in on Drums. She was never quite sure why Doug kept disappearing all those evenings and wanted to keep her eye on him. We put her behind the drum set so he is always visable.

We twisted Melody DeKreek's arm to play piano until she finally gave in. It took several of us to achieve that result.

We have tried several replacement clarinetists and all of them have gone wide-eyed when they saw the group and vanished.

Over time, the repertoire of the group has changed. We have added pieces that were written by band members, modified by band members, and corrupted by band members. Basically the group plays anything that one of its members makes enough noise about. We also try to match hats with the number being performed. This leads to some quite interesting hat combinations. You have to see it to believe it.

We found a new bass. John Brinkman has joind the group.