Today we’d like to introduce you to The Jazz Witnesses.
Hi The Jazz Witnesses, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Xander Dillman-Meyers [trombone, bass, banjo, vocals]: Gabby and I wanted to play jazz but we needed a third member. I went to Walmart to make sloppy joes and Joanna recognized me while she was working there and said “Hey” I said “Oh, do you still play jazz?” She said yes and checked in with Gabby who liked Joanna too. From then on I invited her and she became part of the group.
Gabby Pavón [guitar, vocals]: The plan for the festival fell through so we started playing on a hot street corner in Central Park of Winter Park. It was probably about 95 degrees and we all sweat through our black clothes. We made 9 dollars in 2 hours.
Originally we all went to the same high school and were friends through the Lake Howell Jazz Band but never had plans to do something bigger. Xander graduated in 2019, Joanna in 2020, and I am in my final year of high school. We came together by random chance.
*Our crustacean, Dill is a mascot and helpful roadie.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
X: We still ain’t where we want to be. This is the struggle along the way. We’re living it right now. We’re living the struggle of getting to where we’d like to be: gigging around town.
Joanna Lung [alto saxophone]: We’re still walking down the road. We’ve been kicked out of places, we’ve had people take our money.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
G: Obviously we specialize in jazz. I am most proud of our ability to do improv. Especially taking requests and making it sound alright. X: We can go from never playing a song before and someone just asking if we can play it, we look it up right there, play it, and it’s worthy of them to give us an applause.
J: We are very adaptable and flexible. We make it work.
X: I like that we’re glued together. If Joanna’s going out of a solo I know who’s next and we rarely ever drop the groove. When we do it’s because we’ve never played the song before. But yeah we’re known for hot jazz and for all I know, one of the only traditional jazz trios in the Orlando area.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
X: Getting gigs [laugh]. Speaking for myself here, I’m gonna measure the success based on my goal: everyday I play music and that’s how I make money. I’ve worked plenty of jobs, I know what’s it’s like to work but my dream goal is: music’s the only way I make money. It’s not about the money, but it’d be nice.
G: Honestly I feel successful when people give us applause. And occasionally when they say, “no, thank YOU,” that really gets me.
J: The kids one night who said they wanted to get into music. They said they wanted to get into music and they heard US.
X: That’s how we measure success. Other people giving us validation [laughs].
Pricing:
- $450 -3 hours at dinner show
- Flexible in gigs and hours. Contact for more details.
Contact Info:
- Email: thejazzwitnesses@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejazzwitnesses/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thejazzwitnesses
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUFFLIm25vFYFi4tvp-RZKg
- Other: https://www.gigsalad.com/the_jazz_witnesses_winter_park
