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The Uptown Lowdown Jazz Band was an American Dixieland jazz band from the Bellevue, Washington area, active for forty-seven years, from 1971 until 2018. [1] It was founded and led by cornetist Bert Barr (1945–2019). [2] [3]
Barr was born in 1945 in Vallejo, California. As a teenager he was inspired by Turk Murphy and the Firehouse Five Plus Two, learning the solos from his uncle's record collection. Barr began attending shows by Murphy at his San Francisco traditional jazz club, Earthquake McGoon's, [4] and later formed a band in high school which played a few local events, including a standing Saturday gig at Red's Pizza in Vallejo. [3]
Barr matriculated to the University of Oregon where he formed The Emerald City Jazz Band with other students. Drafted into the Army, he was stationed at Fort Lewis before shipping off to Vietnam, where he formed another band with fellow soldiers called The Hot Rats of Saigon. After his service he returned to Eugene, where he finished his degree at the U.of O., before moving to Seattle.
In 1971 he formed his first Uptown Lowdown Jazzband, naming it after a tune by Isham Jones. The band (with changeable personnel) performed continuously from 1971 to 2018, with Barr being the only constant member. At their peak in the 1990s they appeared at over 28 festivals annually throughout the United States and abroad, including the Old Sacramento Dixieland Jazz Jubilee, Sun Valley Swing & Dixie, The Great Connecticut Jazz Festival, San Diego Jazz Festival, Pismo Beach Jazz and America's Festival in Lacey, Washington, held over the 4th of July weekend. The full seven-piece band has a worldwide reputation having performed in Japan, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Mexico, and Canada. An 'Uptown Lowdown Lite' quartet, consisting of members of the big band, also does commissioned performances. Barr also performed as The Double Barrs, a duo with his piano-playing wife, Rose Marie Barr. [5]
The band has released at least thirty-four albums.