StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Two from the St. Louis Rivermen

This week, let's take a look at a couple of videos featuring the traditional jazz band the St. Louis Rivermen. These two clips are from the 37th annual Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival held in July 2008 in Davenport, Iowa.

First up is a video of the Rivermen playing the standard "I Can't Get Started," which was penned by Ira Gershwin and Vernon Duke, first popularized in the 1930s by trumpeter Bunny Berigan, and has since been recorded hundreds of times by musicians ranging from Billie Holiday to Maynard Ferguson. Down below, the Rivermen offer their version of "Dans Les Rues d'Antibes," which was composed by saxophonist Sidney Bechet and translates roughly as "On The Streets of Antibes."

Following the recent retirement of their former pianist and bandleader Jean Kittrell, the St. Louis Rivermen also have set up a new Web site of their own, which can be found here. Here's hoping that the group, now under the leadership of sousaphonist David "Red" Lehr, will continue their work of preserving and presenting traditional jazz for a good long while.