Larry Garret "Capt. Jam"

Larry Garret "Capt. Jam" grew up in Kansas City, Missouri where the predominant jazz sound was Basie swing. But in 1956 he saw Pete Fountain playing clarinet on the Lawrence Welk show and the rest is history — Pete became famous and Larry didn’t. He did his time in Shakey’s, Village Inn and various Kansas City dives. Then he attended the inaugural New Orleans Trad Jazz Camp in 2010 and, after five years, he figured out that if he started running the jam sessions nobody could really kick him off the stage. So he’s been herding the cats, figuratively and literally, ever since. Today he lives in Kauai where he can say with 99% certainty, he’s the best trad jazz clarinet player on the island.