Best of: Arts & Entertainment: Local band: blues/jazz/soul
1st placeFirecracker Jazz Band 
“The most exciting thing for the band in 2010 was the invitation to play at the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival in Davenport, Iowa this past July," reports Firecracker Jazz Band trombone player Earl Sachais. He has, by the way, backed Barbara Streisand and Sammy Davis Jr., so when Sachais says something is exciting, he knows of what he speaks.
One reason that Firecracker is a repeat winner in this category is because the band infuses each performance with high-energy and crowd-pleasing tunes (even if the crowd doesn't recognizes every Jazz Age chestnut inspired by the likes of Jelly Roll Morton and Louis Armstrong). The band performed at last year's Best Of WNC Bash, and members can be found around Asheville in side projects like the Screaming Js, The Resinators and other solo endeavors. But, even with all of that going on, "We hope to record another CD sometime in 2011," Sachais says.
— Alli Marshall
