A little banjo music went a long way recently at a retirement community on the northwest side.
The Arizona Banjo Blasters brought their ragtime sound to The Fountains at La Cholla, where about 70 residents clapped and tapped their feet to the beat last Thursday.
"This has a lot of rhythm," said resident Tom Ottman, 86. "You can dance to that."
And he did just that, time and again.
"They're marvelous," resident Florence Winslow, 89, said of the musicians.
The band seemed to have as much fun playing as the audience did listening.
The performance was the group's sixth since members ventured into the limelight. Mostly, they play at nursing homes and retirement communities.
At 7 p.m. May 13, for the first time, they will play a bigger venue: the Arizona Banjo Blast at the Hilton Tucson El Conquistador Golf and Tennis Resort, 10000 N. Oracle Road.
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The three-day event will bring together top banjo players from across the country and beyond, said show promoter and banjo player Rob Wright.
He started the local group to help him host a previous Arizona Banjo Blast, and the volunteers have become an integral part of the event.
Wright, who still practices with his group, expects about 250 banjo players at the event, which takes place every other year.
Although the group includes a handful of professional musicians, most of the players are amateurs, member Fritz Pritchett said.
"We are trying to keep the revival of the banjo going," he said. "It's really a great American tradition."
Since it formed with about a half-dozen people in 2007, the group has grown to 15 members.
After helping out with the 2008 Arizona Banjo Blast, the group "got pretty serious about really practicing and playing together," member Pritchett said.
So began the weekly practice in someone's home.
"We decided last year that we were good enough to start playing in public," said Pritchett, 83.
Like him, most of the musicians are retirees with a love for the banjo. Drums, a bass and a washboard lend the banjo music "an extra little kick," Pritchett said.
Fellow band member Lulu Nicolosi has played the banjo mandolin since he was a child.
"It's so much fun," said Nicolosi, 88.
Preston Jones, 64, knew nothing about the banjo when he joined the group, he said. He took a few lessons from a pro to get going.
"I love it," he said, displaying the instrument he had just played for about an hour.
He is a long way from mastering the banjo, Jones said, smiling. "I'm still taking lessons."
Bud Johnson, 60, also knew little about banjos when he encountered the group, but said he has learned much along the way.
"We're just a bunch of guys that like to play banjo music for fun," he said.
He used to drag his wife, 56-year-old Debb, to practice. She soon got tired of watching, so she outfitted an old washboard with a cymbal, wood blocks and other trinkets and became the first female member of the Arizona Banjo Blasters.
"I just decided, 'I don't have to read music to join in,' " she said.
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Contact reporter Lourdes Medrano at lmedrano@azstarnet.com or at 573-4105.
