Danny Garriga and Diana Young’s getaway weekend could not have had a better ending, the Boston couple said Sunday afternoon as they stood in Portland’s Old Port, listening to the music of the State Street Traditional Jazz Band.

Garriga and Young, who are dating, came to Maine to celebrate the Fourth of July weekend. They watched the fireworks display Saturday evening from Portland’s Eastern Prom before venturing out Sunday to take in the sights and sounds of Old Port shops and restaurants.

June 11, 2015, photo by Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer; 1989 photo courtesy of the State Street Traditional Jazz Band

The State Street Traditional Jazz Band in 1989 and in 2015 (click and drag the slider to compare).

Just outside the entrance to the Old Port Tavern, the couple came across a small group of middle-age musicians. They were clumped together on the street corner, playing a trumpet, banjo, piano and tuba while about 25 people watched and listened.

“Oh, this is totally phenomenal,” said Garriga, who plays piano in a jazz band at his church. “Music in the streets. That’s what made this experience so fun. It’s a treat. It’s the icing on top of the cake.”

“They are just fabulous,” said another onlooker, Seraphina Mallon-Brieman of Woodstock, New York. “It’s very European. Musicians playing outside on a cobblestone street.”

Formed in 1989, the jazz band is again giving free public concerts during the summer. Weather permitting, it plays from 3 to 5 p.m. each Sunday at the corner of Fore and Moulton streets, giving onlookers a taste of New Orleans jazz of the early 1900s.

The State Street Traditional Jazz Band takes its name from State Street Church, United Church of Christ. John Page, founder and band leader, said in an interview recently at the church that it was the group’s first practice space.

“The pastor at the time loved the church and loved the band and offered us a rehearsal space here,” Page said. “We eventually wound up doing concerts here monthly for various charitable organizations, and it just progressed from there. We started doing concerts and private events, and here we are today in 2015.”

The current pastor, the Rev. Jeanette Good, sang the band’s praises.

“They’re very down-to-earth, lovely people, and their music is invigorating and enthusiastic and contagiously joyous,” she said. “They recently came along and at the very end of a service played ‘When the Saints Go Marching In,’ and the entire congregation got up and danced in the aisles. We had children, young people in their 20s, and one of our women in her 80s dancing with a Congolese immigrant who was 22. Their music speaks to people from all walks of life.”

Good was emphatic about the music’s social benefits.

“Music speaks to the soul in ways that words don’t at times,” she said. “It was so wonderful with our new immigrants – many of whom struggle with English – that they got into the music and we were all one. We had people from every walk of life, after a very difficult winter, just letting go in the spirit of the music.”

Having just celebrated its 25th anniversary, the band has 11 core and alternate members, including a few of the original players: John Page, trumpet; Bill Rayne, trombone; Barry Daniels, clarinet; Peter Dunphy, Paul Mattor and Dr. Jeff Grosser, banjo; Doug Protsik, piano; Pat Whitaker and Tom Wilbur, tuba; Don Whitney and Bill Thurston, drums.

All of the band members are highly skilled. Grosser performed as a soloist at Carnegie Hall at age 14 and Page has sat in with the original Preservation Hall Jazz Band in New Orleans. Rayne was among a select group of jazz musicians chosen to play to an assemblage of guests prior to a performance concert by Ella Fitzgerald.

“We’ve got some of our original members and some new members, but the goal is still the same,” Page said. “It is the preservation of the original sound of New Orleans, reminiscent of the original groups when the old musicians were playing in it years ago.”

Capturing the “original sound of New Orleans” involves using particular rhythms, keys and instruments, and all band members are united in how much they enjoy it.

“Everyone is here because of their love of the music,” Page said. “It’s an honor and a privilege to be working with these players and friends. Some of us go back a long way. Every time we play, it’s a wonderful experience and it seems to cross generational boundaries. We find that even children love the music!”

Giving free performances, Page said, is a way of offering the wider public a taste of music that they might not otherwise get to hear.

“This is the way we give back to the community and expose the people to this wonderful music,” he said. “This band is a labor of love – the goal is to give joy to the people we play for.”

Besides offering free performances on Sundays, the band plays primarily at private events and concerts. Its website is www.statestreettraditionaljazzband.com/home.html, and bookings can be made by calling 737-2839.

Sam Norman can be contacted at 791-6366 or at:

snorman@pressherald.com

Dennis Hoey can be contacted at 791-6365 or at:

dhoey@pressherald.com

Twitter: Dennis Hoey

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