DEC 20, 2011 PROGRAM:
Holiday Entertainment with Maud Hixson and the Mouldy Figs

Maud Hixson is a native of Saint Louis Park. After being presented as “Best New Voice” in 2003 at a local jazz festival, she quit her job as a French interpreter for Northwest Airlines to become a full-time musician. Though music had always been an avocation, she was inspired to pursue a professional career after seeing singer Jimmy Scott perform at the Montreal Jazz Festival in 2001. She has since worked with a wide array of musicians and groups such as the Wolverines, JazzMN Big Band, Twin Cities Seven, Mouldy Figs, Twin Cities Hot Club, Voodoo Patsy and French 75.  Her musical projects have included club, concert and cabaret presentations, a theatrical presentation of Noel Coward’s music at the Guthrie Theater, an original cabaret show for New York audiences (thanks in part to a Minnesota State Arts Board grant, one of two she has received) and several recordings. In October she appeared at Lincoln Center’s Rose Hall as part of the New York Cabaret Convention 2011, presented by The Mabel Mercer Foundation.

Jim Field started the Mouldy Fig Jazz Band in 1959 when he was a junior at Main Township High School in Parkridge, Illinois.  A “mouldy fig” is a person who studies and plays old jazz.  Fellow Rotarian David Laird is also a member of the Mouldy Figs.  The Figs have three professional recordings:  Have Yourself a Mouldy Little Christmas, Figs Live at the Bungalow and Never Trust a Band Under 30.