Wednesday, December 22, 2010

I Saw Mommy Quizzing Santa Claus

Ed Cecchini rides his sleigh to the rescue with a last-minute gift to all of us in the Big Band Academy:

 1. Fred Astaire was at one time a vocalist with
    whose big band?

 2. Besides achieving fame on the tenor sax,

    Coleman Hawkins sang with two bands.
    Name their leaders.

 3. With whose band did Tony Pastor sing before
    he formed his own orchestra?

 4. This leader backed Bob Hope on stage, radio

    and television for nearly half a century.
    Who was he?

 5. With whose band were the Stardusters the
    vocal group?

 6. And in the same vein, with whose band were

    the Three Barons featured?

 7. Identify the only female member of the Pied

    Pipers.

 8. This Philadelphian with an alliterative name

    led a society band for better than 70 years,
    and was notable for his frequent appearances
    at the White House and before the crowned
    heads of Europe.

 9. The Rhythm Boys, the vocal trio in which
    Bing Crosby became well-known, performed
    with two legendary orchestras. Name
    their leaders. 

10. His theme song was "Artistry in Rhythm."

    Who was he?

*************

And here are your answers:

 1. Leo Reisman

 2. Louis Armstrong and Red Norvo











  
 3. Artie Shaw











 
 4. Les Brown

 5. Charlie Spivak

 6. Sammy Kaye

 7. Jo Stafford

 8. Lester Lanin












 9. Paul Whiteman and Gus Arnheim








  
10. Stan Kenton

Happy Holidays, everybody!

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

The Mystery Solved

On Nov. 10, we posted this photograph that reader Steven Kane had seen on eBay:


The name "Henry Busse" appeared on the back of the photo, but the trumpeter pictured was definitely not Busse. Steven asked if anyone might be able to identify him. Our own Van Alexander of the BBAA board of directors has come to the rescue:

"The man in the photo was a dear friend and fine musician. His name was Truman Quigley. Played in my New York band for quite a time. When I moved to California, he did also. I used him when I put the Bob Crosby band together. He recorded one of my arrangements for the Crosby band, 'I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate.' I knew his wife and parents. 

P.S. I have this autographed picture in my gallery."

Van, thanks so much for solving the mystery. We're also pleased to note that Van's autobiography, From Harlem to Hollywood: My Life in Music, has been awarded a Certificate of Merit by the Association for Recorded Sound Collections. ARSC is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and study of sound recordings, in all genres of music and speech, in all formats and from all periods. Congratulations, Van!

*************

We mourn the passing two weeks ago of Roy Reynolds, sax player with Stan Kenton's orchestra. Roy's cousin Barrie Wall wrote the following remembrance, which we are proud to reprint:

Roy Reynolds: A Personal Tribute to a World Class Musician
(and a lovely feller)

by Barrie Wall:
Roy’s cousin,
also known by Roy as 'Our Kid'

'We were playing Carnegie Hall. Stan called ‘Roy’s Blues,’ which Dale Devoe had written for me, and I ended up getting a standing ovation. Man, I felt about 50 feet tall.' - Roy Reynolds, featured saxophone soloist with the Stan Kenton Orchestra from 1973 until Stan’s death in 1979

It wasn’t the only standing ovation of Roy’s musical career, nor was it by any means the last. But it was by far the most important and without doubt, the one that left the greatest impression on the then-44-year-old big band musician, a one-time raggedy-assed kid from a blue-collar Birmingham, England suburb.

The effect wasn't just on Roy, but also on the packed Carnegie Hall audience, his band colleagues and the Maestro himself. It was also the moment, or rather, the seven or eight minutes of unaccompanied artistry, sheer brilliance and faultless invention which, after nearly 30 years of journeyman musicianship in both Britain and Canada, justly and deservedly placed him in the front rank of world-class jazz performers.
Roy wasn’t the first jazz musician to bring the Carnegie house down. Some 35 years earlier, legendary band leader and clarinetist Benny Goodman - an early Reynolds idol and inspiration - had been there with the landmark 1938 Carnegie Hall concert. Although he played both tenor sax and clarinet with equal acuity, and because Kenton didn’t care for clarinets, Reynolds’ main focus by that time was tenor sax, the instrument for which he was better known during his U.S. and Canadian career.
 
Like most overnight successes, however, Roy’s was a long time coming. His early attempts at music-making began around the age of 14 with an aging clarinet and the few lessons his parents could afford. As soon as he could legally, he applied to enlist as a band boy in the British Army’s Norfolk Regiment. After hearing him struggle through some scales, the kindly bandmaster advised Roy to go home and 'practice some more; come back when you’re a man.' (In those days, there was a distinction between the British Army’s Boys’ Service and Man’s Service, which began when entrants reached the age of 18.)
                
More determined than ever, he did just that. Recognizing that his best hope for a free musical education lay with the military, Roy auditioned in response to a ‘Musicians Wanted’ advertisement in the local newspaper and was accepted shortly before his 18th birthday as a bandsman in the 42nd Royal Highland Regiment: The Black Watch.
 
A five-year engagement, with virtually seven-day-a-week practices, rehearsals and global performances, ensured that the now-kilted and sporraned ‘Highlander’ (with the broad and unmistakable Birmingham accent he never lost) began paying his musical dues. He emerged five years later as a talented clarinet, saxophone and flute player.

Roy Reynolds and the Black Watch bandmasters of the day didn’t always agree on band policy and what constituted serious practice. Although two or three bandmasters/musical directors came and went during Roy’s Black Watch tenure, one in particular was given to patrolling the barrack building corridors at night to ensure his charges were practicing set pieces or scales. He wasn’t impressed when, with an ear to the keyhole, he heard Roy practicing Artie Shaw’s Clarinet Concerto. As Reynolds recalls, relations thereafter became strained. 

Despite an abiding and continuing nostalgia for his Black Watch band years, by 1952 Reynolds was a regular visitor to Archer Street in Soho, London’s main venue and talent exchange for work-seeking freelance musicians. Against the odds - the talent pool was large and paying work scarce - he survived those crucial formative years, never gave up on his chosen career and, because of his even-then obvious talent, made a professional if not lucrative living with a number of notable British bands and jazz groups. Among those were the Ken Mackintosh band, the Squadronaires, Joe Daniels' Hot Shots, Eddie Mendoza’s comedy Dixieland band and the Carl Barriteau swing band. West Indian Barriteau’s original all-black U.K. big band was effectively wiped out while playing a wartime gig at London’s Café de Paris.

In a sense, it was a chance meeting in Archer Street in 1965 that led Roy to Canada and the Stan Kenton Orchestra. Back in Britain, vacationing former Black Watch flutist/tenor man Cliff Hails suggested Roy sign up, as Cliff had done, with the Canadian army, which was seeking qualified musicians. The stable income, decent living conditions and opportunities offered were enough to convince Roy to follow suit. Soon after, he found himself wearing the uniform of Lord Strathcona’s Horse Regiment in Calgary, Alberta. The Strathconas subsequently merged with Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, which led to Roy being selected for the Ottawa-based Central Band of the Canadian Armed Forces.

When his military time expired, aside from jazz club gigs, cruise-ship bands, weddings, Bar Mitzvahs, and whatever other work he could pick up, Roy’s core income came from the house band of Ottawa’s Skyline Hotel. The diminished income from playing compelled Roy to take a part-time job teaching high school music students. However, this led to a pivotal 1972 encounter with Kenton band members and ultimately Stan himself. After hearing Roy play, Stan asked him if he’d like to join the band.

Of course, there were minor obstacles to be negotiated, such as work permits. The U.S. apparently had as many saxophonists as it needed,
but after describing himself as a 'saxophonist/composer,' Roy was approved and began a gruelling yet artistically rewarding career with the Stan Kenton orchestra.
 
For the next seven years, Roy and the band were on the road worldwide for 48 weeks out of every 52. They visited practically every state in the union, as well as Britain, Germany, Holland, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Japan and, of course, a return visit to Canada and Vancouver’s Commodore Ballroom in 1976.

 
 









On Stan’s death in 1979 following a stroke, Roy decided to settle in Vancouver. To help launch him, a long-lost cousin arranged a month of 4:00-8:00 p.m. gigs on Thursdays at Annabelle's disco room in the Four Seasons Hotel. The appeal to the hotel’s jazz-loving general manager Peter Martin was obvious: The disco was normally dark during those hours. Besides, the Reynolds quartet/quintet and guests generated steady bar revenue, and almost immediately, Annabelle's became the place to be after work on Thursdays.
 
'The first time I heard Roy play, I knew he was special. When playing a normal gig, he played to his audience. In concert, he seemed to play to the universe. He breathed life into every note and electrified the room. How he has escaped becoming a household word among the all time greats I will never know. He has moved me to simultaneous tears and laughter for the sheer joy of it. Perhaps it is because he leaves the stage in graceful modesty, unaware of his own genius.' - Chris Fredrickson, former bassist/pianist, Vancouver Hot Jazz Club
 
Some of the talented early stalwarts at Annabelle’s were luminaries like guitarist Oliver Gannon, vibist Elmer Gill, bassists Torben Oxbol and Wyatt Ruther, drummer Blaine Wikjord and a host of others who combined to produce some of the most exciting jazz the city had heard in years. Those players aside, Annabelle’s also provided opportunities for talented young instrumentalists and singers to sit in. Among them was Vancouver-born pianist Renee Rosnes, who left for New York’s Juilliard School in the mid-'80s and is now a star in her own right.
  
' ... the consummate musician and a man with a genuinely soft heart.' - Bob Cadwallader, Trombonist, Victoria, B.C.

 
 













When Annabelle’s closed its doors, the Roy Reynolds show moved to the neighbouring Georgia Hotel with equal success and later to a Hastings Street restaurant bar. Wherever the band went, its loyal fans followed ... until, inevitably, it was time to call it a day.
 
For the past 16 years, Roy lived in Victoria, continuing to play jazz in a variety of capital venues and lending his talents to community bands and orchestras, such the city’s Swiftsure Big Band. As near-total hearing loss gradually lessened Roy's tolerance for loud band music, he segued into a clarinet role with Victoria’s Hampton Community Orchestra.
 
'I used to play trumpet in the Swiftsure Big Band and had the opportunity to play with Roy on a few occasions. He’s great to work with, a wonderful person and musician. I’ve never heard such a huge sound come out of a tenor sax.' - Alfons Fear, Victoria, B.C.
  
Roy gave up playing in October of this year at age 81 after being diagnosed with lung cancer. Following a difficult final rehearsal with the Hampton orchestra, Roy resigned emotionally from the group, mainly, as he put it, 'because I no longer had the breath or the hearing to continue.'
 
For the first time in more than 65 years of distinguished music-making, Roy’s horns are now silent. Roy died peacefully at about 4:30 a.m on Sunday, Nov. 28, with fellow musician and his companion of 16 years, Val Turner, at his side.
  
Roy's saxophone and clarinet will remain in the family, perhaps to be played again at some point in the future by an 11-year-old great-niece who recently began studying alto sax in elementary school.
The final word on Roy comes from former Kenton trumpet player Mike Vax:
 
'You are one of the truly good guys! I’ve valued our friendship over the years and have loved every minute that I got to perform with you. It seems hard to believe that we first played together almost 40 years ago. I know that Stan loved you, as did all the guysyou performed with the Kenton orchestra.'

Many thanks, Barrie. And rest well, Roy.





Friday, November 26, 2010

This Day in Twitter History









TommyDorsey





dinner was bomb diggity ... hittin the sack now ...
nembutal ... woot! woot!
12:15 AM Nov 26th 1956 via web

Thursday, November 18, 2010

The Bandstand: November 2006

Thanks to David Miller of Little Rock, Ark., for the mention of the BBAA on his website, www.swingindownthelane.com. Click "Swingin' News" and scroll down.

************* 



Wednesday, November 10, 2010

More Silver Linings

Trombonist Mike Pittsley riffs a little on our "Silver Linings" post:

"Your correction reminded me of this photo of the 1947 Stan Kenton trumpet section I have on my hard drive. It’s from 'The Big Band Almanac' by Leo Walker:













L-R: Johnny Anderson, Buddy Childers, Ray Wetzel, Chico Alvarez and Ken Hanna

I had the great pleasure of working with John Anderson back in the mid-1980s. He was a fantastic trumpet player with a jazz style very similar to Don Fagerquist's - extremely musical and tasteful – and a joy personally to work with.

On the few gigs we worked where John was the leader, he referred to a handwritten tune list that he’d kept since his days on the Kenton band. You can imagine how threadbare and faded this list had become by the mid-80s. It was literally falling apart in his hands and I think only John could actually read it! I’d have to double-check this, but I heard that John’s infamous tune list finally bit the dust sometime in the '90s. 

John was about the most laid-back cat one could ever hope to have the pleasure of meeting or working with. Although John is still with us, I’m sorry to say that he’s in a nursing home. I’m not sure of his age, but my best guess is that John would be around 90. I remember he was concerned about compromising his Social Security income when he was playing with my band back in 1987 or so (I ended up getting around that by paying his wife), so he was at least 65 then. 

John is truly one of the last of a breed. I’m honored to have had the chance to know him and play with him. Here’s another photo of the Kenton band from the same book: 













Look at those low-boy music stands! It must be nice to be young and able to see notes on a page from that distance. I don’t see how the trumpet players did it.

Time marches on."

Thanks, Mike!

*************

While we're in a photographic mood, Steven Kane from Providence (the one in Rhode Island) saw this 1940s-era photo offered last week on eBay:


The name "Henry Busse" appears on the back of the picture, but the trumpeter shown is clearly not Busse, as the seller readily acknowledged. The auction closed with no takers. Steven can't identify this man and wonders if any of our readers might know who he is. If you can shed some light, please e-mail us at the address below.




Saturday, October 30, 2010

Silver Linings

Sometimes a mistake turns out to be for the best. Reader Jules Chaikin wrote to ask if we might have misidentified the musicians in the photo at the top of our previous post:




 








The Stan Kenton band bus broke down outside an Iowa town in which the orchestra was scheduled to perform, so the musicians marched the rest of the way. A Kenton biography lists Ray Wetzel as leader of the motley group and the three brass players immediately behind him -- from left to right -- as Milt Bernhart, Buddy Childers and Bart Varsalona. Recognizing Ray and Milt right away, we simply trusted in the accuracy of the other two names and printed them as they appear in the book.
 

When Jules questioned a couple of the faces, we did what we should have done in the first place and turned to the ultimate authority on all things Kenton, Steven Harris. Steven is familiar with not just the picture we posted but other shots of the April 1948 incident. He was quickly able to determine who's who in the photo. Double-click the image for a larger view:












 

So besides straightening out the original names, Steven identified a couple more of the guys for us, one example of our mistake turning out for the best. Another example is that in talking with Steven, we learned his 2011 Stan Kenton calendars will be the last. If you ever even considered ordering one, now's the time to act:

THE 2011 KENTON KALENDAR 
Price: $29.95 + $3 shipping


Final issue!  After more than 15 years, this historic calendar ends its run, marking Stan’s 2011 birth centennial.  This limited edition collector's item is size 8½ x 11 on glossy paper with high–resolution photos.  As always, this unique fact–filled calendar offers all new pictures!  Plus: *More than 450 historical dates, background and trivia on Stan's star soloists and players covering the entire Kenton era, 1940–78.  *Over 25 rare action shots of Stan and his various bands in action, spanning four decades, published for the first time anywhere.  *Encyclopedia of Kentonia: An updated alumni reference guide covering the tenure, instrument, birth date and location of over 350 musicians, singers and arrangers.  *Only 125 copies produced, individually numbered.  *First time color cover.  Note: back issues from 2002-2010 available at half price.

 
Now on sale at half-price!  
THE KENTON KRONICLES
Price: $24.95 + $5 shipping


*394-page soft cover biography, 8½ x 11 in size with 48 glossy photo pages.  *285 unpublished b/w photos.  *Chronological interviews from more than 125 alumni, relatives and associates.  *Individual chapters on each of Kenton's various bands.  *Programs for all 11 Neophonic concerts, 1965-68.  *Historic reviews and entertainment ads.  *Kenton on Camera: a 15-page listing of more than 125 appearances of Stan in films, TV and private videos.  *Updated addendum.  *Autographed by author per request.  Note: super rare uncirculated hard cover edition, among the first numbers 5-10, with more than 25 alumni autographs now available (contact for details).


Send payment (check or money order) to:

Dynaflow Publications

148 N. Catalina Avenue, Suite 4
Pasadena, CA 91106

Thanks, Steven, and good luck!