Frisco Cricket. Published by the San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation Summer Jazz + Photography

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1 Frisco Cricket Published by the San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation Summer 2011 Jazz + Photography Surprising similarities between two young art forms by William Carter In your lifetime, as in mine, both jazz and photography have gradually won acceptance as fine arts. Having been intimately involved with both, I see underlying similarities between these two modern forms. The special energy of the fleeting moment is as crucial to photography as it is to jazz. Perhaps Zen painting or action painting should be included. But any jazzman, photographer, or Zen master would add that preparing for that moment is crucial. Any advocate of the cutting edge wanting to tear down old establishment walls can proclaim the supremacy of the Now. Expressing that moment meaningfully artistically is something else. The two upstart arts share another similarity: technology has been key to their histories. After the invention of the camera in 1839, photography evolved rapidly. It continues to do so. From plates to films to sensors, its myriad processes Willie Humphrey album cover: photograph William Carter 1974 Contents and techniques have influenced, and been influenced by, history itself. From worldwide colonialism and the U.S. Civil War to today s cell phone revolutions and satellite imagery, photography has been as intertwined with the history of science as with the historical events it was picturing. Jazz first appeared in the 1890 s roughly the same time as sound recording. It was invented in New Orleans as a medium of locally styled dancing, parading, and other social functions. Not until it migrated to Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles where the recording studios were did America s classical music, as it has since been called, take off. The first jazz recordings were made in 1917, and the first by black musicians in These sparked the Jazz Age, positioning musicians and listeners for the worldwide boom, with its myriad stylistic developments, that continue to unfold. Absent sound recordings, jazz could never Jazz + Photography by William Carter 1 From The Editor by Scott Anthony 5 Remembering Bill Bardin notes by Earl Scheelar 5 Remembering Jim Rothermel by many 6 Lucius Carl Watters by John Gill 8 Letter From A Member 10 Membership Application and Product List 11 1

2 Louis Armstrong at Cornell, Photo by William Carter The Frisco Cricket Issue No. 52 Published by the SAN FRANCISCO TRADITIONAL JAZZ FOUNDATION 3130 Alpine Road, #288 PMB 187 Portola Valley, CA Phone: (415) , FAX: (415) Website: Publisher: William Carter Editor, Layout, Webmaster: Scott Anthony Curator of the Archive : Clint Baker Special Projects Consultant: Hal Smith Office Manager: Karen Brooks John R. Browne, III William Carter Jim Cullum Charles Huggins Board of Directors Gregg Keeling John Matthews Terry O Reilly William Tooley Honorary Directors William Alhouse, Charles Campbell, Leon Oakley Board of Advisors Philip Hudner, Michael Keller, Paul Mehling, Bunch Schlosser, Bud Spangler Unless otherwise noted, all contents copyright 2010 San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation Advertise in the Cricket! In an effort to help defray the costs of maintaining all the varied programs that SFTJF supports, including The Frisco Cricket itself, we re going to begin providing limited advertising space here. We want to be fair to everyone, so there are a few rules we d like to follow: The advertiser should be in a music related (preferably Traditional Jazz related) business (band, club, cruise, radio station, etc.). No more than a total of 2 full pages will be used in any single issue of the Cricket, so ads will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. We need to be able to maintain the right to accept or reject advertisements at our discretion. Please send your ad to: Cricket Editor San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation 41 Sutter Street, PMB 1870 San Francisco, CA Or (preferably) by to: webmaster@sftradjazz.org or santh@comcast.net Advertising Rates per issue 1/8 Page $35, 1/4 Page $50, 1/2 Page $75 2

3 Barbara Dane performing at Sugar Hill, San Francisco circa Photograph William Carter have developed as an art form. The highly personal sounds of Louis Armstrong or Bix Beiderbecke or Benny Goodman or Duke Ellington or Charlie Parker or Bill Evans or George Lewis or Miles Davis, or Turk Murphy or Bob Helm, would have been lost, other than in the fading memories of the relative few who would remember hearing them live. Unlike music whose essence is preserved in written manuscripts, this music of the moment required recording to filter into that cumulative 3 memory we call civilization. Absent recordings, jazz own inner development would have been stunted: generations of younger players, having had far less access to the sounds that preceded them, would not have been able to power the medium forward down the many new tracks it has taken. An interesting, if comparatively minor, factor in the development of both photography and jazz has been the direct dialog between them. From the earliest days, jazz bands have needed publicity photos of themselves and their prominent individual members. Creative photographers have often responded to the special, sometimes romantic-seeming conditions and atmosphere of the jazz scene. For me, having my feet in both worlds has often been rewarding, both personally and professionally. Among my earliest paid photo assignments, around 1960, were shooting album covers for Berkeley s Arhoolie Records. In the following decade I began accumulating the pictures and interviews that would come together in my book on early-style New Orleans jazzmen, Preservation Hall (W.W. Norton, 1991). But my first real job of any kind had been in 1955, at age 20, when I toured the U.S. as a clarinetist, performing nightly nationwide and recording with Turk Murphy s Jazz Band out of San Francisco. I would play professionally and semi-professionally ever since, and would come to know countless wonderful musicians. Numero uno, however, was the night I met and photographed the great Satchmo (see facing page). As I said, happy accidents happen everywhere, all the time. But creating them, recognizing and treasuring them, preserving and framing them

4 long since hung up that horn. Nearly half a century earlier, he had just happened to walk into a studio to record a few sides including West End Blues, and happened to improvise a solo intro lasting less than half a minute which happened to change the course of American music. That intro has since been imitated, repeated, re-interpreted, re-arranged thousands of times but never with that same elemental, accidental-sounding force of its first moment. Another of my early idols, photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, called his most influential book The Decisive Moment. Which says it all. Magnolia Jazz 5 album cover, Author in lower left. that s a special preoccupation shared by photographers and jazzmen. And creating those moments? That s the most arcane, edgy aspect and the mysterious heart of both activities. In practical terms, you can only create the conditions and hope something great happens and you don t miss it. Trying too hard too consciously setting up the picture, or overarranging the music is opposite of the process I m talking about. The night I met Louis, he just happened to be positioned that hundredth of a second on that gym stage at Cornell University, under those stage lights, in a way that would work on film as later processed (with some difficulty) in my darkroom, and much later translated onto my computer. I just happened to be there holding that camera with that lens and film, ready to celebrate that moment, partly because I so loved the expansive human with whom I had just chatted backstage in his dressing room. I just happened to cut a slice out of infinite time with that particular shutter speed, and just happened to cut a slice out of infinite space with the bright line viewfinder in that particular Leica. And Louis? Louis just happened to be doing one-night stands across the U.S. at an age, and in a degree of uncertain health, when many others would have This article is from one of Carters recent blogs. For more of Bill s photos and articles, plus information about his new book, Causes and Spirits, go to: and to Bill s website: Guitar Slim album cover: photograph William Carter

5 From The Editor Remembering Bill Bardin We do not normally do articles in memory of musicians who have recently passed away, but this spring and early summer saw the passing of two local giants of Traditional Jazz in the San Francisco Bay Area. Bill Bardin and Jim Rothermel each made unmeasurable contributions to our musical history and legacy. Bill was a constant presence here as a fine trombonist for over 60 years. One of the first issues of the Frisco Cricket that I edited contains a transcription of an interview he gave with Bill Carter and Dave Radlauer detailing his early musical years playing in Oakland and Berkeley (#25 Winter 2005 online at Jim Rothermel s death is an especially difficult loss for me. Not only was he one of the most versatile and talented professional reed players in the country, but he was a very close friend and member of the Golden Gate Rhythm Machine for 27 years. Last night I discovered some recordings that I had transferred to the computer from tapes of the band made by fans at various festivals and on some cruises. Listening to Jim s playing on them made the layout of the following two pages easier as I remembered all the good times and good music I was able to share with this wonderful musician and friend. Thank you, Jim. We will not forget you. Scott Anthony Pete Allen and P. T. Stanton discovered Bill when he was about 16 in Acalanes High School in Concord or Pleasant Hill and were instrumental in his being part of the wartime replacement for the Lu Watters band at the Dawn Club in San Francisco, when he was 17. After the war he was a professional musician at the Dime a Dance joints in Oakland until he realized that heavy drinking and the life of a musician were not in his best interest. He credited the Dime Jigs for his real musical education. Most of his working career was as a fork lift driver for the Del Monte Canning Company in Oakland. Although he had a drivers license, he would never drive outside of work. In those days he didn t take many gigs as it meant someone had to pick him up and drive him home. From the time I arrived in the Bay Area in 1950 Bill was always my favorite trombone player. Bill s knowledge of harmony, chord structure and melodic lines was simply amazing, he always found the right thing to play that filled out the ensemble and made the band swing. He was never a superstar, what he played was always calculated to make the band sound as good as possible, rather than make him shine. When I was asked by Herwin records in 1971 to put a band together to make an LP, I was able to get what I considered the perfect band, Bardin on trombone, Bob Helm on reeds, and the rhythm section from the Bob Mielke s Bear Cats of the 1950s, Pete Allen bass, Dick Oxtotbanjo and Don Marchant-drums. As inconvenient as it was having to pick up Bill, I always considered it a privilege to play with some one with his talent. I can t tell you how much I learned over the years playing with Bill Bardin. Earl Scheelar Jim Rothermel Bill Bardin

6 Remembering Jim Rothermel, Jim, far left, with the Jesse Collin Young Band, 1964 I played countless weddings with Jim in the 80 s, and when I got married, it was only appropriate that we hired him for our own wedding, 5 years ago... completing the circle, so to speak. He put together an incredible group and gave us a day we ll never forget. Taking the time to learn the traditional clarinet pieces to play during the ceremony was above and beyond... and pure Jim. Thanks buddy. Jerry Ballard - Facebook Friend Jim fi nds something dead at the Dead Sea, Photo courtesy Shane and Bill Reinhart When I was 19 I played bass in a band subbing for David Hayes that Jim was a member of. He encouraged me through many a day and the music around him was always spectacular. I thank him for just being Jim. My love for Jim will never end...wonderful man and musician... Anthony Saunders - Facebook Friend Publicity photo and CD cover photo, Photo courtesy Shane and Bill Reinhart The New Century Jazz Band, Photo courtesy Shane and Bill Reinhart 6

7 Godspeed Jim, thanks for all the great memories, gigs and friendship. Thanks for showing up in this life. Knowing you has been a gift. Mimi Hallman - Facebook Friend Barbara Dane, Jim, and Shane Reinhart, Photo courtesy Shane and Bill Reinhart Jim, one of the finest professionals I was ever fortunate enough to work with. He lives on in all of his community who had the honor of knowing and or working with him. So few care about quality the way Jim did in every moment he shared with all of us, both with an instrument in hand as well as just being a colleague. Jim, truly one of the great ones. You are not forgotten, in fact what you gave makes us all better people if we have the courage to learn from you. Jeremy Cohen - Facebook Friend Jim with the Port City Jazz Band at the Calistoga Fair, 1980s. Photo courtesy Shane and Bill Reinhart A pleasure to have known you, played with you, and spent time creating great musical recordings. I know you are playing right now! Joel Jaffe - Facebook Friend Jim (far right) with the Golden Gate Rhythm Machine at the South Bay Dixie- i land Jazz Society, Photo by Gene Mondro 7

8 Lucius Lu Carl Watters was born on December 19, 1911 in Santa Cruz, California. The family moved to Rio Vista, California and sent young Lu to St. Joseph s Military Academy where he became the school bugler and played trumpet in the brass band. In 1925, Lu moved to San Francisco and formed his first jazz band with some high school friends. His grades suffered as he took trumpet jobs on cruise ships travelling up and down the West Coast and getting him as far away as New York City. All the while he was meeting other musicians interested in hot jazz and began formulating his own musical future. Back in San Francisco in 1929, Lu made his first recordings with Jack Danforth s Orchestra, a typical hot dance orchestra of the period. When he should have been studying hard in college, Lu took a job playing trumpet and arranging music for the house dance band at The Palace Hotel. This pretty much ended his academic career and he became a full time musician. By the mid-1930 s, Lu was playing and traveling with Carol Lofner s Orchestra and he got as far as New Orleans where the band played a two month residency. While there, Lu got to meet many of New Orleans better jazz men in after hours jam sessions and this really lit a fire in his heart to play some hot jazz when he got back to San Francisco. He had become disenchanted with the big swing/sweet dance styles of the time and was determined to develop a hot jazz band where he could play the blues and improvise some hot jazz. He needed some time to think, so he took a job as a cook aboard a tramp steamer, the S.S. Antiqua, bound for the Orient. When his day s work was done, he d sit out on the back deck, play his trumpet, and dream about the new band he would form back in San Francisco. He also began writing original material and one of his tunes, Antiqua Blues, comes from this period. Upon his arrival back in San Francisco in 1938, he formed a hot jazz big band along the lines of Lucius Carl Watters by John Gill 8 Lu Watters, late 1940s. Photo by George Fletcher The Bob Crosby Orchestra and began a long stint at Sweet s Ballroom in Oakland, California. It was here he began to meet other disenchanted swing band musicians anxious to play some hot jazz Turk Murphy, Bob Helm, Clancy Hayes and Bob Scobey amongst them. They started going to after-hours jam sessions at The Big Bear Tavern and sometimes they would go out to the beach still dresssed in their despised tuxedos to play their music in the wind and the fog and the surf in an effort to develop what Lu called a Big Outdoor Sound like the musicians had in New Orleans from parade playing. By 1940, Lu had a band playing at The Dawn Club every Monday night and this led to the formation of what would become Lu Watters Yerba Buena Jazz Band. They added more nights and they had

9 a phenomenally successful run there until June 1942, when the war clouds over Europe and The Pacific caused Lu to join the Navy. There he was asked to form a twenty piece Navy Dance Orchestra and a smaller jazz band where, based out of Hawaii, they travelled throughout (what was known as) the Pacific Theatre. Lu was discharged from the Navy in June of 1945 and he re-organized the Yerba Buena Jazz Band. They played at The Dawn Club until the end of 1946 and in 1947 opened their own cooperative night club in El Cerrito, California, called Hambone Kelly s. They made records, did radio shows and developed a big following. The band held forth until 1950 when Lu retired from music at the age of 39. After his retirement from music, Lu worked as a chef and dedicated his free time to the study of geology and the environment. In his later years, Lu lived in a modest home in Cotati, California where he often welcomed young jazz musicians who made the pilgrimage to talk about jazz. And, if they were lucky and asked the right questions, Lu invited them to share a glass or two of cheap red wine. Lu did come out of retirement in 1963 to play with Turk Murphy s Jazz Band, make a record, and take part in a concert to protest the building of a nuclear power plant at Bodega Bay. He played just the same way he always had, big sweeping phrases full of blue nuance and powerful stomp energy. That Outdoor sound he always looked for. But, in the end he seemed to prefer the quiet life and gave up the music for good. Oh, he would get the horn out every once in a while, and if the cheap red wine was flowing, he would stomp down a chorus or two for his throng of admirers. But he preferred to leave that chore to others so he could save his energy for strolls on the beach, feeding his beloved wild birds and talking about Louis Armstrong records. Lu left us on November 5, Not nearly enough time. He was a hero to all of us who loved 2-beat jazz, a larger than life good-time-charley, who loved life, good times, hot jazz and red wine. He was the stuff of legend. [Paid advertisement] THE YERBA BUENA JAZZ SOCIETY Presents A CELEBRATION OF WEST COAST TRADITIONAL JAZZ The Lu Watters Centennial Concert Sunday, December 4, 2011 at Bimbo s 365 Club 1025 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco From 3PM to 7PM Featuring John Gill s Yerba Buena Stompers, a 2-trumpet, 8 piece jazz band, in the Lu Watters tradition. Band members are Duke Heitger and Leon Oakley, trumpets Orange Kellin, clarinet Tom Bartlett, trombone Conal Fowkes, piano Clint Baker, tuba Kevin Dorn, drums John Gill, banjo Ticket price is $10.00 per person Lu always played for the dancers and Bimbos has a great dance floor! A small menu offering, reasonably priced, is also available at Bimbos. No Host Bar The venue is limited to 250 persons, RESERVATIONS ARE NOW REQUIRED >>> DO NOT CONTACT BIMBOS! <<< For reservations, Brenda Oakley at bjoakley52@msn.com or regular mail: 2 Mount Susitna Ct., San Rafael, CA Payment will be required at the door. No seat/table assignment. Door opens at 2:30. 9

10 Letter From A Member From Southern California Dear San Francisco Trad Jazz Foundation, I read your Spring 2011 Edition with particular interest as it had a picture and comment about Johnny St. Cyr. I have some photos of Johnny and I ll see what copies I can get made and will enclose any if the timing works out. I used to hustle college fraternity jobs for a little band I had. One night the young fellow who had hired me and my band approached me showing enthusiasm and said he particularly liked my banjo player and said He s almost as good as Lawrence Marrero (George Lewis banjo player). Then he asked What s his name? I replied, Johnny St. Cyr, and he more or less flipped out. Apparently his father had told him about Johnny. I used Johnny whenever he was available. My bass player, Buddy Burns [also from New Orleans], had introduced me to him. Some months later, I contracted hepatitis, and several of my jazz musician friends put on a benefit for me as I had been laid up for a long time. I have a snapshot or two of Johnny playing at the benefit with a big poster in the background saying Ron Ortmann Jazz Benefit. Years ago I was a fan of Bill Carter and Bruce Dexter. Then later I had the good fortune of doing a fair amount of playing myself. First on piano and later on banjo. I have both 4 string banjo and a 6 string banjo-guitar. It s a lot harder for me to play than the 4 string. Although my initial and primary interest was in New Orleans style jazz, I became an ecclectic and once had a band that I called The Ecclectic Friends. I found that many trad jazz musicians could play more than one instrument and retaining a jazz feeling it is possible to get interesting sounds with a uke, tenor guitar and regular guitar enhanced by a couple of horns The Parlour Jazz Band. However, for now I m laid up and in a wheelchair with a bad knee can t walk. But I still enjoy my memories, tapes and some CDs. OK, I ll shut up. But I still tinker with my instruments. Best Wishes, Ron Ortmann About Your New San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation Created as a non-profit in 1981, the San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation stated, as its primary mission, the archival preservation of thousands of items related to the West Coast Jazz Revival that began in San Francisco about In 2009 SFTJF completed the transfer of the main body of those materials to the Stanford University s Music Library. Thereupon, your Foundation s Archive was closed; possible donors of jazz materials should now contact Stanford or other public repositories. SFTJF s wider, ongoing aim is to help foster high-quality traditional jazz, regionally and worldwide. That mission is now carried out primarily via electronic media. The Foundation s main window on the world is our website -- www. sftradjazz.org -- where visitors are invited to become members at $25 per year. Benefits of membership include insider information and discounts to special events and products, and a subscription to our lively newsletter, the Cricket, now available electronically. Those wishing to continue receiving the Cricket on paper in the mail should please contact the SFTJF office manager. Thank you for your generous support over the years. Contributions in categories beyond the basic membership level are tax deductible, and the names of those contributors are published annually (unless a contributor specifies anonymity). Donations welcomed The San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation accepts gifts and grants in many forms, including his tori cal items which shed further light on the history of traditional jazz on the West Coast, such as recordings, music, newspaper clip pings, pho tographs and corre spon dence. Contributions of materials or funds are tax-deductible under IRS ruling status 501(c)(3). SF Jazz on the Web The San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation has an ever-expanding web site. The site includes sound files and photos of many San Francisco (and other) jazz figures from the 1930s to the present. Please visit us at Join (or rejoin) the San Francisco Traditional Jazz Founda tion today to begin taking advan tage of reservations to special events, discounts on selected jazz books and recordings, and a year s sub scription to The Frisco Cricket. If you are already a member, give the gift of Founda tion membership to a friend! Use the form at right. 10

11 Product Order Form & 2011 Membership/Renewal Application Name Address Phone ( ) Compact Discs ($13 for members, $16 for non-members) Quantity Amount El Dorado Jazz Band Live At Mr. Fatfingers...(BCD-510) $ The Sunset Music Company Live in Dusseldorf, (BSR-009) $ The Unheard Bob Scobey and his Frisco Jazz Band (BCD-285) $ A Musical Tribute to Lu Watters The Bay City Stompers... (BCD-280) $ Firehouse 5 Plus 2 Live at Earthquake McGoon s (BCD-450) $ William Warfield Something Within Me... (DELMARK DE-772) $ Bob Mielke and his Bearcats...(SFCD-3) $ The Legendary Russ Gilman...(SFTJF CD-109) $ Clancy Hayes Satchel of Song...(SFTJF CD-108) $ Turk Murphy Jazz Band Wild Man Blues...(SFTJF CD-107) $ Lu Watters Yerba Buena Jazz Band, Vol 2, (SFTJF CD-106) $ Lu Watters Yerba Buena Jazz Band, Vol 1, (SFTJF CD-105) $ Turk Murphy Jazz Band Euphonic Sounds...(SFTJF CD-104) $ Turk Murphy Jazz Band Weary Blues...(SFTJF CD-103) $ Turk Murphy Jazz Band In Hollywood...(SFTJF CD-102) $ Turk Murphy Jazz Band Live at Carson Hot Springs...(SFTJF CD-101) $ Turk Murphy Jazz Band At The Italian Village, with Claire Austin... (MMRC CD-11) $ Lu Watters Yerba Buena Jazz Band At Hambone Kelly s, (MMRC CD-10) $ Bob Helm with the El Dorado Jazz Band 1955*...(SFTJF CD-110) $ *Specially priced two-cd set. Members: $16; non-members: $20. Books Members Non-mem. Jazz on the Barbary Coast, by Tom Stoddard $4 $5 $ Pioneer jazzmen reminisce about old San Francisco and its role as a wellspring of jazz The Great Jazz Revival, by Pete Clute & Jim Goggin $10 $15 $ The story of the San Francisco jazz revival Meet Me At McGoon s, by Pete Clute & Jim Goggin $25 $33 $ Another Jazz Scrapbook by the authors of The Great Jazz Revival Jazz West 2, by K.O. Ecklund, published by Donna Ewald NEW PRICE! $6 $8 $ The A-to-Z guide to west coast jazz music; a unique source. Complete the credit card information below, or enclose check or money order for Total. Send to: San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation 3130 Alpine Road, #288 PMB 187 Portola Valley, CA Credit Card MasterCard Visa American Express Total Qty: $ California residents, add 8.25% sales tax $ Everyone add shipping (Total Qty X $2.00 per item) = $ If outside U.S., Canada and Mexico, add $5 per order. $ New or Renew SFTJF membership, add $25. $ Donation* $ Total $ *contributions to SFTJF, above the basic membership level, are tax deductible Name (as appears on card) Account Number (16 digits) Expiration Date (mo/yr) Cardholder Signature 11

12 The Frisco Cricket SAN FRANCISCO TRADITIONAL JAZZ FOUNDATION 3130 Alpine Road, #288 PMB 187 Portola Valley, CA Important! Please note our mailing address has changed! SAN FRANCISCO TRADITIONAL JAZZ FOUNDATION 3130 Alpine Road, #288 PMB 187 Portola Valley, CA We apologize for any mail that has been returned with RETURN TO SENDER ATTEMPTED - NOT KNOWN UNABLE TO FORWARD This is in error - we are still very much in business! Send an to: info@sftradjazz.org or register online at The Frisco Cricket Summer 2011