Frisco Cricket. Published by the San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation Fall When Jazz Hit Stanford

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Frisco Cricket. Published by the San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation Fall When Jazz Hit Stanford"

Kerrie Todd
5 years ago
Views:

Frisco Cricket Published by the San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation Fall 2011 When Jazz Hit Stanford Lu Watters and His Dixieland Boys Wrecked Forever the Sweet Peace of California Fraternity

.. The Bay Region around San Francisco has long been noted for its exceptionally bad form of music appreciation.

Well, this Lu Watters and his band finally got rolling out there at a place in San Francisco called the Dawn Club and it soon became a fad for college kids to go there and hear Watters rather than be

1 Frisco Cricket Published by the San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation Fall 2011 When Jazz Hit Stanford Lu Watters and His Dixieland Boys Wrecked Forever the Sweet Peace of California Fraternity House This all happened late in November of 41 and I have been waiting ever since to see somebody write it up... The Bay Region around San Francisco has long been noted for its exceptionally bad form of music appreciation. I mean that only a paltry few knew anything about the jazz idiom, and the average, self-styled record collector spoke in terms of Ferde Grofe. Well, this Lu Watters and his band finally got rolling out there at a place in San Francisco called the Dawn Club and it soon became a fad for college kids to go there and hear Watters rather than be seen on Nob Hill listening to Henry King, who seemed to have pitched a tent in one of the hotels around there and was ready to stay on until the next generation. Not that many knew what the hell he was hearing when he did hear Lu Watters except for a small group of San Francisco collectors headed by David Rosenbaum and a few others. This was before the city was staging those Bunk Johnson concerts or anything like that put on by the C.I.O. As a result, it would have been a waste of time to tell somebody next to you at the Dawn Club that Lu s cornet sounded more like Joe Smith s than any other you had heard. You would have been jumped plenty by the slightly enlightened because it was the fashion to say he played just like Bix, whoever the hell he was. So the pseudo-debs and genii came to the Dawn Club and said that Lu was another Bix even though they Contents When Jazz Hit Stanford 1 Our Local Videographer by Scott Anthony 6 Tribute To Ed and Dottie Lawless by Earl Scheelar 8 Letter From A Long-Time Member 10 Membership Application and Product List 11 1

2 had never heard of either. The place was making plenty by that November. Admission was four bits. Well, one night, a flock of wild-eyed brothers from the S.A.E. fraternity at Stanford, who had been making bi-weekly pilgrimages up to S.F. to hear the band, hatched the idea that it was time for a change and that the next Sig Alpha brawl and annual Go To Hell dance she have Lu s band. Now this clique from the S.A.E. House considered itself aloof and above a lot of the Dawn Club patrons. One of them wrote a record column for the school humor mag and another had a batch of jazz records each and everyone a nice reissue thanks to Milt Gabler s U.H.C.A. and Steve Smith s H.R.S. So one night when Lu was over at the table he said sure, he d be free that Saturday and would play for so much. The clique warned him it would be a pretty wild affair, what with the frat made to look literally like Hell, complete with papier mache grottos and coffins. But Lu said that would be all right too. Well, one of the brothers who had read Jazzmen and a couple of other books, claimed that history repeated itself the night Lu Watters and the Yerba Buena Jazz Band pulled their autos up in front of the S.A.E. house thirty minutes late. They had gotten lost some place around San Mateo. The brother slightly corned harked back to the days in 1923 when the Wolverines had drawn up to the door of an S.A.E. House at Indiana in a battered old roadster. The band shoved through the kids in the parlor, got out their horns, and started off the Canal Street Blues. The cute kids in the sharp costumes stopped dead in their tracks and clustered around this outfit with their jaws hanging down like so many idiots. Others sat cross legged and listened. One after another, the band cracked down with High Society, Chimes Blues, Muskrat Ramble, Jazz Me, Kansas City Stomps. Then they quit for about twenty minutes and went upstairs to the clique s room for some clandestine refreshments. (Tough Dean.) The Frisco Cricket Issue No. 53 Published by the SAN FRANCISCO TRADITIONAL JAZZ FOUNDATION 3130 Alpine Road, #288 PMB 187 Portola Valley, CA Phone: (415) , FAX: (415) Website: info@sftradjazz.org Publisher: William Carter Editor, Layout, Webmaster: Scott Anthony Curator of the Archive : Clint Baker Special Projects Consultant: Hal Smith Office Manager: Karen Brooks Anthony 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

Chit-chat between the sets was edifying. Cut little tricks raised on Freddie Martin said he would be furious if he heard such stuff. Another was sure they all took dope like swing bands do.

But nobody had ever heard of George Brunies, and a frantic search by the clique to find somebody who knew the name ended in failure. Wally Rose, the pianist?

3 Chit-chat between the sets was edifying. Cut little tricks raised on Freddie Martin said he would be furious if he heard such stuff. Another was sure they all took dope like swing bands do. Lu was classed as being cute but he couldn t blow any high ones. Once from the dark corners came a plaintive cry, Hell, he could blow George Brunies right out of the room. But nobody had ever heard of George Brunies, and a frantic search by the clique to find somebody who knew the name ended in failure. Wally Rose, the pianist? Oh, he sounded like a pianola we had at home. (Wally had done a solo of Seattle Stomp a few minutes earlier.) The drummer with the eyeglasses? Why did he hit the blocks all the time? The clarinetist was a nice little man but blew too many squeals. (This for Ellis Horne, an outstanding Dodds exponent.) Then Lu and the band came down for another set and the kids gawked some more. Turk blew Ory s Creole Trombone and got a big hand. They liked the Barnum- Bailey part, I guess. The band played Fidgety Feet and Sensation. Someone then yelled for Moonlight Cocktail and the band played Heebie Jeebies. Standing in the back of the parlor and marveling, one of the clique could not help but think that the sight of Lu and the band on that half-light looked like some old photo taken about 1919 of the N.O.R.K. or a reasonable facsimile thereof. Lu in front, driving out the lead with that intangible shove. Turk beside him with a tram that some have placed 3

and play in a big hall surrounded by a bunch of hyper-critical goons who had heard of the S.A.E. business? The school was not ready for righteous music.

Next weekend Lu was at the Dawn Club where he belonged. And quite a few of the Stanford squirrels were there too.

They still criticized, laughed maybe at the blocks and the tuba, but they came in droves. Jazz had hit Stanford. --- The Jazz Review, January, 1945, No.

4 and play in a big hall surrounded by a bunch of hyper-critical goons who had heard of the S.A.E. business? The school was not ready for righteous music. Complaints were raised that there was no showmanship, that no one took off a la Ziggy, that the tuba was out of date, the banjo sounded corny and you couldn t dance to such stuff anyway. Next weekend Lu was at the Dawn Club where he belonged. And quite a few of the Stanford squirrels were there too. Something lured them there even with Blue Barron playing across at the Palace, something they could not explain. They still criticized, laughed maybe at the blocks and the tuba, but they came in droves. Jazz had hit Stanford. --- The Jazz Review, January, 1945, No. 28 (Published monthly in New York by Art Hodes and Dale Curran) above Brunies. Horne s playing, a model Dodds style without sinking to mere imitation. Rose s Jelly piano, Clancy Haye s pulsating banjo in the best tradition of Lonnie Johnson. Another cornet player, Bob Scobey, with a brilliant tone of his own. But Lu was Joe Smith all over again, Well, the concert (nobody was dancing) broke up about one A.M., thanks to a campus curfew, and the aggregation moved to a local road-house where the band set up in a room we had rented and played until three. It was about then that Lu was cornered by a couple of the campus most-likely-to-succeeders and hired to play at the Big Game dance coming up the next month. Lu said sure again, but it was a bad error. He had to play opposite some local 14 piece outfit that was the rage of the college and the clique coming to the dance stag to hear how the band would make out left shortly afterward. How could a New Orleans outfit relax 4

5 Our Local Videographer by Scott Anthony Rae Ann and video camera. photographer unknown First there was itunes, then recently in the United States, Spotify, for continually expanding sources of audio of our kind of music. Now there s SFRaeAnn. For the last several years, Rae Ann Berry has tirelessly ammassed an incredible library of video clips of performances by her favorite bands and musicians, spent countless hours editing and carefully creating the equivalent of liner notes on each one, and placing them all on YouTube for everyones enjoyment - over 1900 and counting! Many of the video clips include musicians who are current or past members and staff of the San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation, and I think I speak for all of them when I express our gratitude for all this work. To quote one of many responses to our posting videos Rae Ann made of a recent SFTJF event: This is wonderful! And to think I almost cancelled my daughter s wedding so I could fly down to hear this live. I got the best of both possible worlds! The lads were really cooking on The Girls Go Crazy and Cakewalking... Cheers--and Thanks!. Mike Suddaby. If you see a very quiet lady with a video camera sitting near the stage at a festival or other jazz performance, you might want to thank her too! 5

Some Sample Screen Shots From Videos By SFRaeAnn Left: Le Jazz Hot August 8, 2009 at the Orange County Jazz Festival in

Musicians are: leader Paul Mehling, bass; Julian Smedley, violin; Jeff Magidson, guitar; and Clint Baker, cornet, vocal,

Right: Golden Gate Rhythm Machine July 18, 2009 at the 13th Annual Cline Wine & Dixieland Jazz Festival at Cline Cellars

6 Some Sample Screen Shots From Videos By SFRaeAnn Left: Le Jazz Hot August 8, 2009 at the Orange County Jazz Festival in Costa Mesa CA. Musicians are: leader Paul Mehling, bass; Julian Smedley, violin; Jeff Magidson, guitar; and Clint Baker, cornet, vocal, and introduction. Right: Golden Gate Rhythm Machine July 18, 2009 at the 13th Annual Cline Wine & Dixieland Jazz Festival at Cline Cellars in Sonoma CA. Musicians are: Leader Scott Anthony, banjo; Jim Rothermel, soprano sax and recorder; Bob Schulz, cornet; Gary Reynolds, trombone and fl ugelbone; Bill Maginnis, drums; Bob Hirsch, piano; and Jim Maihack, tuba. Left: Ray Skjelbred plays Alligator Hop on the Dolceola on June 28, 2009 at America s Festival in Lacey WA. 6

Right: Clint Baker s Cafe Borrone All-Stars June 12, 2009 at Cafe Borrone in Menlo Park CA.

Bill Reinhart, bass; and J. Hansen, drums. Left: Yerba Buena Stompers August 8, 2009 at the Orange County Jazz Festival in Costa Mesa CA.

Eggers, piano; Clint Baker, tuba; and Hal Smith, drums.

7 Right: Clint Baker s Cafe Borrone All-Stars June 12, 2009 at Cafe Borrone in Menlo Park CA. Musicians are: Clint Baker, guitar and clarinet; Robert Young, sax; Leon Oakley, cornet; Jim Klippert, trombone; Jason Vanderford, banjo; Bill Reinhart, bass; and J. Hansen, drums. Left: Yerba Buena Stompers August 8, 2009 at the Orange County Jazz Festival in Costa Mesa CA. Musicians are: leader John Gill, banjo; Leon Oakley, cornet; Jon-Erik Kellso, cornet; Orange Kellin, clarinet; Tom Bartlett, trombone; Marty Eggers, piano; Clint Baker, tuba; and Hal Smith, drums. The San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation Staff and Directors Band at Pier 23 in San Francisco. Musicians are: Pat Yankee, vocal; Jim Cullum, cornet; Leon Oakley, cornet; Clint Baker, drums; Paul Mehling, bass; Bill Carter, clarinet; Terry Waldo, piano; and Scott Anthony, banjo. 7

New Orleans Jazz Club Of Northern California Tribute to Ed and Dottie Lawless On Saturday, November 12, 2011, the NOJC honored Ed and Dottie Lawless at Champa Restaurant in El Cerrito, CA.

8 New Orleans Jazz Club Of Northern California Tribute to Ed and Dottie Lawless On Saturday, November 12, 2011, the NOJC honored Ed and Dottie Lawless at Champa Restaurant in El Cerrito, CA. Beginning at noon and running until 5pm there was music by ensembles organized on the spot from the many musicians who had dropped by to thank Dottie and Ed, who had passed away 12 years ago. Earl Scheelar read the words that follow in appreciation for the couple s tireless support of musicians, bands, and our favorite music in general. On display were a few dozen photos out of literally thousands taken by Ed of local and not so local musicians over many years. It was announced that this historical collection of photos will be donated to the Stanford Music Library to accompany the San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation archive that was transferred to the Stanford Music Library a few years ago. Dottie and Ed came to the Bay Area and became involved in the NOJCNC in There are still a few of us around that remember when it was formed in Over the years they devoted countless hours to furthering the club in every way you can imagine. Their home was open to many, many non-local musicians, some world famous and many not so famous. The list of guests at the Lawless house would be a Who s Who of Traditional Jazz over the past 50 some years. For most of the club s existence board meetings were held at the Lawless house and both Ed and Dottie at one time or another did every job you can think of for the club. Not only did they work tirelessly for the jazz club but were honored many times for their contributions Ed and Dottie Lawless,, Photo by Ed Lawless 8 to Traditional Jazz. In 1988 they were honored as the Emperor and Empress at the Sacramento Jazz Festival. Honors also included Grand Jubilators at the Pismo Beach Jubilee-by-the-sea and Jazz Couple of the Year at the Santa Rosa Jazz Festival. Dottie did a lot of volunteer work for the Sacramento Jazz Festival, including judging the Worlds Best Jazz Band Contest. She also was a judge at the Watsonville Fats Waller Festivals best new song by musicians contest. For many years Ed was the unofficial photographer for the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee. He took thousands of pictures of jazz musicians and jazz events, primarily for the NOJCNC. Ed s photoss have been donated to the Stanford Jazz Archives and will be transferred there shortly. Over the years the jazz club had their monthly event at many, many different venues, the favorite being Bimbo s 365 Club. After the owner, Augustino Guintoli died, the meetings were held at the Blue Dolphin in San Leandro for several years, until it closed. The Lawless were instrumental in getting the name of the one-block long street where the Lu Watters Jazz Band played at the Dawn Club before WWII, back to Annie Street, after the City renamed it. They also had a plaque made and installed in the Dawn Club, commemorating the Lu Watters Band at the Dawn Club. After the building was remodeled the plaque disappeared. This is just a snapshot of the work and devotion the Lawlesses gave to furthering and promoting the NOJCNC and Traditional Jazz over the years. Their efforts will never be forgotten. Earl Scheelar, Berkeley, CA

9 A selection of photos by Ed Lawless out of the thousands to be donated to the Stanford Music Library. Photo by John Matthews Dottie Lawless at the Event, November 12, 2011 Photo by John Matthews 9

10 Letter From A Long-Time Member Dear San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation: Ron Ortmann (ED. see previous issue of the Cricket) is a longtime musical jamming buddy of mine (to quote Louis Armstrong s description of Jack Teagarden), dating back to 1965, when he and I played in Jerry Kaehele s Good Time Levee Stompers, at the Rumble Seat in Hermosa Beach. Later, he formed a band called the Crescent Bay Jazz Band,in which I was the banjoist, which was active in Southern California in 1970 and 71. The star performer in this band was the great cornetist Papa Ray Ronnei. I, too, had the pleasure of knowing Johnny St. Cyr before his death in He was an inspiration, both as a musician and as a person. Of course, since we both played banjo, I had the pleasure of playing alongside him on only one occasion, and it was this: 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 Back in the early to middle 60s, at meetings of the Southern California Hot Jazz Society, several of us banjo players would get together behind the main building (the American Legion Hall at Griffith Park), and jam. Once Johnny joined us with his six-string banjo-guitar, an instrument which he basically invented; I recall he took the lead on his favorite song, Rose Of The Rio Grande. I ll never forget this, although this is now almost 50 years ago! Keep up the good work! Doug Parker Tacoma, WA

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 Anytime is a good time to renew your Membership! Join or renew online at Support Traditional Jazz! The Frisco Cricket Fall 2011

Frisco Cricket. Published By The San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation. Bill Usually Does This. by Scott Anthony

Frisco Cricket. Published By The San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation. Bill Usually Does This. by Scott Anthony Frisco Cricket Published By The San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation Summer 2014 Our page 1 article is most often a thoughtful, inciteful piece by William Carter about some element of San Francisco