January 2014 Volume 39, Number 01 BERT BARR S UPTOWN LOWDOWN JB BOOKED for JANUARY 19 th TO CONTINUE TRADITION OF OPENING NEW YEAR S SERIES WITH THE BAND WHOSE ORIGIN DATES BACK MORE THAN FOUR DECADES By Rod Belcher I recall quite clearly the first time I met Bert Barr and heard the small jazz group he led. The place was a pizza joint in West Seattle, and the band had no name. It was 1972, and I was lured to give a listen by a friend who, like me, was hungry to find a new sound, but performed by devotees of classic jazz. Two of his sidemen were old friends: trombonist Mike Hobi and legendary pianist, the late Johnny Wittwer. They, like Bert, were strong players. They were joined by clarinetist Dick Martin and Howard Gilbert, a Seattle Symphony percussionist, on drums. That was the beginning of Uptown Lowdown, a name that was invented by Bert a couple of years later, to fit his mind s tangency to early day jazz. A tune from early Great Depression days with a strong dance connection was Doin the Uptown Lowdown. Bert was a hard-working leader, securing more and more bookings for his band, and increasing its book of a wide variety of jazz, blues, pop novelties, swing, ragtime and more. The tunes had skeleton arrangements by Bert and by members of his band, which had grown to seven or eight-piece units for some festival jobs. Many recording dates followed, and its popularity grew geometrically. These days he also has a small unit ULJB Lite while his Jan.19 date with the PSTJS is his sextet version. It has Bert on cornet, Paul Woltz on reeds, Andy Hall on trombone, Bert s wife RoseMarie on piano, Paul Hagglund on tuba and Al LaTourette on banjo. Hear them, and thus hear an important entity in Pacific Northwest jazz history. WHERE: Ballard Elks Lodge, 6411 Seaview Ave. NW, Seattle. WHEN: 1 p.m. - 4:30 p.m., Sunday, January 19th. ADMISSION: $12 PSTJS members; $15 non-members. Pay only at door. FURTHER INFO: Carol Rippey, 425-776-5072. Or - website: www.pstjs.org. Plenty of free parking; great view & dance floor, snacks, coffee, and other beverages available. NOTES FROM the PREZ! HAPPY NEW YEAR Welcome to 2014. I hope every one of you had a very Happy Holiday Season and are ready to make this new year the best one yet. Let s begin the year with a big Thank You to Ruth Johnson and Judy Shook, the Directors of the Seaside Festival, for donating TWO (2) all event badges for their festival February 21-23. We ll be auctioning off the tickets during this month s Jazz Sunday. Bring your checkbooks and let s have some rousing bidding going on, with the proceeds going to our Youth Scholarship Fund. Some of our new members might not know what the Youth Scholarship Fund does. We sell raffle tickets each month with half the proceeds going to this fund. The raffle winner gets the other half. Each year we send several students to Jazz Camp Heebie Jeebies and we pay their tuition and board for the week-long experience with the Scholarship funds. You may have noticed that some of the musicians in the bands that play for us are getting older each time we see them. The Jazz Camp is a wonderful training opportunity for young musicians to really be immersed in all things Traditional Jazz. They ll be the new additions to the existing (aging) bands we have enjoyed for so many years. The other half of the winnings of the raffle ticket drawing are more often than not given back to the Fund as a charitable gift for those students who will be entertaining us in the future. More about Camp in future issues. That s it for me. See you on January 19th for Uptown Lowdown. Cheers, Judy
Jazz Soundings Puget Sound Traditional Jazz Society 19031 Ocean Avenue Edmonds, WA 98020-2344 425-776-5072 www.pstjs.org UPCOMING EVENTS Elks Lodge, Ballard, 6411 Seaview Ave N.W., Seattle Jan 19 Uptown Lowdown Feb 16 Ain t No Heaven Seven Mar 16 Crescent City Shakers April 27 Sidewalk Stompers May 18 holotradband June 15 New Orleans Quintet January 2014 Gigs for Local Bands BELLINGHAM TRADITIONAL JAZZ SOCIETY 1st Saturday 2-5 pm VFW Hall 625 N. State St Jan. 4 Halleck Street Ramblers Feb. 1 Phoenix Jazzers Page 2 FIRST THURSDAY BAND 1st Thursday, 7-10 pm, New Orleans Restaurant, 114 1st Ave S., Seattle, WA CALL TO SEE IF BAND IS PLAYING! 206-622-2563 PRESIDENT Judy Levy jazzdancer2@msn.com 425-890-6605 VICE PRESIDENT Jack Temp 425-242-0683 SECRETARY Cilla Trush paultrush@yahoo.com 206-363-9174 TREASURER Gloria Kristovich gkristo@live.com 425-776-7816 BOARD OF DIRECTORS Joanne Hargrave shorejo1@comcast.net 206-550-4664 Leroy Johnson moldyfig@hotmail.com 206-772-4378 Jan Lemmon djlemmon@msn.com 425-776-9763 Edmund Lewin 360-297-6633 Gary Lydum glydumup@hotmail.com 206-719-3955 George Oelrich goelrich@comcast.net 360-793-0836 Carol Rippey trianglejazz@comcast.net 425-776-5072 George Swinford 425-869-2780 MEMBERSHIP COORDINATOR Carol Rippey trianglejazz@comcast.net 425-776-5072 EDITOR Anita LaFranchi jazzeditor@q.com 206-522-7691 WEBMASTER George Peterson ggpeters99@gmail.com 425-453-5218 GLENN CRYTZER AND HIS SYNCOPATORS 1st Sunday and 3rd Wednesday of the Month 9:30 pm -12:30 am Century Ballroom 915 East Pine Seattle, WA, 206-324-7263 NEW ORLEANS QUINTET Mondays, 6:30-9:30 pm, New Orleans Restaurant, 114 1st Ave S., Seattle, WA CALL TO SEE IF BAND IS PLAYING! 206-622-2563 GREATER OLYMPIA DIXIELAND JAZZ SOCIETY 2nd Sunday 1:00 4:30 PM Elks Club 1818 4th Ave, Olympia, WA PEARL DJANGO Jan 2-5 7:30 pm Jazz Alley 2033 6th Ave., Seattle, WA 206-441-8729 Jan 24&26 Bremerton, WA see: www.pearldjango.com/files/calendar.htm for more information UPTOWN LOWDOWN JAZZ BAND Jan 19 1-4:30 pm Puget Sound Traditional Jazz Society, See article on page 1 JAZZ SOUNDINGS Published monthly except July and August by the Puget Sound Traditional Jazz Society. Anita LaFranchi, Editor, jazzeditor@q.com Ads must be submitted in a jpeg or PDF format Payment in advance to: Gloria Kristovich, P.O. Box 373, Edmonds, WA 98020-0373 Advertising Rates: Full page $100. 7 1/2 wide by 9 1/2 tall Half Page $60. 7 1/2 wide by 4 1/4 tall Quarter Page $40. 3 5/8 Wide by 4 1/4 tall Deadline is the 10th of the month for the next month s issue On Your Dial... Saturday 7-12 pm Swing Years and Beyond KUOW 94.9 FM Sunday 3-6 pm Art of Jazz, Ken Wiley, KPLU 88.5 FM
Jazz Soundings January 2014 Page 3 BOB DRAGA WITH FRIENDS BLUE STREET CLIMAX JAZZ BAND CORNET CHOP SUEY JAZZ BAND DAVE BENNETT and the MEMPHIS BOYS HIGH SIERRA IVORY&GOLD ORIGINAL WILDCAT JASS BAND TITAN HOT SEVEN TOM RIGNEY & FLAMBEAU UPTOWN LOWDOWN WE THREE BOB DRAGA, Guest Artist Presented by Lighthouse Jazz Society 23 February 20 thru 24, 2014 SEASIDE, OREGON NEW!!! Thursday Night Special Event with WE THREE! More information at www.jazzseaside.com or 1-866-345-6257; M-F; 9 5 PM only. A portion of this project was made possible from a Tourism Grant by the City of Seaside.
Jazz Soundings January 2014 Page 4 WHAT IS A JAZZ MUSICIAN? by Ray Skjelbred When I first started to play piano I knew what I wanted to do. I had been thrilled by the imagination and swing of certain musicians and I wanted to be able to do the same. I worked hard at it and I only saw it as one thing: art. To me musicians were artists and dreamers. That was it. Of course I did not start playing piano until I was 20, so my views may have been different from other beginners. But at first it never seemed like this was work or something a person did as a job. And then along the way I realized a piano player was also a worker. He usually had a boss and likely not a musical one and the ups and downs of work that anyone can face were also the ups and downs musicians faced, whether they might be seen as artists or workers in a work force. So I have been thinking how are some ways that the world sees or perhaps doesn t see what a musician is. Are musicians famous people or completely unimportant in the scheme of things? Are they invisible? Are they workers? Servants? Suspicious beings? Shady characters? Here are some stories. I remember in the 1970 s my band Berkeley Rhythm used to play an annual Kentucky Derby party at a fancy home in San Francisco. Phil Harris sang with us and we entertained before and after the race. There were televisions in every room so no one would miss a thing. One time I took a cookie from a tray in the dining room and a maid yelled at me, Those are for the people, and I was on my way in the process of learning that I wasn t one. Another time I played at an even fancier party on Nob Hill. I remember seeing Lauren Hutton in the crowd. I was in a band that was one of several groups providing entertainment. During the evening I noticed many men in similar dark suits with red armbands. I figured they were some kind of group, maybe the San Francisco Men s chorus. All of a sudden they descended on me, grabbed me by the arms and were going to throw me out. It turns out that they were security guards and they thought I had crashed the party to get free food and drink. Why? They had seen me drinking a beer without pouring it into a glass first. That was a sure sign that I was crude and an outsider, even though I was wearing clothes that matched other members of the band. Eventually I talked them out of it, but they were still suspicious. The big jazz and sometimes marching band that I played in (trombone) at 49 ers games had a rehearsal before our first performance. I recall that we had about four or five of each instrument and we marched around the field in some sort of sloppy formation. I also seem to remember that our marching stopped after the first game. As we prepared to rehearse, my trombone playing friend Tony Landphere opened his case and found he had left his horn at home, so he assembled an invisible horn and marched in formation, blowing into the air and moving his arms. Management never noticed and he got paid that day. Was his role important? Or was he invisible? A musician s identity in the world is sometimes a source of humor among friends. One time when my cornet playing friend Jim Goodwin and I were playing with Dick Oxtot s Golden Age Jazz Band at Mandrake s in Berkeley, Jim and I decided to both be me. We wore matching red and black wool shirts and Chicago Cubs caps, and he wore a false beard to match mine. Then we staged a fight at the piano, each one of us claiming to be Ray Skjelbred. It took time to prepare this but the scene only lasted a few seconds, enough to cause Oxtot to break up laughing. And that is what is important about it and maybe a clue to a musician s identity. Something about friendship and a sense of musical community seems to be at the center of being a musician. We had fun and we got Oxtot to laugh because, as Joseph Conrad used to say, he was one of us. Here is one last musical story. And the more I think about it, the more I appreciate the identity of musicians as friends in a community. Whether a musician sees what he does as work or art, a community of sympathetic peers helps define the self. When I played with the Turk Murphy jazz band, we once had a job in an office building that was under construction and we were told to exit the elevator on the balcony level. I was there early, as always, and the balcony was just a little ledge. Then I saw another balcony below me the real one. When I went to go back I found there were no buttons for the elevator on the outside. I was stuck. So I waited until the band started to show up and I called down for help. Our tuba player Bill Carroll, a wonderful and witty man looked up and started trembling with suppressed laughter. Then I was rescued and the gig went on. Bill never mentioned the incident and we went on playing, maybe two more years, until one time when I was called upon to do a solo, a showy kind of piece like Little Rock Getaway. It drew a large applause from the crowd and when it died down, Bill leaned toward me and whispered, Yeah, but you d rather be out on that balcony wouldn t you? Wow! A two year delay and perfect timing. This time I broke up laughing. It reinforced my feeling about Bill, and illustrated for me a big part of who a musician is. Maybe there are several kinds of identities, but what matters most is what happens in the trenches where art and work meet. We have all had good, appreciative audiences and we ve all had times when we have been eyed suspiciously, we ve all had meals that consisted of 18 meatballs on toothpicks eaten in 10 minutes and, when we are lucky, we have had a community of musical pals who guide each other through a cockeyed world.
Jazz Soundings January 2014 Page 5 Puget Sound Traditional Jazz Society 19031 Ocean Ave., Edmonds, WA 98020-2344 Please (enroll) (renew) (me) (us) as a member or members Name Address City, State Zip Code Phone E-Mail Check when renewing if your address label is correct Dues for 12 months: Single $25 Couple $40 Lifetime single $200 Lifetime Couple $350 Patron $500 (One or two lifetime membership) Please enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope. The Puget Sound Traditional Jazz Society is a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization dedicated to the performance and preservation of traditional jazz. Your membership and contributions are tax-deductible. Thank you. We re looking for new Members, tell or bring a friend or neighbor. SUBSCRIBE TODAY News You Can Use About Traditional Jazz and Ragtime U.S. One Year: $26 -:- Canadian $39 U.S. Funds* U.S. Two Years: $48 -:- Canadian $74 U.S. Funds* (*) Includes Airmail Delivery Make check payable to: The American Rag 20137 Skyline Ranch Dr., Apple Valley, CA 92308-5035 Phone/Fax: 760-247-5145 Name Address City State Phone Zip + 4 Puget Sound Traditional Jazz Society
Puget Sound Traditional Jazz Society 19031 Ocean Ave. Edmonds, WA 98020-2344 Address service requested Non-profit Org U..S. Postage Paid Seattle, WA Permit 1375 X on your Jazz Soundings address label means your dues are payable. XX means Good-bye This invitation is MANDATORY for the Puget Sound Traditional Jazz Society event this month. You and your friends are cordially invited to hear sizzling-hot jazz as You a guest and your of Elks friends Club are Jazz cordially Society invited member to hear Colin sizzling-hot Dearing. jazz Admission as a guest of is Elks payable Club Jazz at Society the door. member Colin Dearing. Admission is payable at the door. BANDS, CONTACTS AIN T NO HEAVEN SEVEN Leader: Terry Rogers terryrrogers@comcast.net 206-465-6601 COAL CREEK JAZZ BAND Leader: Judy Logen, 425-641- 1692 Bookings: judy@coalcreekjazzband.com COMBO DE LUXE Bookings: Candace Brown www.combodeluxe.net jazzstrings@comcast.net 253-752-6525 CORNUCOPIA CONCERT BAND Leader: Allan Rustad www.comband.org 425-744-4575 DUKES OF DABOB Bookings: Mark Holman, 360-779-6357, seaclar7@embarqmail.com. DUWAMISH JAZZ BAND Bookings: Carol Johnston carolanjo@yahoo.com 206-932-7632 EVERGREEN CLASSIC JAZZ BAND Leader: Tom Jacobus email: t.jacobus@comcast.net ph: 253-852-6596 or cell 253-709-3013 FIRST THURSDAY BAND Leader: Ray Skjelbred, Rayskjelbred@gmail.com 206-420-8535 FOGGY BOTTOM JAZZ BAND Leader: Bruce Cosacchi 360-638-2074 GRAND DOMINION JAZZ BAND Bookings: Bob Pelland bobpelland@gdjb.com 360-387-2500 holotradband Leader: Dave Holo email: dave@daveholo.com www.holotradband.com HOT CLUB SANDWICH Contact: James Schneider www.hotclubsandwich.com 206-561-1137 HUME STREET PRESERVATION JAZZ BAND Bookings: Karla West 406-862-3814 JAZZ UNLIMITED BAND Leader: Duane Wright duane.janw@verizon.net 866-337-2111 JAZZ STRINGS Bookings: Candace Brown jazzstrings@comcast.net 253-752-6525 LOUISIANA JOYMAKERS! Leader: Leigh Smith smithtunes@shaw.ca 604-294-9464 THE MARKET STREET DIXIELAND JASS BAND Ansgar Duemchen: 425-286-5703 Tim Sherman 206-547-1772 www.marketstreetdixielandjass.com MIGHTY APHRODITE Co-leaders: Bria Skonberg, Claire McKenna mightyaphroditejazz@hotmail.com 405-613-0568 NEW ORLEANS QUINTET Jake Powel 206-725-3514 jake_powel@comcast.net RAINIER JAZZ BAND Manager: Randy Keller randolphscottkeller@gmail.com 206-437-1568 RAY SKJELBRED Rayskjelbred@gmail.com 206-420-8535 RONNIE PIERCE JAZZ ENSEMBLE ronniepiercemusic@yahoo.com, 206-467-9365 UPTOWN LOWDOWN JAZZ BAND Leader: Bert Barr uljb@yahoo.com 425-898-4288 WILD CARDS JAZZ Leader: Randy Keller randolphscottkeller@gmail.com 206-437-1568