1/8/2023 0 Comments Justplay westfield ma![]() “KEEP STOMPIN’, BOY!”: MARC CAPARONE AND HIS BACK O’TOWN ALL-STARS (Redwood Coast Music Festival, September 30, 2022).ALICE SPENCER SINGS AND WE ARE GLAD (with Hal Smith, Kris Tokarski, James Singleton, Marc Caparone).DAVE STUCKEY and THE HOT HOUSE GANG PREACH A MELLOW SERMON AGAINST HYPOCRISIES (Redwood Coast Music Festival, September 30, 2022).“STEAK FACE”: JOSH COLLAZO with MARC CAPARONE’S BACK O’TOWN ALL-STARS (Redwood Coast Music Festival, September 30, 2022).“OH, MISTER JELLY!” (Part One): THE MORTONIA SEVEN LAYS IT DOWN at the REDWOOD COAST MUSIC FESTIVAL: HAL SMITH, DAVE KOSMYNA, DAVE BENNETT, TJ MULLER, KRIS TOKARSKI, JOHN GILL, SAM ROCHA (October 1, 2022).A SATURDAY NIGHT, ABOUT FIFTY YEARS AGO: JIMMIE ROWLES, BILL EVANS, ELLIS LARKINS (Carnegie Hall, July 7, 1973).GETTING FRESH: BENNY GOODMAN, TEDDY WILSON, LIONEL HAMPTON, DAVE TOUGH (April 25, 1938).I mean that was mostly centered around the Eddie Condon group and Pee Wee Russell and those guys, who were doing their own thing but it was quite different than what we were doing. And yeah, in a sense it was quite different from the traditional jazz that was happening around New York at that time. We wanted to play in their style but be creative at the same time. Did you know you were doing Revival at the time?īW: Well in a sense we did because we were immersed in the music of King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Armstrong Hot Five, and we wanted to play in that style. MR: There was a comment in one of the jazz books that said that the first American revival group of consequence in the East, talking about The Wildcats. So we made four sides and then at that point is when I started studying with Sidney Bechet of course. There’s no splicing tapes together, none of that. If you made a mistake you know, you spoil it. And that red light went on and you had three minutes and that’s it. In 1947 you still had a waxed disk with that stylus that cut the disk. Now this is history, this is going back to the era when you still had waxed disks you know. I remember we took about six hours to record four titles. And he said “you kids are all right.” So he let us come back and play and then he said “you know you kids are really something else, I’d like to record you for Commodore.” So this was a great opportunity. We’d go down there every Sunday, “Milt, hey may, we’ve got a little band, can’t we get up and just play one number?” “Oh don’t bother us kid, come on, just sit down and listen to music.” Finally he says “okay you guys, I’ve got a little opening here, get up there and play a little bit.” So we got up there, and it was a sensation, the people loved it. And we got friendly with Milt Gabler who was the founder of Commodore Records, had the Commodore Music Shop. And we all went down to Jimmy Ryan’s for one of their Sunday sessions. We got a group together that, we called ourselves The Wildcats. And out of this group we gradually had jam sessions to get together. ![]() Eddie Fife was in Larchmont and up in Greenwich Connecticut there was a piano player, Dick Wellstood, and the bass player, Charlie Traeger. I was playing with these older fellas and then I gradually found out about other musicians around the county. MR: You managed to get your own group together in high school, The Wildcats.īW: Yeah. Coincidentally, I was just reading through the interview we conducted with Bob Wilber in May of 1998, the weekend he received an honorary degree from Hamilton College. Interesting to be reminded how the names of the musicians were printed right on the record. Chris Tyle, indefatigable and many-talented, sent me cleared-up versions of the four photographs above - out of pure generosity. Bob and his beloved wife, Pug Horton, are still trucking along in their home in England, and we salute them.Ī postscript, or THIS JUST IN. If your contribution to the post is twofold: one, to listen to the recordings and smile two, to be thankful for Bob Wilber and all he has given us, those two things will more than suffice. ![]() If you can identify any of the musicians in the photographs, I will be happy to add the information. I certainly was interested, but this post had to wait until I had a functioning scanner: what better way to inaugurate it than with rare jazz photographs I could share with you?Īnd it’s only fitting to conclude the musical segment with a DREAM: This post (like so many others) is the result of others’ kindness: in this case, the still-swinging clarinetist Bob Sparkman, who at 88, is “still playing and listening.” Some months ago, Bob sent me this note: Thought maybe you’d be interested in four old photos of Bob Wilber and Dick Wellstood recently sent to me by a local fan, taken, probably, in 1945 or 46, at a place called The Hanger, in either Springfield or Westfield, Mass. And some explanation, from New York City, 1947:
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