Worcester Jazz
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WORCESTER, JAZZ This Being a Requiem for the Way It Was When Al Hirt 'FellIn' at the Saxtrum Club By EVERETT M. SKEHAN Boots Mussulli. BOOTS They blew their jazz in ball- By 1938jazz was firmly es- Reynold, Scat Davis, Gene MUSSULLI!Now we're catch- rooms and at private clubs tablished in Worcester. Krupa, Chu Berry, Carl Hoff, Of The Gazette Staff ing up with you, eh? You re- and parties and anywhere During that year a group of Roy Eldridge, Anita O'Day, Did you ever hear a man member the. king from Mil- people would listen. There local musicians started the Cozy Cole, Cab Calloway, blow his horn back in the ford - "Kid Boots" - were no nightclubs in Worces- club that would later become Sam Donaliue, Charlie Ven- ter. days when Harlem was king , Worcester's most significant tura, Frank Sinatra and many and the blues poured out of The 50s. Nelson's in Fitch- bur g. McCann's Cafe in Their music wasn't polish- contribution to the betterment others made frequent visits to eve r y joint on Summer Leominster. The Wigwam in ed. And it didn't wander far of jazz music. the club and "sat in" with Street? Ayer. from the basic roots. A bop "We had a lot of good cats the local musiciaJ.1s. Did you watch him lean player of today would put it camin' up in those days," Tore Roof Off Stand in ilne baby. The joint down. But believe· it, it was back and close his eyes and is swinging. Howie Jefferson said. "Man, . blow in to the smokey dark- the blues. It was soul and it they just lived for jazz. They Tuesday mgbts they tore the ness until the veins bulged on Look out! That's Howie Jef- got right inside you. It wasn't didn't go in for no day gigs. roof off tbe Saxtrum. his forehead and wide beads ferson on tenor. And he's wai- written down. You either And they didn't want to blow The name bands would ar- lin' "Heavy Juice." of sweat raced each other blew it or you didn't. That commercial. rive in Worcester on Monday was jazz. down his face into the open If you have ever known this "Well, these cats were look- for a three.<fayengagement at collar of his shirt. scene - if you've sat in a In the late 30s things began in' for a place where they the Plymoutb. HavIng trav- dozen darkened clubs on a to happen. There were a lot of could just fall in anytime and eled many miles by bus or Those were the days of the dozen different nights and fine, young musicians in the blow as long as they wanted car, they'd be exbausted after upright piano and the steady heard the sounds come pour- Worcester area who were just without nobody buggin' them: their Monday night perform. click of a high-hat cymbal ing from a dozen different beginning to find themselves. hooked to the driving pulse of horns, then the facts of Wor- "A group of seven of us got ance, so they'd pass up the These were men like How- a good string bass. cester's musical scene in 1969 together and rented an empty . Saxtrum. ard Jefferson, Ockie Menard, store at the corner of Glenn But on Tuesdays the musi- Two cats up front with their will come as no great shock. But first, in' all fairness, you Dick Murray and Paul Kuko- and Ciayton, Streets. We cians were refreshed and eyes clamped tight and the nen on sax; Luke Meyers and named it the Saxtrum Club - they'd all fall in to the Sax. bells of their silver-plated must visit every nightclub in the city. For only after you Judy Wade on guitar; Franny SAX TRumpet & drUMs. trum as soon as their gig was h 0 r n s pushed forward to O'Connor, Barney Price and "After that things really be- over at the Plymouth. They'd gleam brightly in the thin. have heard all of the music that local bands are playing Emil Haddad on l[umpet; Bill gun to waiL" play until the early hours of blue light. these days will your suspi- Tony, Kenny Proctor and Ed- The musicians who started the morning, challenging the Ah. the Dixie Bar! cions become reality. die Dolbeare on drums; Pete the Saxtrum Club were Jeffer- local musicians with new ideas "Wail Gate .. B-flat Jazz is dead. Price, Tony Mandel, Alice son (alto sax) Dick Murray and sounds. There ain't no bridge baby. Price, Rod Ford and Gretchen The real roots of Worces- Morrowan piano; and Miff (tenor sax), Ralph Biscotti Then, on Wednesday night, Keep right on blowin' till your ter's jazz scene began in Har- (alto sax), JackIe Byard (pI- the band would finish at the Gazette Photo axe is empty . , C'mon dad- George - who played with lem back in the 1930s.It start- Bunny Berrigan - on trom- ano), Eddie Sham (drums), Plymouth and be back on the Howie Je~ferson on a recent date at the Driftwood Lounge in Shrewsbury. dy loosen them chops. They ed with the Negro bands in bone. • / Harold Black (bass) and road. It was a ritual each mu- ain't no mike in here. ; . You the days when musicians BarneY,Price (trumpet). sician loooked forward to would set up on the stand and what the public demanded at the Driftwood Lounge for Another wei! known musi- got to blow, man ... Now I piayed all night iong without Impromptu Sessions whenever he came to Worces- wait until he didn't have an- and received. Jazz was passe. six years and I still get to read you Gate. Tell the story, a break and often were paid cian, who played and com- ter. other note left in his born. A few places tried. to blow.some blues. man ... That's solid Jack! posed music in the Worcester no more than a few dollars Th~ freedom ~f expres~ion "I remember Sam Donahue Then some other cat would compete with roc k. The flTony Finelli's right down . Ahhh. dig them muggles area in the 30s was Einor for their efforts. The music and Impromptu Jazz sessIOns . , 'nt th I b d't come right up and try to cut Millstream Steak House in the street at the Bonfire in man. sweet like cotton candy was biues: real New Orleans Swan. He is probably most re- that typified the Saxtrum c.a~m I. 0 e c u an s~- I him. Ayer had sessions in the early membered by jazz men for · kl th ougl' tm on hiS tenor case a.ndwall- Westboro. He's blowin' with ... This sure do beat workin' jazz played two to the beat in CIub sprea d qwcy r l"'h 60's but they fizzled. ' George Pearson, who is a good his original composition of the 'the area. Before long musi- .' In rIg t th:ough ~bout 20 Wanled the Best for the WPA." rich, fat sounds spiked with "The last of the real ses. blues organ man. Are you with .me? vibrato that came straight great standard, "When Your cians were beating a path to choruses.~ IndIana. ~thout Lover Has Gone". "Music was competetive sions was held at the Fox "1 guess guys Ilke me and Do you remember Boots from the soul. Those were the the club's door. The member- ~ver comm up .for.?lr, How- then. Everyone who played days when' many musicians ship rose to 135. Ie Jefferson Said. Man, that Lounge in Westborot" Jeffer- Tony will always have to blow Ward's Nite Hawks and Stew Inspiration jazz wanted to be the best. son said. "I hated to see them Watson and the Phil Scott big couldn't read a note of music. cat could blow." some blues. Anyway, its nicl Some of the best local Jazz But it's not like that tOday. sessions go. because that was to think we will." band? And that really didn't matter. The day of the sessions had artists who joined the Sax- Another regular at the Sax- arrived. They would continue "In those days, we'd push the end of the good old days trum Club were: Dave Rob- trum was a chubby young each' other all night. Then, af- crf jazz. I Young Drummer until the early 1960sas an in- ertson, Henry Monroe, Bobby cornet player they called spiration and joy to every ter the gig, we'd all 'fall in' "Goin' back through the' The man that local musi- Holt, and Barbara Carroll (pi- "Jumbo". to the Piccadilly Restaurant years, I remember bop never jazz musician in the area. ano); Dick Adshead. Joe Fer· cians have nick-named "Jef- Fort [)evens on Shrewsbury Street. For a really caught on around Wor- ferson Lord" goes up on the "The cats loved to blow in razano, Murray Guralnick, buck we could get a platter of cester. Even when things was them days," said Howie Jef· Tony Finelli, Phil Scott and "Old Jumbo was stationed goin' hot down in Boston back stand with Dick Hill, his fine spaghetti and pork chops with jazz organist, and his steady ferson, who became one of Kukonen (sax); Bill Tony, up at Ft. Devens." Jefferson five or six forks. in the early 50's, we stuck to Worcester's most noted jazz Kenny Proctor, Eddie Dol- young drummer Steve Pap- remembers.