Frisco Cricket Published By The San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation Summer 2014 When Rare Is Well Done by William Carter When musicians hang out and gossip, a the magazine online will have the special treat of certain few rare names tend to come up. We’ve all clicking on a lot of links to hear some wonderful performed with dozens material that is “rare” in of fine players, includ- both senses: recordings ing some great lead horn impossible to find any- players, over the years. where except via Dave’s But I’m using “rare” in audio streaming site; and another sense. saturated, subtly and Certain jazz guys overtly, with the serious have a peculiar twist of humor of the incompa- their inner timber such rable P.T. Stanton. that when they express He had it — was it — themselves musically, offstage as well as on. you know instantly. As did a very few others And when you work of his ilk (I’m thinking with them, at least in the Ray Ronnei and Jim front line, that timber- Goodwin). They could twist instantly affects only have been who they your own playing. As in were, and no one else call and response song. could ever be a whit like You can’t plan or know them. In life or in music. in advance the sponta- Storied: as in, to play jazz neous conversation you is to tell a story. will have with someone I’m so lucky to have — especially someone as played with him a few rare as P.T. times. So unlucky it was I’m so glad Dave not more times. Radlauer has done the A story gains in the monumental research telling, and in this in- and technical process- stance the telling gains ing needed to bring us by the way Radlauer tells this issue of the Cricket. P.T. Stanton mid-1950s, probably at the Lark’s Club. the story and selects the Those of you who access Bob Mielke collection material. Contents When Rare Is Well Done by William Carter 1 The Odd Brilliance of P. T. Stanton (1923-87) by Dave Radlauer 3 Membership Application and Product List 11 Click here-Permanent Clearance Sale on all CDs and Books 1 The Frisco Cricket Fall 2014 As I say, if you’re a dyed in the wool print guy like me, you’re prob- ably not in the habit of reading articles online — but in this case you owe it to yourself to do so, because the essence is in P.T.’s own telling, the unmistakable voice speaking from within those fine ensem- bles of Mielke and Oxtot and Pete Allen and the others. This were some of the purest sounds to have emanated from the vital, less recorded, East Bay wing of the San Francisco Traditional Jazz community in its definitive years. Right: At the Lark’s Club: Bob Mielke, Pete Allen, Bunky Coleman, P. T. Stanton. Bob Mielke collection Advertise in the Cricket! The Frisco Cricket Issue No. 65 - Fall 2014 In an effort to help defray the costs of main- Published by the taining all the varied programs that SFTJF supports, SAN FRANCISCO TRADITIONAL including The Frisco Cricket itself, we’re going to JAZZ FOUNDATION begin providing limited advertising space here. We 3130 Alpine Road, #288 PMB 187 want to be fair to everyone, so there are a few rules Portola Valley, CA 94028 we’d like to follow: Phone: (415) 522-7417, FAX: (415) 922-6934 • The advertiser should be in a music related Website: www.sftradjazz.org (preferably Traditional Jazz related) business (band, E-mail: [email protected] club, cruise, radio station, etc.). Publisher: William Carter • No more than a total of 2 full pages will be Editor, Layout, Webmaster: Scott Anthony used in any single issue of the Cricket, so ads will Curator of the Archive : Clint Baker be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. Special Projects Consultant: Hal Smith • We need to be able to maintain the right to Office Manager: Scott Anthony accept or reject advertisements at our discretion. • Please send your ad to: John R. Browne, III John Matthews Cricket Editor William Carter Terry O’Reilly San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation Margaret Pick Jim Cullum 41 Sutter Street, PMB 1870 Donna Huggins William Tooley San Francisco, CA 94104 Honorary Directors • Or (preferably) by email to: Leon Oakley [email protected] or Board of Advisors [email protected] Philip Hudner, Michael Keller, Paul Mehling, Margaret Pick, Gregg Keeling Advertising Rates per issue Unless otherwise noted, all contents copyright © 2014 1/8 Page $35, 1/4 Page $50, 1/2 Page $75 San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation 2 The Frisco Cricket Fall 2014 The Odd Brilliance of P.T. Stanton (1923-87) by Dave Radlauer talents, puckish personality, crazy-like-a-fox intelligence, self- destructive drinking, bizarre verbal antics, and brilliant oddness. I was convinced his tale needed telling. His Unique Tone P.T. Stanton’s jazz cornet sound was like no other: neither conventional nor straightforward. Instead, a unique personal vocabulary of quavering growls, peculiar squawks and strangled tones issued from his horn, which almost always had a mute, plunger, or hand stuffed in or near the bell. Though he played his cornet un-muted when the music called for it, P.T.’s characteristic sound was quite intentionally a tattered, wheezy ragamuffin. Notes rarely exited his horn with- out modification: they were ‘stressed’ with a variety of mutes, or blown into a tin derby hat which he kept mounted on a stand nearby. “Bogalusa Strut,” “Saturday Night Function” - Bob Mielke’s Bearcats, late-1950s, Oxtot collection. Leadership by Sleight of Hand While his demeanor as a cornet player was notably un- derstated, Stanton was pivotal in a jazz band: coaching and At P.T. Stanton Night, Dec. 16, 1972. coaxing the ensemble. He was Photo by Ed Lawless, courtesy SFTJF. the guiding light of Bob Mielke’s popular Bearcats band in the A Tale Worth Telling 1950s and ‘60s. “The heart of the P.T. Stanton was a unique and origi- Bearcats was P.T. Stanton, whose nal cornet player active in the San Francisco trumpet more than anything else, Bay Area jazz revival from the late-1940s gave the band its identity,” said through the 1970s, mainly in the bands of Bob their string bass player, Pete Al- Mielke and Dick Oxtot. After the mid-1960s len. he was heard with Earl Scheelar in various Though Bob Mielke was ensembles, one of which was P.T. Stanton’s the Bearcats’ front man at the Stone Age Jazz Band. microphone, P.T. was in many He first came to my attention de- ways its musical director. He de- cades ago as the faint rumor of a notable but fined and molded its style wrote peculiar local jazz horn player. Stanton’s Mielke: “The musical arbiter be- name surfaced often while researching his came P.T. Stanton. He resolved musical colleagues: Frank “Big Boy” Goudie harmonic confusions and made (clarinet), Bill Erickson (piano and trumpet), much-needed decisions on voic- multi-instrumentalist Earl Scheelar and jazz ings for the horns.” trombone players Bob Mielke and Bill Bardin. After recovering a large volume “Pontchartrain,” “Moose March” of P.T.’s rare performance tapes (sampled – Bob Mielke’s Bearcats, Lark’s below) I came to appreciate his distinctly Club, 1955. original instrumental voice. The outlandish Berkeley Daily Gazette, October stories of folks who’d known him hinted at Stanton’s leadership 26, 1957. Oxtot collection. the manifold dimensions of his vast musical worked nearly invisibly by sleight 3 The Frisco Cricket Fall 2014 of hand; guiding the ensemble, steering and maintain- The basic lineup was P.T. Stanton (cornet), Bob ing its momentum in a manner so subtle as to be barely Mielke (trombone), Bunky Coleman (clarinet), Dick observable. This revelation was slow to dawn on one of Oxtot (banjo and vocals), Pete Allen (bass), and Don their most ardent fans, Dave Greer, until: Marchant (drums). Additions and substitutes included singer Barbara Dane, clarinet players Bill Napier, Ellis It was an epiphany . it dawned on me: THIS Horne and Frank Goudie. Substitute drummers in the GUY he’s the real genius behind it all. It’s this odd early years included Don Fay and on rare occasions Bill conception. P.T. was sort of the presiding musical Dart. genius; back there suggesting this or that. The core group did not include piano, and they He could get the whole band in motion. It was didn’t use one at the Lark’s Club, but if a piano player like he had a wheel going, and he could just tap now was needed for a gig Bill Erickson or Burt Bales got the and then to keep it going. It was just a few licks. He call. When Mielke could not attend Bill Bardin stood was a master of understatement: just a few notes, in on trombone. Substitutes for P.T. included Ev Farey, and strange growling noises. Jerry Blumberg and others. By December 1956 the Bearcats had grabbed the At the Lark’s Club attention of a local newspaper. Berkeley Daily Gazette Bob Mielke’s Bearcats jelled into a tightly knit took note of their unorthodox stance: ensemble of exceptional talents with a wide-ranging repertoire in the mid-1950s. They developed their Mielke claims the Bearcats are the only Bay Area sound at East Bay bars and nightclubs like Reno’s in traditionalist band that isn’t influenced by the Lu Oakland and the Lark’s Club, located in a black neigh- Watters school.