Oral History Center University of California the Bancroft Library Berkeley, California Frank Fisher Frank Fisher: Trumpet Play
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Oral History Center University of California The Bancroft Library Berkeley, California Frank Fisher Frank Fisher: Trumpet Player, Songwriter: A Long Career with Junius Courtney, Raiders, and 49ers Bands Interviews conducted by Caroline Cooley Crawford In 2016 Copyright © 2020 by The Regents of the University of California Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley ii Since 1953 the Oral History Center of The Bancroft Library, formerly the Regional Oral History Office, has been interviewing leading participants in or well-placed witnesses to major events in the development of Northern California, the West, and the nation. Oral History is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. The recording is transcribed, lightly edited for continuity and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewee. The corrected manuscript is bound with photographs and illustrative materials and placed in The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley, and in other research collections for scholarly use. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account, offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is reflective, partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ********************************* All uses of this manuscript are covered by a legal agreement between The Regents of the University of California and Frank Fisher dated September 23, 2020. The manuscript is thereby made available for research purposes. All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. For information regarding quoting, republishing, or otherwise using this transcript, please consult http://ucblib.link/OHC-rights. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Frank Fisher, "Frank Fisher: Trumpet Player, Songwriter: A Long Career with Junius Courtney, Raiders, and 49ers Bands" conducted by Caroline Cooley Crawford in 2016, Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 2020. Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley iii Frank Fisher (Photo Courtesy of Frank Fisher) Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley iv Abstract Frank Fisher was born and raised in Huntsville, Texas, where his parents operated the only African-American hospital in the city. He took up the trumpet at age twelve and played in school bands. In the oral history, he remembers summers in Galveston with relatives, singing in a youth choir at Saint James African American Methodist Church, and discrimination in the South. He majored in music at Prairie View A&M and served in the U.S. Army in Germany during the postwar occupation. He moved with his wife to California in 1947 and settled in the East Bay, where he worked for decades as an electronics systems mechanic at the Alameda Naval Air Station. He eventually moved into Parchester Village in Richmond, where he raised his children. He was active in Bay Area jazz for seven decades, playing such famous Fillmore clubs as Bop City, hotels in San Francisco's Nob Hill district, and venues in Oakland and Richmond. On one occasion, he performed with Duke Ellington's band, which he calls "about the most memorable thing that I can think of." He discusses Bay Area venues where African Americans could not perform, clubs that had separate performances for white and African-American audiences, and the musicians' union merger that helped with employment. Fisher wrote and recorded many songs such as "Ape Shape," "Obama Do Swing," and Grandpa's Thing." He performed with Del Courtney and the Oakland Raiders band and the 49ers band from 1968 to 1981, and claimed that when Lou Rawls sang the national anthem the Raiders always won. He performed with and wrote songs for the Junius Courtney Big Band until 2017, when he retired at the age of ninety- two. Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley v Table of Contents Interview History by Caroline Cooley Crawford vii Interview 1: March 8, 2016 Audio File 1 1 Early years in Huntsville, Texas, 1926-1945 — Family business: operating the only black hospital in town — Summers riding horseback on a family farm — Father's work as a chef; mother's work in a beauty salon — St. James African American Methodist Church — Segregation in Huntsville, Louise Fisher's false arrest — Huntsville city jail — Playing trumpet in high school with second-best instruments — Listening to Duke Ellington on the radio and performing with the Ellington band in Crockett, California — Performing at a prisoner-of-war camp near Huntsville — Segregation — Long hours working at Brown and Root Shipyard in Houston — Majoring in music at Prairie View A&M — Remembering Clora Bryant — Serving in the U.S. Army; training at Fort McClellan, Alabama, 1945 Audio File 2 23 Serving as communications sergeant in an anti-aircraft outfit in occupied Germany, 1946 — Returning home to segregation, 1947 — Marriage to Evelyn, a move to California and a job at the Naval Air Station, Alameda, as an electronic systems mechanic — Flying in the P-3 Orion, 1955-1981 — Playing at Slim Jenkins: Raincoat Jones and the Oakland scene — Remembering the Fillmore, 1950s — Bop City and Harlem of the West, race restrictions — Performing with the Del Courtney and Oakland Raiders Band, 1968-1981, and the 49ers band Interview 2: March 29, 2016 Audio File 3 40 Military service in Germany, 1946 — Rapport with Germans — The 644 Anti- Aircraft C Company Club — Harassment from Quartermaster outfit and socializing with German girls — Purchasing a Volkswagen with cigarettes — Visiting Dachau — More about settling in California and working at Alameda Naval Air Station — deFremery Park and housing restrictions — The unions and finding work — Assignments at Civic Center, San Francisco, with Sarah Vaughan, Stevie Wonder, and others — Family life with four children, 1948-1968 — Living in Parchester Village, Richmond — African-American musicians and performance restrictions — A gig with David Hardiman's All-Stars at the St. Francis Hotel to celebrate Wounded Knee — More about Harlem of the West Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley vi Audio File 4 59 Five decades with the Junius Courtney Big Band — Playing with Dave Hardiman and the San Francisco All-Stars, 1975-2016 — Composing: "IBAR," "Ape Shape," "Grandpa's Thing" — Segregation in California clubs — Breakfast clubs, compositions and life in retirement Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley vii Interview History Frank Fisher is handsome and vigorous at age ninety-two, and until a few months ago was still performing with Junius Courtney's Big Band at Yoshi's and elsewhere in the Bay Area. He agreed to participate in an oral history interview in 2016, and interviews were scheduled at his home in Parchester Village, Richmond. Fisher grew up in Huntsville, Texas, where his father was a chef in a local hotel and his mother had a beauty salon and ran the city's only African-American hospital in the family's backyard. He began playing trumpet at the age of twelve, performed with high school bands, and eventually majored in music at Prairieview A&M. In the oral history, he remembers summers in Galveston with relatives, singing in a youth choir at Saint James African American Methodist Church, taking up the trumpet, playing at a nearby concentration camp for German and Italian prisoners and school dances, and discrimination in the South up until the time he returned home after serving in the U.S. Army in postwar Germany. He felt African Americans were more welcome in Germany than they were in their own country. In 1947, Fisher moved with his wife to California and worked as an electronics systems mechanic at the Naval Air Station in Alameda. He was active in Bay Area jazz for seven decades, playing in San Francisco's famous Fillmore clubs such as Bop City, hotels in San Francisco's Nob Hill neighborhood, and venues in Oakland and Richmond. Fisher also had many standby gigs that featured artists including Stevie Wonder, Sarah Vaughan, and Rosemary Clooney. He discusses Bay Area venues where African Americans could not perform, clubs that had separate performances for white and African American audiences, and the musicians' union merger that helped with employment. Fisher played with Del Courtney and the Oakland Raiders Band and the 49ers band from 1968 to 1981, and claimed that when Lou Rawls sang the national anthem the Raiders always won. He wrote and recorded many songs such as "Ape Shape," "Obama Do Swing," and "Grandpa's Thing." Asked about his most important performance, he said, "Playing with Duke Ellington was about the most memorable thing that I can ever think of." Fisher's friend, the great trumpet player Allen Smith, asked Fisher to take his place in an Ellington performance in rural California. Fisher has a robust sense of humor. His typical response to questions about his health is: "I'm fine, but if I don't wake up tomorrow, I'll call you." Caroline Cooley Crawford Berkeley, California June 2018 Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley 1 Interview 1: March 8, 2016 Audio File 1 Crawford: March 8, 2016, interview with Mr. Frank Fisher, jazz trumpeter and composer, for the Oral History Office. Let's start by my asking you about the band you play with, and have for many years. I think they call you the Godfather. 01-00:00:25 Fisher: That's right. Can you hear me now? Crawford: Yes, very good. 01-00:00:27 Fisher: Okay, good.