Frankie Roberts Narrator Carl Warmington Interviewer September 28, 1987 Leonard's Piano Store, Minneapolis, Minnesota Frankie Roberts -FR Carl Warmington -CW CW: Frankie, tell me about your early music days back in Nebraska. FR: My first introduction to jazz music was, I believe, back in 1917, listening to the Original Dixieland Jazz Band on phonograph records. It wasn't a very good recording, but the clarinet stood out. The tune was "The Original Dixieland One-Step" with "The Livery Stable Blues" on the other side. I bought that record and listenedSociety to it and listened to it. I remember the musicians: Larry Shields on clarinet; LaRocco on cornet; Edwards on trombone; Ragas on piano; and Sbardaro on drums. Then they started putting out other records such as "Clarinet Marmalade," "Temptation," and "Lazy Daddy." About that time we organized a little band--a sort of Dixieland group--in Albion, Nebraska, my home town. We had bookings five or six nights a week in all the little towns around Albion. I played clarinet. SometimeHistorical after World War I, a minstrel show came through town--Uncle Sammy's Minstrels. In the band was a very fine saxophonist. So with the money I had saved, I bought myself a saxophone. Then I began to practice on my new horn. I used to practice out on the porch in the summertime, and drive all the neighbors crazy. I eventuallythe Twin got good Cities enough toOral start playing History professionally Project with other bands. I quit school in 1922--after starting the twelfth grade--to go with a road band. It was a good one, too! WeMinnesota played all over the Midwest--Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska--for about seven months. I alsoJazz broadcast in with that road band, in 1922, from a little ten-watt radio station in Hastings, Nebraska. I remember they started the program by hitting a gong. It was a popular station for the farmers. The piano player, from our band, and I would play a few tunes. This was the first time I had played on a radio station. In 1923, I joined Bill Ackerman's Band. This group played in a ballroom in Omaha, Nebraska, called the Rustic Gardens, and we did a weekly broadcast from radio station WOW in Omaha. That summer we played at the Roof Garden Ballroom in Sioux City, Iowa. Then we returned to Omaha. In the fall of 1924, I came to Minneapolis to play with a band at the Marigold Ballroom. 1 CW: What was the name of that band? FR: Bill Ackerman's Band. CW: Were there two bands playing at that time? FR: Just one. We were there for about six months and then the New Orleans Rhythm Kings followed us. CW: What year was that? FR: That was 1925. CW: I remember that band. The local musicians really turned out to hear that group. FR: Oh, sure. Rappola played clarinet. I can't think of the trumpet player's name. CW: Was it Leon Prima? Society FR: Either Leon or Louis Prima. I can't think of the other names, but they were pretty good musicians--all from New Orleans, playing in the New Orleans style, of course. CW: How would you describe that style? FR: It was a little different sound and had aHistorical good beat. CW: When you were playing with the territory bands, would you describe it as ballad- style music? FR: Oh, no. We hadthe some Twin fast tunes Cities. I tried to Oralcopy the HistoryNew Orleans styleProject and get a good sound on the horn. Much earlier in my career--1921--I revered a famous saxophone player named Rudy Wiedoeft.Minnesota He had a beautiful tone and could single-tongue rapidly. I had learned many of the novelty songs he composed for the saxophone. AfterJazz the Marigold in in 1925, we played in a place out in Wayzata, Minnesota. It was on the "main drag." I don't know what became of that ballroom. Most of the guys stayed in cabins, but I stayed in town. This was when Bix and Trumbauer started coming out with their records--"Singing the Blues." Remember that chorus of Trumbauer's on "Singing the Blues" that he played with Bix? That's the tune that Doc Evans used to play. You know, Doc used to idolize Bix. I often listened to Bix's records and to Benny Goodman when he was recording with Ben Pollack. Later I heard Benny in person. 2 When I left Wayzata, I began playing at the Radisson with a fellow by the name of Harry Johnson. We played concert music on Sundays up on the balcony and for dinner and dancing at night. CW: Did they call it the "Flame Room" then? FR: I'm not sure. I know they called it the Radisson Hotel. From there I went back to the Marigold with a new band. It was composed of some of the guys from the original Ackerman Band. We played at the Marigold for about six months. CW: Was Hal Runyon in the Marigold Band then? FR: No. I think Lindell Rhome was the trombone player at that time--he later became a music teacher in the public schools. We went to the Lowry Hotel in Saint Paul and made some recordings for Gennett. There were some other local bands making recordings at that time. CW: Do you have any of the records? FR: No, I guess they got lost in the shuffle. Society In the summer of 1928, I went to Estes Park, Colorado, and played with a college band. That fall I joined a band at a Lincoln, Nebraska, radio station--KFPB--which was a studio orchestra. I played there for a whole season. The people who owned the radio station also had an agency for Stinson airplanes. I think we did one of the very first airplane commercials. By that time I was playing prettyHistorical good jazz. We used to have jam sessions with the local boys around Lincoln. CW: Were you playing tenor or alto? FR: I played tenor,the but some Twin alto. LaterCities on, we Oral went east History to Chicago andProject made some recordings for the Brunswick Company. I played alto and clarinet on some of those records. I came to MinneapolisMinnesota in 1929 to join a local band. It was either come to Minneapolis or go with Blue Steels' band down in Saint Louis. At that time, I had two boys who were ready to start school, and I thought Minneapolis was the best place for themJazz to go to school,in so I took another job at the Marigold. I was happy about that. Then Red Norvo joined the band. CW: Didn't he front the band? FR: Yes, he stood up in front with his xylophone and used some unusual mallets to sock the xylophone. He still used this style with Goodman. CW: And he's still going strong. 3 FR: Norvo is a great guy. He lived in an apartment next to me and we were together a lot. CW: Frankie, would you comment on the statement that Minneapolis and Saint Paul had a reputation as top music communities? FR: You mean for jazz? Yes. But I'm talking about a little later now. There was a band out at a nightclub called The Patio--we called it "El Patio." It was a good band with Lester Young playing tenor and Rook Gans, a fine trumpet player--really great. This was a top black band. I used to go out and listen to them when I could. After work I would drop into a place called Musician's Rest and also the Apex Club, where we could jam until the wee hours of the morning. CW: Tell us a little bit more about the Musician's Rest. FR: I used to go there and play. There was a pianist by the name of "Pop Eyes," and another was Frankie Hines. Rook Gans used to go there--he was a fine trumpeter who never got any recognition. Adolfus, a bass player, would also go there. He had kind of a sleeping sickness; he'd be playing on the bass and go to sleep and then wake up and start playing again. It was weird--he was also a good arranger. Society CW: The club was in an old Victorian house on Sixth Avenue North. FR: Yes. I always got a kick out of it. When I'd go in the door, someone would call out, "Frankie, did you bring your iron?" There were always lots of libations available, but it was quite a spot. Historical CW: And the music would continue until daylight. FR: Yes. I don't know how my wife put up with it. I got my kicks going there, and I guess she realized that.the Twin Cities Oral History Project CW: Let's talk a bit aboutMinnesota improvisation, because the magic of the fine musicians of this period was their inventiveness. Can you describe your approach to improvisation? FR: Jazz Well, I think in it is something that is inside you, in a way. I don't think it is something that you can really learn. I had a few pupils who came to me with the express purpose of learning to play jazz. I'd tell them to play just the melody of the tune. "Just play the melody. Now, do you hear any chords that go along with that melody?" This is what baffled them. They couldn't hear the chords.