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Tailgate Rambliags “You knew when you married me that I couldn’t shimmy like my sister Kate.” DRAWING BY GEO. PRICE; (g) THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE, INC. APRIL 1980 TAILGATE RAMBLINGS VOLUME 10, NUMBER 4 A p ril 1980 JAZZ BAND BALL SYNOPSES APRIL 1980 Editor: Ken Kramer WPFW, 89.3 FM Contributing Editors: Sundays, 6:00-7:30 PM Mary Doyle Harold Gray Joe Godfrey Dick Baker April 6. Host Jim Lyons. "Between George Kay Floyd Levin Reisenwebers and the Lincoln Gardens" — how Vivienne Brownfield we jazzed our way through World War I, women's vote, and into Prohibition. PRJC President: Mary Doyle Documented — recorded live! (703) 280-2373 April 13. Host Sonny McGown. "Bobby Vice President: Ken Kramer Hackett" — tracing the career of this famous (703) 354-7844 cometist/trumpeter from 1938. TAILGATE RAMBLINGS is the monthly publication April 20. Host Nat Kinnear. "Pioneers in o f the Potomac River Jazz Club. The Club T ra d itio n a l J a z z ," the h is to ry o f the stands for the preservation, encouragement, Original Dixieland Jass Band. and advancement o f trad ition al jazz. This means jazz from 1900 to 1930 in the New A p ril 27. Host Lou Byers. "W ild B i ll Orleans, Chicago, and Dixieland styles, Davison," a potpourri of his most famous including their various revivals, as well as recording dates and best known sessions. blues and ragtime. TAILGATE RAMBLINGS welcomes contributions from its readers. GREETINGS FROM THE PRESIDENT At the regular PRJC board meeting on the It was announced that Burt Bales, a third Wednesday of the month, the board heard well-known West Coast jazz pianist who made an oral report on the Jazzathon. The PRJC records with Lu, Turk, and Bunk and presently has been asked to participate (and w ill plays at two places in San Francisco — consider) a similar event next year. The Dick's at the Beach and the Washington Square D.C. Society for Crippled Children made about Bar & G r ill — was coming to the Washington $1,000, which was certainly creditable. Much area on short notice. A group e ffo r t was o f the credit should go to Jim Ritter, the being planned to organize a "room rent" party unflappable chairman, and many thanks to the for Burt. Hope you got the word-of-mouth fine musicians and others who gave their notice about this event. time. As those who attended know, the Gateway Center is the home of the Wax Museum. Best of all news is that PRJC member B ill Early on, someone got the idea of bringing Meisel has stepped forward and accepted what Louis Armstrong's image out and outfitting it can only be c a lle d a ch a llen ge - - the with a trumpet. A great idea whose time Chairmanship of the Picnic — our great fun hadn't come, as Louis just didn't work out day and important PRJC moneymaker. B ill and had to be carried back to the museum to assisted Joe Shepherd last year and qualifies sit out this year's Jazzathon. from the experience he gained in the process. Joe w ill assist B ill in scheduling the bands. The Board voted unanimously to donate $200 Both did a great job last year. I hope all to WPFW, which is having a fund drive this members will help if called upon. month. That station sponsors our club's hour Suggestions w ill even be considered at this and a half show every Sunday. Such pre-planning time, so i f you have any le t us discrimination needs support. know. See you next month. Mary H. Doyle BERLIN BAND RETURNS APRIL 12 PRJC STALWART JACK TOWERS WINS GRAMMY AWARD FOR RECORD THE NEW ORLEANS JAZZ IN 1 BABIES, the band that made such a b ig h it at our annual L ittle did Jack Towers realize one stormy meeting in November 1978, is returning to be night in Fargo, North Dakota, 40 years ago the PRJC's featured band in April. that belated fame would come to him when the record in g he made then of the Ellington The band was o rig in a lly formed as Papa orchestra received a Grammy Award earlier Ko's Jazzin1 Babies in 1958. The founder was this year. a popular drummer, vocalist, and bandleader — Gerhard "Papa Ko" Kobelt. Dismayed at the The band was playing a dance date, one of commercial Dixieland (in the p e jo r a tiv e an endless stream of one-night stands. Jack sense) r e v iv a l then going on in Berlin, and an associate brought their good sound Kobelt assembled a band to re c re a te the equipment to the ballroom and recorded the ea rlier New Orleans sound of such bands as whole evening of great band jazz. those of Sam Morgan, Papa Celestin, Clarence Williams, King Oliver, and the (only) Then at its most likely best, an amazing slightly later sounds of Armstrong's Hot Five balance of veterans and newcomers, a ll pulled and Seven and Jelly Roll's Red Hot Peppers. together by Ellington's genius, the band brought the great sounds o f jazz to Fargo Renamed the New Orleans Jazzin' Babies in that night. The recording turned out well, 1970, the group stands as the oldest jazz and sat, as so many did, back on the shelf band in Berlin and s t ill adheres to Papa Ko's for many years. Brought out, re-recorded principles of concentration on the earliest with the best of modern equipment, it finally New Orleans music. In addition to a ll the came on the market. well-known classics of Armstrong, Morton, Oliver and others, their repertoire includes Unlike so many records of great jazz, such tunes as "Lina Blues" (Jabbo Smith), which suffer from lack of good distribution, "Mobile Stomp" (Sam Morgan), "Sweet Mumtaz" this record caught the ear of the people who (Luis R u ssell), "Long, Deep and Wide" (Fats run the record end of the Book of the Month Waller), and many others. Club. They distributed it through their many members. It caught on and got a fair hearing The PRJC concert w ill come on the last day at last. Next came the Grammy Award people, of a 17-day U.S. tour that w ill take the band who heard and enjoyed. to Charlottesville, Charleston (W.Va.), St. Louis, Decatur (111.), Grand Rapids, Boston, The award ceremony was on national TV, and Meriden (Conn.), with plenty of time out with Mercer Ellington receiving the award. for sightseeing, since their very brief trip Jack Towers, watching quietly at home was here in 1978 gave them little time for thunderstruck when the award was announced. travel. Thunderstruck and quietly delighted, for his part in preserving a typical night of a great The concert w ill take place at the Holiday band so that all those who couldn't be in Inn #2, Telegraph Road just inside the Fargo that night could enjoy the live Capital Beltway, Alexandria, Virginia, 9 t i l l presentation of that high point in 1, Saturday, April 12. No reservations. Ellington's career. Admission: PRJC members, $6; nonmembers, $8. — Dick Baker— WANTED TO BUY/TRADE/BORROW: Discographies (besides Rust) from any source for Louis Armstrong's A ll Stars, Eddie Condon, Bunk Johnson, George Lewis, Wild B ill Davison, other traditionalists of heavy/varied-source output — and/or Jepsen volumes except 5 and 6. Xerox okay. Please call Dave at 273-6139. The Potomac River Jazz Club Proudly Presents The Jazzin’ Babies first visited this area in 1978, as cultural ambassadors o f the City of Berlin (in the “ Friendship Force” exchange program). Their very warm reception by Washington-area jazz lovers prompted plans for a return trip. Their April 12 per formance here will be the final concert o f a 17-day tour taking them as far west as St. Louis and as far north as Boston. The Jazzin’ Babies play jazz in a pure, early New Orleans style, taking their inspira tion from King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Clarence Williams, Papa Celestin, Sam Morgan and other classic masters. HOLIDAY INN #2 TELEGRAPH ROAD JUST SATURDAY, APRIL 12 INSIDE CAPITAL BELTWAY 9 PM - 1 AM ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA NO RESERVATIONS ADMISSION: PRJC MEMBERS $6 NON-MEMBERS $8 For more information on this and other area jazz activities, Call 573-TRAD the lis t: "Nobody Knows the Way I Feel This WHY LIMIT THE JAZZ REPERTOIRE? Morning," "Shake It and Break It ," "Wild Man Blues," "Texas Moaner," "Mandy," "Tiger Rag," etc. But there was also Ellingtonia ("The There is much in these days of Mooche," "Old Man Blues," "Stompy Jones"), international brouhaha and general malaise which causes one to wrinkle the brow and flare Gershwin ("Summertime"), Herbert ("Indian the n o strils. It is not my intent to add to Summer"), Basie ("One O’ clock Jump"), and other assorted standards like " I ’m Coming this melange of discontent, as a c a re fu l V irgin ia ," "The Sheik," "Dear Old Southland," application to my prior writing will make and " I Know That You Know." Bechet even clear. recorded "Muskrat Ramble" and "The Saints" — tunes clearly not good enough for most of our I am, however, somewhat bemused by an bands today. increasingly evident desire on the part of some to compress the jazz vocabulary into such Many reasonable men consider the Muggsy a limited matrix that we wind up with Spanier Ragtimers sessions in 1939 for everybody playing "Wrought Iron Rag," "Dans Bluebird the crowning achievement of white Les Rues D’Antibes," "Gatemouth," and l i t t l e jazzmen.