“Best of South Jersey” 2008 - 2011! The Strutter VOLUME 22 NUMBER 7 Traditional Jazz in the Philadelphia Tri-State Area March 2012 OUR NEXT CONCERT TRI-STATE JAZZ SOCIETY On March 18, Emily Asher says, The Garden Party Presents will play a variety of hot jazz and early swing, their instrumentation and concept influenced by EMILY ASHER’S GARDEN PARTY Louis Armstrong's Hot Fives and Sevens, Armstrong's All-Stars, and Eddie Condon's classic recording groups. Their repertoire will also include material from the heart of the West Coast Dixieland revival, Lu Watters' Yerba Buena Jazz Band. Trombonist and vocalist Emily Asher is a rising musical personality in New York, leading the Garden Party and The Emily Asher Quartet and making regular appearances with the Brooklyn- based Baby Soda Jazz Band. She toured North America with the ground-breaking Mighty Aphrodite Jazz Band and Europe with New Orleans’ Tuba Skinny. See Asher on Page 2 CONCERT ADMISSION $20 ADMISSION $10 FIRST TIME ATTENDEES & MEMBERS HIGH SCHOOL/COLLEGE STUDENTS WITH Emily Asher, trombone, leader ID AND CHILDREN WITH PAYING ADULT ADMITTED FREE Bria Skonberg, trumpet Pay At the Door - No Advance Sales Dan Levinson, clarinet Gordon Webster, piano In This Issue… Sean Cronin, bass Kevin Dorn, drums Looking Ahead ............. Page 2 American Rag ............... Page 2 Sunday, March 18, 2012 Barnes Review ............. Page 2 2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Spirits Of Rhythm ......... Page 3 Community Arts Center Help Wanted ................. Page 4 Upcoming Events ......... Page 5 414 Plush Mill Road Wallingford, PA Directions on Page 7 The Strutter is published by Tri-State Jazz Society, Inc. - P.O. Box 896 - Mt. Laurel, NJ 08002 1 L KING AHEAD TO e=related APRIL, 2012 www.youtube.com/watch?v=iF8m8DpsVMY www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvtdobPwQ98 Coming up on Sunday, April 22nd, 2012 at 2:00 p.m., Terry Waldo will perform a solo piano concert REVIEW – RICHARD BARNES AND THE at Saint Matthew Lutheran Church, 318 Chester BLACKBIRD SOCIETY ORCHESTRA Avenue, Moorestown, NJ The Time: 2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m., Sunday, February AMERICAN RAG WINNERS 15, 2012 At one concert each month, TSJS picks a winner of The Place: Community Arts Center, 414 Plush Mill a free four-month subscription to the American Rag Road, Wallingford, PA as a door prize. The winner for February, 2012 is The Band: Richard Barnes, guitar, clarinet and Joe Deshayes of Collingswood, NJ. New members leader; Michael Salsburg, violin; Paul Rogers, of Tri-State Jazz Society automatically receive a trumpet; Jim Gicking, trombone, banjo and two-month trial subscription to American Rag, the suitcase; Jay Rattman, clarinet and alto sax; John country’s largest traditional jazz and ragtime Southard, piano; Dan Nosheny, sousaphone newspaper. he Scranton Sirens, The Melody Sheiks, T Emerson Gill, Vincent Lopez, Sam Lanin, Gus Arnheim, Abe Lyman, Ben Selvin, Fred Rich, Ben Bernie, Coon-Sanders, Ted Weems, and on a grander scale, Jean Goldkette. What do they all have in common? They all are considered “Hot Dance Bands” in the 1920s. “Hot Dance” is a hotly-disputed, controversial issue in jazz circles. Jazz purists cry “It’s not jazz!” – citing the use of scores, compromising improvisation, etc. The other side of the coin is that while it is not jazz of the free-of- written-music kind, whenever a Louis Armstrong or a Bix Beiderbecke blasted an 8, 12, or 16 bar solo, for those few moments it is jazz, regardless of setting. I would like to add there’s more to Jazz than improvisation – communication is needed and ASHER – CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 you have to have a genuine feel for the music. At the concert, trumpeter Paul Rogers played the Emily has performed at small private events for Armstrong trumpet intro which may or may not Kofi Anan, Barbara Walters, Tom Brokaw, and have been written in the score – the end result was distinguished foreign diplomats. This past year she it swung and it was hot. If a student musician or recorded and performed with Wycliffe Gordon on even a professional performed the same intro, his Hello Pops! tribute to Louis Armstrong. without exposure to recordings, without that feel, Originally from Seattle, she earned three Bachelor's the results would be different. degrees from the University of Washington and Richard Barnes and the Blackbird Society completed her Master's in music performance from Orchestra performed jazz in this context – mostly CUNY Queens College in May of 2009. Visit her at arranged, but swinging with hot solos. The band www.emilyasher.com/. gave the aura of a hotel orchestra bedaubed in a To hear The Garden Party in action, go to: setting with palm trees and Art Deco designs. www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLRzzH2MLGI&featu The music wasn’t all orchestral. Barnes, re=player_embedded violinist Michael Salsburg and pianist John www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8RWjs0H59c&featur 2 Southard provided tributes to Eddie Lang and Joe 1933-Sept. 1934), recording for Decca, Brunswick Venuti, the best of which was a solo Lang number and ARC. by Barnes, “A Little Love, A Little Kiss,” “The Wild By late 1934, the Spirits added Wilson Cat” and “Raggin’ The Scale,” which had Salsburg “Serious” Myers on string bass. Myers had an playing pizzicato, Southard recalling Arthur Schutt interesting journey prior to joining the Spirits. and a wildly swinging finish. Born in 1906, he began his professional career as a Of the band solos, several which stand out drummer in a touring show, backing Bessie Smith. are Paul Rogers’s lively lead and stop-time solo, and While proficient on clarinet and trombone, he Dan Nosheny’s lyrical sousaphone on “Struttin’ switched to the banjo and guitar in 1925. He With Some Barbecue,” Jay Rattman’s four-chorus worked with King Oliver in 1931, then – after clarinet ride on “China Boy” and Jim Gicking’s Miff making another switch, this time to string bass – Molish trombone on “Royal Garden Blues.” with Sidney Bechet’s New Orleans Feetwarmers in Most of the numbers performed were 1932. He had just returned from a tour of France in familiar ones, but there were some surprises. the bands of Lucky Millinder and Willie Bryant Bandleader-pianist Cliff Jackson’s “The Terror” before joining the Spirits. (where Barnes supplied some percussive effects on The second Onyx club closed temporarily his banjo) and a McKinney’s Cotton Pickers from February-July, 1935 due to a fire. Only selection – “Sellin’ That Stuff” are tunes that you evidence of the Spirits whereabouts was in a July don’t hear often. Dan Nosheny’s original 7th, 1935 Syracuse (NY) Herald article, which had composition, “Peaches and Honey Dews” reminded the group performing on a Sunday night radio one of Willard Robison’s musically stylistic period broadcast over the NBC radio network. pieces. One source claims long time bassist While the “Hot Dance” argument may never Wellman Braud left Duke Ellington in 1935 to reach an agreeable conclusion, Richard Barnes and manage and occasionally play with the Spirits of the Blackbird Society Orchestra provided enough Rhythm (an undated photo shows Braud on bass “hot” to leave this reviewer satisfied. - Jim McGann with Scroggins, Watson and Bunn). If this is so, Braud took on this assignment in a period of LEO WATSON, TEDDY BUNN, AND THE transition. SPIRITS OF RHYTHM – Part 2 The Onyx closed again in the spring of 1937, and the group experienced personnel changes. 2nd Street, in the 1930s, was a breeding ground Wilson Myers left the group to join Alex Combrille 5fo r Jazz musicians. At any one time, musicians in Europe. Bunn and possibly Watson had joined of the caliber of Bunny Berigan, Eddie Condon, Joe the first edition of the John Kirby sextet, along with Sullivan, John Kirby, Stuff Smith, Midge Williams, Frank Newton on trumpet, Pete Brown on alto, Don Frank Froeba, Frank Newton, Billie Holiday and Frye on piano. If Watson was a regular participant, Pete Brown could be seen performing at a Swing his stay was short; he would join Artie Shaw, street venue. The Spirits made their residency at briefly, later that year. the Onyx Club. Sometime in 1938, the group moved to The Onyx Club, originally located at 35 West Nick’s to play at intermission. Soprano saxophonist 52nd Street, was once a former speakeasy. The Sidney Bechet, encouraged by Braud, sat in with owner, Joe Helbrook, turned the establishment into Eddie Condon’s group. One source claims that an entertainment facility once Prohibition was Bechet performed with the Spirits, too, but Bechet, repealed. The Spirits were one of the first acts at in his autobiography, mentioned his experience at the club, and enjoyed a long residency, even when Nick’s and wrote compliments about Condon nd the Onyx moved to a bigger venue on 72 West 52 during this period, but eluded the Spirits in February, 1934. altogether. The bulk of the Spirits recording activities By this time, Leo Watson was enjoying some consisted of 9 sessions within a year’s time (Sept. degree of success. From June to December, he was the male vocalist for Gene Krupa’s new orchestra. 3 The drummer had left Benny Goodman in March, Known as a personality as erratic as his singing, and had organized a new band with guitarist Ray Watson left the music scene, succumbing to Biondi, tenor saxist Vido Musso and pianist Milt pneumonia in 1952. Bunn, worked and recorded Raskin. Watson toured cross-country with the with the Edgar Hayes quartet, blues singers of band, making appearances in Ohio, Chicago and varying quality, and finally with Rock and Roll Los Angeles.