[Trombone-l] PASSING OF THE KING -- OF POLKAS

[Bill Dinwiddie]

Hi Stan,

I guess there are a lot of "Kings", self appointed and otherwise, but Li'l 
Wally was pretty big in the Chicago polka scene for a long time. I have to 
congratulate anyone who made it in any kind of music over the long duration 
of his "reign".

Hope you are well.

Bill


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Stan Brager" <sbrager at socal.rr.com>
To: "Bill Dinwiddie" <billdin at comcast.net>; "List Trombone" 
<TROMBONE-L at server5.samford.edu>
Sent: Sunday, August 20, 2006 2:39 PM
Subject: Re: [Trombone-l] PASSING OF THE KING -- OF POLKAS


> Bill;
>
> Funny about Li'l Wally. When I was in my 20's, a friend who played 
> clarinet
> with the LA Phil loved to get some of his friends together and play 
> polkas.
> He told me that the King of the Polka was "Whoopee" John Wilfart. He said
> that the band's bus was emblazoned with a banner which read, "Whoopee John
> Wilfart and His Band Will Play". When you read this out loud, be sure to
> take a small breath after Wilfart.
>
> Who anoints these "kings"?
>
> Stan
> Stan Brager and I Wilfart at any time.
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Bill Dinwiddie" <billdin at comcast.net>
> To: "List Trombone" <TROMBONE-L at server5.samford.edu>
> Sent: Saturday, August 19, 2006 3:34 PM
> Subject: [Trombone-l] PASSING OF THE KING -- OF POLKAS
>
>
>> Subject: Passing of the King
>>
>>
>> Li'l Wally has been one of the most important and influential polka
>> musicians in America. He was responsible for creating the Chicago-style
>> polka, a slower, more danceable, more improvisational sound, whose core
>> appeal lay with Polish-Americans.
>> Wally was a cottage industry unto himself, recording at an often frantic
>> pace and releasing over 150 albums on his own Jay Jay label. He played
> both
>> concertina and drums in concert, and performed good-humored dance tunes
> and
>> sentimental ballads with the same unwavering enthusiasm. So popular was 
>> he
>> that he and Frankie Yankovic became the first inductees into the Polka
> Hall
>> of Fame.
>> Walter Edward Jagiello was born in Chicago on August 1, 1930. His parents
>> were both Polish immigrants, and he was exposed to polka music very early
>> on -- so much so that he gave his first public performance at age eight,
>> fearlessly taking the stage at a neighborhood picnic to belt out songs
> with
>> the band. He started sneaking out to hear polka music in the clubs along
>> Division Street, and was soon getting professional bookings as a singer
> with
>> the bands he met. A self-taught drummer and concertina player, he started
>> playing with Chicago polka godfather Eddie Zima at age ten, and was
> leading
>> his own band at 14, by which time he'd dropped out of school. His first
>> recording session came in 1946 for his own small Amber Records label, at
>> which point he was still singing entirely in Polish.
>> In 1949, Wally recorded eight songs for Columbia Records.. Dissatisfied
> with
>> the experience, he launched Jay Jay Records in 1951, and unleashed a
> torrent
>> of music; during the '50s, he often managed to turn out ten or more LPs a
>> year. His slowed-down style left his musicians plenty of room to 
>> improvise
>> as they saw fit.
>> Wally's style became so popular in Chicago that virtually every other
> polka
>> band in the city had to adapt their own sound to fit his blueprint. His
>> burgeoning popularity crystallized into a breakout national hit in 1954,
>> thanks to his first English-language recording, "I Wish I Was Single
> Again."
>> It sold over 150,000 copies in Chicago alone, and climbed onto the
> national
>> charts, where it topped out at Number 22. However, Wally was so
> overwhelmed
>> by the duties of recording, performing, and running the label that he
> began
>> to suffer from ulcers; he took some time off for a vacation in Miami, and
>> liked it so much that he and his second wife Jeanette would eventually
> move
>> there permanently.
>> In the meantime, however, Wally returned to Chicago and resumed his
> prolific
>> writing and recording pace. He scored numerous hits with polka audiences
>> over the years, including the all-time polka standards "No Beer in
> Heaven,"
>> "Li'l Wally Twirl," "Johnny's Knockin'," "She Likes Kielbasa," "Seven 
>> Days
>> and Seven Nights," "Take Me Baby," "Chicago Is a Polka Town,"
>> "Lichtensteiner Polka," "Two Bucks Polka," "To Be in Love With Someone,"
> and
>> many, many, many others. He played gigs all over the Midwest whenever he
>> could, touring with a core trio (concertina, trumpet, and drums) and
> adding
>> a clarinet, bass, and/or violin player for bigger shows; most of his
>> musicians held day jobs in factories, so there was near-constant turnover
> in
>> his backing group. At the peak of his popularity, he had a polka radio
> show
>> on 50,000 watt WLS in Chicago, and played some of the city's biggest 
>> dance
>> halls, including a high-profile debut at the Aragon Ballroom in 1955. He
>> also bought his own record-pressing plant, which enabled him to control
> more
>> aspects of his one-man polka industry.
>> http://www.myspace.com/jayjayrecords
>> During the '60s, Li'l Wally appeared three times on The Lawrence Welk
> Show.
>> By the end of the decade, he and his wife had relocated to Miami, where
>> Wally bought Jackie Gleason's old recording studio. In 1969, he and
> Frankie
>> Yankovic were selected as the two charter members of the Polka Hall of
> Fame.
>> http://www.internationalpolka.com/fame-ix.htm
>> The following year, he opened a polka bar in Miami, which stayed in
> business
>> for the next six years but was eventually forced to close due to the
> city's
>> much smaller Polish contingent. Wally continued to tour and record from
> his
>> Miami home base, and managed another big polka hit with 1982's "God Bless
>> Our Polish Pope." The unabashedly sentimental ode to Pope John Paul II 
>> got
>> Wally the chance to perform for him in 1984. In later years, Wally teamed
> up
>> with the new-school punk-polka outfit the Polkaholics in concert, though
> his
>> own brand of polka remained defiantly traditional in the face of a wider
>> country & western influence.
>> He died on August 17, 2006, in Miami, Florida, at age 76. There will be a
>> viewing and service on Saturday, August 26th at the Pietryka Funeral 
>> Home,
>> 5734 W. Diversey Ave, Chicago, Illinois. Phone 773-889-0115
>>
>> Patrick Henry
>> Sources: International Polka Association Website, Lil Wally interview
>>
>> Forwarded by Bill Dinwiddie
>> billdin at comcast.net
>>
>>
>>
>>
>