[Trombone-l] Frigo In Jazz Me News
Bill Dinwiddie
billdin at comcast.net
Wed Aug 1 15:18:30 CDT 2007
Riverwalk JazzHappened to see a tribute to Johnny Frigo in this issue of
"Jazz Me News". Scroll down on the right side for an example of why many
knew John as more than just a great musician.
Bill Dinwiddie
billdin at comcast.net
Subject: Jazz Me News August 2007
August 2007
This Month on Riverwalk Jazz
This month we remember Louis Armstrong and Danny Barker, both of
whom witnessed the beginning of jazz in New Orleans, and gifted us with
their memories in journals and oral history recordings. And, we celebrate
the great legacy of black vaudeville through the raucous comedy of
Butterbeans and Susie.
8/2/07 Louis Armstrong: A Portrait of A Man and His World
Louis Armstrong wrote voluminously wherever he found himself
with "down time" between concerts dates on the road. His personal memoirs
are brought to life by actor Vernel Bagneris with music by The Jim Cullum
Jazz Band.
8/9/07 From Bach to Beiderbecke: The Influence of European
Classics on American Jazz
The Jim Cullum Jazz Band gives a jazz treatment to popular songs
by Victor Herbert, Sigmund Romberg and others who drew inspiration from the
musical language of European operetta, chamber and symphony works.
8/16/07 Jammin' on the 88s: An Evening with Shelly Berg and The
Jim Cullum Jazz Band
Piano virtuoso and Concord recording artist Shelly Berg sits in
with the band at The Landing for a no-holds-barred jam session of familiar
"standards" and jam tunes.
8/23/07 When I Grow Too Old to Dream: The Memories of Danny
Barker
The Jim Cullum Jazz Band and The Smithsonian Institution present
archival recordings of New Orleans jazzman Danny Barker with childhood
memories, and impressions of life as a musician in the 1930s.
8/30/07 Butterbeans and Susie:
A Vaudeville Cabaret
Broadway's Vernel Bagneris and internationally acclaimed
vocalist Topsy Chapman team up with The Jim Cullum Jazz Band to bring back
the days of vaudeville and the comedy team of Butterbeans and Susie.
Note: Riverwalk Jazz public radio broadcasts are recorded well
in advance of their air dates. These listings do not reflect live
appearances at The Landing in San Antonio. For what's happening at The
Landing, check our calendar page.
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Leigh Kamman to Step Down as Host of
The Jazz Image
Jazz broadcasting pioneer Leigh Kamman is stepping down as the
regular host of The Jazz Image on Minnesota Public Radio in September.
Kamman began his broadcasting career in Minnesota in 1939. He worked in New
York City during the 1950s, where he interviewed such jazz greats as Duke
Ellington, Count Basie, Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday, Quincy Jones and Art
Farmer. Kamman returned to Minnesota and ultimately created The Jazz Image
in 1973.
Leigh is known for his poetic, picuresque speaking style and for
his knowledge and love of the music. He has been an outstanding broadcaster
and a tireless champion of jazz, and has interviewed Jim Cullum several
times.
After spending 60 years in jazz broadcasting and programming,
Kamman says it's time to take a break. First, he says he'll take a long
overdue vacation. Kamman plans to fulfill a book proposal on the history of
jazz broadcasting and to continue his association with Minnesota Public
Radio, along with speaking engagements for students and the dinner circuit,
focusing on the significance of jazz.
The farewell edition of The Jazz Image will broadcast Sept. 29
on Minnesota Public Radio News 91.1 FM and Sept. 30 on Minnesota Public
Radio's The Current (89.3 FM). An event to honor Kamman's more than 60 years
of broadcasting service will be held Sept. 23 at The Dakota Bar and Grill in
Minneapolis.
Visit the MPR website for more information.
© Minnesota Public Radio
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Just Ask
Just ask and we'll answer your questions about The Landing, The
Jim Cullum Jazz Band, and Riverwalk Jazz on the radio.
Jim,
As a soldier in the US Army I only got a chance to hear the band
play once, just before I was sent to Wisconsin for mobilization, but oh how
smooth it was. I leave for Iraq in a few weeks, but certainly look forward
to the day when I can return to San Antonio, enjoy a good cocktail, and hear
you boys play those instruments with such talent and skill.
You keep playing Jim, and I'll keep fighting, deal?
Vince Frausto
Jim Cullum replies:
Dear Vince,
I am very touched by your email. Thanks and God speed. You may
absolutely depend on me to keep playing for you, if for nothing else.
Jim
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Dear Riverwalk:
I was just wondering if there is a specific day and time when
the radio shows on the website change to the next week's show. Any
information would be much appreciated.
Thanks, Dave
Editor replies:
Dave, the shows are changed on the website on Thursday mornings.
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Mr. Mopsick,
First, I am a HUGE fan. I have seen you guys a number of times
and am already looking forward to the next. I'm a string bass player and
have a couple of questions.
1. What kind of bow do you use and what should I consider when
selecting one. I have a fiber glass German style bow now.
2. I currently play an Englehardt plywood bass. I am pretty
happy with it, but in the future would like to make another purchase. What
do you play and what would you suggest for a good bass, but for a person on
a bit of a budget?
Thanks again for all you do to keep this music alive and
happening.
Sincerely, Steve Dufrene
Don Mopsick replies:
Steve, thanks for the kind words.
I have two bass fiddles which I use. The one that lives at the
Landing (never more to go on the road) is a German roundback with no maker
label, from about 1880. I've been told that the maker was probably from the
Mittenwald region. Bob Haggart, who borrowed it to record a show on
Riverwalk Jazz, really liked it a lot.
My road bass is a 1943 Kay M-1 model. For my money, the plywood
Kay was one of the great practical inventions of WWII-era American
ingenuity, right up there with the Quonset Hut and the DC-3. I have recorded
most of the Riverwalk shows we did on the road with this bass and am still
pleased with the sound, even years later.
Finding a quality, resonant bass is just the first step toward
getting a good sound and percussive attack for jazz. String and bridge setup
are also important considerations.
Both of my basses are set up with high-quality gut strings
(Pirastro Chorda) and high action (over 30mm from the edge of the
fingerboard) to get the most acoustic output out of them. As far as bridge
pickups and amplifiers, I have yet to encouter one that sounds better than
the bass by itself, so I don't use them.
Both of my French-grip bows are made of Brazil wood and were
ordered new from mail-order catalogs. As you may know, one can spend tens of
thousands of dollars on a good, responsive bow, and someday I may go that
route. For now, I recommend checking out one of the online bass suppliers
such as Lemur or Bob Gollihur.
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Listener Feedback
Fan mail is music to our ears. We love hearing from you. If you
have any comments about our radio program or a live performance by The Jim
Cullum Jazz Band, email them to the Webmaster, and please let us know where
you are located and on which radio station you heard the show.
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Photo Credits
a.. Louis Armstrong portrait 1970 from imbd.com
b.. "In a Mist" sheet music cover courtesy Bixology.com
c.. Shelly Berg © Riverwalk Jazz
d.. Danny Barker from the Cab Calloway Collection, Boston
e.. Butterbeans and Susie courtesy Vaudeville Times
f.. Leigh Kamman courtesy Minnesota Public Radio
g.. Joe Marsala courtesy Eleisa Marsala Trampler
h.. Johnny Frigo courtesy Riverwalk Jazz
i.. Jim Cullum and Louis Armstrong courtesy Jim Cullum
King Oliver in the Groove(s)
By Nat Hentoff
Note: this article was first published in the Wall Street
Journal on July 25, 2007 and is reproduced here with the permission of the
author.
When I was in my teens, reading about the storied sites of early
jazz, I envied the Chicagoans of the 1920s who were hip enough to spend
nights at the Lincoln Gardens café where King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band was
in residence, recently joined by Oliver's young New Orleans protégé, Louis
Armstrong. But the few recordings I could find sounded as if time had worn
the music down and dim, including the clicks and scratches of those used
early discs.
Now, however, in a remarkable feat of sound restoration, "King
Oliver/Off the Record: The Complete 1923 Jazz Band Re-Recordings"
(archeophone.com, also at Amazon.com) makes it very clear to me why among
the regulars in the audience back then were the young white jazz apprentices
who-according to Lil Hardin (the pianist in the band)-thronged to hear King
Oliver's Creole Jazz Band whenever they played in Chicago:
"They'd line up 10 deep in front of the stand-Muggsy Spanier,
Dave Tough, George Wettling-listening intently. Then they'd talk to Joe
Oliver and Louis." (Also among them were Eddie Condon and 14-year-old Benny
Goodman.)
More >>
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Don't Let It End, Part I: Joe Marsala
by Eleisha Marsala Trampler
Joe Marsala is ranked among the best jazz clarinetists of the
20th century. Active in all aspects of the music business, performing,
composing, publishing, producing, and teaching, Joe's legacy can be found in
tributes from his peers, in his development as a musician, and in the
clarinet stylings of his protégé, Bobby Gordon, a former member of The Jim
Cullum Jazz Band.
In 1958 I happened on Louis Armstrong at an auto show in Kansas.
"Wait right there," said Louis as I mentioned that I was Joe Marsala's
daughter. Armstrong finished signing autographs, then turned and asked me to
supper. "Your dad is one of the finest clarinetists around, what's he up to
these days? Is he still married to that beautiful harpist, Adele Girard?"
Joe Marsala was a fine musician, a superb clarinetist and a
genuinely nice guy. When Joe spoke of his life he said, "We lived in a
wonderful time." He reflected a moment, then modestly added, "I made my
mark."
More >>
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Remembering Johnny Frigo
Jazz violinist, composer, poet and humorist Johnny Frigo died on
July 4 at the age of 90. He appeared on the Riverwalk Jazz series for a show
first broadcast in 1992, All In a Texas Family. In recent decades he was a
regular performer at jazz festivals and clubs worldwide and in his native
Chicago.
The Jim Cullum Jazz Band members remember Frigo with great
fondness. Bassist Don Mopsick says, "He was one of those guys who still
makes everyone smile at the very mention of his name."
Frigo spent most of his career playing the bass fiddle in bands
led by Chico Marx (of the Marx Brothers) and Jimmy Dorsey (among many
others), and for countless studio recording sessions. In the early 1980s he
decided to devote his energies fully to the violin.
Frigo appeared twice playing violin on The Tonight Show with
Johnny Carson. When Carson asked Frigo why he had waited so long to become
famous, he replied, "Because there won't be enough time left for me to
become a has-been."
Frigo composed the widley-performed and recorded jazz standard
"Detour Ahead" as well as "I Told Ya I Love Ya, Now Get Out."
Live Jazz
by Johnny Frigo
Somewhere in the silent ether,
Orphaned by the ear,
Floats every note was ever played
That we no longer hear.
The iceberg tip of tape and disc
We resurrect at will
Is but one note in millions
Drowned and ever still.
True-the ink the quill and paper
Genius put to use
Still comes alive in concert halls
In reverence-or abuse.
But what of every masterpiece
That died while being born,
Through smoke and booze in gin mills
From piano and from horn?
For every Monk or Coltrane chorus
Ever put to tape
Are millions, more profound by far,
That made their sad escape.
Those instant creativities,
Confetti-ed in the air-
Lost to all the world, save for the
Few who heard them there.
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As a "thank you" for registering with us, please download and
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Jim Cullum in 1965).
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Classic Jazz Media Online
Blues jam from The Sound of Jazz TV show featuring Pee Wee
Russeill, Jimmy Giuffre, Milt Hinton, Jo Jones and Danny Barker.
Soundies PBS documentary.
"Honeysuckle Rose," Fats Waller
Check out Jimmie Jazz: Jim Baldwin's Radio Shows streaming
2-hour shows featuring Adrian Rollini, Boswell Sisters, Annette Hanshaw and
others along with some biographies, photos, and films.
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Where to Hear Live Jazz
A more comprehensive list of festivals can be found on the
Mississippi Rag Website.
a.. 1-11 Oregon Festival of American Music, Eugene, OR.
Featured guests include Ken Peplowski, Dick Hyman, Bucky Pizzarelli and many
others. Visit their Website for more information or call 541-434-7000.
b.. 2-5 Satchmo Summer Fest, New Orleans, LA. Visit their
Website for more information and a list of featured artists.
c.. 30-Sept. 3 Sweet and Hot Music Festival, Los Angeles, CA.
Musical guests include Howard Alden, Banu Gibson and Her Hot Jazz, Hal
Smith, Rebecca Kilgore, Dan Barrett, Russ Phillips, Bob Havens, John
Cocuzzi, Eddie Erickson, Jim Galloway, Chuck Hedges, Eddie Higgins and Allan
Vaché. Visit their Website for more information.
d.. Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks continue their regular
Wednesday night at Iridium Jazz Club, 1650 Broadway & 51st Street, New York
City. Call 212-582-2121 for more information and reservations, or visit
their Website here.
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On the Road with The Jim Cullum Jazz Band
The Jim Cullum Jazz Band appears Monday through Saturday nights
beginning at 8:00 PM at the Landing in San Antonio, except for when they
tour. To find out when the JCJB is coming to your town for the rest of 2007,
view our event calendar.
August Events
There are no out-of-town concert dates for The Jim Cullum Jazz
Band for August, so it's a good time to come down to San Antonio to hear
them live at the Landing Jazz Club. Call ahead at 210-223-7266 during
regular business hours for reservations if you plan to visit on a weekend.
The Jim Cullum Jazz Band's new release,
Chasin' the Blues.
Where to Listen to Riverwalk Jazz
a.. Hear this week's Riverwalk Jazz radio show over the Web
through your computer's speakers.
b.. Hear Riverwalk Jazz on XM Public Radio ("Real Jazz" XM
Channel 70), Saturday at 9 AM and Sunday at 9 PM ET
c.. Find a Riverwalk Jazz broadcast on the airwaves in your
area.
Publisher: Jim Cullum/Riverwalk Jazz
Managing Editor: Margaret Pick
Editor/Writer: Don Mopsick Entire contents
©2007 Riverwalk Jazz
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