NVDJS NEWS February March 2014

NVDJS NEWS

Napa Valley Dixieland Jazz Society

P.O. Box 5494,

Napa, CA 94581

FIRST CLASS MAIL

NAPA VALLEY DIXIELAND JAZZ SOCIETY MEMBERSHIP

Name_______________________________

Address_____________________________

City___________________Zip___________ Telephone:______________Date:________

Standard Membership Single $30.00/year

($8.00 Session Admission) Couple $50.00/year

Contributing Membership Single $100.00/year

(Free Session Admission) Couple $170.00/year

Sustaining Membership Single $150.00/year

(Free Session Admission) Couple $250.00/year Enclosed is a check for the following: New Renew

NAPA VALLEY

DIXIELAND JAZZ SOCIETY

Sunday, April 13 Sunday, May 11

2014 1:00-5:00 pm

Jammers Welcome

Monthly Admission

Donations

NVDJS $8.00

Other Jazz Clubs $9.00

Other Guests $10.00

Youth (12-18 years) $3.00

Children (under 12 years) No charge

NVDJS on the Worldwide Web

Check out:

the Napa Valley site www.napavalley.com/events.html

or www.jazzdance.org/NapaJazz

RENEWALS that are DUE

April 13

Embassy Suites 1075 California Blvd

Napa, CA

Mail check made out to: NVDJS, P.O. Box 5494, Napa, CA. 94581

on April 13, 2014 1:00 - 5:00

Neely’s Rhythm Aces

For more than 30 years, Don Neely has been

recognized as a pioneer of the 1920ʼs and early

30ʼs “Hot Dance” revival. He and his Royal Soci-

ety Jazz Orchestra, founded in 1975, have per-

formed at every major event in San Francisco,

trad jazz festivals and clubs around the country as

well as internationally, concertized on tour, and

have been featured on radio and television. They

have also recorded over 300 songs.

Don now shares his love of the small group jazz bands of the 1920ʼs and 30ʼs with his

Rhythm Aces. The NRA still plays the same great music with an emphasis on melody and

the hot two-beat and four-beat styles of the era. Youʼll hear trad jazz standards, great pop

tunes, forgotten gems, as well as some originals, all great for dancing.

The name of the group is inspired by a combination of Jabbo Smithʼs Rhythm Aces and the

National Recovery Administration of 1933, not the National Rifle Association. So, to set the

tone, the group dresses in authentic, blue collar, WPA chic. We think youʼll find Neelyʼs

Rhythm Aces to be refreshingly different.

CELL BLOCK SEVEN is a California jazz

band favoring the West Coast traditional

jazz sound of Lu Watters, Turk Murphy

and the Bay City Jazz Band of the '50s in

a classic jazz lineup led by two cornets.

They are a very versatile and entertain-

ing band. By doubling their talents on the

three double bell euphoniums, Cell Block

Seven is able to produce some very

different sounds -- from fast, exciting trios

to smooth and mellow blues -- all in wonderful low brass harmony.

Jack Convery — banjo Daryl Hosick — piano Tom Downs — tuba Coleman Sholl — drums

on May 11, 2014 1:00 - 5:00

Cell Block Seven

Bob Romans — cornet, euphonium, leader Bob Sakoi — cornet , euphonium Eric Burger — trombone, euphonium Pete Main — reeds

May 11

Grant Hall-Veteran’s

Home Yountville, CA

April

Soren Bloch

Catherine Harper & Iver Egland

Jutta Jacobs & Charles Newman

Harris Nussbaum

May

Jack & Carol Dutcher

Allan & Nancy Grissette

Jack Ohringer

Jazz Around The Bay Area

Page 7 Page 2

NVDJS NEWS published by the

Napa Valley Dixieland Jazz

Society P.O. Box 5494, Napa, CA. 94581

__________________________________

The NVDJS is a non-profit organization

founded to encourage an appreciation of

and education in Traditional, Dixieland,

Ragtime and Swing Jazz.

_______________________________

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

and OFFICERS President Linda Stevens

Vice President Marilee Jensen

Secretary Phil Ingalls

Treasurer Phil Ingalls

Directors at Large Don Robertson Gene Campbell

Wayne Taylor

Directors Emeritus

Phil Eggers Dorothy Hoffman

NEWSLETTER Editor - Don Robertson 707-258-9259

e-mail: jdrobertson@att.net

Assist. Editor - Ron Medrud

OTHER POSITIONS Membership Don Robertson

707-258-9259

Publicity

Historian Gene Campbell

707-374-3429

Band Liaison Linda Stevens

707-939-9018

Jam Director Bill Badstubner

707-526-1772

_______________________________________________

Advertising (ONLY if space permits)

Ads must be submitted by the 15th of the

month preceeding publication.

Full Page..(half legal size).... . .$70.00 Full Page insert---you provide....$30.00 Half Page......................................$50.00 Third Page....................................$30.00

Quarter Page.................................$20.00

Business Card (6-7 square in.)...........$10.00 (Yearly rate = 10 times the monthly rate) Ads must be paid in advance.

Jazz in other places Sundays

**Every Sunday**Swing Seven Jazz Band –from 7:00—10:PM at the Hydro Bar and Grill, 1403 Lincoln Ave, Calistoga, No Cover.

**3rd Sunday-Joyful Noise Jazz Band -from 5:30-7:00 PM at the Champa Thai, 3550H San Pablo Dam Road, El Sobrante,

LARGE dance floor, for info call 510-222-1819.

** 3rd Sunday Gold Coast Jazz Band at the Redwood Café. 8240 Old Redwood Highway, Cotati 4-7 PM, No cover Info: Bill Badstubner 707-526-1772 or Jeff Green, 650-892-0448

Tuesdays ** 1st and 3rd Tuesdays-- Ken Brock’s Jambalaya Swing (11 pc Big Band ) } play from 7:30 to 9:30 PM Castle Rock Restaurant ,

,** 2nd and 4th Tuesdays– Chris Bradley’s Traditional Jazz Band } 1848 Portola Avenue, Livermore 925) 456-7100

**1st, 3rd Tuesdays-The Jazzinators (a youth band), play from 7-8pm PM, Pizza Depot. at 43450 Grimmer Rd., Fremont. (510) 656-9911 (an ALL ages Jam Set from 8-9PM.)

Wednesdays

** Every Wednesday- Phil Smith's Gentlemen of Jazz. at Uva Trattoria Italiana, 1040 Clinton, NAPA, 6:30-9:30 PM, Xcellent food.NO cover, for info call (707)-255-6646.

**1st and 3rd Wednesdays - Mission Gold Jazz Band, No Longer at Sunol or Castle Rock — Looking for new venue

Thursdays

** 4th Thursday And That’s Jazz No Longer at High Street Station Cafe, 1303 High Street, Alameda,

Fridays

**Most Fridays-Clint Baker's Cafe Borrone All Stars play in Menlo Park at Cafe Borrone, 1010 El Camino Real, 8-11PM.

** Every Friday The Jelly Roll Jazz Band (five) at the Champa Thai, 3550H San Pablo Dam Road, El Sobrante, 7-10 PM

LARGE dance floor, for info call 510-222-1819. **Every Friday- Phil Smith's Gentlemen of Jazz. at Uva Trattoria Italiana, 1040 Clinton, NAPA, 9:00 PM-12:00 M, Xcellent

food, NO cover, for info call 707-255-6646.

Saturdays ***Devil Mountain , April 19, Fog City May 17 Devil Mountain 1:30 - 4:30 PM at the Danville Grange Hall, 743 Diablo Rd.,

Danville, CA. Admission $15 , BRING YOUR OWN REFRESHMENTS. Check www.jazznut.com, Call Virginia 510-655-

6728.

Jazz Clubs 1st Sunday

TRAD JASS of Santa Rosa meets at Ellington Hall 3535 Industrial Drive, Suite B4 Santa Rosa, May 4, Fog City Stompers, June 1, Natural Gas 1:00-5:30PM. (707) 526-1772 Jammers call (707) 542-3973, members $8, other clubs $9, public $10. 3rd Sunday

NOJCNC meets at the Champa Thai, 3550H San Pablo Dam Road, El Sobrante, April 20 Flying Eagles

May 18 Mission Gold 1:00-5:00 PM info call Tom Belmessieri (925) 432-6532, or Paul Hilton (415) 431-3390 , Jam-mers call Rod Roberts (415) 499-1190 . members $8, other clubs $10, public $12. 4th Sunday

SOUTH BAY TRAD JAZZ SOCIETY, Sunnyvale Elks, 375 N Pastoria Ave, Sunnyvale CA, April 27 Zinfandel Stompers May 26, TBA 1:00 - 5:00 PM info– Barbara Kinney at (510) 792-5484 , members $8, other clubs $8, public $10.

In Memorium

Hilton Des Roches 1931-2014 Long time member, board member, worker, encourager

and dancer left us in mid March after a long series of ill-

nesses. Hilton was always there with a friendly smile and

a joke. He and Alice were usually found on the dance

floor. As a board member Hilton served in setting up the

sound system at the Elks, and as assistant newsletter edi-

tor, folding and mailing the publication.

He will be missed.

Sadly, we have also lost two more members Two Pretty Ladies

Luz (Lucy) Demacion Jim Hendrix’s Lady

Eugenie Waldteufel Long time member and

dancer

Page 6 Page 3

President's Message Editor’s Notes: It was good being back in the Embassy Suites in March and enjoying the music of the San Francisco Feetwarmers. As mentioned elsewhere, we are going to hold our May session at the Veterans Home in Yountville. Grant Hall is a nice spacious ballroom where they hold weekly Sunday afternoon dances. We will have our session there on May 11 and thus pro-vide the music for their dance that day. There is a piano and a sound system so we won’t have to move and set up ours. It may not be as elegant as the Embassy Suites, but we may be able to save some money. It’s about 8 miles up Hiway 29 from The Embassy Suites.

Editor Don Robertson

Linda

I want to acknowledge the loss of three of our members, well four actually. Earlier this year, Lynn Schloss passed away. He was such a fan of trad jass and such a happy dancer. He is certainly missed. Then, just recently Hilton Des Roches passed away – he was on the Napa Board for a long time. I most remember him dancing with his wife Alice and every once in a while I got a dance with him. He was a very good dancer and so enthusiastic and, my, could he twirl you. He also had a joke for every situation. We miss him. Two of our dancing ladies also passed away recently. You are missed on the dance floor, Eugenie and Lucy - lovely ladies, both. We miss them all and feel so fortunate to have known them in our jazz world, it’s just not quite them same without them. March brought the San Francisco Feetwarmers to Embassy Suites. They sounded great and a good-sized crowd filled the dance floor. It was a good day all around. We welcome Don Neely’s Rhythm Aces to Em-bassy Suites on April 13. Their unique sound is always a draw, so you best be there. May 11, Mother’s Day, will find us at a new venue. We have been invited to the Veteran’s Home in Yountville for the afternoon. This is a one time only gig until we see if it works for the club as well as the Vets Home. More info will follow, as we get closer to May. Bob Romans and Cell Block 7 will whoop it up in Grant Hall. The residents should enjoy that band. Hope you will join us – it’s about 10 minutes further up the road. See you all soon.

The Magic Horn of

“Papa Ray” Ronnei

by Hal Smith Excerpted by permission from The Frisco Cricket

It has been nearly 40 years since I first heard the cornet magic of “Papa Ray” Ronnei…In the mid-’60s I was a dedicated fan of the San Fran-cisco style as played by Lu Watters, Turk Murphy, Bob Scobey, the Firehouse Five and…Vince Saunders” South Frisco Jazz Band. In 1966 my parents had taken me to Huntington Beach, California where the South Frisco band played weekends at the “Pizza Palace.” We became instant fans of the SFJB after that first evening and made regular trips up from La Jolla to catch the band on weekends. The band members were especially kind to a young fan. Wash-boardist Bob Raggio, then an employee of Ray Avery’s “Rare Records” was particularly helpful in locating several out-of-print Murphy and Watters LPs for me.

Late in 1967, Bob sent a note along with an LP he had found for me. The note mentioned that on the coming weekend, a “very special edition of the South Frisco band would per perform at the Pizza Palace, with ‘Papa Ray’ Ronnei on cornet.” I had heard of Ray Ronnei, but had not actually heard him play. Even so, my parents accompanied me to Huntington Beach to hear the band. At the Pizza Palace we settled in at a table, not knowing quite what to expect, when the band took off on “You Always Hurt The One You Love.” Ray Ronnei’s brassy, staccato attack and-almost surrealistic phrasing was like nothing I had ever heard! It was a glorious and unique sound; one I still have not recovered from! The tune selection was a radical departure from the San Francisco repertoire I was so used to: “Bogalusa Strut,” “Salutation March,” “Big Chief Battle Axe,” “One Sweet Letter From You,” “Ugly Chile,” “Blue Bells, Goodbye,” “Sweet Lotus Blossom,” “Bugle Boy March” etc. This night at the Pizza Palace the first time I had heard any of these numbers! When the performance ended—much too soon to suit me!—we headed home to La Jolla. My head was spinning from the spellbind- ing sound of Ray Ronnei’s cornet. Despite my continuing interest in the San Francisco style, I wanted to hear this horn man again—as soon as possible! I did not have to wait too long, as South Frisco’s cornetist Al Crowne took a leave of absence from the band in 1968. His replacement: Ray Ronnei! My family made dozens of journeys north to Huntington Beach during Papa Ray’s tenure with the South

Frisco.Jazz Band In 1968-69. The SFJB lineup varied during this period. Trombonist Frank Demond moved to New Orleans and was replaced on by Eric Rosenau, then Roy Brewer. Mike Baird was usually on clarinet, though Jim Bogen and soprano saxophonist John Smith sometimes filled in for him. Ron Ortmann was the regular pianist, spelled at times by Dick Shooshan, B ill Mitchell and Robbie Rhodes. Tubist Bob Rann was usually pre-sent, with Mike Fay on string bass in Rann’s absence. Banjoist-leader Vince Saunders was a constant, as was washboardist Bob Raggio—until the latter moved to Pittsburgh to play at baseball star Maury Wills” nightclub. But despite the shifting personnel, that distinctive cornet sound continued to ring joyously over the ensembles. When the South Frisco repertoire expanded, three of the “new” tunes—at least new to me— caught my fancy: “Here Comes The Hot Tamale Man,” “Messin” Around” (by Cook and St. Cyr) and “Flat Foot.” These three have been my favorite “trad” numbers since hear-ing Papa Ray play them in 1968. Though Vince Saun-ders was the bandleader, he frequently let Papa Ray kick off tunes. The latter tended towards brisk tempos and kicked them off old-style, i.e. “one- two-three-four ONE! TWO! With only a little imagination I can still hear the powerful band roaring through all-ensemble versions of “Maple Leaf Rag” and “Cakewalking Babies” (with Papa Ray playing the same burst of capsicum on the out chorus that Mutt Carey played on the “New Yorkers” record of the same tune). The South Frisco Jazz Band in 1968-69 was truly one of a kind.

South Frisco Jazz Band - From left: Ron Ortmann, Vince Saunders (leader), Bob Rann, Mike Baird, Ray Ronnei, Roy Brewer

Ray Ronnei

Editors Note: About the same time in 1966 when

Hal discovered the South Frisco Jazz Band at the

Pizza Palace, your editor, living in nearby Costa

Mesa, made the same discovery. Unfortunately,

only 3 months later We relocated to San Jose. In

1987 we rediscovered South Frisco at Sacramento

Grant Hall

Page 4 Page 5

BAND SCHEDULE-2014

Raffle Donations Dave Forus Candy

Gil Robinson Video

Yvette LaFlame CD

Loyce Besant Jewelry

March Jammers

13 Apr Neely’s Rhythm Aces

11-May Cell Block 7

8 Jun Devil Mountain Jazz Band

13 July Ray Skjelbred’s Cubs

10 Aug Fog City Stompers

14 Sep Golden Gate Rhythm Five

12 Oct Mission Gold

9-Nov Flying Eagles

14-Dec Gold Coast Holiday Party

SAN FRANCISCO FEETWARMERS—DIPPERMOUTH BLUES (Gemini CD-107). Playing time: 71m. 19s. All the Girls Go Crazy; Someday Sweetheart; Dippermouth Blues; Just a Closer Walk with Thee; Melancholy Blues; High Society; Snag It; Frogimore Rag; Canal Street Blues; Make Me a Pallet; Muskrat Ramble; Speak Softly Love; Lady Love; Feetwarmers Blues; Buddy's Habits. Recorded in Oakland, Calif., on April 26, 2012. Personnel: Mike Slack, cornet; Tom Barnebey, cornet; Roy Rubinstein, trombone; Pete Main, reeds; Bill Gould, piano; Tom Clark, bass; Bill DeKuiper, guitar; Hugh O'Donnel, drums. The San Francisco Feetwarmers started out as a seven-piece combo but now have graduated to an eight-piece band featuring two cornets, and stylistically they are more a Joe Oliver band than a Lu Watters one. Perhaps appropri-ately, three of the titles on this CD—Dippermouth Blues, Snag It, and Canal Street Blues—are Oliver compositions, and Someday Sweetheart, High Society, Frogimore Rag, and Buddy’s Habits were also recorded by one or other of the Oliver bands. All of the musicians are band regulars except for Roy Rubinstein, who is guesting on trombone. He is originally from Britain and now lives and plays in the Chicago area, having led his own band, the Chicago Hot Six, for the last thirty or so years; he visits the West Coast fairly frequently. The others are well-known San Francisco area musicians and play—or have played—with local bands, Pete Main undoubtedly holding the record for such as he currently plays with several of them. Most of the tunes in this set should be fairly familiar, except perhaps for one or two. Jelly Roll Morton’s Frogimore Rag is not a simple ditty, but a complex composition, as most of his tunes are. Speak Softly Love will become familiar when one thinks of the theme music of The Godfather, which it is. Another is Lady Love, which only a few bands have in their repertoire and which is my favorite track on this disc.

And finally there is the 12-bar blues Feetwarmers Blues, a Slack original which, as far as I am aware, no other bands are playing. All of the others, however, are well-known. There are numerous good moments on this album. I very much enjoyed Main’s solos on clarinet, which are full of interesting ideas, and also the choruses where he shares the lead with Rubinstein. Also among the best moments are the two-horn choruses where the harmo-nies are clearly worked out as they have to be. (I’m not sure I can accept the claim that Oliver and Armstrong’s were virtually spontaneous, Oliver mouthing to Armstrong what he was going to play just before doing so.) Despite a little raggedness, the thirty-two measures of the two-horns in Lady Love is a delight—they “trade” sixteen bars of fours, then eight of two’s, and finally come together for a duet on the last eight. Another high point is the beauti-ful ascending chromatic runs by the full band on Frogi-more Rag. The tempos (tempi, if you prefer) are all very well chosen with one exception. Speak Softly Love the first time through is almost dirge-like and works well, but thereafter the tempo doubles, and as a quick-time tune it doesn’t do it for me; also the abrupt ritard in the last half chorus is a bit jarring. I believe that maintaining the slow tempo throughout would have been more effective. Finally, although the band plays well and would be good to dance to, I wish there was just a bit more excitement overall, something to really get the corpuscles moving. All in all, however, this is an album worth having, provid-ing over an hour of enjoyable jazz. Ordering information is available at the band’s website <www.sffeetwarmers.com>. Note: the review copy I received came in a slim case and lacked liner notes. I am not sure if all copies will be thus.

CD REVIEW by Bert Thompson

Carol Dutcher Clarinet

Charles Newman Cornet

Rod Roberts Piano

Gerry Turner Tuba

Dave Stare Banjo

Werner Schwan Trombone