JAZZ RHYTHM is an exploration of the lore, culture and personalities of early jazz, presenting Jumping Swing, Classic Blues and Hot Jazz: Old and New
On these pages you’ll hear the music and meet the colorful characters who shaped and defined America’s most original art form,1900-1950: • turn-of-the-century New Orleans • Classic Jazz of the Twenties • Thirties Swing • the best of the Big Bands • Traditional and Revival jazz.
You’ll find thousands of unique historic and archival performances, broadcasts, jam sessions, interactive articles and interview clips offered free of charge or advertising.
Below are the newest or most recently updated JAZZ RHYTHM pages for your enjoyment.
A versatile musician and arranger who still active at age 90, Bruce has one of the longest, most diverse music careers I’ve encountered.
* Starting in Vaudeville, by the 1930s he was playing jazz modeled on Stuff Smith.
* In the late 1940s he worked half a dozen years in Western Swing with Leon McAuliffe, Bob Wills, and his brothers.
* During the early 1950s he launched a lengthy and successful studio career in Hollywood playing, composing and arranging for television and film, and still going strong.
Exclusive interview and unique resources.
For nearly a quarter century Bob Mielke and theOakland’s Swingin’ A’s Baseball Band brought vintage jazz to ballpark audiences, casual private parties and Traditional Jazz enthusiasts.
Featured at ballgames they played short sets of tunes “chorus and a half” in length. A solid musical ensemble at jazz festivals and casuals, it showcased notable Bay Area reed players: Bob Helm, Bill Napier and Richard Hadlock.
This new page brings together insights, images and soundscapes vividly portraying of Goudie's central role in Parisian and European jazz.
Frank Goudie was one of the earliest first-rate African American jazz musicians to emigrate to Europe in 1924, among a cadre of a few hundred musicians and entertainers who brought jazz to Paris, Europe and the world.
A recent biography explores his French years in detail documenting more than 60 venues, concerts, tours and special events where he performed. For three decades he worked steadily in France and Europe.
Mounting data places Goudie at the center of European jazz, 1924-39.
Earl Scheelar has been a bandleader, distinctive cornet player and master clarinetist since the 1950s.
At or next to the center of revival jazz in the East Bay over four
decades, Scheelar ran jazz bands that fit no preexisting mold. When
circumstances offered no favorable music venue he launched his own dance
hall and band: Earl’s New Orleans House.
Interactive 20 page article with 40 photos and 90 music tracks.
Monkey Inn was central to the second wave of the great San Francisco jazz revival, c. 1956-66.
Part One: The Gang at Monkey Inn Musicians,
mostly from the East Bay who played at this Berkeley beer and pizza joint
included trombonist Bob Mielke, Dick Oxtot,
multi-instrumentalist Earl Scheelar and singer Barbara Dane.
Part Two: Bill Erickson's virtuoso Combos Featuring clarinists Frank Goudie and Ellis Horne, and probably Jerry Blumberg, trumpet, Erickson's Combos swung a wide range of jazz classics. Vanguard of a second wave of Frisco revival jazz musicians, these musicians built their own independent style during the 1950-60s.
IN MEMORIAM BOB ERDOS (1930-2017)
By Joe Spencer
We are sorry to announce the passing of Bob Erdos, founder and owner of Stomp Off Records, on March 25, 2017.
Bob was a lifelong fan of traditional New Orleans jazz, a love that was cemented when he heard the Humphrey Lyttelton band in London in the early fifties. In 1980 Bob founded Stomp Off Records with the goal of giving voice to those bands in the US and Europe which continued to play in the style of the 1920’s. Bob went on to issue more than 436 albums over the next 36 years.
Photo: Leader/arranger Jean-Pierre Morel (Le Petit jazz Band) with Erdos, right.
Stomp Off was successful from both a business and artistic standpoint. The label allowed jazz fans to experience a broad range of bands playing various traditional styles and, equally important, led to a great expansion of the repertoire played by such bands. (All told, Stomp Off albums presented 3,828 different tunes, indicative of Bob’s insistence that leaders record more than the old warhorses.)
Erdos' label set the standard for presenting top-flight bands, interesting tune selections, top quality sound and production, interesting notes and fine art work. For many bands and musicians, appearing on a Stomp Off issue was the ultimate seal of approval.
Bob was also much more than a record producer. He was an avid tennis player almost to the end. He supported many charitable causes. He was, above all, a wonderful husband and father.
Everyone who dealt with Bob had tremendous respect for him, and those of us who were fortunate to know him as a friend also experienced his generosity, graciousness and decency.
Bob grew up in York, PA and attended the University of Pennsylvania and Yale Law School. He did not pursue a career in law, however; upon release from the Army in 1955 he followed his father into the knitting business, joining the family firm, Danskin, in York.
Over the next 25 years, Bob rose to become a Senior Vice President, also serving as plant manager. In 1978 the company was purchased by Playtex; Bob stayed on for two extra years to ease the transition to new management.
Bob is survived by his wife Erda, his sister Norma, son Michael, daughters Gail and Karen, daughter-in-law Diane Anhalt, and five grandchildren.
Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey Ma Rainey, “Mother of the Blues” and her protégé Bessie Smith, “Empress of the Blues” shaped and introduced the Classic Blues before 1920.
Their powerful voices and forceful personalities set the standard for recorded blues. They captivated a new urban audience with wind-up Victrolas and a hunger for novelty.
Exciting new music and photos of horn playerJim Goodwin, a fine musician, very good cornet player and superb jazz pianist.
Goodwin made a strong impression on San Francisco Bay Area listeners and fellow musicians. New and exclusive tapes from his Bay Area decade (late-1960-70s) are featured. Photos, out-of-print albums, tributes from musicians and unique audio artifacts sketch an appealing profile for a widely loved and singular jazz talent.
New music added December 2016
South Frisco Jazz Band The classic two-cornet, Lu Watters-style South Frisco Jazz Band appeared at festivals and concerts,c. 1979-95.
This new
page presents recordings in cooperation with
former band members, followers and enthusiasts. A growing archive offers exceptional performances selected from concert tapes or
unpublished and out-of-print sources.
New 7.2015
Frank Chace, clarinet (1924-2007)
Frank Chace was admired for his wild, expressive Chicago clarinet
style in a lineage from Pee Wee Russell and Frank Teschemacher, with
secondary influences of Johnny Dodds and Omer Simeon.
Still under construction, this page is a growing Frank Chace audio archive and
photo gallery offering a large number of previously unpublished Chace
performances of exceptional quality.
Includes very rare recordings of guitarist Marty Grosz, pianist Don Ewell and others.
Newly posted: the legendary Ristic LP, and Frank with Jabbo Smith.
Introducing Clarence Williams Clarence Williams was an early Classic Jazz pioneers,a talented and driven bandleader, pianist and accompanist, singer and composer who wrote many jazz and blues classics.
Updated with new music, photos and text.
During the 1920-30s he worked for Okeh Records and others directing production of maybe a thousand jazz and blues records by Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, King Oliver, Fats Waller, and he composed for early black musical theater.
Meet Williams talented wife, singer and show business pioneer, Eva Taylor.
Billie Holiday was a great singer, possibly the greatest jazz singer of all time. She had a pure jazz style and improvised brilliantly with other musicians. A distinctive and lasting voice in popular music her music stands unsurpassed at the apex of jazz singing. Her story is investigated in depth through music, interview quotes and clips, photos and text.
New 6.2016
Pianist Ray Skjelbred was the best Classic Jazz keyboard player to emerge on the West Coast, second only to Burt Bales. His other influences include Earl Hines, Joe Sullivan, Jess Stacy and Art Hodes among others . . . but really all the piano literature of jazz.
Skjelbred was very active in the San Francisco Bay Area from c. 1969 to the early 1990s partnering with the finest local musicians.
His earliest and out-of-print albums, exclusive jam sessions, tributes from fellow musicians and photos are featured.
Fresh audio and visual resources provide an ongoing survey of Bob Mielke's Bearcats. New tapes and photos illuminate the Bearcats' first and best regular gig in Berkeley.
Highlighted in exclusive new photos and recordings, Bob Helm had a long music career as one of the West Coast's most creative jazz artists.
Exclusive photos of Helm with Mielke's Oakland A's Swingers, Earl Scheelar and Dick Oxtot.
The best and rarest of
the archival jazz recordings heard on this site will soon be available
for purchase on CD or via download (Amazon, i-tunes, Pandora, etc).
Odd Brilliance of PT Stanton, Vol 1-3
Frank Goudie, Bob Mielke, Bill Erickson Combo, Vol 1-3
Complete Stone Age Jazz Band, Vol. 1-3
Frank Goudie on the West Coast, Vol. 1-2
Upgraded and updated, Dec. 2015:
Humphrey Lyttelton The trumpet and clarinet player, composer and bandleader, author, illustrator and broadcaster who made New Orleans jazz popular in Great Britain.
Includes consideration his partnerships with Buck Clayton and Wally Fawkes.
A refurbished Buck Clayton page features radio programs about this multi-talented Swing era trumpeter, composer, arranger and jazz cat.
Newly posted archival photographs.
New Photos 3.2016
P.T. Stanton Exciting new audiotapes, stories, recollections and images of this unique and peculiar
jazz horn player continue to emerge. This page is fortified with new photos and an interactive article: The Odd Brilliance of P.T. Stanton.
Now in two parts: P.T. Stanton 1950s-60s: Early years, Lark's Club, Frank Goudie, and recollecitons from Barbara Dane, Bill Bardin, Richard Hadlock and Dave Greer.
P.T. Stanton 1970s: Featuring P.T. Stanton Night, Stone Age Jazz Band and recollections by Bob Mielke, Pete Allen, Barbara Dane, Robin Hodes.
New 6.2015
Newly available photos of Lester Young, NYC, 1950.
Great Pacific Jazz Band was a nine-piece Frisco-style Trad Jazz band with second cornet and
two banjos, modeled on Lu Watters Yerba Buena Jazz band.
Newly available photos and audio celebrate the band's brief existence 1958-61.
Added 12.2015 Phil Howe's Classic Jazz Band This related band was a failed attempt to sustain the Great Pacific Jazz Band.
For several decades Golden Age was Dick Oxtot’s platform for a rotating roster of the Bay Area’s best revival jazz talent and showcase for several female singers of jazz, blues and scat.
Explore this growing archive of exclusive audio and photos drawn from Oxtot’s personal collection.
New 11.2015
Bunky Colman's clarinet style was a personal mix of New Orleans, Swing and Chicago clarinet influences that was variable depending on circumstances.
He's featured in exciting live and rare stereo recordings that highlighting the full range of his remarkable talent.
A new page featuring unissued rarities from the 1950s starting with a restoration of the ill-fated Empirical LP from stunning stereo master tapes.
Meet the star of their early sessions, clarinet player Bunky Colman.
The Ordinary New audio added 2.16!
In the early 1970s, The Ordinary was a rollicking little bar in downtown Oakland where Dick Oxtot hosted an ongoing jam in the early 1970s. His line ups featured the best of the East Bay revival jazz musicians :
"The Ordinary was a happy-go-lucky Oakland club which featured a happy-go-lucky clientele, and served New Orleans food."
Special emphasis on singer, Terry Garthwaite.
The Honeybucket This page features performance tapes from one of the most popular revival jazz venues of mid-Fifties Frisco. Frank Goulette and Original Inferior band made this club a popular venue with Trad jazz and revivalist fans.
In retrospect musicians fondly recalled a place where management
didn’t interfere, the music was loud, and younger musicians could gain
some polish. A wide variety of musicians and ensembles performed there, including the fine bands of Frank Goulette, Earl Scheelar and Dick Oxtot heard here.
New audio, photos and content have recently been posted. Explore the life of North Beach Babylon and meet a true Frisco character: owner-operator former mafioso Millio Militti.
"Hosted by a
shady operator the best of Frisco Jazz was served up with a dubious
cocktail at a crowded little gingham-topped table at the infamous Burp Hollow."
Big Boy: The Life and Music of Frank Goudie By Dan Vernhettes with Christine Goudie and Tony Baldwin 76 pages, 100 photographs, index and discography, 30 euros + postage
At last a fitting and gorgeous biography of Frank “Big Boy” Goudie brings this overlooked, wandering jazz multi-instrumentalist into clear focus. With nearly 100 photos, this handsome full-color, limited edition 76-page volume encompasses the full scope of his monumental life.
Author Dan Vernhettes -- in association with Goudie’s daughter and researcher Tony Baldwin -- fully documents and illustrates one of the most astonishing and colorful lives of jazz.
A remarkable feat of documentary research, the writing flows well, concisely cross-referencing eyewitness accounts, clippings, articles and swaths of previously unpublished photographs. For the first time a comprehensive illustrated discography of Goudie’s music has been compiled, including his many unissued San Francisco performance tapes.
This book solidly establishes Frank Goudie’s bona fides as a jazzman of the first order. It captures the vast sweep of a journey through the heart of jazz second to none in the last century: kudos to the authors.
Also available in French language edition. Jazzedit also offers a landmark book about Tommy Ladnier, and two fascinating volumes exploring Jazz Puzzles of early New Orleans.
Dick Oxtot was at the center of San Francisco Bay Area revival jazz for over a half century, from his junior apprenticeship with Yerba Buena Jazz Band to the Swingin’ A’s baseball band, or leading his Golden Age Jazz Band for three decades.
Thanks to Darylene Oxtot, rare photos, music and clippings from Dick's personal archives offer fresh views of his life in jazz.
New recordings, photos and feature on Oxtot's Country, String Band and Folk music added 9.2015.
New 9.2015
The page of pianistBurt Bales has new audio and exclusive new photos from the collection of Bob Mielke.
New 4.2015
Newly available: "Bay Area Jazz Clubs of the Fifites" Brett Runkle's self-published, typewritten monograph (Berkeley, 1978) is offered for the first time. Only a few photocopies of the hand typed ever existed, including the one on file with the Berkeley City Public Library. Excerpted in updates to: The Bagatelle, Pier 23, The Lark's Club and YBJB (Hambone Kelly's).
Great thanks for Joe Spencer for transcribing this exceptionally rare document.
Ted Butterman More updates to trumpet player Ted Butterman's page feature rare jam session tapes with Frank Chace, Bob Skiver and Wayne Jones from the mid-1960s, and playing some very nice piano.
Newly available recordings of the fine Old McHenry's Novelty Orchestra at Village Tavern in 1980 feature Ted with Miles Zimmerman (clarinet), Harry Graves (trombone), Mike Walbridge (tuba) and Mike Schwimmer (washboard).
The Bagatelle Newly available historic recordings from this San Francisco jazz joint feature Oxtot's hot little bands of 1958-59 with Ted Butterman (cornet), Bunky Coleman and Frank Goudie (clarinets) and Bill Bardin (trombone) among others.
Also featured are the 1958 Clem Raymond sessions recorded in part at The Bagatelle.
News item
I'm honored that my 2013 article profiling Frank Goudie in San
Francisco has been re-published in French by the Bulletin of the Hot Club
of France, 2014.
Founded in 1950 by French jazz critic Hugues Panassie, Bulletin du HCF "La revue du jazz authentic" is one of the longest-lived jazz publications.
Erickson'sOne Man Band recordings are newly posted. Among the more successful of their kind, they're tight and polished with some delightful Bixian trumpet
solos and overdubbed horn-section passages. This is excellent
arranging that is both a tongue-in-cheek
send-up, and affectionate tribute to the popular music of an earlier
generation. Formidable musicianship.
Yerba Buena Jazz Band A reassessment of the West Coast Traditional Jazz rebellion of the Forties is accompanied by fresh transfers of unissued live performance discs.
YBJB - Phil Elwood His legendary broadcasts of 1957/66 celebrating Yerba Buena.
My brother, Dan Radlauer recently authored this warm recollection of my parents, writers Ruth and Ed in Racer X Illustrated.
NEW AND RECENT:
Berkeley Jazz House Music preserved from the legendary parties and jam sessions at several homes in Berkeley from more than a half century ago.
Pier 23 tapes - Exciting new transcription of a live KOFY broadcast from Pier 23 (c. 1959). Featuring Erickson (trumpet), Frank Goudie (clarinet), Bob Mielke (trombone), and vocals by pianist Burt Bales and banjo player, Dick Oxtot. Extremely rare!
Bill Napier One of the best jazz revival clarinet players on the West Coast.
Byron Berry rare tapes and photos; updated Summer 2016.
Monkey Inn tapes Newly available tapes continue to emerge from the personal collection of Bob Mielke.
The Radlauer books (Not Jazz-related: a convenient place for me to offer to enthusiasts of the books about motorsports written by my late parents, Ed and Ruth Radlauer scans of some of their books.)
Bunk Johnson Re-discovery of this early New Orleans trumpet player launched the New Orleans revival.
