“FRANK CHACE, 1964,” TWICE

Thanks to cornetist Ted Butterman, a long-time Chicagoan, we now have the audio from a 1964 performance featuring the irreplaceable clarinetist Frank Chace, with Mike Walbridge, tuba, leader; Steve Mengler, trombone; Bob Skiver, tenor saxophone; Bob Sundstrom, banjo; Wayne Jones, drums.  The song is BEALE STREET BLUES, and the seven-minute performance is offered twice — which gives a listener more opportunity to hear Chace muttering his way through the ensembles and offering his own sharp-edged variations on the theme in his solo:

Here is another fleeting but memorable glimpse — video as well as audio, thanks to Terry Martin — of the man who continues to be vivid in my thoughts and ears, complete with the photograph of his bus pass, that artifact he sent me when I asked him for a picture.

How could someone so quirkily alive as Frank Chace leave the neighborhood as he did?

May your happiness increase!

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