“Hey, Mister! Hey, Lady! Eddie Erickson’s sitting in right now!”
I don’t know what made this delightful guest appearance possible, but the surprise addition of Eddie Erickson, that Force of Nature, to the High Sierra Jazz Band at the Sacramento Music Festival for a set was a wonderful event. None of the major news outlets covered it, their loss.
Ordinarily, the band was Pieter Meijers, leader, clarinet, soprano saxophone; Howard Miyata, trombone, vocal; Marc Caparone, cornet; Stan Huddleston, banjo; Earl McKee, sousaphone, vocal; Bruce Huddleston, piano; Charlie Castro, drums. Where Stan had to be, I don’t know, but the result was very sprightly — keep your eyes on Fast Eddie at all times.
TUCK ME TO SLEEP IN MY OLD ‘TUCKY HOME (with nearly averted collisions between the neck of Eddie’s banjo and Earl’s tuba):
Chorus, then verse. In Ab — LOUISIANA, keeping the Southern motif alive:
For and by that noble Dog Eddie, PENNIES FROM HEAVEN:
RUNNIN’ WILD (maybe not now, but after the set):
HIAWATHA is not what you’d think. I assumed that this was a ragtime piece — like RED WING — with Native American associations, but it was actually written while the composer, “Neil Moret,” was travelling to Hiawatha, Kansas in 1901:
CAKE WALKING BABIES FROM HOME:
Like Halley’s Comet, a cosmological event.
May your happiness increase!
JAZZ LIVES 