SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT: CAFE BORRONE, MENLO PARK: CLINT BAKER, RILEY BAKER, JEFF HAMILTON, BILL REINHART, TOM WILSON, CRYSTAL HOLLOWAY (June 7, 2019)

Cafe Borrone from the outside.

In my brief and sometimes intermittent California sojourn (2011-14) in Marin County, one of my pleasures was in going to Cafe Borrone in Menlo Park to hear and video Clint Baker’s Cafe Borrone All Stars.  It was like a regular transfusion of joy and hope, even though the drive was over two hours from where I was living.  I knew not only that I would hear vital music but that I would meet friends — musicians, fellow listeners and dancers, waitstaff, a combination that means the world to me.  The Cafe was another home.  I was welcome there, and I was able to meet people I admire: Clint Baker, Leon Oakley, Bill Reinhart, Bill Carter, Jim Klippert, Tom Wilson, J Hansen, Robert Young, Jason Vandeford, and some whose names I am forgetting, alas.

Today I present a few videos taken on June 7, 2019, by Rae Ann Berry, not because of nostalgia, but because I am captivated by the band’s easy swing.  Borroneans will note that this is a slightly streamlined band, but that’s fine: what you hear is honest unaffected music, no frills, no gimmicks, no group vocals, no tight-and-bright polo shirts.  The generous-spirited creators are Riley Baker, trombone; his father Clint, trombone, trumpet, vocal; Bill Reinhart, banjo; Jeff Hamilton, piano; Tom Wilson, string bass; Crystal Holloway, washboard.  The whole band is in some mystically satisfying way engaged in heartfelt relaxed conversation, a great thing to behold.  I’ve left several tracks for you to find on Rae Ann’s YouTube channel, the California traditional jazz rabbit-hole to end all such diversions.

About the band here.  Yes, I could quip, “Two Bakers!  No Waiting!” but I need to be more serious than that.  Clint has long been one of my heroes, not only for what he plays, but for his religious devotion to the Music.  He understands its Holiness, as I do, but he can then pick up any of several instruments and make that Holiness manifest for all of us.  He is always striving towards the great goals, with Hot Lips Page as one of our shared patron saints.  I met Riley, his son, at Borrone, when Riley was starting to be the superb musician he is now — first on drums, then tuba.  And Riley has blossomed into a wondrous young man and player: I am especially taken with his nicely greasy trombone playing, which you will hear here.  And the emotional telepathy between father and son is both gratifying on a musical level and touching on a human(e) one.  A third horn in the front line would be an intrusion.  Such lovely on-the-spot counterpoint; such delightful lead-and-second voice playing, which isn’t an easy thing to do.  You might think that a trombone-clarinet front line would be automatically New Orleans old-school, but Clint and Riley understand the sweet play of swinging voices: people whose love comes right out to the back of the room without the need to get louder.

Riley will be playing the role of Edward Ory in Hal Smith’s On the Levee Jazz Band at San Diego this Thanksgiving, and I look forward to that: I’ve already videoed him with Dave Stuckey’s Hot House Gang: check those appearances out for yourself.

Jeff Hamilton is such a joy — not only one of the handful of drummers who lifts any band, but also an enlivening pianist who swings without getting in the way, constructs generous accompaniments and memorable melodies.  He has other musical talents that aren’t on display here, but he never lets me down.  Bill Reinhart knows what he’s doing, and that is no idle phrase.  He understands what a rhythm section should do and, more crucially, what it shouldn’t.  And his solos on banjo or guitar make lovely sense.  Tom Wilson’s rich tone, great choice of notes, and innate swing are always cheering.  And Crystal Holloway (new to me) tames that treacherous laundry implement and adds a great deal of sweet subtle rhythm.  Taking nothing away from Clint and Riley, one could listen to any one of these performances a second or third time exclusively for the four rhythm players and go away happier and edified.

I NEVER KNEW, with nods to Benny Carter and Jimmie Noone:

AS LONG AS I LIVE, not too fast:

BLUES FOR DR. JOHN, who recently moved to another neighborhood.  And — just between us — themeless medium-tempo blues are such a pleasure and so rarely essayed:

I always had trouble with math in school, but FOUR OR FIVE TIMES is just what I like:

TRUE, very wistful and sweet:

THE SWEETHEART OF SIGMA CHI, a song I last heard performed by (no fooling) Ben Webster with strings [a 1961 record called THE WARM MOODS].  Sounded good, too:

Asking the musical question WHAT IS THIS THING CALLED LOVE?

IT HAD TO BE YOU.  Yes, it did:

Bless these folks, this place, and bless Rae Ann for being there with her camera and her friend Roz (glimpsed in little bits to the right).

May your happiness increase!

MUSIC FROM THAT QUAINT OLD SOUTHERN CITY: CLINT BAKER’S NEW ORLEANS JAZZ BAND at the ROSSMOOR JAZZ CLUB (May 28, 2014)

The city of Walnut Creek, California, has a rich history built on Native Americans, Mexican land grants, California walnut trees, cattle ranches, and an officially-classified Mediterranean climate. Today, one finds Charles Schwab and Barnes and Noble where walnut trees (left alone) would grow. I looked for gumbo, Creole ladies with flashing eyes, steamboats, and stopped, exhausted. But jazz — New Orleans and its kin — has a home at the Rossmoor Jazz Club, as you can see and hear here.

On May 28, 2014, Clint Baker brought his New Orleans Jazz Band to that comfortable hall.  They were Clint, trumpet, vocal; Jim Kilppert, trombone, vocal; Bill Carter, clarinet; Robert Young, piano, vocal; Bill Reinhart, banjo; Marty Eggers, string bass; Jeff Hamilton, drums.  Here is the second half of the concert, for your delectation.

TIGER RAG:

THE BUCKET’S GOT A HOLE IN IT:

WHEN MY DREAMBOAT COMES HOME:

THE OLD RUGGED CROSS (featuring Bill Carter):

I WONDER WHERE MY EASY RIDER’S GONE:

BLACK SNAKE BLUES:

OLE MISS:

PANAMA:

I’ll see you at Rossmoor on July 10, 2014, when Ray Skjelbred and his Cubs perform there.

May your happiness increase!

NEW ORLEANS JOYS: CLINT BAKER, BILL CARTER, JIM KLIPPERT, MONTE REYES, BILL REINHART, SAM ROCHA, J HANSEN at CAFE BORRONE (June 6, 2014)

A few nights ago, on Friday, June 6, 2014, Clint Baker and friends turned Cafe Borrone (1010 El Camino Real, Menlo Park, California) into a New Orleans dance hall for two sets from 7:30 to 10 PM. Clint and friends are usually known as Clint Baker and his Cafe Borrone All Stars; for this night, because of so many long-time friends and colleagues gathered together to make music, they were his New Orleans Jazz Band.  Appropriately!

“Hear me talkin’ to you!” Clint, trumpet, vocal; Bill Carter, clarinet, ensemble vocal; Jim Klippert, trombone, ensemble vocal; Monte Reyes, banjo, vocal; Bill Reinhart, guitar; Sam Rocha, string bass, vocal; J Hansen, drums.

PUT ON YOUR OLD GREY BONNET (with ensemble warbling):

CARELESS LOVE:

BUGLE BOY MARCH:

I’M ALONE BECAUSE I LOVE YOU (vocal by Sam):

THE SECOND LINE:

SOME OF THESE DAYS (vocal by Clint):

OLE MISS:

SWEET LOTUS BLOSSOM (vocal by Clint):

ICE CREAM (ensemble chorusing. no artificial ingredients):

“KEEP IT REAL” Bb BLUES:

JUST A LITTLE WHILE TO STAY HERE (that rocking carpe diem):

LADY BE GOOD (with Monte’s justly famous vocal):

A friend gave me a copy of the latest issue of DOWN BEAT — with nice coverage of Eric Alexander, Brian Blade, Sonny Rollins, even a review of a new Bucky Pizzarelli CD.  But no feature on Clint Baker or the wonderful happenings at Cafe Borrone.  Their loss.  What would it take to get DOWN BEAT to come down here? I would buy the reporter a nice plate of polenta, carrots, kale, and cauliflower, or something else from their good kitchen: you have my word.  Until then, if you can get down here, you won’t regret the trip; if it’s too far away, please share this blogpost with people you know who would like it.  Clint and his pals are creating hot, subtle delights regularly — and your attention is perhaps the best tribute.

 May your happiness increase!

HOT MECCA IN MENLO PARK: CLINT BAKER and the CAFE BORRONE ALL STARS (May 2, 2014)

They did it again — that is, Clint Baker and his New Orleans Jazz Band turned a Menlo Park, California restaurant into a New Orleans dance hall with fervent heartfelt jazz. For this occasion (May 2, 2014), the NOJB was Clint, trumpet and vocal; Bill Carter, clarinet; Jim Klippert, trombone, vocal; Riley Baker, drums; Bill Reinhart, banjo; Jason Vandeford, guitar; Tom Wilson, string bass.

I so admire the band’s tempos, their dynamics, their sweet hot energies.  They are, as Clint said, “a delightfully analog experience.”

SOME OF THESE DAYS:

BLACK SNAKE BLUES:

GYPSY LOVE SONG:

TRUE (a/k/a THOUGH YOU DON’T LOVE ME, a/k/a YOU DON’T LOVE ME):

MOBILE STOMP (based on THE WALTZ YOU SAVED FOR ME):

BILL BAILEY:

MUSKRAT RAMBLE:

Bill Carter preaches his own hot sermon on the spiritual WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS:

STREETS OF THE CITY (a/k/a RED RIVER VALLEY):

CARELESS LOVE:

PANAMA:

I’LL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS:

Clint and groups of friends will be at Cafe Borrone (1010 Camino Real, Menlo Park, California) on May 30, June 6, 13, 20 — with more Friday night soirees to come.  They play two hour-long sets, beginning at 7:30 and ending at 10.  The food is very good and the staff is gracious. Call 650.327.0830 for details.  And say hello to me, to Rae Ann, John Plut, Donna Courtenay, Pat Patterson, Roz, Ramona, and some energized dancers when you’re there, too.

Incidentally, I come to this Hot Mecca late (although not too late!) because Clint and friends have been playing at Cafe Borrone for a mere twenty-four years. If you want more, Rae Ann Berry has been video-recording them for a good long time (see her YT collection) and I’ve posted two other evenings at Cafe Borrone on this site . . . but best of all is to see them Hot.

May your happiness increase!

WHEN THE MUSIC REWARDS YOU: CLINT BAKER’S CAFE BORRONE ALL-STARS (Part Two) APRIL 4, 2014

For a New Yorker in California, it’s always seemed like a long trip from Novato, through San Francisco, down to Menlo Park to enjoy the Friday-night jamborees that Clint Baker has put on for many years, with his “Cafe Borrone All-Stars.”

But I’ve had a conversion experience because of the delicious hot music I saw and heard a few nights ago, on April 4, 2014.  And you can share the experience, too. Here is the first part.

Clint played banjo and guitar and sang, leaving the front-line responsibilities to men stout-hearted and true: Jim Klippert, trombone, Bill Carter, clarinet; Robert Young, cornet and vocal.  The rhythm section was completed by Bill Reinhart, string bass, and thirteen=year old Riley Baker, drums, who knows how to roll and  swing and how to stay out of the way for the collective pleasure of the band.

Here are six delights from the second set, a lovely mix of gutty blues, venerable pop tunes, and a folk-spiritual.

MAKE ME A PALLET ON THE FLOOR:

SWEET SUE:

SWEETHEARTS ON PARADE:

SEE SEE RIDER:

WE SHALL WALK THROUGH THE STREETS OF THE CITY (also known as RED RIVER VALLEY):

MY LITTLE GIRL:

Clint will be back at Cafe Borrone in April and May — and he has many other gigs. You can check here for details of his future escapades in the name of swing.

May your happiness increase!

WHEN THE MUSIC REWARDS YOU: CLINT BAKER’S CAFE BORRONE ALL-STARS (Part One) APRIL 4, 2014

For a New Yorker in California, it’s always seemed like a long trip from Novato, through San Francisco, down to Menlo Park to enjoy the Friday-night jamborees that Clint Baker has put on for many years, with his “Cafe Borrone All-Stars.”

But I’ve had a conversion experience because of the delicious hot music I saw and heard a few nights ago, on April 4, 2014.  And you can share the experience, too.

Clint played banjo and guitar and sang, leaving the front-line responsibilities to men stout-hearted and true: Jim Klippert, trombone, Bill Carter, clarinet; Robert Young, cornet and vocal.  The rhythm section was completed by Bill Reinhart, string bass, and thirteen=year old Riley Baker, drums, who knows how to roll and  swing and how to stay out of the way for the collective pleasure of the band.

Here are six delights from the first set.

ALEXANDER’S RAGTIME BAND:

SOMEDAY SWEETHEART:

ORIENTAL MAN:

WHEN ERASTUS PLAYS HIS OLD KAZOO:

PUT ON YOUR OLD GREY BONNET:

IT’S TIGHT LIKE THAT:

Clint will be back at Cafe Borrone in April and May — and he has many other gigs. You can check here for details of his future escapades in the name of swing.

May your happiness increase!

FEELING WEARY? THIS SHOULD HELP.

WEARY BLUES, by Clint Baker’s New Orleans Jazz Band, recorded on Wednesday, April 2, 2014, at the Wednesday Night Hop in Mountain View, California.  Clint, trumpet; Jim Klippert, trombone; Bill Carter, clarinet; J Hansen, drums; Sam Rocha, guitar; Bill Reinhart, banjo; Tom Wilson, string bass:

There!  I feel invigorated already.

May your happiness increase!

THE GREAT SIXTEEN: CLINT BAKER’S NEW ORLEANS JAZZ BAND at the WEDNESDAY NIGHT HOP (Jan. 8, 2014)

The inspiration for my title comes from a brief, warm conversation I had with the wonderful clarinetist (also photographer / writer) Bill Carter after this musical evening had concluded.  He smiled at me and said, “Did you get any ones worth posting?”  I grinned back and said, “Only sixteen,” which was a shared joke because the band had played just that number of songs.

I ordinarily post the results of an evening’s musical merriment in shifts, considering that few people have the time or space to watch more than a few videos at one sitting.  But this band was so fine and the dancers so receptive that — in the name of Muggsy Spanier’s RCA Victor record, THE GREAT SIXTEEN — I offer the entirety of the music played at the Wednesday Night Hop at the Cheryl Burke Dance Studio in Mountain View, California, on January 8, 2014.

The noble participants were Clint Baker, trumpet / vocal; Bill Carter,clarinet; Jim Klippert, trombone / vocal; Jeff Hamilton, keyboard; Sam Rocha, string bass / vocal; Bill Reinhart, banjo; J Hansen, drums; Jessica King, vocal.

Thanks to Audrey Kanemoto for unwavering moral guidance.

WEARY BLUES:

I DON’T WANT TO SET THE WORLD ON FIRE:

BOURBON STREET PARADE:

MAKE ME A PALLET ON THE FLOOR:

WHEN I GROW TOO OLD TO DREAM:

BLACK SNAKE BLUES:

HONEYSUCKLE ROSE:

EVERYBODY LOVES MY BABY:

JOE LOUIS STOMP:

DARKNESS ON THE DELTA, sung prettily by Jessica King:

Ms. King stayed on to woo us with EXACTLY LIKE YOU:

SWEET LOTUS BLOSSOM:

TIGER RAG:

WHEN YOU’RE SMILING, explicated by Rev. Klippert:

THE GIRLS GO CRAZY:

I’LL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS:

A multi-sensory pleasure . . . even better when experienced first-hand. To find out where more fine music is hopping, click here.

May your happiness increase!

ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE

I find myself in polite revolt against all varieties of medical assistance.  On one coast, I am told that certain procedures are necessary; on another, certain substances are to be ingested morning and night. I am very fond of all my healers, Western and Eastern, and have friendly relations with them.

But I’ve cancelled all my appointments except for one with this Doctor.  The office hours are “whenever you feel like it,” (s)he has no office manager, there are no forms to fill out, and (s)he asks for no co-pay.

I feel better already.  Don’t you?

The musicians — who deserve all the credit and  gratitude in the world for making healing come alive — are Clint Baker, cornet / vocal; Bill Carter, clarinet; Jim Klippert, trombone; Jason Vanderford, Bill Reinhart, Sam Rocha, strings; J Hansen, drums.  Recorded in January 2013 at a Wednesday Night Hop.

May your happiness increase!

LOVE SONGS AND SOME RHYTHM: CLINT BAKER’S NEW ORLEANS SWING BAND at the WEDNESDAY NIGHT HOP (August 14, 2013)

This music makes me feel very nostalgic for summer in California with the Beloved and among friends, and happy to know I will be out there again in 2014. One of our staunch musical friends is the eminent Clint Baker.

These performances take me back to an evening in Mountain View, at “the Wednesday Night Hop,” where Clint and his New Orleans Swing Band gave us all, not just the dancers, reason to be very happy.  The NOSB was Clint, of course, trumpet and vocal; Benny Archey, trombone; Bill Carter, clarinet; Jason Vanderford, banjo / guitar; Sam Rocha, string bass; Steve Apple, drums.

I DON’T WANT TO SET THE WORLD ON FIRE:

YEARNING:

JOE LOUIS STOMP:

Trombonist Benny Archey was new to me.  He could be drummer / pianist Jeff Hamilton’s brother, so strong in the resemblance, but Mr. Archey is a retired Wyoming orchid grower, visiting California intermittently, who plays serious trombone.  I was very glad to meet and hear him.  And the rest of the band!  The distinctive voices of the front line players, weaving and bobbing expertly, and that rhythm section!  Dance music of the highest order. Thanks, as always, to these brilliant navigators of melody, and to Audrey Kanemoto and the people who create and sustain the Wednesday Night Hop.

May your happiness increase!

CLINT BAKER’S NEW ORLEANS JAZZ BAND at SAVANNA: THE SECOND SET (July 10, 2013)

The jazz musicians I know get a special pleasure from playing for dancers, watching the moving figures both vibrate to and reflect the music.  Wise swing dancers know there’s a particular delight dancing to a live band instead of an iPod.

Clint Baker and his New Orleans Jazz Band proved this — as they always do — one night about three weeks ago at the Wednesday night swing dance session held at Savanna in San Francisco’s Mission District, known as Cat’s Corner.

Clint, cornet and vocal, was joined by Jim Klippert, trombone and vocal; Bill Carter, clarinet; Jeff Hamilton, piano; Bill Reinhart, banjo; Marty Eggers, string bass; Steve Apple, drums.  Here’s the second set — suitable for at home swing dancing as well — which draw happily on pop tunes of the remembered past.  The first set can be enjoyed here.

IN THE SHADE OF THE OLD APPLE TREE:

SWEET SUE:

THE GIRLS GO CRAZY:

INDIAN LOVE CALL:

CRAZY RHYTHM:

FRANKLIN STREET BLUES:

TIGER RAG:

ST. LOUIS BLUES:

JOE AVERY’S PIECE:

SHAKE THAT THING:

In terms of shaking that thing, everyone, on and off the bandstand, did.  I had to hold on to my tripod to keep it steady.

May your happiness increase!

CLINT BAKER’S NEW ORLEANS JAZZ BAND at SAVANNA: THE FIRST SET (July 10, 2013)

The jazz musicians I know get a special pleasure from playing for dancers — watching the moving figures both reverberate and reflect the music — and wise swing dancers know there’s a particular delight dancing to a live band instead of an iPod . . .

Clint Baker and his New Orleans Jazz Band proved this one night not long ago at the Wednesday night swing dance session held at Savanna in San Francisco’s Mission District –known as Cat’s Corner.

Clint, cornet and vocal, was joined by Jim Klippert, trombone and vocal; Bill Carter, clarinet; Jeff Hamilton, piano; Bill Reinhart, banjo; Marty Eggers, string bass; Steve Apple, drums.  Here’s the first of two sets — suitable for at home swing dancing as well — which draw happily on pop tunes of the remembered past:

DINAH:

ONE HOUR:

THE SECOND LINE:

SISTER KATE:

MY BLUE HEAVEN:

TISHOMINGO BLUES:

WHEN MY DREAMBOAT COMES HOME:

IT’S ONLY A PAPER MOON:

JOE LOUIS STOMP:

May your happiness increase!

APRIL IS THE COOLEST MONTH, or NEW YORK JOYS (2013)

Every time I get ready to declare, “OK, I will spend the rest of my life happily in California,” New York crooks a dainty finger at me and whispers, “Not so fast, fellow.  I have something for you.”

These are some of the musicians I was able to see, hear, and video during April 2013 — an incomplete list, in chronological order:

Svetlana Shmulyian, Tom Dempsey, Rob Garcia, Asako Takasaki, Michael Kanan, Michael Petrosino, Joel Press, Sean Smith, Tardo Hammer, Steve Little, Hilary Gardner, Ehud Asherie, Randy Reinhart, Mark Shane, Kevin Dorn, James Chirillo, Brian Nalepka, Dan Block, Danny Tobias, Matt Munisteri, Neal Miner, Catherine Russell, Jon-Erik Kellso, Lee Hudson, Lena Bloch, Frank Carlberg, Dave Miller, Billy Mintz, Daryl Sherman, Scott Robinson, Harvie S, Jeff Barnhart, Gordon Au, John Gill, Ian Frenkel, Lew Green, Marianne Solivan, Mark McLean, Dennis Lichtman, Tamar Korn, Raphael McGregor, Skip Krevens, Andrew Hall, Rebecca Kilgore, Dan Barrett, Scott Robinson, Pat O’Leary, Andy Brown, Giancarlo Massu, Luciano Troja, Rossano Sportiello, Randy Sandke, Harry Allen, Dennis Mackrel, Joel Forbes.

And I saw them at the Back Room Speakeasy, the Metropolitan Room, Smalls, the Bickford Theatre, the Ear Inn, Symphony Space, the Finaldn Center, Jazz at Kitano, Jeff and Joel’s House Party, Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, Jalopy Theatre, Casa Italiana, and Zankel Recital Hall.

T.S. Eliot had it wrong.  Just another average jazz-month in New York.

P.S.  This isn’t to slight my California heroes, nay nay — among them Marc Caparone, Dawn Lambeth, Carl Sonny Leyland, Clint Baker, Jeff Hamilton, Chris Dawson, Marty Eggers, Katie Cavera, Kally Price, Leon Oakley, Mal Sharpe, Tom Schmidt, John Reynolds, Melissa Collard, Ari Munkres, GAUCHO, PANIQUE, Bill Carter, Jim Klippert, JasonVanderford, Bill Reinhart, Dan Barrett . . . .

May your happiness increase.

“ON WITH THE DANCE” (Part Two): CLINT BAKER’S NEW ORLEANS JAZZ BAND at the WEDNESDAY NIGHT HOP in MOUNTAIN VIEW (Jan. 3, 2013)

Here is the second part of an extraordinary evening — a swing dance with hot music provided by Clint Baker’s New Orleans Jazz Band, with beautiful playing from Clint (trumpet / vocal); Jim Klippert (trombone, vocal); Bill Carter (clarinet); Jason Vanderford (guitar, vocal); Bill Reinhart (banjo), Sam Rocha (string bass), J Hansen (drums).  I had a wonderful time.  Although you can’t see them, the dancers were explosively happy — and I think these video performances will rock and shout their way through the smallest computer monitor, the most tiny speakers.  Or your money back.  The first part of this hot bacchanal can be found here.

Is it too whimsical — in this age of physical aloneness and cyber-community –to suggest that these video performances are a good reason to invite the neighbors over for a party, push the furniture aside, and encourage everyone to dance like mad in the living room?  It’s just a thought.

ROYAL GARDEN BLUES:

OLE MISS:

COQUETTE:

BUGLE BOY MARCH:

ST. LOUIS BLUES:

WHAT IS THIS THING CALLED LOVE?:

JOE LOUIS STOMP:

THE BUCKET’S GOT A HOLE IN IT / JOE AVERY’S PIECE:

Californians are so lucky — not only for grapefruit trees and Meyer lemon trees, delicious local kale, and Amoeba Music — but they can go to a Wednesday Night Hop more often than I can.  I went to one where Clint’s band (with almost the same personnel) rocked the room — in 2012, and it was memorable indeed.  Part One and Part Two.

Here you can find out information about future Wednesday Night Hops.  (Thank you, Audrey Kanemoto!)

This post is dedicated to thoughtful Julius Yang, with thanks.

AND.

The universe doesn’t always have a sense of humor, and our best-laid plans oft gang agley.  But I am delighted to be able to wish Mister C.T. Baker a happy birthday, because this posting will appear on January 27.  He deserves our love and commendation — not just for the Mountain View gig, I assure you.

May your happiness increase.

“ON WITH THE DANCE” (Part One): CLINT BAKER’S NEW ORLEANS JAZZ BAND at the WEDNESDAY NIGHT HOP in MOUNTAIN VIEW (Jan. 3, 2013)

How to start the New Year — any New Year — right!  A swing dance with hot music provided by Clint Baker’s New Orleans Jazz Band, with beautiful playing from Clint (trumpet / vocal); Jim Klippert (trombone, vocal); Bill Carter (clarinet); Jason Vanderford (guitar, vocal); Bill Reinhart (banjo), Sam Rocha (string bass), J Hansen (drums).

I had a wonderful time.  Although you can’t see them, the dancers were explosively happy — and I think these video performances will rock and shout their way through the smallest computer monitor, the most tiny speakers.  Or your money back.

AVALON:

SISTER KATE:

WEDNESDAY NIGHT HOP:

SWEET LOTUS BLOSSOM:

DOCTOR JAZZ:

ALL OF ME:

THE SECOND LINE:

BLACK SNAKE BLUES:

DINAH:

Is there anyone finer?  I thought not.

Californians are so lucky — not only for grapefruit trees and Meyer lemon trees, delicious local kale, and Amoeba Music — but they can go to a Wednesday Night Hop more often than I can.  I went to one where Clint’s band (with almost the same personnel) rocked the room — in 2012, and it was memorable indeed.  Part One and Part Two.

Here you can find out information about future Wednesday Night Hops.  (Thank you, Audrey Kanemoto!)

More to come in the second part, once everyone’s computer has cooled down.

May your happiness increase.

A HOT BAND IS GOOD TO FIND (Part Two): CLINT BAKER’S NEW ORLEANS JAZZ BAND at the WEDNESDAY NIGHT HOP (August 1, 2012)

Jim Klippert said it best.  “I always wanted to play with a band like this.”

On August 1, 2012, Clint Baker’s New Orleans Jazz Band rocked the house — the Cheryl Burke Dance Studio in Mountain View, California — at the “Wednesday Night Hop.”

The participants?  Clint on trumpet and vocal; Jim Klippert, trombone; Bill Carter, clarinet; Jason Vanderford, guitar; Bill Reinhart, banjo; Tom Wilson, string bass; Steve Apple, drums.

Here’s where you can find out about future Wednesday Night Hops.

And here’s the first part of the evening.

Now, to the second.  The constant delights were beautiful ensemble energy and precision, wonderful hot playing — passion, relaxation, and intuition — no matter what the tempo.  More than one person let me know that the first set was so entrancingly distracting that it got them off track at work . . . . I have visions of people at their desks all over the world trying hard to stay focused while Sister Kate does her thing . . . . for Clint and his colleagues create music that is deliciously distracting.  Their music is a sure cure for gloom, tedium, ennui, Victorian swoons, pins-and-needles, existential dread, coffee nerves, the blahs, low blood sugar, high anxiety, and more.

SISTER KATE (or, for the archivists in the room, GET OFF KATIE’S HEAD):

Woe, woe.  It’s CARELESS LOVE.  Be careful, now!

Thanks to Puccini, here’s AVALON, not too fast:

For Bix, for Louis, for Papa Joe — ROYAL GARDEN BLUES:

SOMEDAY SWEETHEART:

KNEE DROPS is an irresistible Louis Armstrong song from the Hot Five sessions. For this post, I tried to find more information on what the dance move would have looked like in 1926 . . .but I am not sure that the “knee drop” as practiced in break-dancing and ballet would have been recognized at the Sunset Cafe or other Chicago nightspots:

When in doubt, SHAKE THAT THING (defined loosely):

May your happiness increase.

A HOT BAND IS GOOD TO FIND (Part One): CLINT BAKER’S NEW ORLEANS JAZZ BAND at the WEDNESDAY NIGHT HOP (August 1, 2012)

What happened in Mountain View, California, on Wednesday, August 1, 2012, might have been noted by global weather scientists as the best kind of seismic alteration.  Clint Baker’s New Orleans Jazz Band played two sets for dancers at the “Wednesday Night Hop” held at the Cheryl Burke Dance Studio and they made the cosmos rock — as far as I and the dancers could tell.

The participants?  Clint on trumpet and vocal; Jim Klippert, trombone; Bill Carter, clarinet; Jason Vanderford, guitar; Bill Reinhart, banjo; Tom Wilson, string bass; Steve Apple, drums.

Here’s where you can find out about future Wednesday Night Hops: the street address, the admission cost, directions.

And here’s the first part of the evening.

But a word before you immerse yourselves in the rocking hot sounds.

Some of my nicest readers gently write in, “Michael, you really should have put your camera here or there,” and I try not to let that SHOULD weigh too heavily on me. The gentle suggesters do not realize that I am at these gigs because the band members are generous kind people who put up with my presence and my camera.  But the world is not my personal video studio and I am trying my best to be unobtrusive — not the jazz world’s Erich von Stroheim.

So at Mountain View I could have set up my camera under a huge whirring electric fan (needed to keep the dancers from heatstroke) or over the drums.  I chose the latter and initially I was anxious.  But necessity is not only an inventive mother — sometimes Miss Necessity is a real pal (think of Joan Blondell in the Thirties movies where she tells the naive heroine what really needs to be said).

Setting up close to Steve Apple was a religious experience, for he played with such quiet strength,  such variety of sound and timbre, such deep swing that my vantage point was a true gift.  You can hear how the horns floated on top of and through this blissful rhythm section . . . . and how they mixed 2012 swing with a beautiful New Orleans splendor!  Clint’s solid lead would have made the masters grin; Bill Carter and Jim Klippert weave curlicues and romp on the harmonies in the best way — and those fellows in the back: Reinhart and Vanderford and Wilson would get my vote for Best String Trio anywhere.  The real thing, alive and well.

Clint called DALLAS BLUES to start, which is the hallmark of a man who loves the music — and he had been playing Luis Russell in the car on the way down to Mountain View, always a good idea:

ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY is a sweet Jabbo Smith tune that’s getting more play these days (Eddie Erickson does it, too!) — romance in swingtime:

WHISPERING shows, once again, how a band sensitive to the dancers can swing anything:

RED SAILS IN THE SUNSET brings back 1935 Louis (this is a Decca band) and the New Orleans tradition of playing pop tunes rather than sticking to a narrow repertoire of  “good old good ones”: I think of Bunk Johnson preferring PISTOL PACKIN’ MAMA and MARIA ELENA on dance gigs:

EVERYBODY LOVES MY BABY, with the verse — and I swung my camera around to catch the expert hopping of Audrey Kanemoto, our heroine, and Manu Smith.  Watching this video, I thought of the Czech writer Josef Skvorecky, who loved jazz and had been an amateur saxophonist in his homeland under a variety of occupations.  In one of his novels, he has a passage describing playing in a band while the current love of his life is doing a beautiful expert vigorous Charleston to the music.  He would have loved to see this band and these dancers:

There was no beer at Mountain View, although there were Fritos in little bags from the vending machine.  Perhaps that’s why THE BUCKET’S GOT A HOLE IN IT came to mind.  Or perhaps it was time for some Lowdown Groove, which I have not found in any vending machine:

WEDNESDAY NIGHT HOP, a fast blues for the Lindy Hoppers:

I love SOLID OLD MAN — a simple line from the session that Rex Stewart, Barney Bigard, and Billy Taylor did with Django in 1939:

KRAZY KAPERS is, as Clint mentions, a line on DIGA DIGA DOO — recorded first by Benny Carter in 1933 with one of our dream bands, featuring Floyd O’Brien, Chu Berry, Sidney Catlett, Teddy Wilson, Max Kaminsky, Lawrence Lucie, and Ernest Hill.  (Thank you, John Hammond!):

My goodness!  What a hot band!  And there’s more to come.

May your happiness increase.

HOP TO IT! (A SWING DANCE PARTY with CLINT BAKER’S NEW ORLEANS JAZZ BAND) August 1, 2012)

I know it’s short notice for anyone who’s not reasonably close to San Francisco . . . but Wednesday night, August 1, 2012, will reverberate with jazz fireworks in Mountain View, California, because Clint Baker’s New Orleans Jazz Band will be playing a swing dance party at the Wednesday Night Hop — from 9:30 to midnight.

The participants?  Clint on trumpet; Jim Klippert, trombone; Bill Carter, clarinet; Jason Vanderford, guitar; Bill Reinhart, banjo; Tom Wilson, string bass; Steve Apple, drums.

Here’s where you can find out all the essentials: the street address, the admission cost, directions . . . but find your dance shoes and your best Lindy Hop getup and get down there!

Why?

Here’s a selection from Clint’s appearance at a Wednesday Night Hop in August 2011.  Different personnel for the most part — but Clint’s bands are seismic phenomena: Clint, Jim Klippert, Jason Vanderford will be returning — the rest of last year’s crew were Robert Banics, clarinet; Jeff Hamilton, piano; Sam Rocha, bass and tuba; J. Hansen, drums.

Come over and say hello at this WNH!

May your happiness increase.

HAVE YOU HEARD?

Upon hearing the news, Chloe Lang (the West Coast JAZZ LIVES mascot) was suddenly wide awake and wanted to know more!

What news?

How about a new CD compilation of live recordings  featuring pianist Ray Skjelbred and hot cornetist Jim Goodwin from Port Costa, CA gigs?  The CD is called — simply — RAY SKJELBRED ABD JIM GOODWIN / RECORDED LIVE IN PORT COSTA, and it’s issued on Ray’s own label, “Orangapoid,” number 104.  All the music was recorded at the Bull Valley Inn.

So far it’s available only at Ray’s gigs — which is a good thing: you get to see him and take this home, too! — but I wonder if he would be willing to sell it to those not likely to get to the West Coast soon.  Postage and packing are a nuisance, but you could ask — sweetly — at http://www.rayskjelbred.com.

Lovely songs: SLEEPY TIME GAL, PLEASE BE KIND, THE DAY YOU CAME ALONG, RUSSIAN LULLABY, THE RIVER’S TAKING CARE OF ME, LAZY BONES, EVERYONE SAYS “I LOVE YOU,” CHARLESTON, TWO SLEEPY PEOPLE, BLACK AND TAN FANTASY, SWEET SUE, MY DADDY ROCKS ME, LIVIN’ IN A GREAT BIG WAY, HOW LONG HAS THIS BEEN GOING ON?

You’ll notice some lovely ballads and rhythm ballads, early Ellingtonia, rocking dance music, nods to the Marx Brothers, Red Allen, Bing Crosby, Fats Waller, the blues, Bill Robinson . . . good bones, as they say!

The players — of course Ray and Jim, but also Mike Duffy, string bass; Tom Keats, rhythm guitar; Brett Runkle, washboard, Lueder Ohlwein, banjo; Dan Barrett, trombone; John “Butch” Smith, soprano sax; Norvin Armstrong, piano.  Ray sings — wonderfully — on EVERYONE and IN A GREAT BIG WAY.

What’s so special about this disc, all sixty-nine minutes of it?

This is the kind of music that great jazz players create for themselves when there is a congenial audience or none at all: relaxed, swinging, small intense masterpieces of hot architecture where the second chorus builds in elegantly rough-hewn ways upon the first.  It’s the kind of music that rarely makes it whole into the recording studio — and since the Bull Valley Inn is no longer anyone’s music mecca (we drove serendipitously through Port Costa in the summer of 2011: it looked like the set for a Western that hadn’t been completed) . . . . and since Jim is dead, this CD is priceless evidence of days gone by.  And the past leaps to life in our speakers!

Even Chloe thought so.

For Goodwin in searing hot form, here’s the Sunset Music Company from 1979 romping through I NEVER KNEW with

The band was led by banjoist Ohlwein, with Goodwin, Barrett, clarinetist Bill Carter (temporarily filling in for John Smith), bassist Mike Fay, drummer Jeff Hamilton: every one of their recordings on Dan’s BLUE SWING FINE RECORDINGS is worth hearing.

And in case you’ve never seen or heard the eloquent Mr. Skjelbred, here’s a sample, TISHOMINGO BLUES, recorded by Rae Ann Berry in 2009:

Imagine them together — musing, cracking private musical jokes, digging deep into the songs they are playing.  Heart-stirring music from the first note to the last.

P.S.  I count myself very lucky: having met and / or heard Barrett, Hamilton, Smith, Fay, Carter. Norvin Armstrong – – – and I’ll get to shake Ray Skjelbred’s hand at the Jazz Bash by the Bay this March 2.  Wow!

“THAT’S GROOVY, MAN!”: EV FAREY and FRIENDS (January 15, 2011)

Thanks to the good offices of Rae Ann Berry and the NOJCNC (New Orleans Jazz Club of Northern California) http://www.nojcnc.org/ the Beloved and I wended our way yesterday afternoon — Sunday, January 15, 2011 — to CHAMPA, a Thai-Vietnamese restaurant in El Sobrante, California, to hear Ev Farey’s and Friends (an extra-special version of Bill Reinhart’s Port City Jazz Band).

The band featured Ev on cornet; Clint Baker on drums and vocals; Robert Young on piano and vocals; Bill Carter on clarinet; Steve Drivon on trombone (the esteemed Jim Klippert sat in on a few numbers, making a trombone section), Stewart Zank on banjo; Bill Reinhart on bass.

It was a good band.  No surprise to me once I saw some of its members.  Farey is a veteran who has a lovely middle-register sound and conception: his phrases build on one another and have surprises concealed in them.  Bill Carter is a heroic voyager: an honor to meet him and Robert Young in person.  And to watch and hear the energetic Mr. Klippert.  The other fellows on the stand created ringing melodies and kept good elastic time.

As for multi-instrumentalist Baker, I don’t think anyone should be allowed to visit the Golden State without hearing Clint play live.  If he’s not here, you just have to wait patiently until he returns.

Here  are two selections — representative and groovy.

An exuberant WHEN MY DREAMBOAT COMES HOME with a vocal by the temporarily invisible Robert Young — my camera angle, not his insubstantiality, is at fault:

And a gutty CARELESS LOVE with a vocal by Clint Baker, who moans about what happened to him:

Learn more about the Port City Jazz Band (they have two CDs) here.  And if you would like to see and hear more videos from that pleasant afternoon, do visit Rae Ann’s YouTube channel (“SFRaeAnn”); she was there with camera and tripod as well.

THREE FOR LOUIS: MARTY EGGERS and FRIENDS at PIER 23 (May 2, 2011)

My West Coast role model Rae Ann Berry was on the move again in the beginning of May 2011 and she captured this hot afternoon session at Pier 23 in San Francisco.

It’s a splendid cross-generational encounter, the kind of music that results when experienced jazz players who know the common language and history get together and have their say, individually and collectively.

The bow-tied gent in front is cornetist Jim Cullum; well behind him in the shades is Leon Oakley, also on cornet; to their left is clarinet hero Bill Carter; Marty Eggers (often on bass) is stompin’ ’em down at the piano, J. Hansen doing the same at his drum kit.  Although my attention is usually focused on the cornetists, Hansen is solid, his sounds colorful; Marty is often thinking about Morton, and Bill Carter sounds exactly like himself — perfectly surprising, heartfelt, witty, brave.

Although Rae Ann recorded fifteen performances, I’ve chosen three I like very much as homages to Louis.

The first comes from the time when Louis was just up from New Orleans, “Little Louis,” although he was hardly slender, playing alongside his musical father, King Joe Oliver, in the Creole Jazz Band: RIVERSIDE BLUES:

And something from the Clarence Williams period (the Red Onion Jazz Babies), a hot CAKEWALKIN’ BABIES FROM HOME where one of the gentlemen of the ensemble, obviously inspired, bursts into song to tell us all about those champions:

Here’s the closing selection of the Louis-evocation, what I think of as the National Anthem of our music, two cornets entwining on WHEN IT’S SLEEPY TIME DOWN SOUTH:

To see the dozen other performances that the diligent Ms. Berry has captured for us and for posterity, visit her YouTube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/SFRaeAnn

It’s moments like these that make a man think of pulling up his New York roots and moving — with the Beloved, CDs, turntable, computers, and tea strainer — to California.  Could one of my readers find me an income that will run for the next ten years so that this might be accomplished?

“WEARY BLUES” (August 2, 2010)

It wouldn’t be the first time that I thought that the title of this song was totally inaccurate.  See if you agree after watching this exuberant performance by the San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation Band (recorded by our own Rae Ann Berry on August 2, 2010 at Nick’s* in Pacifica, California).  The All-Stars (and here the title is accurate) are Bob Schultz and Jim Cullum, cornets; Dan Barrett, trombone; Bill Carter, clarinet; Bill Gould, piano; Scott Anthony, banjo, Bill Reinhart, bass; Hal Smith, drums:

*No, it isn’t 1946, and the proprietor isn’t Nick Rongetti, but the music certainly sounds that way!