LIKE “JAZZ LIVES” on FACEBOOK
-
RECENT POSTS
- “WITH TWO IN ONE SEAT,” or CHASING GLOOM (1936, 2016, 2021)
- “CHINATOWN”! — JON-ERIK KELLSO, CHRIS FLORY, EVAN ARNTZEN, NEAL MINER (Cafe Bohemia, November 14, 2019)
- THE WEATHERBIRD JAZZ BAND SOARS ALOFT, AND WE ARE GRATEFUL
- ERNIE HACKETT REMEMBERS HIS JAZZ FAMILY: “DAD,” “UNCLE VIC,” “PAPA JO,” “MR. SINATRA,” and MORE (December 2020)
- ELEGANT GREASE AND FUNK: GRAMOPHONIACS: “UNDERGROUND SWINGTAPES”
- SUNDAY NIGHTS AT 326 SPRING STREET (Part Thirty-One) — WE NEED SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO: SESSIONS AT THE EAR INN, featuring THE EarRegulars (2007 – the Future)
- GROOVING, DOWNTOWN: CHRIS FLORY, EVAN ARNTZEN, JON-ERIK KELLSO, NEAL MINER (Cafe Bohemia: November 14, 2019)
- HOW’S YOUR SUPPLY OF CRUMBS?
- HOPEFULLY YOURS: JACOB ZIMMERMAN and STEVE PIKAL (Jazz Bash by the Bay, March 7, 2020)
- GLOWING IN THE DARKNESS (Part One): BARBARA ROSENE, DANNY TOBIAS, CONAL FOWKES (Mezzrow, June 13, 2017)
- BILLY BUTTERFIELD, A FEW MORE CHORUSES
- BILLY BUTTERFIELD, “A VERY LOVING MAN,” RECALLED BY HIS FAMILY
- PAINTED PEACOCK AND PURPLE SUNBIRD: JON-ERIK KELLSO, TOM PLETCHER, BOB HAVENS, DAN BLOCK, BOB REITMEIER, EHUD ASHERIE, VINCE GIORDANO, HOWARD ALDEN, PETE SIERS (Jazz at Chautauqua, September 19, 2009)
- SUNDAY NIGHTS AT 326 SPRING STREET (Part Thirty) — WE NEED SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO: SESSIONS AT THE EAR INN, featuring THE EarRegulars (2007 – the Future)
- SZECHUAN HOT (Part Five): BOB WILBER, JON-ERIK KELLSO, MARTY GROSZ, VINCE GIORDANO (Jazz at Chautauqua, Sept. 21, 2008)
- NANCY HARROW COMES BEARING GIFTS, AGAIN: “PARTNERS II”
- TWO QUARTERS FOR THE METER (Part Four): BOB WILBER, JON-ERIK KELLSO, MARTY GROSZ, VINCE GIORDANO (Jazz at Chautauqua, Sept. 21, 2008)
- “APOSTLE OF SHELLAC”: MATTHEW RIVERA (The Syncopated Times, January 2021)
- SINGULARLY SUSAN (Part Three): BOB WILBER, JON-ERIK KELLSO, MARTY GROSZ, VINCE GIORDANO (Jazz at Chautauqua, Sept. 21, 2008)
- REWARDING PROXIMITY (Part Two): BOB WILBER, JON-ERIK KELLSO, MARTY GROSZ, VINCE GIORDANO (Jazz at Chautauqua, Sept. 21, 2008)
SUBSCRIBE TO “JAZZ LIVES” BY E-MAIL
SUBSCRIBE TO "JAZZ LIVES" BY E-MAIL Subscribe to Jazz Lives by EmailJAZZ LIVES
- Delicious food, delicious food. Nice atmosphere, too. 11 months ago
- jazzlives.wordpress.com/2020/01/23/whe… jazzlives.wordpress.com/2020/01/23/whe… 11 months ago
- Does anyone have personnel listings for this session? Lord does not -- perhaps thinking it not worthy of notice?… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 11 months ago
- jazzlives.wordpress.com/2020/01/21/mus… jazzlives.wordpress.com/2020/01/21/mus… 12 months ago
- jazzlives.wordpress.com/2020/01/20/we-… jazzlives.wordpress.com/2020/01/20/we-… 12 months ago
SUBSCRIBE TO “JAZZ LIVES” BY EMAIL
SUBSCRIBE TO "JAZZ LIVES" BY E-MAIL Subscribe to Jazz Lives by EmailBlogroll
- "MR. TRUMPET": BUNNY BERIGAN
- A Just Recompense
- A Life of We
- A Place For Jazz
- Abe Lincoln, Jazz Trombonist
- Abigail Riccards
- Adam Moezinia
- Aesthetic, not Anesthetic
- Al Cohn Memorial Jazz Collection
- Alex Hoffman
- Alison Kerr's Jazz Blog
- All About Jazz
- ALLAN VACHE'S JAZZ BLOG
- Allen Lowe: Everything Else Is Post Modernism
- Amy King
- Ana Bozicevic
- Anat Cohen
- Andy Farber
- Andy Schumm
- Anecdotal Evidence
- Ann Mony (Feets of Jazz)
- Arbors Records
- ARChive of Contemporary Music Blog
- Archtop (Vintage Jazz Guitars)
- Arthur's Tavern
- Asucena Colon
- Aurelie Tropez
- Baby Soda Jazz Band
- Banu Gibson
- Barbara Lea
- Barbara Rosene
- Bebop Spoken Here
- Becky Kilgore
- Ben Webster Foundation
- Bent Persson
- Beyond Ragtime Productions
- BG 1938 (Benny Goodman's Carnegie Hall Concert)
- Big 10-Inch Record
- Big Mama Sue
- Billie Holiday Discography (and Photo Gallery)
- BIRD AND BECKETT
- BIRKETT and FISK
- Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Society
- Bix Beiderbecke Resources: A Bixography
- Blat Blog (J. Walter Hawkes)
- Blog-o-Jazz
- Blue Rhythm's Blog: Discovering Jazz In India
- Blue Swing Fine Recordings
- Bob Arthurs Music
- Bob Barnard
- Bob Effros, Jazz Trumpeter
- Bob Merrill
- Bob Porter: Jazz Etc.
- Bob Schulz / Frisco Jazz Band
- Bob Sparkman and Jerry Noble
- Bob Willoughby Photographs
- Bohem Ragtime Jazz Band
- Bop and Beyond
- BOSWELL SISTERS
- Bozzies
- Brad Linde
- Brew Lite's Jazz Tales
- Brilliant Corners, a Boston Jazz Blog
- Brock Mumford
- Bryan S. Wright
- Bunk Johnson
- Butch Thompson
- Cadence Jazz Records
- CADENCE Magazine
- Cafe Borrone
- Campus Five / Swing Guitar Blog
- Cangelosi Cards (Down Home Radio Show)
- Caparone Winery
- Carl Sonny Leyland
- Carol Morgan Music
- Carvin' the Vault
- Casey MacGill's Blue 4 Trio
- Cate Cox
- CD Baby
- CHARlIE HALLORAN
- Chez Monik
- Chicago Stompers
- Chloe Feoranzo
- Chris Albertson
- Chris Beers
- Chris Hodgkins
- Chris Kelsey
- Chris Madsen
- Chris Tyle
- City of London Phonograph & Gramophone Society Limited
- Clark Terry's Blog
- Classic Jazz Guitar
- Classic Jazz Productions
- Clint Baker
- CODA Magazine
- Combo De Luxe
- COMMUNITY SWING (David Weiner)
- Complete Billie Holiday Discography by Erik Svindng Olsen
- CONAL FOWKES
- Corin Stiggall Trio
- Craig Ventresco
- Crown Propeller
- CULTURAL REHAB
- Cynthia Sayer
- Dan Block Music
- Dan Levinson
- Dan Zemelman
- Dance To The Music
- Dave Frishberg
- Dave McKenna
- David Ostwald Jazz
- David Sager
- Davide Briliante
- Dawn Lambeth and the Usonia Jazz Band
- Dennis Lichtman
- DevraDoWrite
- Dexter Gordon
- Dick Cary Library
- Digby Fairweather
- Dion Tucker / ODDLOGIK
- Dixieland Monterey
- Dixieswing.com
- Dmitry Baevsky
- Doctor Jazz
- DOCTOR JAZZ
- Dogpossum
- Don Mopsick
- Donald Clarke's Music Box
- Easy Does It
- Echoes of Swing
- Eddie Durham
- Eddie Lang
- Eddy Davis and Conal Fowkes
- EHUD ASHERIE
- Elin's House
- Emil Viklicky
- Emily Asher
- Emma Fisk's Hot Club du Nord
- ENRIC PEIDRO
- ERIN MORRIS AND HER RAGDOLLS
- Ernie Krivda
- Ethan Mann
- Ev Farey's Port City Jazz Band
- Eva Engman
- Eve Polich: Avalon Jazz
- Evening Star Records
- Evergreen Jazz Festival
- Excavated Shellac
- FACE THE MUSIC WCBN (arwulf arwulf)
- Fat Cat NYC
- Felix Lemerle
- FindTheBest Jazz Clubs
- FixYourBrass
- Flatbush Gardener
- Fortnight Journal
- Four On The Floor (Jazz Drumming)
- Freddie Green
- Fumi Tomita
- Gabrielle Stravelli
- Gaucho Gypsy Jazz
- George Foley
- Glacier Jazz Stampede
- Glenn Crytzer and his Syncopators
- Going Thru Vinyl
- Good Life Northwest
- Gordon Au
- Grammar, She Wrote
- GRAND ST. STOMPERS
- Grandpa's iPod
- Greg Ruggiero
- Gypsy Jazz Guitar Online
- Hal Smith Music
- HappyFeetJazz
- Harambee Radio Network
- Healing Cuisine
- Hello There, Universe (Jeff Crompton)
- heyjoenyc
- High Sierra Jazz Band
- Hilary Gardner: Ad Alta Voce
- Hot Club of France
- Hot Club of San Francisco
- Hot Club Pacific
- Hot House
- HOT HOUSE
- HOTJAZZ UK
- HOUSEDEER
- Howard Alden
- Hudson River Photography
- IAJRC (International Association of Jazz Record Collectors)
- Inn Paradiso
- Institute of Jazz Studies
- Inverted Garden
- INVISIBLE SCRIPT: E. Owens
- It Don't Mean A Thing
- Ivana Falconi
- Jack Teagarden by Michael Palmer
- Jake Hanna
- Jake Hanna Blog
- JAMES CHIRILLO
- James R. Goodwin (Jim Goodwin)
- Jane Monheit
- Jason Downes Entertainment
- JAZZ ACCENTS by Michelle Bolden
- Jazz Age 1920s
- Jazz Age Banjo
- Jazz Archeology (Jan Evensmo)
- Jazz at Noon
- Jazz Beyond Jazz
- Jazz Collector
- Jazz Concerts on the Bay of Arcachon (Les echos de Bassin' Jass)
- Jazz Connaisseur Records
- JAZZ HOT CLUB DU BASSIN D’ARCACHON
- Jazz Improv
- Jazz in Kiev
- Jazz in Massachusetts
- JAZZ IN TORONTO: COMING UP STRAIGHT AHEAD
- JAZZ JUNKIES UNITE
- JAZZ LEAD SHEETS
- Jazz Lives
- Jazz Loft Project
- Jazz Nos Fundos
- JAZZ ON FILM (Mark Cantor's Celluloid Improvisations)
- Jazz Online
- Jazz Oracle
- Jazz Performance and Education Centre
- Jazz Portalen (Denmark)
- Jazz Profiles
- Jazz Promo Services (Jim Eigo)
- Jazz Ramble
- JAZZ RHYTHM Radio Series
- JAZZ SCENE USA
- Jazz Society of Pensacola (Florida)
- Jazz Standards
- Jazz Station
- Jazz Vinyl Collector
- Jazz'Edit
- Jazz&Jazz
- Jazz.com
- JazzArtLive
- JazzCorner
- Jazzens Museum / The Jazz Museum
- JazzWax
- Jean-Baptiste Franc
- Jeff Barnhart, Pianist
- Jeff Hamilton Jazz
- Jeremy Liebman
- Jerry Jazz Musician
- Jim Fryer
- Jim Ketch
- Jimmy Spero
- Jinjoo Yoo
- JOANNA STERNBERG
- Joe Alterman
- Joe Bushkin
- Joe Licari
- Joel Press
- Joep Peeters
- John Cocuzzi
- John Lang
- John Rogers
- John Royen
- JOHNNY HODGES
- Jon Burr
- Jon-Erik Kellso
- Jonathan Doyle Music
- JUBILEE BY THE SEA (Pismo Beach, CA)
- JULIE GELLER: Saving the World One Song at a Time
- Justin Time Records
- Karen Sharp
- Katie Cavera
- KCSM: JAZZ 91
- Keep Swinging (Hans Koert)
- Kemmet Media Studios
- Ken Peplowski
- Kevin Dorn
- Kim Cusack
- Kirk Knuffke
- KRIS TOKARSKI
- La Compania de Musicos Viajeros (Cangelosi Cards)
- Lake Records
- Lapis Luna
- Larry Ham, Jazz Pianist
- Laura Dreyer
- Laura Windley
- Lee Morse
- Lee Wiley: MySpace
- Leigh Barker
- Lena Bloch
- LEO MEIERSDORFF
- LESTER LIVES
- Lewis Porter's YOU DON'T KNOW JAZZ
- Liam Byrne
- Lisa Maxwell
- Little Beat Records
- Liz Young Tours
- Lord Buckley
- Lorna Sass At Large
- Lorna Sass: Reflections of A Life Coach
- Louis Armstrong Dead At . . . 69
- Louis Armstrong House Museum
- LOUIS ARMSTRONG HOUSE ONLINE STORE
- LOVE ARTS
- Lubricity
- Lynn Redmile
- Lynn Redmile Photography
- Maggie Black Jazz Presentations
- Margaret Herlehey
- Marguth on Jazz
- Marianne Solivan
- Mark Lopeman
- Marty Grosz (by Thomas Cray)
- Matt Munisteri
- Matteo Raggi
- Matthias Seuffert
- Mattias Nilsson
- Max the Mutt
- Maya Francesca Pic-A-Day
- Melissa Collard
- Melissa Hamilton Sings
- Menno Daams
- Meredith McCarty Healing Cuisine
- Michael Kanan
- MICHAEL McQUAID
- Michael McQuaid’s Red Hot Rhythmakers
- Mike Lipskin, Harlem Stride Pianist
- Miller / Weiner Communications
- Mimi's Words
- Mint Julep Jazz Band
- Mosaic Records
- Mostly Music
- Mule Walk & Jazz Talk
- Music for Drummers
- My Jazz Can Beat Up Your Jazz
- My Thoughts On Music
- NANCY ERICKSON
- Naomi Uyama
- Napa Valley Dixieland Jazz Society
- Nate Chinen's "The Gig"
- Nate Dorward
- National Jazz Museum in Harlem
- Neal Miner
- Ned Boynton
- New England Traditional Jazz Plus
- New England Traditional Jazz Plus
- New Jersey Jazz Society (“Jersey Jazz”)
- New Orleans Jazz Club of Northern California
- New Orleans Notes
- New Orleans Traditional Jazz Camp (for Adults)
- NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD
- New York Sheet Music Society
- NEWS FROM THE JAZZ AGE
- NI KANTU
- Night Lights: WFIU Public Radio
- Nik Payton
- NitrateVille
- Noal Cohen's Jazz History Website
- NOJCNC (New Orleans Jazz Club of Northern California)
- Norman Field
- Old River Jazz Society
- Old Time Radio Catalog
- Olivier Lancelot
- On This Day In Jazz Age Music
- ON TROY STREET
- On Troy Street (Richard Vacca's Boston Jazz Chronicles)
- Oscar Aleman
- Our Man on the Coast
- P.O.R.K. (Phil Oglivie's Rhythm Kings)
- Page Mr. Volstead
- Palm Court Jazz Cafe
- PANIQUE / Vic Wong
- Paolo Alderighi and Stephanie Trick
- Paul Nedzela
- PayPal
- People vs. Dr. Chilledair
- Pete Kelly’s Blog
- Pete Malinverni
- Peter Appleyard
- Peter Bernstein
- Peter Ecklund
- PETRA SINGS: Petra van Nuis
- Phil Ogilvie’s Rhythm Kings
- Phil Pospychala's Bix Festival
- Piedmont Piano Company
- Please Mom Toys
- PleaseMomToys
- PointMaker Communications
- Porto Franco Records (Video Blog)
- Pressure Cooking With Lorna Sass
- Pure Jazz Radio
- Pustoblogsky
- Quiet Bubble
- Radio Mystery Theatre
- Radiola!
- Rae Ann Berry: Hot Jazz in the San Francisco Bay Area
- Rancho Gordo
- Ray Skjelbred
- Red Hot Jazz
- Red skunk Jipzee Swing Band
- Regalame Esta Noche (Free Music Downloads)
- Relative Esoterica
- Retta Christie
- Reynolds Brothers Rhythm Rascals
- Rhythm of the Day
- RICKY MALICHI
- Rifftides
- River Raisin Ragtime Revue
- Riverwalk Jazz
- Roberta PIket
- Rock Source Archive: This Day in Jazz
- Rossano Sportiello
- Ryan Keberle
- Rydskogen Joymakers
- S D Records (Steiner-Davis)
- Sacramento Likes
- Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society (STJS)
- Salt City Five and Six
- San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation
- Sarah Spencer
- Sari Kessler
- Satchmotube
- Scandinavian Rhythm Boys
- Scarecrow Press
- Shannon Barnett
- Shiraz Socialist
- Shorpy: "Always Something Interesting"
- Sidney Bechet Society
- Sinatra Music Society (UK)
- Slim Gaillard
- Slope Music
- Solo Flight: The Charlie Christian Web Site
- Sonoma Valley Jazz Society
- SPACEBOOK
- Spencer's Nighthawks
- Spicy Advice
- Stephane Seva
- Stephanie Trick
- Steve Pistorius
- Still A Brooklyn Kid
- Still The Moment
- Stockholm Stompers
- Sunnyland Jazz Band / Bob Barta
- Susan Fleet
- Susan Manley Lopeman
- Sweet and Hot Music Festival
- SWING & BEYOND
- Swing Fashionista
- SwingStreets
- Swiss Yerba Buena Creole Rice Jazz Band
- Swungover
- Take the "A" Train
- Take Two Records
- Tal Ronen
- Ted Staunton's 78 Record Labels
- Terry Teachout
- Terry Waldo
- Teschology (for Frank Teschemacher)
- THE ART MUSIC LOUNGE
- The Backward Ukulele Player
- The Captive Reader
- The Dexter Gordon Society
- The Eclectic Ear
- The Enchanted Bobbin
- The Fats Waller Site
- The Firehouse Space
- THE FIRST KIND OF MUSIC
- The Girls in the Band
- The Jack Teagarden Museum
- The Jazz Agency (UK)
- The Jazz Corner
- The Jazz Groove
- The Jazzmonger
- THE JAZZSCHOOL (for Music Study and Performance)
- The Kid Ory Archive
- The Legendary Snoozer Quinn
- The Little Fears
- The Lost Church
- The Mercury Press
- The Mississippi Rag
- The New Yorker
- The Official Hank Jones Website
- The Official HUMPHREY LYTTELTON Website
- The Point-n-Shootist
- THE POP OF YESTERCENTURY
- The Record Shows
- The Reynolds Brothers
- The River Plate Jazz Files
- The Royal Garden Trio
- The Swedish Bunk Johnson Society
- The Sweet Lowdowns
- The Unofficial Billie Holiday Website
- The Vintage Bandstand
- The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong
- This Week in Swing NYC
- Thomas Bergeron Music
- Thomas Winteler
- Thorbye Flemming
- Three Perfect Minutes
- Today is the Question: Ted Panken
- Tom Sancton
- Tony Melone Music
- TradJazz Productions
- Tri-State Jazz Society
- Tribute to Bix
- TUESDAYS WITH LORI
- Twenties Jazz
- Union Rhythm Kings
- Victorian Jazz Archive
- Villes Ville
- Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks
- Vintage Jazz Mart (VJM)
- W. Royal Stokes
- Walkers in the City
- Wardell Gray
- Warren Chiasson
- Warren Vache
- WBGO-FM
- WBGO-FM Jazz Blog
- Wednesday Night Hop
- West Texas Jazz Society
- Whitley Bay International Jazz Festival 2009
- Widow's Taste (Art Pepper)
- Will and Peter Anderson
- WKCR-FM
- Worlds Records
- WOW: Women's Older Wisdom
- Yaala Ballin
- Yehoodi.com
- Yoga Ink
- Zebulon Sound and Light
- ZELDA Magazine
ARCHIVES
Tag Archives: Fatty Arbuckle
A FEW NOTES FOR TOMMY THUNEN
At the most recent (November 2013) San Diego Jazz Fest, a friend introduced a smiling woman to me with these words, “Michael, this is Vonne. Her father was Tommy Thunen.” I was very excited, and told Vonne so, for I knew her father’s name for years: as the second or third trumpet player on many Red Nichols recordings. She was happy that I was so excited, and she promised to send more about her father.
The children of jazz heroes — a rare breed — fascinate me. Many of the musicians I admire were childless, or their relations with their children were less than ideal — so my occasional attempts to speak with these survivors have not always been successful. Nephews and nieces, grandchildren and cousins have surfaced but little substantial has come of these brief contacts. (A notable exception has been the interchanges I’ve had, documented in JAZZ LIVES, with the very generous son of Leo McConville, a trumpeter who probably sat alongside Thunen many times in the late Twenties and middle Thirties.)
But Vonne clearly remembers her father with affection:
My dad, Tommy Thunen, played with Red Nichols, Paul Whiteman, and later Russ Morgan. As you probably know, Russ Morgan played at the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley for a number of years. My dad played with Abe Lyman’s Orchestra in the 30’s I believe. He also played on two radio programs in New York. One was called “Waltz Time” on Friday nights and the other was “Manhattan Merry-Go-Round” on Sundays. I believe it was one of the major radio stations in New York.
In later years he was living in San Fernando Valley and played with a band led by Rosy McHargue at a place called The Cobblestone, and he also played with Rosy in Las Vegas. Musicians have told me that he had a “sweet” sound. He also played cornet and alto sax. One of his first “gigs” was at age 13 when he played at an Armistice parade at the end of the first World War.
My own investigation into Tommy’s recorded work as documented in the “jazz” records to be found in Tom Lord’s discography shows him to be a New York regular who traveled in fast company: not only with Nichols, but the Irving Mills recording groups that used men out of the Ben Pollack Orchestra, starting in 1929.
Tommy played alongside Gene Krupa, Jimmy McPartland, Jack Teagarden, Benny Goodman, Jimmy Dorsey, Larry Binyon, Ray Bauduc, Bud Freeman, Joe Sullivan, Eddie Condon, Mannie Klein, Dave Tough, Red McKenzie, Pee Wee Russell, Fud Livingston, Glenn Miller, Irving Brodsky, Joe Tarto, Mickey Bloom, Rube Bloom, Babe Russin, Adrian Rollini, Tommy Dorsey, Tony Parenti, Annette Hanshaw, Eddie Miller, and other New York Reliables — all of this in 1929-30. He surfaces again on some hot recordings by the Abe Lyman band in 1933, and then not again until working with Rosy McHargue in 1957, and — fittingly — he is the sole trumpet, out in the open, on his final recordings with Jack Teagarden in Jack’s Sextet that same year: the soundtrack from a television program, a July appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival, and a promotional record of the Marlboro cigarette jingle in September — alongside Jerry Fuller, Don Ewell, Stan Puls, and Monte Mountjoy.
I can’t offer JAZZ LIVES readers tangible evidence of Tommy’s sweet sound, but here are two records where he is said to be playing. Is that him on the bridge of I’VE GOTTA HAVE YOU? (The pleasure of hearing Red McKenzie — and tenor saxophone soloing by Pee Wee Russell — makes up for all uncertainties.)
Other recordings on YouTube might have Tommy in the personnel: a search will turn up some lovely music from Annette Hanshaw, among others.
But now for the photographs!
Here’s bandleader Abe Lyman, inscribed to Vonne:
“Jean Wakefield and her Mischief Makers”:
All I know about mischievous Jean is she and the Makers are listed in the radio section of the Berkeley, California, Daily Gazette for Saturday, November 7, 1931, broadcasting over KLX at 7 PM. (Airchecks, anyone?) To me, the most important part of that photograph is the inscription on the left.
Here’s a band appearing at a nightspot with its own kind of transient fame, Fatty Arbuckle’s Cobblestone Cafe:
and some needed identification:
I haven’t found any reference to the Cobblestone Cafe, although I don’t have a biography of Arbuckle at hand. He was dead in mid-1933 and this photograph is from some decades later. Aside from Tommy, the most famous musician, pianist Arthur Schutt, who lived until 1965, is hidden from view. Clarinetist Gene Bolen, however, recorded from the late Fifties onwards, so I await informed speculations about a more precise dating.
Rosy McHargue and his Dixieland Band, dated 1953:
I hope we will find out more about the life and music of Tommy Thunen, not only from his daughter.
I think of him as a professional musician who is now characterized, if at all, as a “jazz musician,” then a “studio musician,” perhaps a “Dixieland jazz player.”
But the music we hold dear is not simply a matter of famous soloists and stars, the people about whom biographies are written, but of reliable professionals whose names aren’t famous, indispensable craftspeople nevertheless. These quiet men and women might appear predictably bourgeois, not exciting. But any communal art form — be it jazz, the symphony, or the theatre — needs people one can count on to be on time, well-prepared, clean, sober, expert. After the fact, people tell tales of the brilliant musician who is also unpredictable — but such artists are at best hard on everyone’s nervous system. But we are more intrigued by Jack Purvis or Charlie Parker than Mannie Klein or Hilton Jefferson.
How many beautiful players were there who did their work superbly but never got interviewed, whose names were known only to fellow musicians and discographers . . . who made the whole enterprise of music go on as it did?
I’d like to see books called THE JAZZ PROFESSIONALS — consider among thousands Harold Baker, Buster Bailey, Murray McEachern, Helen Humes and Nick Fatool — people who didn’t lead bands or win Metronome polls, but who were the very foundation of what we take for granted.
And Tommy Thunen, about whom we now know a little more, thanks to his daughter.
May your happiness increase!
Posted in "Thanks A Million", Bliss!, Generosities, It's All True, Jazz Titans, Pay Attention!, Swing You Cats!, That Was Fun!, The Heroes Among Us, The Real Thing, The Things We Love, Wow!
Tagged Abe Lyman, Adrian Rollini, Annette Hanshaw, Arthur Schutt, Babe Russin, Benny Goodman, Bud Freeman, Buster Bailey, Charlie Parker, Dave Tough, Don Ewell, Eddie Condon, Eddie Miller, Fatty Arbuckle, Fud Livingston, Gene Bolen, Gene Krupa, Glenn Miller, Helen Humes, Hilton Jefferson, Irving Brodsky, Jack Purvis, Jack Teagarden, Jazz Lives, Jean Wakefield and her Mischief Makers, Jerry Fuller, Jimmy Dorsey, Jimmy McPartland, Joe Sullivan, Joe Tarto, Larry Binyon, Leo McConville, Mannie Klein, Michael Steinman, Mickey Bloom, Mounte Mountjoy, Murray McEachern, Nick Fatool, Paul Whiteman, Pee Wee Russell, Ray Bauduc, Red McKenzie, Rosy McHargue, Rube Bloom, Russ Morgan, Stan Puls, Tommy Dorsey, Tommy Thunen, Tony Parenti