[Dixielandjazz] Butch Watanabe

[Bryan Livett]

Listmates:  here is another obit.  Jiro Watanabe.

Butch Watanabe was an accomplished trombonist who worked with Lionel
Hampton, Anne Murray and Oscar Peterson and earned the praise of his peers.

"We used to say when he improvised the blues it was the real melody," said
friend and trumpeter Erich Traugott. "It meant you couldn't pick any better
notes."

Popular vibraphone player Peter Appleyard called him "one of the jazz
legends in Canada."

"He was a great soloist, conscientious and very modest," said Appleyard.

Jiro "Butch" Watanabe died Nov. 5 at age 78. Although he had been diagnosed
with stomach cancer, doctors believe a blood clot may have obstructed his
lungs.

He was the fourth of five children born to a sawmill foreman and his wife in
Fraser Mills, B.C.

The family was split up during World War II after Japan's bombing of Pearl
Harbor in 1941. They were among 22,000 Japanese Canadians classified as
enemy aliens and sent to internment camps.

Mr. Watanabe and his brothers wound up in labour camps in Northern Ontario,
while his sister and parents remained in B.C.

After the war he rejoined his parents in Montreal. He attended high school
with future piano great Oscar Peterson and resumed playing the trombone, an
instrument he had experimented with as a boy.

After studying at the McGill Conservatory of Music, he got a gig at the Café
St. Michel with Louis Metcalf's International Band. That's where he first
encountered trombonist and singer Laurie Bower, with whom he would later
play in the Peter Appleyard Orchestra.

"He styled himself after (celebrated American trombonist) J.J. Johnson, one
of his heroes," said Bower. "In his heyday Butch was one of the really good
bebop trombone players."

After touring Canada with vibraphone virtuoso Lionel Hampton's big band, Mr.
Watanabe moved to Toronto where he taught at the music school Peterson had
opened.

Over the next 30 years he established himself as a musician and vocalist,
playing with bands such as Nimmons N' Nine and the Rob McConnell Boss Brass,
as well as touring with Peterson and Murray.

"He had a great facility on the horn, a great sense of time in playing and
great technique," said clarinet player Phil Nimmons. "He was very good jazz
player and fine musician. He also had a tremendous sense of humour. And he
was consistent, you could depend on him."

Away from music, Mr. Watanabe was an avid fisher and golfer.

"He'd be more excited that he got a good golf shot than if he played (his
instrument) well, because he expected to play well, but he was not as
advanced at golf," said Traugott.

And he was a sharp dresser.

"On the golf course the guys used to check him out and razz him `I bet your
underwear doesn't match,'" said Traugott. "And he'd pull his pants down a
bit to show them and sure enough it would be the same colour as his socks."

While described as fun-loving and easygoing, Mr. Watanabe could also be
circumspect.

"His basic response was yes or no, rarely would he elaborate," said
Traugott.

"Once he started telling me about the time he spent in the (labour) camp,
how he worked in the kitchen and had to butter the bread with a paintbrush,
then he just stopped and said `I want to forget about that.'

Mr. Watanabe was predeceased by his parents and two brothers. He is survived
by his brother Norman and sister Mae.

Bryan