[Dixielandjazz] JAZZ ME NEW FOR NOVEMBER 2002

[Don Mopsick]

JAZZ ME NEWS FOR NOVEMBER 2002

NEWSLETTER FOR THE JIM CULLUM JAZZ BAND AND "RIVERWALK, LIVE FROM THE LANDING"
PUBLIC RADIO SERIES

http://www.landing.com
http://www.riverwalk.org

For information on how to hear Riverwalk over the web through your computer's
speakers, go to

http://www.riverwalk.org/audionet.htm

To see this newsletter as a web page, go to

http://www.riverwalk.org/new.htm

2002 HOLIDAY RIVER PARADE AND LIGHTING CEREMONY

San Antonio's signature event, The Holiday River Parade and Lighting Ceremony, will
take place Friday, November 29, 2002. The Annual Holiday River Parade and Lighting
Ceremony will begin at 7:02 PM with the ceremonial "Pulling of the Switch" by Mayor
Ed Garza which illuminates over 122,000 twinkling lights, suspended in the trees
along world famous San Antonio River Walk.

Immediately following the lighting ceremony, spectators will witness the
spectacular one-hour parade along San Antonio's River Walk featuring decorated and
illuminated floats with celebrities, bands and lavishly-costumed participants. Over
150,000 people are expected to watch the event along the parade route.

For this event, we invite you to join us on the Landing patio which offers an ideal
viewing spot for the parade. In addition, we are offering a delicious barbecue
dinner with all the fixings for the low per person price of: $34.00 (adults),
$24.00 (children under 12).

For more information and reservations, please call our manager Susie Martin at
210-602-0967.

The Landing will be open as usual after the parade, featuring the Jim Cullum Jazz
Band on stage inside and a jazz duo on the patio.

HOT RHYTHM ON THE RIVER: A LOOK BACK AT 40 YEARS WITH THE JIM CULLUM JAZZ BAND

Forty years ago, when most young people in America were fascinated with rock and
roll, a young college student in San Antonio launched a professional jazz band in a
classic style. The week of November 14 on Riverwalk, Live From The Landing on
Public Radio,  friends and fans across the country honor Jim Cullum and the Jazz
Band he founded with his father in 1962. We'll dip into the archives of our radio
show for favorite live performances, and salute the fine musicians who've performed
in the band through the years.

We collected messages of congratulation from many of our friends and colleagues for
this show, including:  actor/singer Vernel Bagneris, singer Rebecca Kilgore, and
pianist Dick Hyman, actor Brendan Fraser, and jazz historians John Edward Hasse and
Dan Morgenstern.

Actor Brendan Fraser starred in the independent film, Still Breathing. The film was
shot mainly in San Antonio in 1996 and featured an on-camera and soundtrack
appearance by the Jim Cullum Jazz Band. Currently, the film is playing on the
Independent Film Channel on cable and satellite TV.

More on Still Breathing here: http://www.stillbreathing.com/contents.shtml

SNAPSHOTS OF THE EARLY YEARS

by Jim Cullum, Jr.

THE HAPPY JAZZ BAND

The photo at

http://www.riverwalk.org/images/happyjb.jpg

 is of the original Happy Jazz Band that started at the Landing in 1963. None are
among the living except for me, I was much younger than the other guys. This band
was together more or less for about ten years, up until the time of my father's
death in 1973. The style of the band was very much the same as the style is now,
except for the tuba which made it more of a two-beat feel. But the approach,
philosophy, and overall style and type of material is the same as the present-day
band.

The band worked on Friday and Saturday nights at the Landing and played for other
functions around town on the average of about one night a week. This picture was
taken  in the fall of 1963, right after we had just made our first record, The
Happy Jazz Band. We were standing in front of Sile's Music Company, a record store
in San Antonio. The record came out between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and we sold
slightly under 2,000 units, a truly amazing accomplishment!

GOOSE PIMPLES

Photo at http://www.riverwalk.org/images/goosepimples_web.jpg

>From the start, the Happy Jazz Band began to make at least one recording a year.
Several years later, Dad and I acquired Audiophile Records, and records of the Band
and other jazz groups came rolling out.

One of the best was a 1967 LP called Goose Pimples, made with the great cornetist
Bobby Hackett. Hackett, a jazz legend, worked with Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller,
and for a while he was a staff musician at NBC.

We recorded the album on the stage of the auditorium at Alamo Heights High School
in San Antonio, which had the best acoustics in town. After that session Hackett
continued to visit the Landing and became friends with us.

WORLD SERIES OF JAZZ

Photo at http://www.riverwalk.org/images/matteson_jmn.jpg

My father's association with Yank Lawson went back to the 1930s during Yank's days
with the Crosby Band. He befriended Mom and Dad, who would burn up a lot of
telephone time with him conversing and playing records over the phone. After the
war, Yank was willing to set Dad up in the music business by providing valuable
contacts, but Dad took a job in Venezuela working for Nelson Rockefeller instead.

I met Yank when I first went to New York. Yank took me with him to his gig on the
Tonight Show, where I also got to meet Doc Severinsen, Sarah Vaughn, and Clark
Terry. On another trip to New York (about '64 or so), Yank took me to a Jean
Goldkette re-creation recording session he was on. Dad and I also visited Yank at
his home in Massapequa, NY, where I met Bud Freeman who was staying with him at the
time.

Yank's first appearance at the Landing was in 1968 in conjunction with the first
World Series of Jazz concert put on by Dad and me in San Antonio at the Theater for
the Performing Arts (now the Lilla Cockrell Theater). This concert was conceived as
a Battle of the Bands between the World's Greatest Jazz Band (we wanted to keep
them honest) and our band. The World's Greatest was Yank, Billy Butterfield, Bob
Haggart, Bob Wilber, Bud Freeman, Lou McGarrity, Carl Fontana, Ralph Sutton, and Gu
s Johnson. Our band had Ernie Caceres and Rich Matteson as "secret weapons."

This concert, and the huge pre-concert jam sessions at the Landing, proved to be so
successful (it sold out) that we decided to do it again in 1971. We used the same
lineup except instead of Ernie and Rich, we had Emilio Caceres, Haggart, Bobby
Hackett, and Butterfield and they had Eddie Hubbell and Vic Dickenson on trombones.


UNITED WE STAND

For November 2002, Jim Cullum's Landing in San Antonio offers FREE ADMISSION if you
are currently employed as:

*Active-duty US Armed Forces
*Firefighter
*Law-enforcement
*EMS

Please show your ID to your server. There is a limit of 4 free admissions per
party.

Jim Cullum says: "In this small way we wish to show our love for the country, and
our support of our military and our President."

For reservations, email us at christocullen@hotmail.com, or please call The Landing
during normal business hours, Central Time, Monday through Friday, at 210-223-7266
or 210-602-0967. Reservations are suggested only on weekend nights or for large
parties.

LISTENER FEEDBACK

Fan mail is music to our ears. We love hearing from you. If you have any comments
about our radio program or a live performance by the Jim Cullum Jazz Band, email
them to the webmaster at mophandl@landing.com, and please let us know where you are
located and on which radio station you heard the show.

FOR TEXAS RESIDENTS:

We are currently compiling a special email list of Texas residents for the purpose
of getting the word out about free promotions for Jim Cullum's Landing in San
Antonio. If you are within reasonable driving distance of San Antonio and would
like to be included on this new list, send a blank email to
jazzmenews@landing.com?subject=Texas .

UPCOMING TRAVELS: The Jim Cullum Jazz Band appears Monday through Saturday nights
beginning at 8:30 PM at the Landing in San Antonio except for highlighted dates
below.

November Events

15 JCJB Concert: 8:00 PM Freedom Hall, Village of Park Forest, IL
708-747-0580 or order on the web at http://www.freedomhall.org/

16 JCJB Concert: Battle of the Bands with Banu Gibson and her Hot Jazz Krannert
Center, Urbana IL 800-527-2849 or Kran-tix@uiuc.edu

29 Annual River Lighting Parade, The Landing Patio, San Antonio. See article above.
Call 210-602-0967 for more information.

December Events

9 The JCJB is off tonight.

24 Christmas Eve: the JCJB is off tonight.

31 New Year's Eve at the Landing! Email Chris at christocullen@hotmail.com for
reservations, or call 210-602-0967 for more information.

UPCOMING ON RIVERWALK, LIVE FROM THE LANDING

45 11/7 Swinging on a Riff: The Legacy of the Benny Goodman Sextet
The Jim Cullum Jazz Band salutes the Benny Goodman Sextet with featured
performances by Ron Hockett and guests Allan Vaché and Harry Allen.

46 11/14 Hot Rhythm on the River: A Look Back at 40 Years with The Jim Cullum Jazz
Band
 Celebrate 40 years of jazz from San Antonio's Landing Jazz Club. Included are
interviews and stellar performances by The Jim Cullum Jazz Band and their musical
guests Bobby Hackett, Benny Carter, and Dick Hyman.

47 11/21 Amazing Grace: Spirituals and Hymns
The Jim Cullum Jazz Band performs "inspirational jazz" with special guests Dick
Hyman and the First United Methodist Church choir of Houston.

48 11/28 I Wish I Were Twins: The Fats Waller Bluebird Sessions
 Pianist Dick Hyman and vocalist Rebecca Kilgore join The Jim Cullum Jazz Band for
a festive celebration of Fats Waller's famous "Bluebird" recording sessions in the
1930s.

Browse the Jazz Me News archive here:

http://www.riverwalk.org/JMN/jmn_index.htm


See you next month!

--Don Mopsick, Bassist and Web Guy