[Dixielandjazz] St. Thomas

[Stephen Barbone]

Bill Horton and Charlie Hooks wrote about the song "St. Thomas" in an
OKOM setting..

Yes, a great tune. I learned it years ago from watching Sonny Rollins do
it live, (The composer) just before I quit playing in the 60s, Never
played it with a Dixieland Band until about 8 years ago. Was a sideman
in "The Keystone Jazz Group", at a small jazz fest in Philadelphia, and
we followed a performance by a famous NYC Afrocuban percussionist whose
name I can't bring up at the moment. He loved the group, asked to sit in
and requested St. Thomas. We played it with our Chicago style
instrumentation. Piano, upright bass, drums, bongos, clarinet (did not
have the flute with me) cornet and trombone. Was a great crowd pleaser
and we all had a ball with it.

The interplay between the Keystone drummer on the gig, Tony DeNicola,
and the bongos by the sit in was thrilling.

Cheers,
Steve