[Dixielandjazz] Brad Gowens redux

[Don Ingle]

Bill: Re -- Brad Gowans.
> Me mate Ingle MUST have stories.
> Snogpitch asked who was he?
> One on the greatest unsung heroes in the history of jazz, that's all.
> Kind regards,
> Bill.

Well Bill, I do. A sad tale in many ways.
I had been working with Pete Beilmann, fine trombonist, and he called me up
on our day off to inform me that our friend Joe Rushton had been found dead
in his car in Frisco -- heart gave out as it was determined. He had Brad
Gowan's widow's name and address on a card in his wallet -- a local address,
and police asked her if she knew Joe. She told them that he had been there
and left a note while she was out saying he'd be back to see her later.
She called Pete and told him so that he could spread the word in L.A. are,
and so Pete called me, gave me a list of people to contact and we began to
get the word out.
There is more Gowans connection with this. I had been at Joe's the week
before to make some dubs from some air checks he had, and he said that he
would be away to Frisco to see the Condon guys off for a Asian tour, and
that he would stop to see Brad's widow and see if she might be interested in
selling Brad's valve trombone to me. (I was already playing an old relic of
one and he thought I might like Brad unique  valve bone. I would, indeed, if
it would be for sale. Unfortunately, Joe died before he could ask. Frankly,
I would rather have had my old family friend Joe still with us than any horn
on earth
Now, Brad's valve trombone was a special one he had made. It only had four,
not seven, positions. It was not in B flat but in concert C so he could read
sheet music off without having to transpose. The limited slide was released
with a little trigger and used to make glisses and slurs, but the notes were
mainly by fingering the pistons.
I had first met Brad, in the 1940's post war period when he came out to the
coast, through Eddie Miller and Matty Matlock who knew I had many of Brad's
recordings, but had not met him. So when they played a date for a high
school assembly program in Glendale, they invited me to come along, and I
finally met this "mythical beast" I only knew from records.
Over the next few years I saw him a number of times and was simply in awe of
some the ideas that flowed from his horn. He had ideas akin to Bix's if not
in the exact style and sound. Like Hackett, he gave careful attention to
both melody and chord structure in his solos.
It was a sad bit of news to all when Brad died in Vegas. He had been dying
from cancer, but played it tough to the end, and was actually still working
with a band in Vegas when the end came.
While I never consciously attempted to play valve trombone in his style, I
am sure that somewhere in the thought process from skull to fingers to bell,
there is an echo of Brad's influence mingling in. He was a marvelous player,
with free-spirited flow of melodic and harmonic ideas worth a re-listen to
on any recording you have access to.
There, Bill, me Ozian mate, and ye lurkers reading this, is my input on Brad
Gowans, a player worth knowing.
Don Ingle
PS -- In that same era of early Condon/Commodore sessions, there was another
player seldom mentioned but worth doing so, Frank Orchard. Perhaps Warren
Vache, Sr. could fill us in on that player and what every happened to him in
later years. Anyone have more info?
Don