[Dixielandjazz] Mike Silvrman

[jimuhl at earthlink.net]

I have been having e-mail problems. I attempted to put this on the list yes=
terday, but I never saw it there. My apologies if this is a repeat. -- Jim =
Uhl=20
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Jazz trumpeter Mike Silverman died yesterday afternoon (June 6, 2003). He w=
as 59. For two decades he was co-leader of the Hot Frogs Jumping Jazz Band,=
 one of the prime attractions on the Dixieland festival circuit. He was not=
ed for the  clear brass sound of his horn, for his clean easy-to-follow lea=
d in ensembles, and for the inventive logic of his solos.=20

He was backing his car into the covered driveway alongside  his house in Vi=
sta Del Monte Mobile Home Park in Monrovia, California,  after visiting a d=
octor when apparently he collapsed. The car struck a storage shed. His wife=
, Bobbie, found him and called  911, but it was too late. .=20

Mike considered that he was living on borrowed time once he had passed age =
49 at which his father had died. He had the same congenital ailment =E2=80=
=93 arteries too small to carry the load that the heart pumps. Mike also ha=
d a number of other health problems, including diabetes.=20

A form of dyslexia made it very difficult for him to read anything, much le=
ss music, forcing him to rely on his improvisational skills.=20

He frequently played while in pain. Following one of his several bypass ope=
rations, he asked if it would be all right to practice his horn and fulfill=
 an engagement a  few days later. =E2=80=9CWhy not?=E2=80=9D the doctor sai=
d, =E2=80=9CBlowing through a horn is no different from blowing up balloons=
, which is what I=E2=80=99d have you doing to keep your lungs in shape.=E2=
=80=9D=20

Plans are being made for a memorial service on the evening of July 19. The =
location is still to be determined..=20

The Hot Frogs were formed by a group who had played in the 1977 Sacramento =
Jubilee representing the Valley Jazz Club of Los Angeles. They could never =
remember who thought up the name. At first, the band was a cooperative, but=
 in time Mike and clarinetist Joe Ashworth inherited  the leadership as per=
sonnel changed. Over the years, some 30 or more top players passed through =
the Hot Frogs ranks.  Mike used to boast that they were the training ground=
 for the best festival bands.=20

The Frogs were playing in banjoist Art Leon=E2=80=99s Tourist Trap on Holly=
wood Boulevard when comedy writer Sheldon Keller wandered in. He was holdin=
g jam sessions at his house in Beverly Hills with, among others, actor/banj=
oist George Segal and actor/trombonist Conrad Janis. He invited Mike and Jo=
e to join what was later to evolve into the Beverly Hills Unlisted Jazz Ban=
d.=20

Sheldon got the Frogs a weekly job with a TV show, Hizzonor, starring David=
 Huddleston,  on NBC. It lasted all of six weeks.=20
Mike played frequently with Beverly Hills Unlisted over the years. He is on=
 four of its recordings. The Hot Frogs issued 11 albums.=20

Mike was known for the stomping West Coast style of the bands with which  h=
e played .But  on his own album, =E2=80=9CSweet and Soaring,=E2=80=9D with =
the Mike Silverman Quartet, he showed off his command of Swing-era ballads.=
 They are what he liked to play most of all, he said. =20

After the breakup of the Hot Frogs, he put together a similar band that he =
called the =E2=80=9CSilver Frogs,=E2=80=9D but he had a hard time finding g=
igs for it.=20

In the last few months, Mike had developed a hobby of using his home comput=
er to update and reissue Hot Frogs  recordings as CDs.  The day before he d=
ied, he completed a two-CD set that surveys the history of the Hot Frogs wi=
th tunes selected from each album plus three that were never issued. Bobbie=
 intends to follow through on Mike=E2=80=99s intention of putting this on s=
ale.=20

One reason for the Frog=E2=80=99s popularity was their reputation for humor=
, especially Mike=E2=80=99s slow sardonic delivery, what might be called th=
e Jack Benny style.=20

=E2=80=9CIt=E2=80=99s a very driving band,=E2=80=9D Mike said of the Frogs.=
 =E2=80=9CWe need  =E2=80=93 I need =E2=80=93 time to recover between numbe=
rs. I=E2=80=99m a natural-born ham. I began throwing in some funny stuff. I=
=E2=80=99ve done it all my life.=E2=80=9D=20

Mike was born in Hollywood but grew up farther east near Griffith Park  on =
the border with Glendale. Piano lessons, beginning at age 6, bored him.=20

=E2=80=9CMy introduction to Dixieland came when I was 10,=E2=80=9D he told =
a reporter 10 years ago. I went to a Cub Scout Jamboree at the Shrine Audit=
orium. The entertainment was the Firehouse Five Plus Two. I thought they we=
re the most incredible thing I had ever heard.=E2=80=9D

=E2=80=9CIn the Scouts, I earned a merit badge by teaching myself to play b=
ugle. When I was in junior high (Washington Irving), I decided I wanted to =
play like the Fire House Five. So my parents rented a cornet and hired a te=
acher. I opted for cornet because I was intrigued by the wah-wah sound and =
I thought my arms weren=E2=80=99t long enough to hold a mute to the bell of=
 a trumpet.=E2=80=9D

His progress was typical =E2=80=93 No. 1 horn in school orchestras and marc=
hing bands, playing Dixieland and dance music for school affairs in junior =
and senior high school, spots in a variety of groups while in Los Angeles C=
ity College and the University of California.

One stint he was particularly proud of. He had developed a hernia and had t=
o lay off trumpet. Ex-Ellington cornetist Rex Stewart hired him to play gui=
tar for several  months in a quartet. Mike=E2=80=99s father played ukulele =
and had taught Mike the first four strings on the guitar, which are the sam=
e as on a baritone uke. .

=E2=80=9CI figured out the two bass strings for myself,=E2=80=9D Mike said.=
=20
Among other of his fond memories: jamming with Isaac Perlman while touring =
in Israel; making it onto the screen in a Jackie Gleason movie; being pictu=
red alongside President Clinton; being featured in a Bil Keane Family Circu=
s cartoon;,  playing =E2=80=9Cstump the trumpet=E2=80=9D in the final sessi=
ons of famed reedman Rosy McHargue, who had a phenomenal memory for obscure=
 songs.=20

Despite his reading problems, Mike got a degree in math and went to work as=
 a computer programmer, turning down a six-nights-a-week trumpet job.=20

=E2=80=9CI was married and wanted security,=E2=80=9DMike said somewhat regr=
etfully. =E2=80=9CMy whole upbringing told me that music was a great hobby,=
 but you have to get an education and earn a living.=E2=80=9D

He did just that until health forced him to retire on disability. =20