[Dixielandjazz] bios

[James Kashishian]

Robert S. Ringwald wrote:

>As an alternative, how about some of us post short bios of ourselves so
that
>the newer members find out who we have on our list?

Oh, goodie!  A legit request to talk about myself!!   :>

Jim Kashishian
Trombonist/vocals with the Canal Street Jazz Band in Madrid, Spain
Originally from Long Beach, California, but have lived in Madrid since
1966 working as a studio musician, then jingle writer/producer, then
later into rental & sales of professional audio equipment, which is what
keeps me busy during the day now.

Married to a lovely Irish gal, 5 kids, 4 grandkids, one greatgrand
daughter.  Live in a house in Madrid (NO one lives in a real house in
Madrid, but I do!  Apartments are the thing here!)
Enjoy late dinners that last hours, good Rioja wine and a good Cuban
cigar.  (Sorry, Bob, does that break the no smoker discussion rules.....
:>  ?)  Like fast cars (drive a Honda S2000 roadster), and go away with
the little lady any weekend that the band doesn't play....mainly to the
Rioja area!!

Began playing trombone around 1949 & Dixieland in 1955 with the newly
formed South Frisco Jazz Band (while still in High School in Huntington
Beach).  Early listening was to Teddy Buckner's Band (live in L.A.),
gobs of Dukes, FH5, Turk Murphy, Louis Armstrong, Earl Fatha Hines, some
of the local New Orleans bands, etc., and am probably closer to the
Asunto style now than Turk.

CANAL STREET JAZZ BAND
Formed in 1967.  Basically play in, and around, Madrid.....normally 12
to 15 nites a month, so we must be doing something right!   Style is
more of a swinging Dixie, I suppose.  Now we are 5:  trumpet, trombone
(voice), piano, bass & drums.  All are Spanish, top-notch professional
musicians.  

No aversion to putting on striped vests if the occasion calls for it.  A
spirited, happy band, or at least that's what the press clippings say.
35 years is some kind of a record, I suppose! 
We have one LP (no longer available) & 2 live CD's, with another about
to be released by our record company.   We launch into some "middle
jazz" as it is called here, and will dabble in tunes even up into the
1950's.  Have the great advantage here that there is little
understanding as what a Dixie band should be, so we are not pidgeon
holed by the public, and have a lot of freedom to explore.

We welcome DJML members who are visiting Madrid (let me know by email
you're coming), having entertained quite a few since I joined the list
about 5 yrs ago.  (You WILL find smokers EVERYWHERE in Spain!)  Before
that I had no contact with the world-wide Dixie community.  Since
writing on DJML, I've had the nice experience of being "recognized" at
Andy's in Chicago, by former DJML member Kim Cusack.....had a friend
from Madrid say to someone in goodness knows where in California that he
had a friend that plays Dixieland trombone in Madrid, and the listener
said "you don't mean Jim Kash?"....., had members say I had a place to
stay if I was ever in the neighbourhood, etc.  Sooooo, it's a great
community to belong to.

Jim Kashishian