[Dixielandjazz] Steve Barbone Bio

[Stephen Barbone]

Sixty Nine Years Old. Born in Harlem, NYC.

Mostly self taught clarinetist/sax/flute player. Can barely read music.

First professional gig in 1949. Mentor and neighbor Hank D'Amico,
clarinetist with Mildred Bailey and Red Norvo circa late 1930s. Studio
Muso and free lance jazzer NYC circa 1940-1965. Taken young by cancer.

Gigged from 49 to 63 in NYC area with Southampton Dixie Racing &
Clambake Society Jazz Band. Beale Street Stompers, Barbone Street Jazz
Band and casual freelance gigs. Have played professional gigs with:
Coleman Hawkins, Roy Eldridge, Sidney Bechet, Roswell Rudd, Steve Lacy,
Jack Fine, Johnny Windhurst, Gene Schroeder, Pee Wee Irwin, Walter
Bishop Jr., Lee Gifford, Sal Pace, Andy Russo, Billy Maxted, J.C.
Higginbotham, Charlie Traeger and Vic Dickenson. Have sat in with
Thelonious Monk, Ahmed Abdul Malik and other "modern" jazzers of little
interest to DJMLers.

Got married and quit playing entirely in 1962/3 respectively. Worked a
day gig as Division manager of a large Automotive Parts Manufacturing
Conglomerate. Facing retirement circa 1992, wife suggested I start to
play again. Reformed Barbone Street Jazz Band and used marketing skills
from Day Gig.

Named Jazzer of the Year in 2002 by the Pennsylvania Jazz Society.

Now doing 160 gigs a year, mostly 6 piece "evolutionary dixieland" with
a group of top notch jazz players my age or older who gigged with Lester
Young, Ben Webster, Max Roach, Buddy Rich, Mel Torme, Clifford Brown,
Barrett Deems, Peggy Lee, Louis Prima, Charlie Ventura, Kai Winding,
J.J. Johnson, Billie Holiday, etc., etc. and one reformed classical
trombonist of enormous talent who gigged with Phila Symphony Orch as
principal TB for 28 years after stints with Chicago Sym & N.Orleans Sym.
He gigged with Pavorotti, Yo Yo Ma, Isaac Stern, Vladimir Horowitz,
Artur Rubenstein, Pablo Casals and some other monster classical musos,
as well as with Pete Fountain and Al Hirt.

Also play clarinet in Tex Wyndham's Red Lion Jazz Band which is an
entirely different style and has a book of some 1500 songs written prior
to 1940.

We are primarily all retired. Have lost some skills to age, but swinging
our butts off at local venues such as Clifford Brown Jazz Festival,
Berk's Jazz Festival, Media Blues Festival, West Chester University Jazz
Festival, Rehoboth Jazz Festival, Dover Downs Jazz Festival, Turk's Head
Music Festival and a host of other "non dixieland" oriented venues like
Longwood Gardens and The Kimmel Center. Promote heavily, throw Mardi
Gras Beads, get audience involved and like a territory band of the
1930s, we are well recognized within our local performing area. (80 mile
radius of Philadelphia) No desire to travel except for something like 2
weeks at a club in Moscow, or Buenos Aires or similar where we can
appreciate the females.

We have developed a NEW  audience for the music, have young as well as
old followers and a unique niche, it seems, in the OKOM world. Purists
may not like us (ask Audrey VanDyke) however they are not our audience
target so we don't mind the rejection.

We see the music as very viable with a broad audience and perform live
in front of more than 100,000 people ever year. (last year about
125,000) The untapped audience even broader, like this Sunday we are
playing a Mardi Gras Party for a group of 150 Nuns, who heard about us
from somewhere.  They said (I swear) that they "are bringing their own
beads for us to throw."Suggestions anyone? ;-)

Just released the first CD (studio) in February, and will release 2nd
CD, live at West Chester University in a month or so. Self produced and
already past break even on the first one, with just local sales.

Life is good.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
Barbone Street Jazz Band
http://home.earthlink.net/~barbonestreet/