[Dixielandjazz] Yet another bio

[Rob McCallum]

Hello all,

I was born in 1970 and began playing the trombone in the 4th grade after
seeing the Walter Lantz cartoon Jackson the Sliphorn King of Polaroo.  I
added the upright bass in the 6th grade, however my musical life actually
began in the seventh grade when I met my dearest friend (and outstanding
vocalist and actor Steven Andrews).  At the time I was trying to be really
cool with my sunglasses and boom box blaring the hard rock station.  I
received a flyer from said individual to attend a 16mm screening of Brats at
his newly formed Laurel and Hardy fan club.  I later found out that he was
inspired by the Sons of the Desert, which is an international club devoted
to the comedy team (of which we later became the youngest to join at 14).
Having nothing better to do, I showed up at this meeting and thus began my
interest in early film.  Mr. Andrews at the time also told me how great
Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey were (whom I erroneously referred to as "Tony"
Dorsey, much to his irritation).

Looking back, I may have just been sucked into a somewhat depressed child's
form of rebellion, but it didn't stay that way.  We began renting all sorts
of silent 8mm films from the local library and recording soundtracks onto
cassette tapes to play while the movies were rolling.  We were trying to be
"authentic" so we sifted through his mother's record collection (mostly
Motown!) and unearthed an album called the Swinging Small Bands.  Not only
did this music really fit the antics of people like Buster Keaton, but I
found it fascinating in it's own right.  On this album were Stuff Smith,
John Kirby and Hot Lips Page, to this day three of my all time favorites.
So the big band thing and this other discovered music were beginning to come
together in the same context and I began hunting for big bands of the 1920's
and discovered Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Jesse Stone, the McKinney
Cotton Pickers and Fletcher Henderson.  It was about this time that the
Cotton Club movie came out and I became thoroughly fascinated with Harlem
and the 1920's and 30's, and from reading and exploring, New Orleans and
Chicago as well.  I was spending any money I could get hold of on the $3.99
MCA jazz heritage series L.P.s that were released at that time (all of which
I still have and play).

When I got to high school, I was very fortunate to find myself in one of the
top jazz programs in the state.  I had already been taking lessons with
multi-instrumentalist Ziggy Orstadius (who was a veteran of big bands during
WWII and showed me pictures of his band playing near the Italian front).
The director at the high school was a well known jazz educator named Jack
Pierson who'd played with the Neal Hefti band as well as some people I
hadn't yet heard of like Cannonball Adderley.  Anyway, because of a shortage
of trombone players I was brought into the big band on arrival (auditioned
on the Thad Jones arrangement of All of Me), and began to be intrigued with
the music of people like Thelonious Monk and Bird and Diz and Miles and
'Trane.  The director at the high school had a great respect for early jazz,
but believed that the mission of jazz is continually to explore, even while
acknowledging it's history.  He believed that the 2 most significant jazz
albums of the modern era were Coltrane's Giant Steps and Miles' Miles Smiles
(which to this day I agree with).  He was also the first one to tell me
about people like Lennie Tristano, Lee Konitz, Clifford Brown, Booker Little
and Woody Shaw.  So at first I was torn between the different styles, but
came to see it all as a developing chronology (a small group I had shortly
after high school was even called Continuum and we played songs from all the
eras).  During high school I also improved my bass skills.  I was bassist
for our trio which was voted best high school combo at All State (mostly due
to the skills of our prodigy piano player who eventually rejected jazz as
nothing but ii - V7 patterns and became a doctor at the Mayo Clinic) and I
got the lead trombone spot in the all state big band the following year.

When I graduated I was a bit on the cocky side until I started hanging out
at jam sessions and realized that I hadn't the faintest idea what I was
doing.  I played bass and toured with the college big band, but I really
wanted to be an "important" jazz trombonist, whatever that meant.  Anyway,
one night I was at a popular jam session (with heavy hitters like Pistol
Allen (recently featured on Standing in the Shadows of Motown), Rick
Margitza, Teddy Harris, Jaribu Shahid, and Regina Carter).  I was talking
with James Carter whom I'd met at Blue Lake and who had recently been fired
from Wynton Marsalis's quintet.  I told him that I was going to try to make
it as a jazz player in Detroit.  He smiled and shook his head and told me
"you're not going to do it in Detroit."  Not having the courage to pack up
and move to New York (though it's what I've always wanted to do), I stopped
playing not long after.

Just over three years ago I got a call from a drummer friend of mine from
the high school days who said that our director had retired and was leading
a big band out at Schoolcraft College.  I dusted off my horn and have been
playing ever since.  Encouraged by the successes of listmates like Steve
Barbone and former listmate Tom Wiggins, I've begun pushing to create a
niche for solid and accessible jazz in the Detroit area.  We've created a
jazz society to provide a forum for improvisers and my own group, Solar
Jazz, is starting to come together and get some work.

Some wonderful moments in my musical life include attending a clinic with
the Basie Band in the ballroom at the Hotel Pennsylvania (and meeting people
like Mel Wanzo and Frank Foster) and then opening for them at Carnegie Hall,
hearing Cab Calloway perform St. James Infirmary at the Paradise Theater,
and hearing Dizzy Gillespie play a club date and meeting him afterward.  One
of my goals (besides playing quality jazz), is to play at the Village
Vanguard.

All the best,
Rob McCallum