[Dixielandjazz] Biog - Bill Gunter

[Bill Gunter]

Bill Gunter - Drums, washboard, piano, banjo, guitar & vocals

Bill was born at a very early age and shortly thereafter was abandoned in 
the forest where he grew up as a feral child tended by a band of beavers.

His earliest memories are of the rhythmic sounds produced when the beavers 
would slap their large flat tails on the surface of the water and it was 
this early percussion experience that destined him to become a washboard 
player.

A wandering environmentalist rescued Bill and returned him to civilization 
although for many years his new neighbours were at a loss to explain the 
teeth marks on their flagpoles and shrubbery.

Also, the local swimming pool had to post a permanent security guard to 
prevent the regular damming of their water slides...

His attempts to emulate the beavers by thumping his nether regions on the 
surface of the nearest stretch of water (the City Square fountain became a 
real tourist attraction!) forced his adoptive parents to 'buy him a drum to 
keep him quiet'.

This was a turning point, and his rhythmic beating sounds attracted a band 
of itinerant dixieland gypsies who kidnapped the hapless Bill and forced him 
to play washboard in the Quintet of the Hot Club of San Jose and also do the 
band uniforms (light starch in the collars).

Upon reaching puberty Bill gained phenomenal strength, which enabled him to 
beat their arm wrestling champion in a sudden death face off. She, impressed 
by his prowess, demanded his immediate release and return to outer suburbia.

Here, the proceeds from the sale of Bill's golden nose ring were sufficient 
to put him through college and he became an avid folk song collector, also 
learning to play guitar.

After graduating he started his life long career as an English teacher and 
in off duty hours he entertained in local clubs with his guitar and vocals.

He later moved into the pizza parlors and entertained as a member of a 
quartet playing all those old great sing-along songs that made pizza pubs 
such great fun back in the sixties.

Around this time Bill took up the washboard seriously, playing with such 
diverse groups as The Boondockers (a pizza parlor novelty jazz band), Black 
Diamond Jazz Band, San Francisco Starlight Orchestra and the Joyful Noise 
Jazz Band in addition to Cell Block 7.

Bill is also a member of the Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society (STJS) and 
has served as president of that organization. The STJS also presents the 
Sacramento Jazz Jubilee over the Memorial Day weekend each year and Bill is 
very active in helping organize and produce this annual affair.

Though retired from teaching now, Bill continues his enthusiasm for jazz. He 
and his wife, Beverly, love to travel and visit with friends they have met 
in jazz all around the world.

The ingredients above have produced the suave, debonaire and strikingly 
handsome man who regularly mounts the stage with washboard in hand, asking 
the eternal question, 'How do you tune this damn thing!?'

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