[Dixielandjazz] Re: Bill Chase albums?

[Robert Pulliam]

> With the death of Bill Chase came the death of the group Chase.

There's a memorial video floating around of Chase playing at a little hole
in the wall place called Faces in Virginia a few months before he was
killed. They were promoting Pure Music which had just been pressed and they
played the entire album. They gave out promo copies to everyone in the
audience which were in white covers since the production sleeves hadn't been
printed yet. They were really on that night, absolutely amazing video.

I sincerely doubt there's ever been a stronger lead trumpet than Chase. The
guy was an absolute animal. Besides writing many/most (all?) of the
arrangements, and fronting the band, he was both the primary soloist *and*
primary lead player, and they were playing some tough charts. The guy was at
least as strong or stronger at the end of the night as he was at the
beginning.

In light of this, it was odd that his tenure with Maynard ended with Maynard
firing him because he refused to get an appropriate mouthpiece. The one he
was using was too large and he was having trouble with endurance. In true
stereotypical trumpet player fashion, Chase stubbornly refused to comply
with Maynard's ultimatum to either get a more appropriate mp or hit the
road.

Apparently he got the right mp at some point after that!