[Dixielandjazz] Bill Chase - big bands/gigs/Woody Herman/Chase (OT?)

[Robert Pulliam]

>
> In a message dated 9/25/2005 8:36:42 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
> dixielandjazz-request at ml.islandnet.com writes:
>
> 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. >
>
>
> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
> I love Maynard, but one thing he has done over the years that I have never
> understood, is want the trumpet players in his sections to play some of
the
> same  equipment that he does.

In this case, which is taken from an interview with Jerry Tyree, I got the
sense Maynard wouldn't have cared what he was playing if he was cutting the
part but apparently he was heavily depending on Tyree to spot him when he
got tired and Tyree got sick of picking up the slack and complained about it
to Maynard. He put it in more colorful terms but I'm editing for television.


> A funny (not ha-ha, but interesting) thing is that Bill was also fired
from
> Stan Kenton's band, for not buttoning his shirt and having his tie on
> properly.  Seems silly, huh?  Stan was a stickler at times for the  guys
looking
> right.  Bill's neck expanded quite a bit as he played (not as  much as
Dizzy, but
> quite a bit).  It was hard for him to button his shirt  and play at the
same
> time.

I'd have the same problem. I might be able to function if I could get shirts
with way oversized collars but then it's still going to look "loose", I
couldn't possibly play with a dress shirt with a close fitting collar that
was buttoned.

> With all of this, he did find the "right" band, obviously.  His time  with
> Woody Herman produced some of the finest (in my opinion) big band
recordings
> ever, and a large part of that was Bill's lead playing and  writing.

> Great memories.
> Mike Vax

Excellent, interesting stuff.

By the way, the first time I heard of you was on some stage band charts we
had at a Junior College I went to.  I recall the short bio info from the
publisher showed a picture of you with some other guys wearing suits and
shades ala The Blues Brothers, a group called TRPTS. I was 19 or 20 and I
recall that it struck me that "Mike Vax" just *seemed* like a trumpet
player's name.