[Dixielandjazz] CD- Wild Bill "Live At The Chester Inn"

RICK KNITTEL knittelsportland at juno.com
Fri Oct 13 06:19:50 PDT 2006


 
On Thu, 12 Oct 2006 19:27:55 -0700 (PDT) Martin Nichols
<marnichols at yahoo.com> writes:
> I bought this cd not knowing anything about the group Wild Bull was 
> playing with.
>   "Chuck Slate Traditional Jazz Band, Vol. One 1970."
>        
>   If anyone is informed about those guys in Slates group, please 
> inform me. My guess
>   is that all of them had been playing as "subs" or even regulars at 
> Condon's at one time or another. So many instances of doing it just 
> as the Condon gang would have- breaks, riffs,
>   tags, etc.  Personnel:
>   Davison-cornet
>   Chuck Slate -drums
>   Marv Ross-clarinet
>   Marty Bergen-trombone
>   Lou Levi-piano
>   Warren Vache Sr.-bass

Marty;

I played with this band off and on between 1963 and 1976 and did have the
privilege of recording with them in 1968 as well as doing several gigs
with Davison.

With the exception of Davison, none of the other musicians were full time
players. All had families to raise and like myself, could not make ends
meet without a day gig. Slate was a protege' of George Wetling and was
given George's drums by his widow. He was IMHO the most responsible
person for the resurgence of traditional jazz in north central NJ during
the 1960's. He arranged to bring well known names to be featured on his
engagements that included but were not limited to Davison, McGarity,
Teddy Wilson, Pee Wee Irwin, Krupa, Clarence Hutchinrider, Bobby Hackett
and more. Chuck is still gigging in the same area with a trio now which
includes Dave Hanright (cornet and a Davison admirer) and Jimmy Andrews
(the most exciting stride pianist I have ever played in a band with).
Chuck's band made several LP's during the late 60's and early 70's.

Marv Ross is a Goodman devotee and plays marvelous clarinet. He had a day
gig in Manhattan, I think for an ad agency. He presently resides in the
Miami area and is recovering from throat cancer and not yet playing
again. 

Marty Bergen was a parole officer in Trenton NJ and normally gigged in
that area. He passed away in the early 1980's. He reminded me of Brunies
both on and off the horn in that he was always clowning and breaking up
everyone on the stand and in the nearby tables. 

Lou Levi was a professor at one of the universities in Manhattan,
possibly NYU who was influenced a lot by Joe Sullivan. I am not sure of
his present status but we used to call him "Professor of Pot".

Warren Vache' Sr. was of course the father of both Warren Jr. and Allan,
both of whom are well known musicians. He passed away recently at 90. He
also was very instrumental in fostering the resurgence of 1920's, 30's
and 40's jazz in central NJ and between 1975 and 1985, ran a gig which
featured his sons, Kenny Davern, Clarence Hutchenrider, Chris Griffin,
Johnny Blowers, Jane Jarvis and many other well known musicians. Warren
also helped start The New Jersey Jazz Society and edited it's newsletter
for more than 10 years. He wrote several biographies including Irwins and
other I can't remember.   

 
Rick Knittel 



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