[Dixielandjazz] Chuck Slate

[Steve Barbone]

Yes, a GREAT BAND with many people in it over the years. Listmate Rick
Knittel trombone, recorded with Chuck and sidemen including  Bill Barnes
cornet; Jack Fine trumpet; Bill Taggart, Tuba; Larry Weiss trumpet, Bobby
Gordon Clarinet; and Jimmy Andrews piano. Wonderful edition of a typical
Slate band.

I believe I played with him on drums at the Chester Inn about 1962 in a
group that included some other Southampton Dixie, Racing and Clambake
Society Jazz Band sidemen. Did a few gigs there right before I moved to
Sausalito California and put the horn away to raise a family in the style to
which they were accustomed.

Jimmy McPartland once said that Chuck played just like George Wettling.
Chuck would also be heard at the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial stomps back in the
1960s that took place in Northern New Jersey.

Marv Ross (nee Rosenthal) is a fine clarinetist in the Goodman mold. He and
I used to alternate Sundays as clarinetists in Derf Knolde's Keystone Five
for many years in the 1990s. He had a routine on Limehouse Blues that would
just knock everybody's socks off.

When Marv went to Florida several years ago, he formed a Goodman type big
band using the original charts. Best of the bunch IMO. As Rick said, he is
recovering from Cancer and not playing at the moment. Again, IMO, Marv was
among the finest clarinetists in the country until Cancer struck, yet
virtually unknown outside of NYC because he had a day gig.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone