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

[James Butler]

Hey guys I am finding all of this Chuck Slate talk rather timely as Leo 
Rayhill who hosts a nightly jazz program on WCNY FM 91.3 (Syracuse,NY) 
has given me well over 40 tapes of Chuck Slate at the Chester Inn that I 
have been transferring to CD
. They all appear to be from the '70's and have a lot of Wild Bill, 
Billy Butterfield,herb Gardner,Vick Dickinson,Ed Polcer etc. on them. 
Some are live at Condon's around 1951 and one or more was done at 
Bubba's Place with the Bubba Kolb trio in Florida. The one that sticks 
out is a Flip Phillips thing with Eddie Hubble. Anyway I was glad that 
Ed Metz put a little history to these tapes I have as I continue the 
transfer.

Jim Butler
Edmetzsr at aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 10/12/2006 10:31:04 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
> marnichols at yahoo.com writes:
> 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
> Mart, perhaps you didn't expect so much info on Chuck Slate and company, but 
> here's a little more.
> I arrived in NJ from Michigan in 1976, about the time the Chester Inn was 
> shutting down its Dixieland format. Sometime that year, Chuck began a long stand 
> at Rod's Ranch House in Convent Station, NJ, near Morristown where I began 
> working with him for several years on Thursday nights. During that period, he had 
> Marv Ross (Rosenthal) on clarinet, a variety of trombone players including 
> Alex Watkins, a variety of trumpet players including Benny Ventura and Randy 
> Reinhart (just before he left NJ for San Antonio to join Jim Cullum).             
> Chuck, Marv and I also played in a trio format for several years at the Ride 
> and Hunt Club in Bernardsville, NJ and the Public House in Chester, NJ. We 
> also played for the first ever Penna. Jazz Society mini festival in 1978 with 
> Chuck, Marv, Marty Bergen, Randy Reinhart and myself. This is where I met Parke 
> Frankenfield, Bobby Levine and Paul Hubbell for the first time. As you may 
> know, that's a relationship that continues on to this day with Paul.
>     Marv and I continued to work in trio and quartet formats after Chuck had 
> to cut back after suffering some wrist problems. My sons Eddie Jr. on drums 
> and Tim on bass joined us frequently, along with guitarist Wayne Wright.
>     Coincidently, Marty Bergen was my college room mate in Philadelphia and 
> one of my closest friends. Many a night we'd lie in our bunks after lights out, 
> and I'd drill him on chords - "G minor"........."G, B - no Bb, D". "Next, F# 
> minor"........."what are you trying to do? Ask me and easy one". This went on 
> for four years while we were members of the City Line Five which also become 
> the St. Joseph's Basketball pep band... originators of "When the Hawks Come 
> Flying In" - still used today, 50 years later.
>     Chuck has bounced around in northern NJ for all of these years, always 
> finding work somewhere, despite his ailing wrists and many bouts with the 
> medical folks. He is truly a jazz legend in that part of the country, and surely 
> would have become known on the festival circuit, had it started a bit sooner. He 
> almost single handedly kept jazz alive in NJ during the doldrums of the 1960s 
> and early 1970s, and was very instrumental in the founding of the NJJS.
>     Regards,  Ed Metz
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