[Dixielandjazz] The Brooklyn Dodger Symphony

[Steve Barbone]

Certainly they were MKOM back then, when I lived in Queens County NYC, even
though I was a NY Giant fan. Perhaps not OKOM for many, but a neat story
never the less. The Sym-Phony was part of the zany history of the Brooklyn
Dodgers before they moved to the land of milk and honey.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone


Sour Notes Are Sweet for Sym-Phony of Brooklyn

NY TIMES - By VINCENT M. MALLOZZI - August 14, 2007

³I remember him,² said Mrs. Robinson, pointing to Danny Wilson, whose
85-year-old eyes were peeking over a bouncing trumpet at KeySpan Park in
Brooklyn minutes before the hometown Cyclones took the field.

Mr. Wilson is the longest-tenured active member of the Dodgers Sym-Phony ‹
as in phony symphony ‹ which has played on, and on, and on since first
arriving at Ebbets Field in 1939 to lead a famously off-key chorus of cheers
for its beloved Brooklyn Dodgers, who left New York for Los Angeles after
the 1957 baseball season.

Mrs. Robinson, the 85-year-old widow of Jackie Robinson, the Brooklyn Dodger
great, smiled as she watched Mr. Wilson play ³Take Me Out to the Ball Game²
with a bunch of old friends: Arnie Mig, 85, on cymbals; Lou Mento, 82, on
bass drum; Rex Sita, 77, on saxophone; and Nick Fiore, 77, on trombone. Mr.
Wilson drove the band to Sunday¹s gig in his own van.

³That first year, Dodgers management did not want us at the ballpark,² Mr.
Wilson recalled. ³They felt we were a nuisance, but the players and the fans
loved us, so we had to sneak into the ballpark. One guy paid the admission
fee and lowered a rope over the side of the stadium, and we tied our
instruments to the rope and had them hoisted up. Then we ran into the stands
and started playing.²

Mr. Wilson, who now lives in Lynbrook, N.Y. ‹ ³that¹s Brooklyn backwards,²
he noted ‹ is one of two living links to the original Sym-Phony. He was
recruited as a 17-year-old fill-in by the band in 1939, serenading umpires
with tunes like ³Three Blind Mice² alongside original band members ‹ all
dead except for JoJo Delio, 87, who lives in a nursing home in Massapequa,
N.Y. 

³Over the years, as the original guys disappeared, we took their places,²
said Mr. Fiore, who joined the Sym-Phony 30 years ago. ³Danny and the rest
of us are all trained musicians who performed with big bands, but we¹re
still proud to keep this great tradition alive.²

The band members, who now perform at gigs like old-timers¹ stickball games
and the grand openings of retail stores, were in Coney Island on Sunday to
help celebrate two anniversaries: It has been 50 years since the Dodgers
packed their duffel bags and left town, and 34 years since the creation of
the Jackie Robinson Foundation, which provides four-year college
scholarships and mentoring to minority students.

³The Sym-Phony was one of the things people loved about Ebbets Field,² Mrs.
Robinson said. ³They provided a kind a special character and loving warmth
that few other ballparks had, so I¹d recognize them anywhere.²