[Dixielandjazz] Firehouse Five+2

[Tim Eldred]

Having been privileged to watch the group (and setting up the concert seating in one area of the French Market restaurant) on weekends for two summers while I worked at Disneyland (69 and 70), the FH5+2 never failed to pack the seats and provide loud, raucous, fun music.  It is impossible to analyze, I think, why certain groups have a synergy that far exceeds the sum of the parts.   This was one of them.  I came in on my days off to listen and was privileged to sit at a table with them during breaks and listen to their discussions.  It wasn't typically about music, but about movies or some other creative endeavor.  Obviously, they all respected each other and their total abilities.  Part of the spontaneity may have come from the fact that they started playing during lunch breaks at the studio just for fun and kept that attitude whenever they played.

Their "classic" sound is unique and is the combination of all contributions.  (Listen to the early albums and then the later ones to see how their sound developed...)

Need I say I was a fan from the moment I heard the first notes of theirs on a record my aunt gave me?

Tim Eldred
Roseville, CA