[Dixielandjazz] Trombone Rag or I Am Pecan Pete

[Dan Augustine]

     Regarding "I Am Pecan Pete", here's what i sent to DJML a couple 
years ago.   Dan
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     From _Turk Murphy: Just for the Record_ by Jim Goggin (San 
Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation, 1982) it is reported that the 
song "I Am Pecan Pete" first appeared on a recording on May 28, 1968. 
This was a private tape from the Wachusett Country Club, West 
Boylston, Massachusetts, from a live performance at the Massachusetts 
Traditional Jazz Club Concert.  The song was listed (on page 152 of 
this book) as "Pecan Pete".
     After this, there is a private tape of a live performance of a 
concert at Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles, on May 11, 1970. 
The song is listed as "I Am Pecan Pete".
     Referring to this concert, Jim Goggin ("Jim" below) says to Turk 
Murphy ("Turk") on page 174:
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Jim:  I don't know why I put "Terrible Blues" on because one of the
       questions I wanted to ask you was the story was the story
       about "Pecan Pete", I should have put that one on.  That was
       a dream?

Turk: Yes, it...I'd been married before and Grace, she was a lovely
       person who used to read in bed and I had the unhappy habit
       of talking.

Jim:  That's dangerous if you're married, Turk.

Turk: Not what I said, nobody would believe these things.  Ask Burt
       Bales about my talk in my sleep sometime.  It's just
       ridiculous, we just bust laughing at the things I used to
       say.  Anyway the thing was I wrote the tune later on, started
       for Grace, she was still alive at the time and I was asleep
       and she was reading in bed, sitting there reading and she used
       to talk to me when I would start talking about something why
       she would talk to me and she related the whole conversation
       later on but I didn't remember much about it but she said I
       was reciting numbers, statistics and things.  And I said,
       "100,000 white geese, and 400,000 Canadian geese, 10,000
       ducks, 40,000 white swans" and she said, "Wait a minute",
       and I stopped and she said, "Who are you that you should know
       all these things" and I said, "I am Pecan Pete".

Jim:  Naturally.

Turk: Who the hell is Pecan Pete?  But that was the whole thing.
       That was how..."I am Pecan Pete" was the full title of the
       thing.

Jim:  Now that provided you with the title but had you written
       the tune at the time?

Turk: No, it's just kind of funny, I thought I'd stick it on this
       tune 'cause it seemed there was nothing, I didn't have an
       appropriate title at the time.
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     I myself bust a gut thinking about Jim Goggin saying "Naturally".
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>From: "Bob Romans" <cellblk7 at comcast.net>
>Date: Thu, 31 May 2007 16:51:19 -0700
>Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Trombone Rag or I Am Pecan Pete
>Cc: Dixieland Jazz Mailing List <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
>
>Trombone Rag is actually a very simple trombone piece. In 3 of my 
>youth bands, the trombone players memorized it and stood in front of 
>the band performing it...
>The Riverboat Rascals
>The Hot "N" Tots
>The Alley Cats
>Now, "I Am Pecan Pete" is a different story! That's a Turk original 
>too. The late great Bill  Hannaford played it on one of our 
>recordings, and Pat Yankee heard Bill Hannaford play it live at The 
>Dawn Club...about 1995...she said Turk never played it as well as 
>Hannaford...(he passed away in 1998 from bone cancer)
>How many of you t-bone players know that piece?
>Warm regards,
>Bob Romans,

-- 
**--------------------------------------------------------------------**
**  Dan Augustine  --  Austin, Texas  --  ds.augustine at mail.utexas.edu
**      "Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk.  That will
**       teach you to keep your mouth shut."  --  Ernest Hemingway
**--------------------------------------------------------------------**