[Dixielandjazz] Louis Prima & Joe Venuti

[Don Ingle]

Bill Haesler wrote:
>
> Marek Boym wrote [in part]:
>> .......I was later surprised to learn he had been a jazz
>> player; my first hint was on a Venuti record, where the best and
>> jazziest solos were by Prima....
>
> Dear Marek,
> I assume the you are referring to the Associated Transcription session 
> with:
> Louis Prima (t,vcl) Jerry Colonna (tb) 2 unknown cl/as, Larry Binyon 
> (ts) Joe Venuti (vln,vcl) Red Norvo (xyl) Fulton McGrath (p) Frank 
> Victor (g) unknown (sb) Neil Marshall (d). Recorded in New York, 
> December 28, 1934.
> I have the London HMG5023 LP and, prompted by you, I'm playing it 
> again now (after a long time). It is also on IAJRC 1003 [a CD].
> Or is there, heaven forbid, another Prima/Venuti record I don't know 
> about?
> Very kind regards,
> Bill.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> To unsubscribe or change your e-mail preferences for the Dixieland 
> Jazz Mailing list, or to find the online archives, please visit:
>
> http://ml.islandnet.com/mailman/listinfo/dixielandjazz
>
>
>
> Dixielandjazz mailing list
> Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
>
>
Wow, Bill, you old name dropper, you.
Fulton McGrath was a hell of a player. He was even more a hell of a 
drinker. There in lay the problem.
Known by many as "Fee-Gee" McGrath, he is on many recordings besides the 
one you mentioned. But he was - like Berigan and others - "fallen to the 
demon rum - or bourbon, or whatever was handy. When he was on, he was a 
great player. When he was off -- well, he would usually not surface for 
a time. Pity, that. In New York, working with my dad's band in 1956, we 
were waiting to fly to play at a SAC base in Goose Bay, Labrador for a 
two weeks stay, playing officers and NCO clubs. It was during time of 
the Hungarian revolt when the Russian tanks were rolling into Budapest. 
The air field was sending up endless flights of refueling planes to gas 
up B-52's already up and circling the North Pole in case the red phone 
rang at the White House and they got a go to head for Russia with a load 
of "Hell in the Shell." The words "Stand Down" have a lovely ring to them.
Our piano man at the time had become seriously ill, and we were 
auditioning substitutes to cover and one of those making the call was 
"FeeGee." I'd worked with his younger brother in a band on the West 
Coast, another good piano man -- and unfortunately also given to strong 
spiritous liquids.
"FeeGee" read and played Red's charts flawlessly, and we did a short 
rehearsal, and all went well. But when we took a break he left the 
building - and apparently some bartender was the only to see him after 
that. It was a day made to be forgotten. When "Fee Gee" was on - 
exceptional. When the wagon left town, he was not aboard.
Ah, well,
We ended up using a piano man in a base Air Force Band that later worked 
with Red after his discharge and it went well. For us, that is, not for 
the Hungarians. The latest news from Georgia has given me this feeling 
called "deja vu."
Don Ingle