[Dixielandjazz] Fulton McGrath

[Don Ingle]

Marek Boym wrote:
> Well, no real jaz context, just memories.
> The Hungarian upraising in 1956 started as demonstrations in support
> of the Polish workers of Poznan who demonstrated because of hard
> conditions even more than the regime.  But unlike the other communist
> countries, the Poles did not execute their communist leaders of old,
> but rathe sent them to prison.  So, when the riots started, they had
> old communists who were the "victims of Stalinism" and ready to take
> over.  thus, they appointed Gomulka to be the first secretary of the
> Communist Party (The United Polish Workers' Party, as was its official
> name), while the Hungarians had none (Gomulka had been imprisoned for
> "nationalism").  As a kid (I was almost 16), I remember demonstrating
> and collecting donations to support "the Hungarian heroes;" I was too
> young to give blood (at present, I am a blood donor, and have been for
> many years; since age 65, I need an aanual medical clearance to give
> blood).
> Now to Fulton McGrath: While I am much too young to have heard him
> live, I have records, and there he sounds great!
> Cheers
>
> On 25/08/2008, Don Ingle <dingle at nomadinter.net> wrote:
>   
>> 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.
>>>
>>>
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>>>       
>> 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
>>
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>>     
>
>
>   
The brother of Fee Gee Mc Grath I worked with was Wildon McGrath, who 
was in many ways an equal, but always claimesd he was nowhere as good as 
his brother. This feeling of being in theshadow may have led to his 
becoming as much a hard drinker as his more noted brother. Shame, for 
both McGraths, when off the sauce, were as good as it gets fro 
musicianship and could swing hard.

Don Ingle -- 77 and counting.