[Dixielandjazz] Tenor band

[Paul Edgerton]

I can't resist jumping in on this thread...

I went to high school in Colorado Springs, home of Norad, the Air
Force Academy, Ent AFB and Ft. Carson. Needless to say, the place was
chock full of very good musicians. For a few years, I owned a small
band book that had a bunch of those AF tenor band charts. Some of them
were quite good.

Later I moved to Denver and played in the Vern Beyers Orchestra. Vern
lead what may have been the last of the "territory" bands, except that
his territory was Northern Colorado, Wyoming and the Nebraska
panhandle. I played an awful lot of 5 hour dance jobs that involved 12
to 14 hours of driving, and made big money (usually $45, best was
about $75) but it's all fond memory now.

Dick's band had three saxes (either 3 tenors or 2 tenors and bari) 3
trumpets and one trombone, plus rhythm. The bone man had to have solid
chops, because he was often voiced as the fourth sax, or as the lead
over the saxes in addition to being part of the brass section. There
were some GREAT custom charts written by guys like Dick Grove, who had
played with Vern when they were both kids. That band worked like a
small-scale Woody Herman third herd. No slurpy hotel-style in that
bunch!

Vern eventually changed his band to the Miller style and moved to Las
Vegas. I have no idea what happened to his old book, but I sure do
miss playing lead tenor in a band like that.

-- Paul Edgerton