[Dixielandjazz] Vache, Barnard and "The Gig"

[Bill Haesler]

Stephen G Barbone provided Kenny Davern's account regarding the film 'The Gig' from the book, "The Life and Music of Kenny Davern".

Dear Friends,
Steve, being a longtime DJMLer, will recall that threads about this film have popped up on the DJML from-time-to-time.
It became a long thread in April 2005 at which time I provided the following summary, which may be of interest to our new listmates.
  
We can now include the additional information from the following provided by Steve:
> Warren Vache  Jr., was subbing for Billy Butterfield at Condon's. Between sets, Frank Gilroy, screen writer for "The Gig"  came over and asked if he had ever acted in movies.  No said Vache, but the end result was that Gilroy asked him to become musical director, put a band together to supply the music for the movie and gave him a screen part. The resultant band was Vache, Kenny Davern,  Dick Wellstood, Milt Hinton, Reggie Jackson and drummer  Herb Harris. (who had hired previously Vache to do several movie sound tracks)
> On the day they were to record the jazz music in studio, August 28, 1984, Vache had a temperature of 104 degrees. Gilroy sent him home. By coincidence, Bob Barnard who was visiting from Australia, was also in the studio and so he supplied the jazz parts Vache was supposed to play.
> Vache whose primary movie part was having his fingers shown during the musical parts later had to figure out what Bob had been playing and approximate the correct finger positions. His, Wellstood's and Davern's hands were shown in the movie so as to sell the concept that the actors were jazz musicians as the actors mimed the playing.

Dear friends,
Richard Stevens is right. Bob Barnard was involved with the film 'The Gig'.
Some of you oldies may recall that we discussed 'The Gig' and its personnel
in Feb 2001 and again in July 2002.
Here is a summary [19 April 2005] of the info from that time.

The musicians on The Gig were:
Warren Vache, Jr. and Bob Bernard [Barnard], trumpet
Kenny Davern, clarinet
George Masso, trombone,
Dick Wellstood and John Bunch, piano
Reggie Johnson and Milt Hinton, bass
Herb Harris, drums
The misspelling of Bob Barnard's name is as given on the film credits.

At the time my long-time mate Bob Barnard, sent the following reply
to a query from me:

"Dear Bill,
The line up for the sound track was me, Kenny Davern, George Masso, Dick
Wellstood was the piano player and I think the bass player was Johnny
Johnson and the drummer was Herb Harris (also the booker).  Warren Vache did
some of the sound track, in fact you can hear a couple of splices if you
listen closely.  I think also that Milt Hinton did some of the music but at
a different session.
I was to have lunch with Kenny Davern when he rang and said he had a gig at
such & such studio on 42nd Street, and would I like to visit.  When I got
there, Warren had gotten some kind of fever and gone home. Kenny said
"quick, go get your horn".  So I was at the right place at the right time.
That night I went and played with Dick Wellstood and Kenny at a place called
Hanratty's somewhere on the east side in New York.
Come to think of it, Bobby Rosengarden probably did some of it at another
session.
If you need more info, let me know.
Regards Bob B."

More from me (Bill H): Some years ago I taped the music from a video of 'The
Gig'.
Sadly, it only amounts to about 15 minutes of the 90+ minute film.
Here also is the information from the (highly recommended) Internet
Movie Database site:

Gig, The (1985)
Directed by Frank D. Gilroy
Writing credits Frank D. Gilroy
Cast overview, first billed only:
Wayne Rogers ....  Marty Flynn
Cleavon Little ....  Marshall Wilson
Andrew Duncan ....  Jack Larmon
Jerry Matz ....  Aaron Wohl
Daniel Nalbach ....  Arthur Winslow
Warren Vaché ....  Gil Macrae
Joe Silver ....  Abe Mitgang
Jay Thomas ....  Rick Valentine
Stan Lachow ....  George Pappas
Celia Bressack ....  Lucy
Georgia Harrell ....  The blonde
Michael Fischetti ....  Vincent Amatri
Susan Egbert ....  Laura Macrae
Karen Ashley ....  Janet Larmon
Virginia Downing ....  Mrs. Winslow
Runtime: 92 min
Country: USA
Language: English
Color: Color
Certification: UK:15

User Comments: leapso Melbourne, Australia
Date: 27 September 2000
Summary: Pretty exceptional little movie on a jazz theme, sort of.
So, a group of middle-age guys who play jazz for a hobby get to live out
their dream of playing a professional gig (at a resort hotel), and the dream
doesn't turn out like they thought it would.
Doesn't sound like much, but "The Gig" is a movie that sticks with you,
because of its understated exploration of the stakes involved in just living
a life - failure, hopes, small comforts, friendship, disappointments. The
jazz group is the nominal theme, but the film is a character study. Not an
academic one - it has the guts (and script) to bleed a little for the
characters, and is unconventional in its avoidance of easy tie-ups and
crowd-pleasing pay-offs.
An extremely satisfying, heartfelt, well-crafted picture, with performances
from Wayne Rogers (TV MASHs 'Trapper John') and Cleavon Little (best known
probably as the sheriff in "Blazing Saddles", though he also played a comedy
TV doctor in "Temperatures Rising") which suggest they generally didn't get
the roles they deserved and were capable of.

As usual, more than you needed to know.
Kind regards,
Bill