[Dixielandjazz] Dick Buckley record collection

[Robert Ringwald]

    Dick Buckley record collection

A Well-Loved Collection from a Voice of Chicago
by Will Friedwald
Wall Street Journal, February 17, 2011

CHICAGO -- I realized this was a jazz town when I stepped into the lobby of my hotel
and heard a tenor sax (Stan Getz?) playing on the sound system in the background
and then, a few minutes later, when I entered a coffee shop down the block and was
treated to a piano (Erroll Garner?). (My metrocentric pride was wounded as I admitted
to myself that, in equivalent spaces in New York, we'd probably be subjected to Muzak.)
If Chicagoans love jazz, it probably has a lot to do with Dick Buckley, who for more
than 50 years was the voice of jazz on Chicago radio. "There were other guys on the
air, like Daddy-O Daylie and Sid McCoy," said Neil Tesser, a veteran music journalist
and broadcaster who worked with Buckley at WBEZ for 16 years. "But none of them had
Dick's endurance, and none was as widely loved as Dick."
"Dick Buckley was a living, breathing encyclopedia of jazz lore," as Kurt Elling,
the Grammy-winning, Chicago-bred vocalist, put it. "What was obscure to the world
-- even to much of the jazz world -- was everyday family history to Dick. He loved
the music and gave the warehouse of his mind over to the task of storing, archiving
and preserving what he loved most in life: the sound of a big, swinging band."
When a collector or radio host of Buckley's stature dies, his collection usually
is bequeathed to a radio station or a public institution (as when, for instance,
Washington deejay Felix Grant's collection became the foundation of the jazz archive
at the University of the District of Columbia). In this case, however, Buckley's
family has entrusted Chicago-based Leslie Hindman Auctioneers, a traditional auction
house that normally deals in fine arts and rare books, to auction off Buckley's collection:
After three days of being available for viewing at the company's offices on West
Lake Street, it will be sold on Thursday to the highest bidders in 91 boxed lots.
Buckley, who was 85 when he died last July, was born in Decatur, Ind., and originally
made a name for himself as a disc jockey in Indianapolis. He moved to Chicago in
his 30s and was on the air on several commercial stations before arriving at NPR's
WBEZ in 1977 and beginning a 31-year-run. "Dick was one of the rare radio personalities
who looked exactly as he sounded," said Mr. Tesser. "He had a deep, sonorous voice,
and you weren't surprised to discover that he was over 6 feet tall with an impressive,
scholarly-looking beard."
It's only because Buckley was a cherished icon of the city's cultural scene that
Hindman was interested in the collection. "We all loved his show," said Mary S. Williams,
who is handling the sale. There are at least a few collector's items in those boxes,
including some Horace Silver Blue Note albums (with the 63rd Street address) and
a number of early Norman Granz labels (Clefs, Norgran, Mercury). But, Ms. Williams
stressed, "We're not getting into the used-record business. We're selling these not
so much as collectibles but as souvenirs of Dick Buckley -- for his listeners." Indeed,
a lot of the albums have Buckley's handwritten annotations, including orchestra personnel,
recording dates and his own play dates. "It's all about Dick," she said.
Although 12-inch LPs make up the bulk of the collection, there are also ample amounts
of 78s and CDs. I was particularly impressed by his hoard of early jazz albums in
the 78 rpm and 10-inch 33 rpm formats, including the original issue -- which I had
never seen before -- of the Red Norvo and His Selected Septet with Charlie Parker.
Buckley's primary focus was on the Swing Era, particularly Duke Ellington and Count
Basie, and the many stars who passed through those bands. The collection includes
many boxes of their albums, including such rarities as the privately issued Ellington
Treasury series.
Buckley was a bit more selective in his love of modern jazz. "He stood by his opinions,
and I respected him for that," Mr. Tesser said. "Once, he and I were hosting a live
broadcast by Miles Davis from the Chicago Jazz Festival, and he took that moment
to tell the world that he thought it was a terrible thing that Miles had become such
a dominant influence on the trumpet. Of course, I wasn't about to let that go by.
He and I flew into a very spirited, spontaneous debate. Anyone who heard that broadcast
hasn't forgotten it."
Mr. Tesser said that Buckley was a self-admitted bumbler when it came to the mechanics
of his radio show. "He would frequently cue up the wrong track, or he would leave
his announcer's mike on, so we could hear him talking to himself or someone in the
studio while a record was playing. He just wasn't concerned with the technical aspect.
Somehow that made him even more endearing. Thousands of Chicagoans agreed that listening
to his Sunday-afternoon show, which was mostly swing, was one of the most pleasant
experiences you could have."
When Buckley did his last show in 2008, it was the end of an era in other ways, too.
It effectively signaled the end of jazz on WBEZ -- and a diminished presence for
jazz on the Chicago airwaves in general.
"Dick could have gotten a lot more better-paying work as an announcer, with his deep
voice and smooth delivery, but he never really pursued that," Mr. Tesser noted. "He
was just completely motivated by a love of jazz."


--Bob Ringwald
www.ringwald.com
Fulton Street Jazz Band
530/ 642-9551 Office
916/ 806-9551 Cell
Amateur (Ham) Radio K6YBV

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