[Dixielandjazz] Jack Sheldon interviewed

[Robert Ringwald]

Maybe not OKOM for some on the List, but definitely MKOM.  

Jack has sat in with my band, the Fulton Street Jazz Band more than once and plays absolutely great Dixieland.  

--Bob Ringwald



Jack Sheldon: Keeping His Chops Up
Don Heckman catches up with trumpeter, vocalist and bon  vivant
JazzTimes.com, March 9, 2011
Three days before his 79th birthday on Nov. 30, 2010, Jack Sheldon was his usual
sardonic, wickedly whimsical self. Seated amid his Jack Sheldon Orchestra, a round
mound of melody and rhythm surrounded by some of Los Angeles' finest players, he
was doing what he's done for the past five decades: keeping the jazz flame burning
bright with his articulate bebop trumpet playing and between-tunes gag lines. "They
sang 'Happy Birthday,'" Sheldon says a couple days after that Catalina Bar and Grill
performance. "But they didn't give me a birthday cake." Then, allowing a couple of
beats to pass for perfect timing, he adds, "But I'm so fat, I don't need any cake."
A comparison of his current image with photos of the slender, striking Sheldon of
the '50s argues in favor of the trumpeter's assessment: He has indeed increased his
avoirdupois over the decades. But his trumpet playing is as trim and appealing as
it was when he was a boon companion of such West Coast icons as Art Pepper, Chet
Baker and Gerry Mulligan.
Sheldon claims he's on track to do something about the weight. "I swim a lot," he
says, "but I'm still not too svelte -- right now. But I'm planning to go into training
in January. I'll work with weights and running and swimming. That's about it. I'm
too fat. I haven't been warned about my weight by a doctor, not yet."
Then comes the punchline: "People on the street just come up and warn me about it."
Although Sheldon was born in Jacksonville, Fla., he's been a dedicated Los Angeleno
since he was 15. "I liked the West Coast from the very beginning," he says. "The
weather and everything else are just right for me." His mother, Jen Loven, taught
showbiz greats how to swim at her Jen Loven Swim School in Hollywood. Sheldon, as
a result, has been a dedicated swimmer for most of his life. And his daughter Jesse
is following in her grandmother's wake, he says, "teaching all the movie stars and
their kids."
The 1950s in Los Angeles were Sheldon's 20s, and, influenced by the sound, spirit
and humor of Dizzy Gillespie, he quickly became one of the primary figures in the
West Coast jazz of the period. "There actually weren't so many of us, at the time,"
he recalls. "Now there are a million jazz guys out here, and they all play great.
But what we were doing back then, back in the '50s -- that was different. We knew
we were doing something special."
Surviving as a jazz musician, however, required more than local gigs at places like
Gene Norman's Crescendo and the occasional recording session. In the late '50s Sheldon
toured extensively with some of jazz's greatest big bands. "We'd go from the West
Coast to the East Coast, depending on who we were playing with," he remembers. "Benny
Goodman, Stan Kenton. One time, when I was with Goodman, we played opposite Count
Basie at Basin Street East. And once he sat in with the Goodman band. That was something.
There's nobody like Basie.
"I loved working with Kenton," he continues. "Usually I just played with him off
and on. But once, in one continuous stretch, I played with him four months steady,
every night. The playing part of it was fine -- there were five trumpets, and I didn't
have anything demanding to play, not really. I mostly just did the solos. But four
months on the road? Man, that was enough of the road for me. And I loved getting
back to California."
Unlike many other California jazz artists, being based in Los Angeles rather than
New York wasn't a detriment to Sheldon's career. To the contrary, his highly visible
presence around L.A. earned him an endless list of high-profile credits as well as
film- and TV-related work -- off- and onscreen. It's his lyrical trumpet that is
heard playing Johnny Mandel's "The Shadow of Your Smile" in the 1965 film "The Sandpiper."
His section playing can be heard in the themes for "Peter Gunn" and "The Munsters,"
among many other shows. And Sheldon is fond of his playing on the soundtrack for
the 1991 romantic comedy "The Object of Beauty," just one more of his myriad film-score
appearances. His purely musical collaborations encompass such stellar names as Gillespie,
Dexter Gordon, Curtis Counce, Shelly Manne, Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme, Tony Bennett,
Peggy Lee, Zoot Sims, Henry Mancini, Marty Paich, Tom Waits and dozens of others.
Over the years, Sheldon's quick-witted onstage commentary -- often tinged with the
risque double-entendres that became part of his repertoire during a long run of Playboy
Club appearances -- became a fundamental aspect of his performances. Hanging out
with such edgy, jazz-influenced comics as Lenny Bruce and Mort Sahl further enhanced
his already adept comedic skills, fostering Sheldon's careers as musician, funnyman
and actor. His long resume of film and television appearances includes co-starring
roles in the sitcoms "The Cara Williams Show" (1964-65) and "The Girl with Something
Extra" (1973-74), as well as the starring role in his own sitcom, "Run, Buddy, Run,"
from 1966-67. Fans of "Dragnet's" late-'60s run might also recall the trumpeter.
"Jack Webb used to come into a club where I was working," says Sheldon. "He was a
big jazz fan and a great guy, and I said, 'Hey, lemme work on your show sometime.'
So he put me to work all the time."
Even as a singer Sheldon became part of America's cultural mainstream: His voice
should be instantly recognizable to Gen-X kids who grew up with the educational TV
series "Schoolhouse Rock!" Sheldon sang the whimsical description of how Congress
works titled "I'm Just a Bill," and portrayed the train engineer on the "grammar
rock" song "Conjunction Junction." Years later he did a parody of his own voice on
a "Family Guy" episode, singing "Vagina Junction" for a sex-education send-up.
Sheldon's television career peaked with an 18-year run on "The Merv Griffin Show"
that stretched from the '60s into the '80s. He recalls the relationship with Griffin
and the show warmly, a job that allowed him to use almost all of his skills: playing
trumpet, singing and telling jokes. Typically, Sheldon characterizes this important
period with humor. "It was great in a lot of ways," he says. "But mostly because
I got to sing, too, which was another whole money thing. Working the show was good
money, already. But it got even better when I'd appear on camera on the show and
sing and talk, and make more money."
Throughout his acting assignments, Sheldon's trumpet work continued to play a significant
role in the West Coast jazz scene. A firm believer in the importance of practicing
his instrument, he managed to find time and opportunities to keep up his chops. "When
I'm doing good," he says, "I practice every day. Usually, if you play hard and play
more, that builds it up. When I was doing a TV show or a movie, I always practiced
when we weren't shooting. There's always a lot time while they're fixing the lights
and everything. And sometimes, like when I put together my big band for the [1991]
movie 'For the Boys,' we'd play on the set when they were taking breaks in the filming.
Bette Midler and James Caan were in that, and they loved it."
The band Sheldon assembled for that WWII period piece became the foundation for the
big band he still leads. Although only one or two of the original players remain,
most of the musicians in the current lineup have been with him for many years. With
a book of arrangements written primarily by Tom Kubis, with significant contributions
from Bill Holman and others, the Sheldon big band is a shining light in Southern
California's surprisingly expansive catalog of large jazz ensembles. "We can only
work with the big band once in a while, given the economy," says Sheldon. "Mostly
I'm performing with my California Cool Quartet. And since everybody works so much
these days, I have about four different versions I can use, with guys like Joe Bagg
and Mitch Forman on piano, Bruce Lett on bass, Dave Tull and Ray Brinker on drums.
Great guys, all of them.
"Then I've got my organ trio, featuring Joe Bagg. I love that group, because it opens
up so much room for me to play."
Although Sheldon, who is divorced, has had to endure the deaths of two of his four
children -- his daughter Julie to an airplane crash, his son Kevin to cancer -- he
generally presents the demeanor of a contented guy.
But he still likes to keep some complaints in reserve, for joke-related purposes
if nothing else. "Mostly I'm pretty happy," Sheldon concludes. "I don't really have
anything to complain about, but I find stuff. I don't drink, not for 20 or 30 years.
I'm real healthy now.
"Except, like I said," he adds with a grin, "for being too fat. And even that's gonna
change soon."


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

My wife was hinting about what she wanted for our upcoming anniversary.
She said, "I want something shiny that goes from 0 to 150 in about 3 seconds."
I bought her a bathroom scale.