[Dixielandjazz] Jack Sheldon's Return Hits All the Right Notes - LA Daily News

[domitype .]

And something very related (for the season!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFaVTyp9RhE

Dave Richoux


On Sat, Dec 7, 2013 at 11:22 PM, Robert Ringwald <rsr at ringwald.com> wrote:

> Word spread quickly among his devoted fans. Jack Sheldon was back!
> At least for two nights, Friday, Nov. 29th, and Saturday, Nov. 30th, which
> happened
> to be the great jazz master's 82nd birthday.
> Two years after suffering a debilitating stroke that robbed him of the use
> of his
> right arm and hand, the hand that played all those amazing flattened fifth
> notes
> and made Sheldon one of the world's pre-eminent bebop brass players, Jack
> was back
> on stage before a packed house at Catalina Jazz Club in the heart of
> Hollywood.
> In the interest of full disclosure, together with Penny Peyser, I produced
> a feature
> documentary on the life of Sheldon called, "Trying to Get Good: the Jazz
> Odyssey
> of Jack Sheldon." As his biographer, I thought I had seen it all.
> Literally, all he had to give. After his stroke, I thought that was it.
> Never again would the world hear the unique sound that comes from his
> trumpet and
> his trumpet alone. Never again would audiences hear that distinctive raspy
> voice
> that rocked the schoolhouse, teaching two generations how a bill becomes a
> law or
> how a conjunction functions.
> And all those laughs! Gone forever with his speech reduced to an
> incomprehensible
> garble.
> The man who had performed everywhere was now nowhere to be seen.
> After 60 years on stage Sheldon vanished behind the gates of his Hollywood
> Hills
> home. Rumors of Jack sightings occasionally circulated though the jazz
> world, with
> the "Jazz Times" magazine erroneously reporting Sheldon's death in 2012.
> "I'm only slightly dead," Sheldon said when told of his demise.
> And then slowly, with great determination, the man who has spent his
> entire life
> "trying to get good" determined to get better.
> With the devoted attention of his longtime manager Diane Jimenez and the
> invaluable
> assistance of physical therapist Cynthia Bomaster, Sheldon began the long
> journey
> back to the stage.
> The challenge was enormous.
> After 75 years playing the trumpet right-handed, Jack would have to
> relearn his instrument
> playing left-handed.
> He would have to reconstruct his embouchure, the critical shape of the
> trumpeter's
> mouth that creates the wind column that makes his instrument come to life.
> He would have to learn to speak again.
> He would have to learn to sing again.
> And so began the daily grind.
> I mean every day, Christmas and New Year's; there would be no vacations,
> no days
> of rest. For Jack Sheldon, it was play or die.
> Last May the first signs of recovery arrived. Longtime Sheldon pianist Joe
> Bagg,
> bassist Bruce Lett and drummer Dave Tull got the call: Jack was ready to
> play.
> But he wasn't ready to be heard.
> A series of practice sessions were held in his living room. A lucky few
> were invited.
> I was one of the fortunate.
> "I need a year," he said. "Give me a year."
> But Catalina Popescu, the mistress of Catalina Jazz Club, had other ideas.
> She gave
> Jack a deadline, his birthday weekend, and Sheldon said yes.
> The club was packed both nights, the crowd nervous yet giddy to be part of
> local
> history. The man who had literally grown up on Hollywood Boulevard -- his
> mother
> ran the famous Jen Loven Swim School at Hollywood and Western -- had to be
> helped
> on stage before settling into his chair at the head of the 17-piece Jack
> Sheldon
> Orchestra. His always-expressive face couldn't hide the impact of the
> moment as a
> thunderous ovation welcomed him back into the spotlight.
> With his good left hand, Jack counted off the band, and the orchestra
> launched into
> the evening's first song. Jack sang tentatively at first, then with gusto.
> "Just in time, I found you just in time. Before you came, my time was
> running low...
> No more doubt or fears, I've found my way..."
> The notes may not have been as smooth as they once were, the horn might
> have gone
> flat when he meant for it to be sharp, but for Jack Sheldon fans this was
> a weekend
> to treasure, a weekend we didn't think possible.
> But Hollywood is place where the impossible is possible.
> Now, after having nearly lost this local treasure, maybe it's just
> possible the Hollywood
> Chamber of Commerce will finally do the right thing and award Jack Sheldon
> a star
> on the Walk of Fame.
> -30-
>
>
> -Bob Ringwald K6YBV
> www.ringwald.com
> 916/ 806-9551
>
> To the optimist, the glass is half-full. To the pessimist, the glass is
> half-empty.
> To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
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