[Dixielandjazz] "What ya want me to do"

[J. D. Bryce]

Initially, I asked:

Is it possible that the "Charlie Frazier" on this recording ]King Oliver] is 
the same Charlie Frazier who played with the Jimmy Dorsey band from 1935 
until 1943? ...lived in North Arlington, NJ and taught sax and clarinet in 
Newark.  He played with my father's band in the late 1940s and 1950s. He 
taught me. He was a great teacher, but he moved to Clearwater, Fl, in 1961 
and died there in 1987.

I got a response.

Dear Jack,
No.
Although discographies sometime lump the tow together.

•Charles H Frazier (tenor sax & all reeds)
Born: Radford, Virginia. 17 August, 1907
Died: September 3, 2002, said to be the last living musician who recorded 
with King OIiver.
Self taught. Moved to NYC in 1928 worked taxi dance halls, With Earle Howard 
orch (1928-29); Charlie Skeets, (1929); King Oliver (1929-30); Dave Nelson 
(1931) Blanche Calloway (Cab's sister. 1932-35); Willie Bryant (1936); Lew 
Leslie's Blackbirds (1938-39); toured with Ella in the early 40s; Cab 
Calloway (1945-46) then freelanced and taught. With the Harlem Blues and 
Jazz Band (1980).

•Your Charlie Frazier worked and recorded with Jimmy Dorsey (1937-45) then 
George Paxton. I have no details from then on.
Very kind regards,
Bill.

I am grateful for the response. As Bill reported, the Charles Frazier who 
taught me was not on the King Oliver recordings.

I investigated further and found information on my Charlie Frazier's son, 
Richard. When I knew Charlie, he was living and teaching in North Arlington, 
NJ. After he left Dorsey, he played with Paxton and then with my father's 
band, the Royal Scots in N.J.  My father put me to lessons with Charlie in 
1957.  He was a hard teacher. He emphasized scales and arpeggios. The first 
20 minutes of my hour-long lessons would be devoted to me playing all the 
scales, major and minor and all the chords in all 12 keys.  I never realy 
understood the value of these evercises, except to note that I could play 
faster than any teen tenor man around. When I started to play trad, I found 
that Charlie's lessons on chords and scales helped me enormously. Then, I 
truly understood the value of his training.

During the course of my lessons, I became friendly with his son, Richard, 
who was a year younger than I was.  This kid played alto and clarinet. By 
aged 15, he was absolutely fluent and proficient. He took first clarinet in 
the all state band on clarinet as a freshman, then took first alto as a 
sophomore.

He played alto with a local teen band named the Sparklers, and then left 
them to play with an adult band called the 3 Bs. He iimprovised like a pro 
at the age of 16. Man could he blow!

Charlie moved to Clearwater, FL in 1961 and we lost touch, but when I was in 
Florida in 1973, I called him and told him how much those scales and chord 
exercises helped me.  I told him I was playing "Dixieland" and he replied 
that he was also playing a lot of trad clarinet. Charlie remembered my 
father well and commented favorably on his leadership of the Royal Scots.  I 
asked about Richie, and he told me that Rich had joined the Army Band in DC 
and played for a few years before being discharged and moving to Las Vegas 
where Charlie told me he was playing at the Stardust.

I again got to Florida in 1992 and called his Charlie's home.  His wife told 
me that Charlie had passed away in 1987. I was really sad about that. I 
asked about Rich and she told me he was the Music Director for Wayne Newton.

The reason I write all of this is, today, I tried to locate Richard Frazier 
and found a record of him in the alumni of Clearwater High School, Class of 
1962.  Apparently, Rich passed away in 2011.

All of this information has made me quite sad and I wanted to share it with 
the DJML.  The passage of time wounds us all.
I guess all we can do is keep playing the music we love and remember the 
teachers who taught us..

Jack Bryce