[Dixielandjazz] Ted Shafer, RIP

[M J _Mike_ Logsdon]

If anything, Ted knew the "sound" he wanted.  And like most individualists, though he modeled his bands after others that had gone before, his always had its own particular sound.

In Ted's case, that sound was what it was; maybe not what one was looking for, per se, but, as the musicians nearly to a person say, fun to play with.

His crowning glory (he told me this, so I'm not making it up) was his one and only Stomp Off CD.  It was often heard between sets at festivals.

His other crowning glory, of course, was Merry Makers Record Company.  Turk has some interesting comments in "Just for the Record".  My first taste was his first CD, of the 1966 8-piece So Cal iteration.  Truly iconic, that CD (and/or LP; I only know of the CD).

The last time I met up with Ted, via the smaller band iteration, I don't recall the year, but maybe Mr O'Briant can dredge it up, was, oh, about a decade or so ago, at the Monterey Hot Jazz Society's monthly meeting.  The cornet was Ted Thomas of Gremoli fame, that much I know.  What sticks out for me from my talking with Ted that day was our discussion of Jasmine's complete Watters' Hambone Kelly's recordings, and the fact that, when all was said and done, the LPs they used to produce said CDs were Ted's Merry Makers LPs, as no other iteration had used that exact "stacking order".  (I had my own tale to tell him, ie, that after Jasmine had put out volume 1 they told me there was no way to put out a volume 2 that contained the complete Hambone's output, I told them "But I did it, privately for my own use.  There's no way 2 volumes can't contain the complete output."  A month or so later, I get, in the mail, a volume 2, finishing the complete output, totally free of charge!  Needless to say, Ted liked that story!)

RIP Ted.  A very unique person.  How many of you know that he was also a retired Xerox repairman?  (Not counting whoever it was who told me, that is!)

M J (Mike) Logsdon.

"Aaugh[.]" -- Charles Brown.
"Avoid dull needles and use a soft cloth." -- E Kovacs.
"Because that's the kind of guy, I'm." -- C Reiner, "Your Show of Shows", skit: "From Here to Obscurity".