[Dixielandjazz] Dixielandjazz Digest, Vol 200, Issue 10

Phil Cartwright pcartwri at kent.edu
Fri Aug 9 22:06:47 EDT 2019


I was fortunate to play with Ted's JRJB in the late 80's and early 90's.
As some of you may recall, he often used a second banjo player. My role as
2nd (tenor) bjo player was to cover the rare banjo breaks and do a few
vocals.  We stayed in touch for many years.  Someone mentioned that Ted was
a Xerox salesman.  I bought one from him and used it for many years!
I'm back in Napa, CA after many years playing in the Cleveland, OH area.
Phil Cartwright
(330) 958 4098
www.philcartwright.com



On Fri, Aug 9, 2019 at 9:10 AM <dixielandjazz-request at ml.islandnet.com>
wrote:

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> Today's Topics:
>
>    1. Ted Shafer, RIP (Bob)
>    2. Re: Ted Shafer, RIP (M J _Mike_ Logsdon)
>    3. Re: Ted Shafer, RIP (M J _Mike_ Logsdon)
>    4. Re: Ted Shafer, RIP (Jim O'Briant)
>    5. Re: Ted Shafer, RIP (Jim O'Briant)
>    6. Re: Ted Shafer, RIP (domitype)
>    7. Re: Ted Shafer, RIP (M J _Mike_ Logsdon)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 8 Aug 2019 10:47:23 -0700
> From: Bob <shoring.b at gmail.com>
> To: dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
> Cc: Dixieland Jazz Mailing List <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
> Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Ted Shafer, RIP
> Message-ID: <141279FD-6F93-4BC8-BDA8-5928950653B7 at gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain;       charset=utf-8
>
> Sad news, indeed.
>
> Ted Shafer first formed the Jelly Roll Jazz Band in Los Angeles in 1959,
> with an 8 piece King Oliver/Lu Watters style 2 trumpet band. Around the mid
> 1960?s he moved to the SF Bay Area and continued with an 8 piece band and
> often also had a subset of that band in a 5 piece configuration.
>
> Great guy!  He will be missed for sure.
>
> Bob Shoring
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Thu, 8 Aug 2019 14:49:07 -0700 (GMT-07:00)
> From: M J _Mike_ Logsdon <mjl at ix.netcom.com>
> To: DJML <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
> Cc: Dixieland Jazz Mailing List <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
> Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Ted Shafer, RIP
> Message-ID:
>         <972882909.6062.1565300947393 at wamui-mouse.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
> I will never forget the first time I met Ted.  It was over the phone, and
> it was (I think) 1995 or so.  I'd gotten my hands on one of his fliers
> advertising his currently available Merry Makers Record Company CDs, and
> called him.  It went something like this:
>
> "Hello?"
> "Hello!  Is this Mr Shafer?"
> "No, Mr Shafer's my father and he's dead.  My name's Ted.  What's yours?"
>
> 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".
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Thu, 8 Aug 2019 15:42:56 -0700 (GMT-07:00)
> From: M J _Mike_ Logsdon <mjl at ix.netcom.com>
> To: DJML <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
> Cc: Dixieland Jazz Mailing List <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
> Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Ted Shafer, RIP
> Message-ID:
>         <929926399.6550.1565304177215 at wamui-mouse.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
> Is there an obituary yet?  (Maybe too soon.)  Please, once someone knows
> of one, post link here.
>
> Thanks,
>
> 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".
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Fri, 9 Aug 2019 04:25:41 -0700
> From: "Jim O'Briant" <jobriant at garlic.com>
> To: "'M J _Mike_ Logsdon'" <mjl at ix.netcom.com>
> Cc: 'Dixieland Jazz Mailing List' <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
> Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Ted Shafer, RIP
> Message-ID: <003a01d54ea5$2dd34ad0$8979e070$@garlic.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Mike L. wrote:
>
>
>
> *       I will never forget the first time I met Ted.  It was over the
> phone, and it was (I think) 1995 or so.
> *       I'd gotten my hands on one of his fliers advertising his currently
> available Merry Makers Record
> *       Company CDs, and called him.  It went something like this:
>
>
>
> *       "Hello?"
> *       "Hello!  Is this Mr Shafer?"
> *       "No, Mr Shafer's my father and he's dead.  My name's Ted.  What's
> yours?"
>
>
>
> In early 2007, I'd been playing tuba in Ted Shafer's Jelly Roll Jazz Band
> for a little less than a year. I was toying with the thought of starting a
> band of my own. So during a break at one of our weekly gigs, I went to Ted
> and said, "I'm thinking of staring my own Trad Band down in Gilroy. What
> advice do you have for me?"
>
>
>
> Immediately, he replied, "Have your G-D------ head examined!"
>
>
>
> We both laughed, and then he continued, "Really. Think about whether you
> want all the work and headaches that you get when you lead a jazz band. But
> if you think about it seriously, and still want to do it, then hire the
> very
> best musicians you can find."
>
>
>
> Jim O'Briant, Gilroy, CA
>
> Tuba / Leader, The Zinfandel Stompers Vintage Jazz Band
>
>
>
>
>
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Fri, 9 Aug 2019 04:32:15 -0700
> From: "Jim O'Briant" <jobriant at garlic.com>
> To: "'Bob'" <shoring.b at gmail.com>,      "'Dixieland Jazz Mailing List'"
>         <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
> Cc: Dixieland Jazz Mailing List <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
> Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Ted Shafer, RIP
> Message-ID: <004f01d54ea6$185c2f90$49148eb0$@garlic.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> Bob S. wrote:
>
>
>
> *       Ted Shafer first formed the Jelly Roll Jazz Band in Los Angeles in
> 1959, with an 8 piece
> *       King Oliver/Lu Watters style 2 trumpet band. Around the mid 1960?s
> he moved to the SF
> *       ay Area and continued with an 8 piece band and often also had a
> subset of that band in
> *       a 5 piece configuration.
>
>
>
> When Ted hired me in 2006, it was for the smaller band, which was 6
> pieces. The regular players were:
>
>
>
> *       Earl Scheelar, cornet (doubling clarinet)
> *       Pete Main, clarinet (doubling sax & occasional other instruments)
> *       Glenn Calkins, trombone (doubling clarinet)
> *       Jim O?Briant, tuba
> *       Ted Shafer, Banjo & Leader
> *       Tom Barnebey, Piano
>
>
>
> I?m second guessing myself regarding Tom on Piano. I think he was the
> regular pianist then. If not, he still played with us often.
>
>
>
> The larger band at that time, and up till Ted retired, was 9 pieces; the
> personnel varied a lot more:
>
>
>
> *       2 Cornets/Trumpets
> *       Reeds
> *       Trombone
> *       Tuba
> *       Banjo
> *       Piano
> *       Drums
>
>
>
> Jim O?Briant, Gilroy, CA
>
> Tuba / Leader, The Zinfandel Stompers Vintage Jazz Band
>
>
>
>
>
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 6
> Date: Fri, 9 Aug 2019 07:59:52 -0700
> From: domitype <domitype at gmail.com>
> Cc: Dixieland Jazz Mailing List <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
> Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Ted Shafer, RIP
> Message-ID:
>         <CAO_WAAUg2enZJTfMOZHt1U0q_0kEZYTg6jJzvuO63gRMSba4=
> A at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> Ted called in to my Sunday morning show on KFJC from time to time with SF
> Jazz stories and he would send copies of his CDs.
> I filled-in on tuba more than a few times and always found his band fun to
> play with, well led...
>
> Dave Richoux
>
> On Friday, August 9, 2019, Jim O'Briant <jobriant at garlic.com> wrote:
>
> > Bob S. wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> >    - Ted Shafer first formed the Jelly Roll Jazz Band in Los Angeles in
> >    1959, with an 8 piece
> >    - King Oliver/Lu Watters style 2 trumpet band. Around the mid 1960?s
> >    he moved to the SF
> >    - ay Area and continued with an 8 piece band and often also had a
> >    subset of that band in
> >    - a 5 piece configuration.
> >
> >
> >
> > When Ted hired me in 2006, it was for the smaller band, which was 6
> > pieces. The regular players were:
> >
> >
> >
> >    - Earl Scheelar, cornet (doubling clarinet)
> >    - Pete Main, clarinet (doubling sax & occasional other instruments)
> >    - Glenn Calkins, trombone (doubling clarinet)
> >    - Jim O?Briant, tuba
> >    - Ted Shafer, Banjo & Leader
> >    - Tom Barnebey, Piano
> >
> >
> >
> > I?m second guessing myself regarding Tom on Piano. I think he was the
> > regular pianist then. If not, he still played with us often.
> >
> >
> >
> > The larger band at that time, and up till Ted retired, was 9 pieces; the
> > personnel varied a lot more:
> >
> >
> >
> >    - 2 Cornets/Trumpets
> >    - Reeds
> >    - Trombone
> >    - Tuba
> >    - Banjo
> >    - Piano
> >    - Drums
> >
> >
> >
> > Jim O?Briant, Gilroy, CA
> >
> > Tuba / Leader, The Zinfandel Stompers Vintage Jazz Band
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 7
> Date: Fri, 9 Aug 2019 08:53:31 -0700 (GMT-07:00)
> From: M J _Mike_ Logsdon <mjl at ix.netcom.com>
> To: DJML <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
> Cc: Dixieland Jazz Mailing List <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
> Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Ted Shafer, RIP
> Message-ID:
>         <2089643050.2174.1565366011672 at wamui-mouse.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
> 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".
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
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> End of Dixielandjazz Digest, Vol 200, Issue 10
> **********************************************
>
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