[Dixielandjazz] Uncle Yoke's Black Dogs

[Kit W Johnson]

I don't think that the Black Dogs as a full group are still working at all.
Occasionally I see some name association with combo groups around one or
more of the former players (e.g. Tom Hook's (p) Terriers) who used to show
up every year or so in Penticton, BC, though I think Tom said a couple of
years ago that he wasn't planning on any more festival travel. The tuba
player was Dave Gannett. I think Dave is largely out of music now, though he
may still play some electric bass in the midwestern US. His CD titled "Tubas
from Hell, Music from Heaven" from a few years ago is much admired by the
low brass ilk, myself included. I think the cornetist was Davey Jones. 

Kit W. Johnson
Black Swan Classic Jazz Band
503-970-1251
kit at bscjb.com
www.bscjb.com

A musician has to expect to be excited. There is no way you can be a fine
musician and just be placid and dull. Life involves many exciting
experiences and you express all aspects of life in music just like an actor
would.  ~Arnold Jacobs

-----Original Message-----
From: Ken Mathieson <ken at kenmath.free-online.co.uk> 
Sent: Sunday, April 26, 2020 2:46 PM
To: Kit Johnson <kit at bscjb.com>
Cc: Dixieland Jazz Mailing List <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Uncle Yoke's Black Dogs

Hi Bill et al,

When I was with the Edinburgh-based Fat Sam's Band we used to run into the
Dogs on a regular basis in California, British Columbia and all over Europe,
so they all became good pals. Bandleader/trombonist Steve Yocum was a great
entertainer and communicator with audiences and the band was full of
excellent players. Drummer Ed Metz was (and still is) a knockout player and
we became good buddies (indeed I'm still in occasional touch with him). They
had an excellent hot trumpeter/cornetist whose name now escapes me, but he
was a hard-swinging lead and a strong soloist. There was also a sousaphone
player who had rigged his horn with low-grade blasting powder wired up to a
foot switch which detonated it. The climax of the act was Tiger Rag taken at
a lick and when they reached the "Hold That Tiger" trio part, he'd fire off
the charges under the trombone glissandi. Of course, as well as startling
explosions, there were also vivid flashes and lots of smoke, so it always
brought the house down. 
Don't ask me how he got the explosives and detonators through airport
security! No doubt Bill will do his usual professional discographical magic
and conjure up their names.

At one festival in Holland I remember them asking about various local drinks
and we inducted them into the Sinbad Society, which was a great sanity
preserver for Fat Sam's musicians on the road. Sinbad stood for The Society
for the Investigation of Novel and Bewildering Alcoholic Drinks and its
rules were very simple: if you encountered a drink you'd never seen before,
you were honour bound to try it and report back to the other members. We
encountered a stack of mysterious drinks like A Walk in the Woods (vodka,
Curacao liqueur and angostura bitters), which we were introduced to by a
Dutch musician in a bar in Amsterdam. It tasted great, was cheaper than beer
and got you there in no time. 
Another was a Danish speciality Swarze Svin, or Black Pig (vodka and
dissolved licorice), which had the dual benefit of being "strong licor" 
and a laxative.

Does anyone know if the Black Dogs are still working?

Ken




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