We keep inching toward respectability, and in the process we swing harder, louder, and softer, which is how I've always heard things in my mind's ear. My introduction to this music, back in the hi-fi days, was based on my dad playing the music of Count Basie, which was also the first band I heard live, when I was 12, at Disneyland. When that band dropped the volume they never left swing behind.
Around the same time I was hearing Basie at Disneyland, in a totally different type of music, I remember Fred Rothmeier, my band director at Ralph C. Smedley Junior High in seventh grade, drilling us to keep the intensity high when the volume dropped. I think that lesson's lost on a lot of big bands nowadays, many of which seem to only have the high end of the volume scale working. And that's a pity, akin to an artist with only a couple colors in their paintbox. There's nothing quite as satisfying as a big band getting soft while maintaining the forward motion, the unique propulsion of this American and now universal music.
So along comes this opportunity to play at the Elks Lodge in Santa Cruz . . .
Chris Charman, our bassist, himself an Elk, sets up a deal whereby the lady running the kitchen is offering a lasagna dinner for $13, with another $5 cover charge for the band. As at Bocci's, the cover charge is split up among the musicians. All of these details had to be approved by committee, so we got our go-ahead about a week and half before we played the gig. We handled all the promotional efforts at our expense. With only had a couple weeks' lead time, we did what we could, including an ad Chris placed—designed by Stella—in the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
I invited some friends to cover for regulars who had gigs that night. Paul Contos played tenor saxophone. Besides playing lead alto in the Cabrillo Jazz Ensemble with me back when the earth cooled, Paul led Monterey Jazz Festival honor bands in which Emily Intersimone (piano) and Tennessee O'Hanlon (bari saxophone) played.
Steve Johnson, the first trombonist in the band when it was founded in 1980, drove up from the San Fernando Valley in his Corvette, at 30 mpg.
That's Steve holding the trombone in our Playboy Club publicity photo in 1981.
One major advantage of the Elks Lodge over Bocci's is the size of the dance floor. It's a quantum jump larger at the Elks, and dancers are free to navigate the floor without plowing into each other. The plaque in the room states that capacity for a dance is 467 people. Another advantage is the drinks cost less and there's no attitude being dispensed at the bar.
We figure we had about 110 dancers, which is pretty good considering it was the first weekend in December, and that we had only enough time to beat the drum so much.
Thanks to all the musicians: Paul Contos, Stu Reynolds, Tennessee O'Hanlon, saxes; John Helnsley, Ray Hill, trumpets; Steve Johnson, trombone; Emily Intersimone (piano), Steve Hayes (guitar), Chris Charman (bass), Olaf Schiapiccasse (drums), and our singers, Stella D'Oro and Anthony Jones.
We'll be negotiating our return this week sometime. It'll be nice to have an upscale venue in addition to Bocci's, where we resume playing on January 10.
