by Bert Thompson
Ted Shafer’s Jelly Roll Jazz Band—NEW ORLEANS JAZZ (DIXIELAND) Volume Three (Merry Makers Record Company MMRC-CD-45). Playing time: 66m. 50s. Copenhagen; Snag It*; She’s Crying for Me; Antigua Blues; Suez; Where Did You Stay Last Night?; Buddy’s Habit; Aunt Hagar’s Blues; Snake Rag; I’m Going Away to Wear You Off My Mind; Honey, Where You Been So Long?*; Sorry; Misery Blues*; Sic ’Em, Tige; Jazzin’ Babies Blues; Creole Belles. Personnel: Walt Yost, cornet; Mike Slack, cornet; Charles Sonnanstine, trombone, vocal*; Roy Giomi, clarinet; Bill Gould, piano; Ted Shafer, banjo; Candy Sealy, tuba; Jack Mangan, drums. Recorded live at the New Orleans Jazz Club of Northern California’s monthly meeting at Pasand’s Lounge, Berkeley, California, on Dec 20, 1992.
Of this edition of the Jelly Roll Jazz Band, several members are no longer with us. Yost and Sonnanstine died several years ago, and recently Giomi passed away at the age of eighty-two. The rest are still active: Slack leads his own band, the San Francisco Feetwarmers, based in Berkeley; Gould is located on the San Francisco Peninsula; Sealy plays with the Gold Coast Jazz Band, among others, up in the wine region of Sonoma; Mangan is now living in the Northern California town of Eureka; and Shafer, of course, still leads his groups in the East Bay of the San Francisco area.
The Jelly Roll Jazz Band’s book is comprised of many tunes associated with the King Oliver and the Lu Watters bands, and this CD contains a good selection of such. The two cornets work very well together—witness, for example, the flawless chromatic runs on Snake Rag. I have always been partial to Yost’s playing. Most of the arrangements are by Sonnanstine and Robin Wetterau, and the band does them justice. Where there is opportunity for an improvised solo, they all rise to the occasion. It was good to hear again Roy Giomi, whom I had not heard for several years. Even though this recording was made some thirty-odd years after those made by the Bay City Jazz Band, whose clarinetist Giomi was, he was still a fine clarinet player, as this record shows. Sonnanstine was another musician with impeccable credentials and here is in top form, as usual. I have always also enjoyed Sonnanstine’s vocals, all of them unfortunately a bit under-miked here—one of the perils of recording live with portable equipment. Another hazard is crowd noise, but fortunately it is minimal and does not interfere with the listening enjoyment.
The back line holds its own as well. Gould displays considerable inventiveness in his solos and solidly backs the ensembles. On tuba Seely lays down a firm underpinning for the ensembles with a robust performance. The two remaining members of the rhythm section, Shafer on banjo and Mangan on drums, complete the West Coast sound of the band, Shafer’s chords being on target and Mangan displaying great taste as he punctuates each tune’s passages, be they ensemble or solo, with judicious use of wood block, choke cymbal, or snare work.
This is a recording of a fine performance by the Jelly Roll Jazz Band that was well worth issuing and is well worth a place on your CD shelf. It can be ordered directly from Merry Makers Record Company, 926 Beechwood Circle, Suisun City, CA 94585, the toll-free number being 1-866-563-4433. The cost, post paid, is $16.00. Other mail order sites that carry Merry Makers Records can probably also provide it.
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