ADIEU, GEORGE BUCK

Photo by Tom Jacobsen

We held a jazz funeral parade for George H. Buck, Jr., on Saturday, December 20. The procession went from the Charbonnet Funeral Home on Claiborne and St. Philip, through the Treme neighborhood to St. Mary's Church on Chartres Street, then on to the Palm Court for a reception hosted by George's widow, Nina Buck and his son George S. "Bo" Buck.

It was a moving and stately event, reminding me of George Lewis's funeral in 1969, at which I played the Eb clarinet with the Olympia Brass Band. This band, put together by Lars Edegran, was composed mainly of musicians who play at the Palm Court and/or recorded for George's G.H.B. label. Here is a list of the personnel, as best  I can remember: Clive Wilson, Leroy Jones, Herlin Riley, Tobias Dolle, trumpets; Craig Klein, Lucien Barbarin, Robert Harris, Katja Toivola, trombones; Tom Fischer, James Evans, saxophones; Tim Laughlin, Evan Christopher and myself, clarinets; Kerry Brown, Walter Harris, Herman Lebeaux, Shannon Powell, drums; Lars Edegran, Seva Venet, banjos; Jeffrey Hill, sousaphone.

As the antique horse-drawn hearse advanced, the band played a medley of traditional hymns and dirges. Among them:  Closer Walk, The Old Rugged Cross, Bye and Bye, Lead Me Savior, In the Sweet Bye and Bye, Abide With Me, followed by the more up tempo Second Line. At the church service, which attracted a full house of attendees, the Rev. William Maestri gave the eulogy and Topsy Chapman sang "Amazing Grace" and "His Eye is on the Sparrow."
It was a fitting tribute for a man who shared his passion for traditional jazz with so many people and did so much to record, preserve, and diffuse New Orleans music around the world. R.I.P., George Buck, and thank you.

For more information about George H. Buck and the George H. Buck, Jr. Jazz Foundation:
jazzology.com

TREME COMES TO PRESERVATION HALL

Playing at Preservation Hall has been a thrill for me ever since I first sat in with George Lewis in 1962. But yesterday's taping for the HBO Treme series was especially exciting—even if we had to play the same tune ten times.

Invited by trumpeter Wendell Brunious to join his band for the occasion, I found myself surrounded by some of the city's—no, the world's—top traditional jazzmen: Don Vappie on banjo, Gerald French on drums, Thaddeus Richard on piano, and Richard Moten on bass. New Orleans-born actor Wendell Pierce rounded out the band, miming the trombone part while Rebirth Brass Band trombonist Stafford Agee did the real playing off camera. (Pierce is not in this photo, taken during a run-through.)

The taping of our five-minute sequence took seven hours, allowing for numerous camera, lighting, and microphone changes as we played and replayed "My Bucket's Got a Hole in it" and several dozen technicians scurried around doing their thing. Their seven production vans lined St. Peter Street from the corner of Bourbon all the way down to Royal. There was a lot of down time, which allowed us to talk musician-trash among ourselves and chat with some of the people behind the great HBO series. I enjoyed talking with actor Wendell Pierce and learned that he, like Treme writer Lolis Elie, were both alumni of my high school, Benjamin Franklin. Despite the difference in our generations, it turns out they had some of the same teachers I had back in the 60s. Also got the chance to meet Treme's executive producer, Eric Overmyer, an unconditional fan of New Orleans music and culture, which he has done so much to honor and preserve with this series. Our sequence should run some time next fall. Stay tuned...

NEW ORLEANS MAG REVIEW

Jason Berry wrote a nice review of our recent "Classic Jazz Trio" CD in the latest issue of New Orleans Magazine. He deftly intertwines the use of music and memory in the "Tremé" HBO series with our approach to celebrating the culture with two clarinets (me and Tom Fischer) and a guitar (John Rankin). I can't quibble with Jason's conclusion: "The Classic Jazz Trio is a gem. New Orleans-Style is a world of melody that makes people dance in a town where music is a continuing performance of memory."http://tinyurl.com/354pjp7