BLAST FROM THE PAST: THE ORIGINAL BLACK EAGLE JAZZ BAND

My old friend and former bandmate Tony Pringle recently sent me this photo of one of the earliest appearances of our Black Eagle Jazz Band in Peterborough, New Hampshire, in 1970. (That's me on the right sporting an afro and a Harvard crew shirt.) Other members of the band are Pringle on cornet, Ray Smith on drums, Jim Klippert on trombone, Eli Newberger on piano, and Dave Duquette on banjo.
Tony and I put the original group together in about 1969. Tony, a computer engineer, had recently arrived from Liverpool (via Ohio) and was looking for musicians who shared his passion of George Lewis-style New Orleans jazz. Somebody gave him my name, so he showed up at my dorm at Harvard one day and we immediately decided to put together a group of like-minded musicians in the Boston area. The guys in this photo were the first "generation" of the Black Eagles.
Soon after this photo was taken, Pam Pameijer took over on drums;  Duquette moved to Texas and Peter Bullis filled the banjo chair. That was the group that recorded with Chester Zardis on bass in 1971 and played that year in the second New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, with Kid Ory on the front row. Ory shook our hands after the concert and praised the band—an unforgettable moment. Later that year, I graduated and left for Oxford, Klippert moved to California, and the band continued under Tony's leadership as the New Black Eagle Jazz Band. More than four decades later the NBEJB is still playing and prospering.

NEW ORLEANS MAG TOUTS "HYMNS & SPIRITUALS"

Jason Berry (bless his heart) made this nice mention of our "Hymns & Spirituals" CD in his latest column for New Orleans Magazine. Excerpts:

Clarinetist Tommy Sancton and pianist Lars Edegran do a splendid job on instrumental versions of  songs from those early quartets and the repertoire of street bands. Hymns & Spirituals. New Orleans Quartet (NOL-CD-99) culls 14 songs that were recorded at live performances in Trinity Episcopal Church, between 2007 and ’09.

Since Sancton returned several years ago to his hometown after a journalist’s career in Paris, the one-time student of the peerless George Lewis has become a mainstay of the traditional jazz community. On numbers like “In the Garden” and “Abide With Me,” Edegran’s anchoring work on piano gives Sancton room to roam; his lines quaver and soar like a vocalist in flight. Of all the instruments in the classic jazz ensemble – or a parade band for that matter – the clarinet is the woodwind that, at its best, comes closest to intoning a feminine essence.

In his memoir, Song For My Fathers, Sancton writes of his lessons under George Lewis: “He would go up and down the horn, weaving in and out, sometimes harmonizing with the melody, sometimes leaving space and playing a counterpoint, something laying down a rhythmic arpeggio. His tone was gorgeous, especially when he let his horn sing out on the long notes with his plaintive vibrato.”

The “plaintive vibrato” is every clarinetist’s goal, fusing the sadness and sweetness that give church song an essence of the blues. “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen” has a slow moody blues melancholia to fit a harmonizing quartet, with no musical accompaniment, or a clarinetist undulating across a landscape of African-American memory, the notes supplanting the tolling lines of sorrow.

Lars Edegran’s supple piano gives Hymns & Spirituals a base line to dramatize the nature of melody, a songline that draws its beauty, instrumentally and in human voices, which swing together.

Order online:

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/tommysanctonlarsedegrann

VIVA TUJAGUE'S!

Thank goodness for Mark Latter. He's the man who saved Tujague's from becoming a seedy French Quarter T-shirt shop and preserved New Orleans's second oldest restaurant (est. 1856) following the death of his father, longtime owner Steven Latter, last February. Sylvaine and I had lunch there last week and were delighted by the elegant sobriety of the decor—white tiles, white walls, starched white tablecloths—the service, and especially the food. Though I grew up in New Orleans, I must confess that I had only eaten there once before, with my mother en route to Preservation Hall back in the 60's. What I had on that occasion was what Sylvaine and I ordered this time: the famous beef brisket with horseradish sauce. It was better than in my memory. Sylvaine, who is very picky about food and restaurants, announced that it was in fact a French pot au feu—potted beef stewed with vegetables—and found it excellent. (To be thoroughly French, though, she said it needed some leeks along with the carrots and potatoes.) For starters, Sylvaine had the shrimp remoulade and I had the gumbo. The shrimp were cooked to perfection—that is, not overcooked and rubbery as is often the case—and the remoulade sauce was zesty and piquant comme il faut. I've had better gumbo, but this one was decent.

What I appreciated about Tujague's was its respect for tradition mixed with a total lack of pretension. That is in keeping with its history. It was never a fancy restaurant for the silk stocking crowd and well-heeled tourists. It began as a place where the vendors at the French Market ate breakfast or lunch during their long workdays. My great grandfather, Simon Palanque, was a French-born butcher at the market and, I presume, a regular at Tujague's and the now defunct Begué's. Thanks again, Mark Latter. We'll be back. Maybe even today...

GIGLIST - JANUARY 2014

Sunday, December 29: Preservation Hall, 726 St. Peter St., with Clive Wilson's New Orleans Serenaders. 8 - 11 pm

Sunday, January 5: Preservation Hall, 726 St. Peter St., with the New Orleans Legacy Band. 8 - 11 pm.

Wednesday, January 8: Palm Court, with Lars Edegran's Palm Court All Stars, featuring vocalist Topsy Chapman. 8 - 11 pm.

Sunday, January 12: Preservation Hall, 726 St. Peter St., with Lars Edegran All Stars. 8 - 11 pm.

Wednesday, January 15: Palm Court, with Lars Edegran's Palm Court All Stars, featuring vocalist Topsy Chapman. 8 - 11 pm.

Thursday, January 16: Jazz at Twilight, Pavilion of the Two Sisters, City Park, with the New Orleans legacy Band. 6 - 7:45 pm.

Sunday, January 19: Preservation Hall, 726 St. Peter St., with the New Orleans Legacy Band. 8 - 11 pm.

Tuesday, January 21: Columns Hotel, with John Rankin and the Classic Jazz Trio. 8 - 11 pm.

Wednesday, January 22: Palm Court, with Lars Edegran's Palm Court All Stars, featuring vocalist Topsy Chapman. 8 - 11 pm.

Wednesday, January 22: Palm Court, with Lars Edegran's Palm Court All Stars, featuring vocalist Topsy Chapman. 8 - 11 pm.

Sunday, January 5: Preservation Hall, 726 St. Peter St., with the Lars Edegran All Stars. 8 - 11 pm.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

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

TOM SANCTON GIGLIST - DECEMBER 2013

With Charlie Fardella and Ronell Johnson at Palm Court. Photo: Eliot Kamenitz

Wednesday, December 11: Palm Court, with Lars Edegran's Palm Court All Stars, featuring vocalist Topsy Chapman. 8 - 11 pm.
CONCERT CANCELLED DUE TO THE DEATH OF PALM COURT OWNER GEORGE H. BUCK.

Sunday, December 15: Preservation Hall, 726 St. Peter St., with Tommy Sancton's New Orleans Legacy Band. 8 - 11 pm.

Sunday, December 22: Preservation Hall, 726 St. Peter St., with Lars Edegran's All Star Band. 8 - 11 pm

Wednesday, December 29: Preservation Hall, 726 St. Peter St., with Clive Wilson's New Orleans Serenaders. 8 - 11 pm

"LAFAYETTE, THEY ARE HERE!" JAMMING WITH THE VINTAGE JAZZMEN

Had a ball sitting in with the Vintage Jazzmen of France at Maison last Friday. The band, led by trumpeter Dan Vernhettes, was in town for a series of appearances in connection with Dan's new book, "Jazz Puzzles," a beautifully illustrated and well-researched collection of essays and anecdotes related to the history of New Orleans jazz. The band played at the National Jazz Park in the Old U.S. Mint on November 12, at the Palm Court on November 14, and at Maison on the 15th.

I was especially glad to see the guys and jam with them because this was my regular band when I lived in France. My friendships with some of the musicians, notably clarinet/trumpet player Michel "Boss" Quéraud, go back more than four decades. In addition to being a superb musician, Boss is a talented illustrator, who drew the cover of Dan's book.
After the gig, we retreated to Fiorella's on Decatur for some down home New Orleans food.

A MEMORABLE NIGHT AT PRESERVATION HALL—AND A ROB RYAN SIGHTING AT MS MAE'S

Photo © 2013 by Sébastien Chaillot

Memorable night at Preservation Hall on Sunday. The place was packed with crowds so exuberant (or drunk) that the whooping and hooting from the front row sounded at times like a pep rally at a high school football game. The band, led by Lars Edegran, was in especially good form. Personnel included Ronell "Who Dat" Johnson on trombone, Clive Wilson on trumpet, Walter Harris on drums, Richard Moten on bass, and yours truly on clarinet. Among the numbers we played: There'll be some Changes Made, Who's Sorry Now?, China Boy, Sweetheart of Sigma Chi, High Society, Song of the Wanderer, Basin Street, Poor Butterfly, and, Ronell's specialty, Make Me a Pallet on the Floor. Things got really wild during the last set when members of the Kinfolk Brass Band showed up and jammed with us on a window-rattling rendition of The Saints. Quite appropriate, considering what was happening down in the Superdome last night.
Torn between my musical obligations and my devotion to the Saints, I kept ducking out during the breaks to watch the Saints-Cowboys game in the bar across the street. Every time I poked my hear in there, Drew Brees had thrown another touchdown pass. When I went over there after the last set, I couldn't believe the final score of 49-17. I got a little Saints lagniappe on my drive home: at the corner of Magazine and Napoleon, I spotted the Saints' silver-locked defensive coordinator Rob Ryan heading into the door of Ms Mae's all-night bar. Apparently this has become a ritual for Ryan after Saints home games. May he continue to have cause to celebrate.

SYLVAINE SIGNS AT THE LOUISIANA BOOK FESTIVAL—AND MEETS THE GHOST OF JOHN JAMES AUDUBON

Sylvaine was one of more than 200 authors on hand to sign their books at the Louisiana Book Festival in Baton Rouge last Saturday. On a perfect fall day, the event attracted thousands of visitors eager to check out books, listen to storytellers and musicians, and sample the Louisiana fare—including shrimp po-boys, jambalaya, and red beans. Sylvaine chatted with readers and signed copies of "Some Birds..." at three different book stands: Pelican Publishing, the Alliance Française, and the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.

We spent the previous day in Saint Francisville and visited Oakley Plantation, where John James Audubon stayed while he painted his famous series on Louisiana Birds. Sylvaine felt a special kinship to the place since her book features photos of birds taken mostly in Audubon Park. In fact, we both sensed a presence in the room he once occupied. Could he be a ghostly fan of "Some Birds..."?

Sylvaine's next signings will take place at Barnes & Noble in Mandeville this Friday, Nov. 8, and at Octavia Books, 513 Octavia Street, New Orleans 70115, from 1:30-3:30 pm., on Saturday, Nov. 9. Here's a link to Octavia's invitation: http://www.octaviabooks.com/event/sylvaine-sancton-some-birds