Once again, Geoff got up just before my alarm, which was set for 8. We showered, and went out for breakfast, and were back in plenty of time for Josh's seminar about Chauncey Moorhouse at 9am. It was great - he clearly knows his stuff, and I learnt quite a lot. He showed lots of photos, and played recordings of songs, and of Chauncey speaking. There were three members of the family in the audience, who had contributed material, and there was a good handful of music historians ready to add to, or challenge, Josh's information. I really enjoyed it, and am keen to find out more and do some listening when I get home.
I got myself organised, and went out on a mission. Firstly, I walked to the end of the street to look at Bix's statue. I had to brush of some spider webs before I could take photos. It's a nice statue - placed with other Davenport locals who've contributed to the Bix 7 race. From there, I walked back down to 2nd St to find Trash Can Annie's. It's a great shop, with loads of clothes from many different eras. The woman who owns it, Laura, is very sweet (she hugged me twice), and she took my measurements so I could find what would fit. Apparently, she played Bix's girlfriend in an Italian film made about him, which Geoff has a copy of by the way. I didn't find anything I immediately had to have (though there was a beautiful sky blue Audrey Hepburn-style woven suit, and a slim heavy linen pencil dress), but Laura said she'd look into some 1920s drop-waist dresses for me (and took more detailed measurements).
From there, I walked to the only thing resembling a supermarket in Davenport, which is only two blocks away from the Blackhawk. I bought crips, chocolate, apples, Oreos, and a roll for lunch (the bananas looked awful), and then hurried back to the hotel to catch as much of Andy's band as I could. As it was, I stayed in the room longer than I intended, and didn't see much of it. There was no space in the Gold Room, and so I hovered up on the mezzanine, at the back. They were excellent, but didn't make as much of an impression on me as they had in the Putnam. Next on were the West End band, and I ventured to the front to see if there were any seats. I found out that the first three rows were set aside for patrons and sponsors. As I looked for a spare seat, Betty and Trevor called out to me. Fortuitously, there was a spare seat right next to them. I happily sat, and enjoyed the West End band. It had Andy (playing a second set back to back), John Otto, Frank Gualtieri on trombone (who was excellent), Leah Bezin on banjo/guitar, her husband on drums, and a guy on bass who I can't remember. They were sitting down, and playing from very good arrangements. I got some good photos.
Next on was Josh's band. They did an excellent job. At either this or the Col, they played Casa Loma Stomp, and it was nearly as good as Michael's band. They had a young girl playing Slipping Around on trombone, and she was excellent, and also three female vocalists, who sang together, with some comical interjections from Josh. It was a good gig.
After them was the Bix Youth Band. I fully intended to watch all of them, but I got too hungry, and so left my camera case on my seat and ran up to eat my roll. I put half of the avocado from Walmart on it. I ended up chatting to Geoff, but still managed to get half an hour of the youth band. It's effectively a big band with doubled reeds (apart from first tenor and bari). They sounded fine as a band, and there were some very good solos from a handful of them. The girl playing bari was very good. It was great to see them.
Last on was Vince's band, and it was obvious that this was what people had been waiting for. Jon gave me a wave as he was setting up. I was sitting directly in front of the reed section (in the magnitude of two or three metres away) and I was absolutely awestruck. Everything was together, and tight, and perfectly articulated, and energetic, and just amazing. Again I got some good photos. Vince was unimpressed with having nothing in the monitors. I assume it got fixed. They did a great 'Puttin' on the Ritz', and 'I'd Love It'. Can't remember any of the other tunes, but I don't remember ever being quite so excited at a gig ever. Just stunning.
There was then an hour break, and I managed to catch Jon at the bar afterwards, and said hello and got a quick hug. I told him how phenomenal the band was and he seemed slightly embarrassed. Jim came along and started fretting that no one else had turned up for a 6pm gig, and Jon drifted away to talk to other people. I went to see whether Geoff had fallen asleep or something. He hadn't. We chatted about the bands I'd seen, and he got dressed. I had a snack, and headed down to LeClaire Park.
First up was the Statesmen of Jazz, featuring Dick Hyman, who'd been recommended to me by Neil and Geoff. They were excellent. The trumpet player (Randy Sandke) is awesome, but something of a show-off; the clarinet player is very short and round, but extremely good - particularly in the very top of the range. Dick is a fairly god-like player, and their vibes player - a little man with a shock of white hair - is a brilliant powerhouse once he gets going. I think someone told me that he'd played with Benny Goodman. And Trevor Rippingale. All the greats. [Post script: His name is Peter Appleyard, and he played with Benny Goodman's sextet in the early 1970s. Sadly, he died in 2013 - he was well over 80 years old.] Very unfortunately, it started raining after about 20 minutes, and they stopped. The rain stopped, they started again, but then when the rain came back, the sound guy had to cover everything up.
They didn't start again until about quarter to, at which time the Wolverines were lining up to play. They played up to the hour, and then the Wolverines set up. Their set wasn't very strong. It started raining again, but they just moved back and kept playing. Trevor and Jim were clearly distracted and playing badly. Geoff was fine, as was the rhythm section. They packed up, and on came Jim Greer's band. I knew nothing about them at all, so I was pleasantly surprised to discover that they were similar in style to the Creole Bells, but with no weak links. I enjoyed their set.
Vince's band were milling around, and Vince himself was looking increasingly annoyed. Jim Greer played until quarter past, and so by the time the mammoth set up was finished, it was half past. Vince's gripe this time was about the bright stage lights pointing at them, making it impossible to see their music. At least the rain had stopped. And there were no flies.
The lights were finally fixed by the sound guy (even though it wasn't his job), which meant that any photos I took wouldn't work, but hey. Their set was good, but nowhere near as good as their first. They were just too far away, and it's difficult to amplify every nuance. A goods train came through while Vince was announcing a tune, and blasted the horn for seconds on end. The violin player managed to work out the pitches and double stop them. The horn kept interrupting Vince, and he was starting to get annoyed again. As it crawled through to nearly level, I suspect the driver saw that he'd be interrupting if he blew it again, at which point Vince bellowed at it, challenging it to blast one more time. Just one more time. It didn't. They moved on.
Notable tunes were 'Tain't So and a slow version of Happy Feet (one of three they have in the book). They played through until 11.20 and I walked back. The Battle of the Bands was raging noisily. Geoff was already in bed - he chastised me for not making myself known at LeClaire. He'd assumed I'd given up long before.. All the bands had made a point of thanking the truly committed members of the audience who'd sat through the weather. I was exhausted and fell into bed.
I got myself organised, and went out on a mission. Firstly, I walked to the end of the street to look at Bix's statue. I had to brush of some spider webs before I could take photos. It's a nice statue - placed with other Davenport locals who've contributed to the Bix 7 race. From there, I walked back down to 2nd St to find Trash Can Annie's. It's a great shop, with loads of clothes from many different eras. The woman who owns it, Laura, is very sweet (she hugged me twice), and she took my measurements so I could find what would fit. Apparently, she played Bix's girlfriend in an Italian film made about him, which Geoff has a copy of by the way. I didn't find anything I immediately had to have (though there was a beautiful sky blue Audrey Hepburn-style woven suit, and a slim heavy linen pencil dress), but Laura said she'd look into some 1920s drop-waist dresses for me (and took more detailed measurements).
From there, I walked to the only thing resembling a supermarket in Davenport, which is only two blocks away from the Blackhawk. I bought crips, chocolate, apples, Oreos, and a roll for lunch (the bananas looked awful), and then hurried back to the hotel to catch as much of Andy's band as I could. As it was, I stayed in the room longer than I intended, and didn't see much of it. There was no space in the Gold Room, and so I hovered up on the mezzanine, at the back. They were excellent, but didn't make as much of an impression on me as they had in the Putnam. Next on were the West End band, and I ventured to the front to see if there were any seats. I found out that the first three rows were set aside for patrons and sponsors. As I looked for a spare seat, Betty and Trevor called out to me. Fortuitously, there was a spare seat right next to them. I happily sat, and enjoyed the West End band. It had Andy (playing a second set back to back), John Otto, Frank Gualtieri on trombone (who was excellent), Leah Bezin on banjo/guitar, her husband on drums, and a guy on bass who I can't remember. They were sitting down, and playing from very good arrangements. I got some good photos.
Next on was Josh's band. They did an excellent job. At either this or the Col, they played Casa Loma Stomp, and it was nearly as good as Michael's band. They had a young girl playing Slipping Around on trombone, and she was excellent, and also three female vocalists, who sang together, with some comical interjections from Josh. It was a good gig.
After them was the Bix Youth Band. I fully intended to watch all of them, but I got too hungry, and so left my camera case on my seat and ran up to eat my roll. I put half of the avocado from Walmart on it. I ended up chatting to Geoff, but still managed to get half an hour of the youth band. It's effectively a big band with doubled reeds (apart from first tenor and bari). They sounded fine as a band, and there were some very good solos from a handful of them. The girl playing bari was very good. It was great to see them.
Last on was Vince's band, and it was obvious that this was what people had been waiting for. Jon gave me a wave as he was setting up. I was sitting directly in front of the reed section (in the magnitude of two or three metres away) and I was absolutely awestruck. Everything was together, and tight, and perfectly articulated, and energetic, and just amazing. Again I got some good photos. Vince was unimpressed with having nothing in the monitors. I assume it got fixed. They did a great 'Puttin' on the Ritz', and 'I'd Love It'. Can't remember any of the other tunes, but I don't remember ever being quite so excited at a gig ever. Just stunning.
There was then an hour break, and I managed to catch Jon at the bar afterwards, and said hello and got a quick hug. I told him how phenomenal the band was and he seemed slightly embarrassed. Jim came along and started fretting that no one else had turned up for a 6pm gig, and Jon drifted away to talk to other people. I went to see whether Geoff had fallen asleep or something. He hadn't. We chatted about the bands I'd seen, and he got dressed. I had a snack, and headed down to LeClaire Park.
First up was the Statesmen of Jazz, featuring Dick Hyman, who'd been recommended to me by Neil and Geoff. They were excellent. The trumpet player (Randy Sandke) is awesome, but something of a show-off; the clarinet player is very short and round, but extremely good - particularly in the very top of the range. Dick is a fairly god-like player, and their vibes player - a little man with a shock of white hair - is a brilliant powerhouse once he gets going. I think someone told me that he'd played with Benny Goodman. And Trevor Rippingale. All the greats. [Post script: His name is Peter Appleyard, and he played with Benny Goodman's sextet in the early 1970s. Sadly, he died in 2013 - he was well over 80 years old.] Very unfortunately, it started raining after about 20 minutes, and they stopped. The rain stopped, they started again, but then when the rain came back, the sound guy had to cover everything up.
They didn't start again until about quarter to, at which time the Wolverines were lining up to play. They played up to the hour, and then the Wolverines set up. Their set wasn't very strong. It started raining again, but they just moved back and kept playing. Trevor and Jim were clearly distracted and playing badly. Geoff was fine, as was the rhythm section. They packed up, and on came Jim Greer's band. I knew nothing about them at all, so I was pleasantly surprised to discover that they were similar in style to the Creole Bells, but with no weak links. I enjoyed their set.
Vince's band were milling around, and Vince himself was looking increasingly annoyed. Jim Greer played until quarter past, and so by the time the mammoth set up was finished, it was half past. Vince's gripe this time was about the bright stage lights pointing at them, making it impossible to see their music. At least the rain had stopped. And there were no flies.
The lights were finally fixed by the sound guy (even though it wasn't his job), which meant that any photos I took wouldn't work, but hey. Their set was good, but nowhere near as good as their first. They were just too far away, and it's difficult to amplify every nuance. A goods train came through while Vince was announcing a tune, and blasted the horn for seconds on end. The violin player managed to work out the pitches and double stop them. The horn kept interrupting Vince, and he was starting to get annoyed again. As it crawled through to nearly level, I suspect the driver saw that he'd be interrupting if he blew it again, at which point Vince bellowed at it, challenging it to blast one more time. Just one more time. It didn't. They moved on.
Notable tunes were 'Tain't So and a slow version of Happy Feet (one of three they have in the book). They played through until 11.20 and I walked back. The Battle of the Bands was raging noisily. Geoff was already in bed - he chastised me for not making myself known at LeClaire. He'd assumed I'd given up long before.. All the bands had made a point of thanking the truly committed members of the audience who'd sat through the weather. I was exhausted and fell into bed.
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