Dans les rues d'Antibes Climax Jazz Band 1996

 Sidney Bechet composed this wonderful tune "Dans les rues d'Antibes" in the mid fifties when he lived in France. I have been in love with this tune since the early seventies and after we had Jim Buchmann, who joined our Toronto Climax Jazz Band in 1976 we have recorded this tune several times. Jim is an excellent soprano sax player and plays the saxello, which is a slightly curved soprano sax built in 1930 by the King instrument family and later replaced by the more mellow sounding fully curved sopsax that looks like a miniature alto sax.
Then some 20 years later, just before I left the band to move to British Columbia we played a series of concerts in Japan.
In our Climax band we had for these concerts a majority of Dutch musicians in the band.
Yes folks, the Dutch can do it. 4 Dutchmen, 2 Brits, a Canadian and an American!
Pieter Meijers played fantastic soprano sax, on the carillon in the tower Jacques Maassen pumped out some chording, my friend since kindergarden ( kleuterschool ) Jacques ( now Jack) Vincken played banjo (and in this tune a very nice solo as well) and I played cornet. For these concerts I was able to borrow a goldplated Getzen cornet from my collector friend Dick Luker.
Our regular announcer/bassplayer Chis Daniels ( a Brit) would always announce myself first and then mention that one Dutchman in a band is more than enough following the announcement of banjoist Jack Vincken. I can laugh about his British sense of humor but it certainly felt good to be in the majority with these talented originally Dutch musicians.

Love is just around the corner Dixieland Seven 1965

The Dixieland Seven from the Netherlands 1965!
Bob Erwig trumpet, Joop Postma clarinet, Jan Meeuwisse trombone, Dick Posthuma piano, Ad Funcke guitar, Willem Van Den Bos bass, Ted de Jong drums.
In 1965 I was member of a very talented local band while still living in the Netherlands. I played trumpet in The Dixieland Seven of Naarden-Bussum, a suburb town of Amsterdam.
We had a swinging rhythm section and played very much in the Eddy Condon idiom.
Our band was the winner at the AVRO radio competition that year and the price was to play a concert in the concerthall of the Kurhaus Hotel in Scheveningen with New Orleans clarinettist Albert Nicholas.
Unfortunately that concert was probably never recorded but that same year we ended up in a Hilversum recording studio to play some tunes.
I' am quite proud of these recordings and like to post one for you on dailymotion.
When we were visiting Holland a few years later I had my old 8mm movie camera and while standing in my brother's car I filmed the streets and avenues of Naarden-Bussum, the town we grew up in.
In combining these movie clips with the music You'll get an idea of where this all happened.

When you're smilin' Climax JB/ Spiegle Wilcox 1988

Climax Jazz Band in 1988 in Syracuse New York.
The band did a concert gig for the Syracuse Jazz Society. It was in a old theater where Bix had played with the Goldkette Band in 1927. I would swear that the heavy-duty curtains behind the stage were still the same.
We had two special guests sitting in. Spiegle Wilcox who remembered the room and the 1927 concert, and yes, he recognized the curtains as well.
Then another guest came in. He was drummer George Reed. George had recorded in the early sixties with Henri Red Allen, he had been a member of the Wilbur deParis Band and I had first heard him several times in Toronto's famous Colonial Tavern where he played with the Saints and Sinners in 1968 or so with Herman Autrey tpt, Gene Sedric clt/ts, both from the former Fats Waller Band, Vic Dickenson tb, Red Richards pno/ldr, Danny Mastri bass and George Reed drums. Both Danny and George eventually moved to Toronto and we have been able to play together on many occasions. Then George moved back to New York State and we lost contact. So it was darn good to see George again.
In the clip we have invited both Spiegle and George to join our band for a few tunes. We had just purchased a big Sony video 8 recorder and my wife Ilse filmed this clip.

Lady be Good Lewis Mick 1991

Clarinettist Mick Lewis was a member of our Climax Jazz Band from 1981 until 2002 and is now more or less retired from music. I had the pleasure to play with him for more than 15 years. We probably did some 200 jazz festivals together and some 1500 gigs. Mick was not just a great bandsman, but was most often featured with solo pieces, which got audiences hopping.
Mick, originally from the English Midlands was very much influenced by Acker Bilk and Monty Sunshine and loved the George Lewis original recordings.
In this clip Mick plays his own special feature arrangement of Lady Be Good during the 1991 Indianapolis Jazz Festival
In the full band:
Bob Erwig, Mick Lewis, Peter Sagerman, Jack Vincken, Chris Daniels, Jamie Aug

The Favourite Climax Jazz Band 1979

For 25 years between 1971 and 1996 I was the cornettist of Toronto's Climax Jazz Band. Here in 1979 we play a fairly unknown Scott Joplin composition called "The Favourite".
We were part one of the shows Peter Appleyard hosted in Albert's Hall in the Brunswick Hotel on Bloor Street West in Toronto.
Our band played there 6 nights a week between 1971 and 1976. We had left for another location in town and between 1977 and 1979 William C. Cooke produced a total of more than 75 twenty three minute jazz shows in Albert's Hall.
In the band: Geoff Holmes trombone, Jim Buchmann clarinet, Bob Erwig cornet, Jacques Vincken banjo, Chris Daniels bass and Max Littlejohns drums.

Careless Love Climax Jazz Band/Carol Leigh 1976 

Carol Leigh vocal, Bob Erwig cornet, Jim Buchmann saxello, Geoff Holmes trombone, Jack Vincken banjo, Chris Daniels bass, Steve Tattersall drums.
Many of you have seen some great jazz artists performing as guests on the Peter Appleyard shows produced between 1976 and 1979. More than 75 of these 25-minute shows were recorded by producer Bill Cooke.
It all started with a meeting between Bill and myself together with our trombonist Geoff Holmes.
Our Climax Jazz Band would be part of the "Pilot" project with an invited guest performer. That day we would record two shows. On behalf of Bill and his Company we invited New Orleans clarinettist Joe Cornbread and a singer from Connecticut. We had heard Carol Leigh as the vocalist of Chicago's Salty Dogs a few years before and we had become friends with her after she performed for a week at DJ's Tavern, the newly opened 330-seat club in Toronto's new Hydro building where we played 6 nights a week.
On the day of the recording there was a lot of excitement in the air. The recording crew's first experience with a live jazz situation, our first jazz show, Carol's tremendous enthousiasm and a totally sympathetic crowd.
All the Appleyard shows were recorded in a small room called Albert's Hall on the second floor of the Brunswick House, a famous pub in Toronto's University area on Bloor Street West.
Our band initially was formed in Albert's Hall in 1971 after having replied to a newspaper ad where owner Albert Nightingale asked for a dixie band. He hoped to have more success with jazz than with the wrestling dwarfs we would replace. We stayed there for about five years.
In this opening clip Carol Leigh sings the Careless Love Blues, a tune first recorded in 1925 by Bessie Smith with Louis Armstrong on cornet.

Crazy Rhythm Climax JB/ Dick Cary 1977

In 1977 pianist,alto horn player Dick Cary was invited to be the featured guest with our Climax Jazz Band at one of the Peter Appeyard TV shows. In this clip Bob Erwig, Geoff Holmes and Jack Vincken take a backseat and Jim Buchmann does a feature together with Peter on vibes and Dick Cary on piano. One of the swingiest pianoplayers! He did that with Louis in 1948 and later with Condon, but what an honour, this time he was ours.
Dick Cary, best-known for his stint with Louis Armstrong's All-Stars (1947-1948), was most significant as a behind-the-scenes arranger and freelance musician in the trad jazz movement. He made his recording debut with Joe Marsala (1942), worked as a soloist at Nick's (1942-1943), and played for short periods with the Casa Loma Orchestra and Brad Gowans. While in the Army (1944-1946), he was able to keep on recording, including with Muggsy Spanier and Wild Bill Davison. After playing with Billy Butterfield and Louis Armstrong, Cary was with Jimmy Dorsey's big band (1949-1950); wrote arrangements and played alto horn on Eddie Condon's television shows; and, throughout the 1950s, played and wrote for the Condon gang, recording with Condon, Pee Wee Russell, Max Kaminsky, Bud Freeman, Jimmy McPartland, Bobby Hackett, and others. In 1959, he settled in Los Angeles, working as a freelance musician up until his death in 1994.

Royal Garden Blues Climax JB 1991

A few hours ago I posted Royal Garden Blues with Wild Bill Davison on trumpet. A recording done in 1964.
Going through some of my files I found my own recording of Royal Garden Blues some 27 years later.
Of course the styles of playing have changed for all of us, but my initial love for Bill Davison is always in my mind when playing that tune.
This tune is such a standard that normally when making a recording it is not going to be used. Too common. One looks for something more special, more obscure, something that hopefully makes you stand out.
To me it was amazing that not having seen this clip for some 15 years, I was pleasantly surprised.
Here in Canada one of my favourite trombonists in our style in Toronto is Peter Sagerman. Peter plays much more in the Condon idiom than our regular trombonist. At this jazz festival in Indianapolis our Lennie couldn't make it and it was a real pleasure to have Pete on trombone.
Of course this limited us with our fancy arrangements and we had to fall back to more standard tunes.
Mick Lewis on clarinet is like a cameleon type player. If the idiom changes slightly Mick always handles it beautifully. Looking back I specially like some of the ensemble dynamics.
So it is with great pleasure to offer you our Indianapolis version of Royal Garden Blues.
Bob Erwig, Mick Lewis, Peter Sagerman, Jack Vincken, Chris Daniels, Jamie Aug