This is the first segment of the session from November 23, 1988. The musicians are Jimmy Mazzy (banjo/vocals), John Kafalas (trombone), Don Frothingham (piano), Hans Brack (bass), and Stu Grover (drums). The selections are “Varsity Drag,” “Why Was I Born,” and “Eenie, Meenie, Mynie, Moe.”
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The third portion of the November 16, 1988 session at Ephraim’s, with Jimmy Mazzy (banjo/vocals), Fred Lind (cornet), Paul Meymaris (clarinet), Don Frothingham (piano), and John Kafalas (tuba). The selections are “Just You, Just Me,” “I Just Couldn’t Take It Baby,” “Wherever There’s Love” and “My Gal Sal,” with vocals by Carrie Mazzy, and “Put ‘em Down Blues.”
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This program features the Jack Webb Jazz Band of Flagstaff, Arizona, in a set from May 6th, 2000 at Joe’s Place in downtown Flagstaff. The musicians are Prof. Guy Senese (cornet), John Sexton (trombone), Dominic Lalli (reeds), myself John Kafalas on tuba, and Frankie on drums — I’m afraid I don’t know Frankie’s last name, but he was an excellent drummer, as you’ll hear. Playing without a chord instrument, the band took on more of the sound of a New Orleans street band than a typical trad jazz group. The selections are “Wabash Blues,” “Didn’t He Ramble,” and “Apex Blues.” Some of the material appeared in an earlier program in this series, but this edition was converted with the Apogee Duet digital audio converter, which yields much better sound quality, so I think it’s worth revisiting.
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Here’s a cut from a 1983 concert by the Clark University Jazz Workshop Ensemble — Relly Raffman’s arrangement of “On the Sunny Side of the Street,” featuring a band vocal and the vocal quartet.
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The second segment of the session from 11/16/88 at Ephraim’s. The musicians are Jimmy Mazzy (banjo/vocals), Fred Lind (cornet), Paul Meymaris (clarinet), Don Frothingham (piano), Stu Grover (drums), and John Kafalas (tuba). The selections are “Ochi Chornya,” “Beautiful Changes,” “Someday, Sweetheart,” and “Blue Room,” with a vocal by Carrie Mazzy. Send questions or comments to podcast @ kafalas.com.
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A couple of short cuts from the end of the November 2, 1988 session at Ephraim’s, with Jimmy Mazzy (banjo), Fred Lind (cornet), Paul Meymaris (clarinet), Don Frothingham (piano), and John Kafalas (tuba): “I’m Just Wild About Harry” and a tune that I think Jim identified as “Long Lost Love,” just a banjo solo.
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This program begins the session from November 16, 1988 at Ephraim’s. The musicians are Jimmy Mazzy (banjo/vocals), Fred Lind (cornet), Paul Meymaris (clarinet), Don Frothingham (piano), Stu Grover (drums), and John Kafalas (tuba). The selections are “I’ll Never Be the Same,” “Brotherly Love,” and “Anytime, Any Day, Anywhere.”
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This program is another instalment of the August 6, 1987 session, by the Jeff Hughes Quartet. Besides Jeff on cornet, the program features Rich Giordano (piano), Al Ehrenfried (bass), and John Kafalas (trombone). I owe a debt of thanks to Bob Kitchin, who recorded the session and produced the master tape, which I recently re-mastered using an Apogee Duet digital audio converter.
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This program is taken from a session recorded August 6, 1987, at Ephraim’s. The musicians are Jeff Hughes (cornet/vocals), Rich Giordano (piano), Al Ehrenfried (bass), and John Kafalas (trombone). I owe a debt of thanks to Bob Kitchin, who recorded the session and produced the master tape. I recently got a better digital audio converter than the one I used to use, so I decided to re-master it; I hope you agree the improved sound quality is worth it! Send questions or comments to podcast@kafalas.com
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This program presents the third segment from the Jeff Hughes Quartet session at Ephraim’s in Sudbury, Massachusetts, on August 6, 1987. I recently got a better digital audio converter (an Apogee Duet) than the one I used to use — technology is a lot more advanced in 2019 than it was in 2006 — so I decided to digitize the tape again. I hope you find the sound quality an improvement. This set consists of all Duke Ellington tunes and features Jeff Hughes (cornet/vocals), Rich Giordano (piano), Al Ehrenfried (bass) and John Kafalas (trombone). I owe a debt of thanks to Bob Kitchin, who recorded the session and produced the master tape.
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This is the fourth and final installment of the session from August 6, 1987; the first three were presented several years ago, but it took awhile to get around to finishing up. The good news is that the sound quality should be much better, because we’re using the Apogee Duet to convert the tapes to digital format. In any case, the personnel are Jeff Hughes (cornet and fluegelhorn), Rich Giordano (piano), Al Ehrenfried (bass), and John Kafalas (trombone). I owe a debt of thanks to Bob Kitchin, who recorded the session and produced the master tape. Send questions or comments to podcast@kafalas.com.
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The fifth segment from 11/2/88, with Jimmy Mazzy (banjo/vocals), Fred Lind (cornet), Paul Meymaris (clarinet), Don Frothingham (piano), and John Kafalas (tuba). Selections are “Buddy Bolden’s Blues,” a tune I don’t recognize, and “If I Had My Way.”
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From a recent gig, the Blue Horizon Jazz Band plays “When It’s Sleepy Time Down South,” featuring a solo on my Meinl-Weston euphonium!
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The fourth segment of the session from 11/2/88 at Ephraim’s, featuring Jimmy Mazzy (banjo/vocals), Fred Lind (cornet), Paul Meymaris (clarinet), Don Frothingham (piano), John Kafalas (tuba), and Stu Grover (drums). Selections: Ain’t Gonna Give Nobody None of My Jelly Roll; Someday, Sweetheart; and Brotherly Love.
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The third part of the session from 11/2/88, with Jimmy Mazzy (banjo/vocals), Fred Lind (cornet), Paul Meymaris (clarinet), Carol Moeller (piano), John Kafalas (tuba), and Stu Grover (drums). This program is a little longer than usual, just over half an hour, and contains five selections: Any Time, Any Day, Anywhere, Sittin’ On Top of the World, My Silent Love, I Double Dare You, and Believe It, Beloved. Also, I hope you notice an improvement in sound quality, because I have a new digital audio converter — an Apogee Duet, which is a much better piece of equipment than the one I’ve been using since I started this podcast back in 2006. I’m also doing the production in Ableton Live instead of GarageBand.
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The second installment from 11/2/88, with Jimmy Mazzy (banjo/vocals), Fred Lind (cornet), Paul Meymaris (clarinet), Don Frothingham (piano), John Kafalas (tuba), and Stu Grover (drums). The selections are “Lazy River,” “Nobody’s Sweetheart Now,” and “Dip Your Brush In the Sunshine.”
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This program begins the session from November 2, 1988, with Jimmy Mazzy (banjo/vocals), Fred Lind (cornet), Paul Meymaris (clarinet), Don Frothingham (piano), John Kafalas (tuba), and Stu Grover (drums). The selections are “Gee, I’m Mighty Blue,” “I’ve Got A Right To Sing the Blues,” and “Get Out and Get Under the Moon.”
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The fourth and final installment of the session from 10/19/88 with Jimmy Mazzy (banjo/vocals), Fred Lind (cornet), Paul Meymaris (clarinet), Mark Behre (trombone), Don Frothingham (piano), and John Kafalas (tuba). The selections are “Beale Street Blues” and “Swing That Music.”
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Another segment from the session of October 19, 1988 with Jimmy Mazzy (banjo/vocals), Fred Lind (cornet), Paul Meymaris (clarinet), Mark Behre (trombone), Don Frothingham (piano), and John Kafalas (tuba). The selections are “Sweet Georgia Brown,” “Up A Lazy River,” and “Ole Miss.”
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Three more tunes from October 19, 1988 with Jimmy Mazzy (banjo/vocals), Fred Lind (cornet), Paul Meymaris (clarinet), Mark Behre (trombone), Carol Moeller (piano), and John Kafalas (tuba). The selections are “WPA Blues,” a tune I don’t know the title of, and “Kansas City.”
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This program is the first installment of the session from October 19, 1988. The musicians are Jimmy Mazzy (banjo/vocals), Fred Lind (cornet), Paul Meymaris (clarinet), Mark Behre (trombone), Don Frothingham (piano, first selection) and Carol Moeller (piano, last two selections), and John Kafalas (tuba).
The tunes are “Sittin’ on Top of the World,” “Copper-Colored Gal,” and “Whose Honey Are You?”
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Here are some rare 1949 recordings by trombonist Tommy Turk. I don’t have any information about the personnel, location, or circumstances of these recordings — but they contain some of the best jazz trombone ever committed to tape. An obituary in the November, 1981 issue of JazzTimes by Gerry Sloan of the University of Arkansas, contains a discography that mentions “Tommy Turk — Untitled (four one-of-a-kind discs, three 12″ and one 10″, made from Tommy’s private tapes — in the collection of John E. McDade.” It seems likely that those are the recordings presented here — but if you have any further information about these sessions, please drop me a line at podcast @ kafalas.com.
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Part VI of the session from 9/28/88 with Jimmy Mazzy on banjo and vocals, Fred Lind on cornet, Dr. Paul Meymaris on clarinet, Carol Moeller on piano, John Kafalas on tuba, Stu Grover on drums, and we were joined by a special guest, Terry Keef, on alto sax. The selections are “Any Time, Any Day, Anywhere,” and “Puttin’ All My Eggs In One Basket.”
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We continue with the session from September 28, 1988, with Jimmy Mazzy on banjo and vocals, Fred Lind on cornet, Dr. Paul Meymaris on clarinet, Carol Moeller on piano, John Kafalas on tuba, Stu Grover on drums, and we were joined by a special guest, Terry Keef, on alto sax. The selections are “Do Me A Favor,” “I Double Dare You,” and “Cuba, or I’ll See You In C-U-B-A.”
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This month, we return to the session of 9/28/88, with Jimmy Mazzy (banjo/vocals), Fred Lind (cornet), Paul Meymaris (clarinet), Don Frothingham (piano), John Kafalas (tuba), and Stu Grover (drums. The selections are “T’ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do,” “Ole Miss,” and “How Long Blues.”
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