Being a part of album projects never gets old, so I’m delighted to announce that Keenan McKenzie and the Riffers have released a new album called Lakewood Jump! Recorded in August of 2023 at Magnetic Sound Studios in the Lakewood area of Durham, NC, it’s been more than a year in the making, with some planned and unplanned delays involved in its production.
The album is a mix of originals, classics, and some lesser known gems of the jazz world. It was an absolute pleasure to record this, less than 10 minutes from my house, and with Cocoa Cinnamon coffee across the street to sustain me. Available on Bandcamp, digital and (soon, as of the date of this post) vinyl, I’m singing on 7 tracks – enjoy!
Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, Helen Humes, Billie Holiday, Ivie Anderson, Helen Ward, Helen Forrest – these are some of the iconic big band vocalist names whose works have inspired performances at Lindy Focus and, for Fitzgerald and Washington, featured charts in the Heritage Sounds transcription projects. As we approach the year of Erskine Hawkins as the featured bandleader for the 2024 transcription project, you may notice that there’s not a definitive vocalist in his lineup, except perhaps Hawk himself yelling out “Tuxedo!” as his band launches into that famous tune. His discography hints at 11 featured vocalists and there were others as the band continued live performances into the 1960s. The in-depth biographies of most these musicians may be largely lost to time, but here’s a bit of information – dates denote recording release years and/or other dates I may have found online:
JIMMY MITCHELL, alto saxophone and vocals (1936-1949 recordings, ‘Bama State Collegians and E.H. Orchestra)
“Hawk, if you can keep us working, we will stay with you.” This was the sentiment that the rest of the ‘Bama State Collegians as the band embarked on their tour to New York in 1934. Jimmy Mitchell was one of those musicians, a reed player and the most consistent and prolific vocalist of the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra. Mitchell goes all the way back to Birmingham Industrial High School and, as a student of the esteemed “Fess” Whatley, was granted a music scholarship to Alabama State Teachers College along with others of his Industrial HS peers, including Erskine Hawkins. There is scant biographical information about Mitchell online, but one thread throughout is that mentions of Mitchell in the press and in references online show that he was a featured vocalist, a named musician in advertisements, and thus a draw to the orchestra for his popular vocal stylings.
Mitchell recorded 39+ vocal sides with the Orchestra, in addition to being featured on radio broadcasts, for which we still have recordings. The ‘Bama State Collegians were signed to Vocation and Mitchell recorded the first song of their first New York recording session, “It Was a Sad Night in Harlem” (an ironic choice, as I’m certain their residency at the Savoy inspired many happy nights) on July 20, 1936. For the transcription project, we’ve picked his rendition of Keep Cool, Fool from 1941. His last recording with the Orchestra was “Brown Baby Blues” on November 30, 1949.
WILLIAM “BILLY” BOONE DANIELS (1935-1936)
Billy Daniels is one of most famous people on this list and has a Hollywood walk of fame star to prove it. Born in Jacksonville, Florida, Daniels moved to Harlem in 1935 with the intention of attending law school at Columbia. He worked at Dickie Welles’ Place as a busboy, then as a singing waiter. It was here that Daniels was plucked from obscurity by Hawkins and invited to join his orchestra. He toured with the Hawkins orchestra throughout 1936 and recorded three sides with the band. He left the band to pursue his solo act, with performances at the Onyx Club, Ebony Club and the Famous Door.
This was just the beginning – Daniels went on to radio, records, Broadway productions, Las Vegas residencies, made three films for Columbia Pictures, and hosted his own television show starting in 1952. The Billy Daniels Show was the first sponsored television show starring a black entertainer. The show was broadcast from the same theater that would later be named the Ed Sullivan Theater, now home to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
His most famous tune was “That Old Black Magic,” recorded in 1948, after his service in the Merchant Marines during WWII ended, and sold more than nine million copies. Compare to his first recording ever (which was during the first Hawkins orchestra recording session in 1936), the classic “Until the Real Thing Comes Along.”
MERLE TURNER (recordings from 1936-1938, ‘Bama State Collegians and E.H. Orchestra)
Merle Turner from Charleston, West Virginia joined New Orleans-born, Texas-based territory bandleader Don Albert as a vocalist in 1935. The band recorded 8 sides at a recording session in San Antonio, Texas in November of 1936, including a Turner vocal on “Sheik of Araby” (with the “with no pants on” call/response).
In June of 1937, Albert’s orchestra arrived in New York, but had difficulty finding work in a saturated market. They played at least one show in New York, because Leonard Feather wrote in Melody Maker about the band’s recording of Sheik, which had “caused a considerable mystery” since they were an unknown band.
Turner (perhaps seeing the writing on the wall, needing work, and/or using the review of his vocal recording as a springboard) left the Albert band that same month to join the ‘Bama State Collegians. Wasting no time, Turner went into the studio with the Collegians on August 12, 1937, singing “I’ll Get Along Somehow,” with the croon of an Ink Spot and a high note to finish. Turner recorded several more sides with the Orchestra through September of 1938.
Beyond 1938, I was only able to locate a recording Turner made in 1946 with Hawkins alum/trumpeter Wilbur “Dud” Bascomb leading the session, the aptly titled “Just One More Chance.”
RUBY HILL (1937)
While Hill is credited as being a regular vocalist with the Hawkins Orchestra in 1937, her web presence is primarily limited to her performances at the Harlem Uproar House and the Apollo Theater.
On January 29 1937, Hill appeared at the Apollo along with Willie Bryant and comedian Pigmeat (presumably Markham? A Durham, NC native!).
In the April 1937 issue of The Show-Down, a magazine documenting night clubs, theaters, and performers, gave Ruby Hill a shoutout – “Ruby Hill’s torch songs touch one from head to toe” – in a rundown of accolades from a revue at the Harlem Uproar House. The revue featured Hawkins’ Orchestra and a cast that included vocalist Velma Middleton, Savoy Ballroom emcee Bardu Ali, and Tiny Bunch leading a troupe of Lindy Hoppers.
On November 3, 1939, Hill was back at the Apollo Theater with Noble Sissle.
I was not able to locate a photograph of Hill, so I leave you with a photograph of the chorus line at the Harlem Uproar House from 1937.
IDA JAMES (recordings 1938-1939)
A native of Providence, Rhode Island, Ida was still young when she started her career in Philadelphia, performing on The Horn and Hardart Children’s Hour on WCAU in the 1930s. By January 1937, she was singing with Earl Hines’s Orchestra in Chicago and stayed with him until May 1938, when she joined the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra. She stayed with the Orchestra on and off until 1942, which was basically a launch pad for her, because she stayed busy in the 1940s!
Brooklyn native Dolores Brown was born to musical parents – Edna Hiddleston, a pianist, and Bill Brown, trombonist and leader of Bill Brown and his Brownies, who had a radio broadcast and cut a few sides for Brunswick in the late 1920s. Brown cut her teeth performing at school and community functions as a tween and transitioned to professional work in her late teens.
In 1938, Brown had a residency at the Black Cat in Greenwich Village as part of the club’s revue. She performed at the Apollo Theater’s Amateur Night and, like the Cinderella story of Ella Fitzgerald, was scouted and joined Duke Ellington’s Orchestra in the summer of 1938. She toured with Ellington until January, 1939, then left the Orchestra for reasons unknown. She joined a revue at the Kit Kat Club for spring of 1939.
On August 17, 1939, the California Eagle reported that Brown had joined the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra. Brown was featured in several recording sessions in 1939 and 1940, starting with the recording Rehearsal in Love. She was also featured at times with the Savoy Sultans during the Hawkins Orchestra’s Savoy Ballroom residency.
Unfortunately, Brown’s early newspaper mentions focus on her relationship with cornet player Leslie “Bub” “Bubber” Lewis, who she started dating in 1936, so we don’t get a lot of context about what she was doing at the time. In 1940, Brown ditched Lewis and fell in love with (and ultimately married) one of the Orchestra’s trumpet players, Marcellus Green. Following their marriage on December 2, 1940, Brown left the band and Hawkins re-signed Ida James as the Orchestra’s female vocalist. Just before she left, Brown recorded the apropos S’posin’ on November 20, 1940, one of the songs selected for the transcription project.
In August of 1942, Green and other Orchestra members Avery Parrish, Lee Stanfield, and Heywood Henry were in a terrible automobile accident near Chattanooga, Tennessee that killed Green and injured the others. I can’t even imagine how significantly this impacted such a closely-knit group, not to mention the accident occurring less than two years into Brown’s marriage to Green.
Brown was all over the jazz-sphere in 1943, at nightclubs and theaters in Pittsburgh, Allentown, Boston, Montreal, Chicago, Detroit, and back to New York. Brown joined Don Redmon’s Orchestra from January through August of 1944, then appeared at the Onyx Club until November of that year. She did a brief stint with Lucky Millinder in 1945, then went back to the Hawkins Orchestra!
The August 4, 1945 issue of Afro-American commented on “her courageous return to show business. Dolores thought that she was through with singing, but fate played a different hand.” She stayed with the Orchestra until April of 1946, then left again for reasons unknown. She continued recording and touring throughout the US with jazz luminaries through the 1960s. Brown never remarried and news of her passing in 2003 named her as “Dolores Green.”
EFFIE SMITH (1944 Jubilee Broadcasts)
From an Amazon.com record description: “Part of the explosion of black entertainment that occured on the West Coast in the early 1940’s, which led to an eruption of independent record labels and the birth of the R&B record industry, California was the breeding ground for the recording careers for a host of strong, talented women performers – among them was Effie Smith, a talented singer and comedienne whose career stretched from the early 1930’s until the early 1970’s. Early on Effie worked in Lionel Hampton, Erskine Hawkins and Benny Carter’s orchestras, and later on with small bands organized by Johnny Otis and her husband, John Criner, as well as R&B legends Roy Milton and Buddy Harper. With the advent of rock n’ roll in the mid-fifties, Effie made several records with The Squires for the Los Angeles based Vita Records imprint.”
Smith was marketed as Hawkins’ featuring vocalist, as you can see from this head shot, noting Gale Agency as her manager. The only two recordings we have of Smith with the Hawkins Orchestra are those from the October 1944 Jubilee Broadcasts, which were only available on CD until I uploaded Straighten Up and Fly Right to YouTube contemporaneously with the writing of this blog post. Enjoy this recording now and the arrangement live at Lindy Focus once we’ve completed the transcription project.
ASA “ACE” HARRIS, piano and vocals (recordings 1944-1950)
Harris grew up in Florida playing piano and in 1930 (when he was 20) he joined Billy Steward’s Celery City Serenaders (Celery City = Sanford, FL), a territory band that toured throughout most of the US. In 1935, he joined the Sunset Royal Serenaders. Within months of joining the SRS, their frontman Steve Washington died of pneumonia in January of 1936. The trombonist Doc Wheeler took over leading the band and, during a double bill with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra in Philadelphia, Dorsey snaked the band’s 4/4 version of Marie with band vocals (originally an Irving Berlin waltz) and it became a hit for Dorsey in 1937. After proving himself as an excellent showman, Harris took over leadership of the band and they recorded in 1937 as Ace Harris & his Sunset Royal Orchestra.
When the band made it to New York City in 1939, Harris decided he wanted to stay. From 1940-1942, Harris was an accompanist and arranger for The Ink Spots. The Ink Spots often toured with the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra, so it was easy for Harris to transition to performing with the Orchestra full-time in 1944. The Orchestra had a hit in 1945 with his recording of “Caldonia” (#13 for the year on R&B charts). He continued to simultaneously perform with the Orchestra and manage his own solo recording career, recording for New York City labels Hub and Sterling between 1945 and 1948. In 1947 he left the Orchestra, but returned from 1950-1951 and recorded the Orchestra’s last R&B hit (#6 on the charts in December 1950) “Tennessee Waltz.” He also returned in 1955 to record a couple of singles for Decca.
Throughout the 1950s Harris continued performing and recording. He had a residency at Chicago’s Black Orchid alternating and performing piano duos with Buddy Charles. The pair had such a following that they recorded an album in 1957.
At some point, Harris’ sister married Hawkins, but it is not clear if that was Hawkins’ first wife Florence Browning, who he married in 1935, or if it was Gloria Dumas, who he married “later,” of whom the internet has almost no information.
Harris’ daughter, whose name is also Asa Harris, is/was a Chicago-based jazz vocalist.
CAROL TUCKER (recordings 1945)
Tucker grew up in Chicago in a musical family, as the child of a bandmaster of the Eighth Illinois Regiment. She attended DuSable High School, where she worked with Walter Dyett, a music educator who also worked with young Nat King Cole, Bo Diddley, Milt Hinton, and Dinah Washington. After graduating in January 1945, she secured an audition and landed a spot with the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra. The Orchestra had a residency at the Regal Theater, then hit the road to cities on the east coast. The press was receptive and, by the time she got to New York with the band, her star had risen.
At some point while in New York, Tucker became “stricken” with an unidentified ailment. Hawkins’ physician examined Tucker and recommended that she return to Chicago to rest at home. She died of this mystery illness in the first part of March 1946.
RUTH CHRISTIAN (recording 1946)
Christian grew up in New York and showed up in the entertainment press in 1939 as the vocalist for Buddy Walker and His Harlem Varieties. She had radio performances and was billed as such in a star-studded opening performance at the Community Theater Of St. Martin’s in Harlem on October 11, 1940, along with Ethel Waters, Katherine Dunham, Willie Bryant, W.C. Handy, and the Delta Rhythm Boys, among others.
At some point, Christian attended and graduated from college, perhaps in this gap between press clippings in the early 1940s. While in college, Christian met Ethel Harper, Leona Hemingway, and Charles Ford, who began singing as a vocal quartet, sharing performances with college choirs and participating in church services. The quartet began singing professionally around 1942, billing themselves as The Ginger Snaps (but may also be identified as the Four Ginger Snaps, the Gingersnaps, and the Four Gingersnaps because news sources seem to have chronic issue with band names). Their first show of record is as part of “Harlem Cavalcade”, an all-black variety show produced by Ed Sullivan that ran for most of May 1942 at the Ritz Theater. In July 1942 they appeared at Kelly’s Stable, then at the Apollo Theater the second week in November, sharing the stage with the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra and Jackie Mabley (later “Moms” Mabley). After a brief run in Philadelphia, they were back in New York and on the radio in December 1942 and at Le Ruban Bleu in January and February 1943, then back to Philly in April to appear with Sidney Bechet in March and April 1943. They spent the summer of 1943 performing in Wildwood, NJ, then back to Philly, then to Cleveland, St. Louis, Wilkes-Barre, and more.
In 1944 they appeared on the G. I. Journal radio show, produced by Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS), singing what appears to be their signature or perhaps most popular song, “The Shrimp Man.”
On April 21, 1944, the Ginger Snaps were back at the Apollo, this time with the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra, and now we know for sure that their paths crossed. The rest of 1944 was back on the road to (you guessed it) Philadelphia, they appeared in a Royal Crown Cola ad, then performed in Atlantic City, Buffalo, Baltimore, Philly, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Rochester, then to California in 1945! In 1945 they recorded songs for three different entities while in Hollywood – at NBC Studios in Hollywood for the AFRS Jubilee series, for University Records, and RCA.
In early 1946, Christian left The Ginger Snaps to join the Hawkins Orchestra. She recorded one side with the Orchestra on April 24, 1946, “That Wonderful Worrisome Feeling.” Unfortunately, Christian then disappears from online sources. POOF!
COZINE STEWART (recording 1946)
The only mentions of Stewart online is her live performance with the Orchestra, a radio broadcast from the Hotel Lincoln’s Blue Room, New York, May 1, 1946 – the song is Personality and I could only find it on CD or LP. I’d like to think someone with the name Cozine has a wonderful personality.
LAURA WASHINGTON (recordings 1946-1947)
Birmingham-born Washington started singing as a child, performing in small clubs and churches, where she was scouted by Birmingham jazz musician J.L. Lowe. Lowe later recommended Washington to Hawkins and she joined the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra in New York as a teenager in 1946 (apparently beating out hundreds of interested vocalists, per the news caption at right), making her debut at the Strand Theater on Broadway. She recorded a total of 5 songs with the Orchestra, scoring a hit within a few months with the tune “I’ve Got a Right to Cry.” The song reached #2 on the Billboard “race” charts and #17 in the year-end ranking for 1946.
While in New York, Washington got to meet her idol, Ella Fitzgerald (yesssssss!), and became friends with another vocalist who shares her surname and home state, Dinah Washington.
Washington married reed man Julian Dash in 1948. In 1952, she and Dash returned to Birmingham and she focused on raising her children. In the 1980s, after her children were grown and Dash had passed away, Washington began singing again, becoming a regular performer at Grundy’s Music Room.
LUCY “LU” ELLIOTT (recording 1951)
During high school, Elliott was a tuba player who, at some point, and transitioned to being a vocalist and tuba player. As a teen, she won the Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater, which got the attention of someone important, because by September of 1949 she was recording with Duke Ellington. She left Ellington’s orchestra in February 1950 and turned back up singing with the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra in 1951. She recorded two songs with the Hawkins Orchestra on December 6, 1951, “Lost Time” and “I Remember My Love.”
Jet Magazine was covering Elliott, noting that she was the only woman tuba player in the musicians union in 1954.
She had a contract and several recording sessions in the 1960s with ABC Paramount. In 1967, she toured with B.B. King, then spend 10 weeks in Australia performing, then recorded an album called Way Out From Down Under, living the dream and feeding a kangaroo on her album cover.
In the 1970s, Elliott continued touring and performing in clubs in New York, New Jersey, The Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, then made her way to Las Vegas to perform with Redd Foxx. She continued performing in New York and Las Vegas almost until she passed away in 1987.
Her sister, Billie Lee, was also a professional vocalist, but I was not able to locate any details online because she shares a name with a reality TV star. Womp womp.
DELLA REESE (1953)
Born Deloreese Patricia Early in Detroit, Reese started singing for her family by imitating movie stars and by the age of 6 had joined her church’s choir. When Reese was 13, Mahalia Jackson was touring with a stop in Detroit and she heard Reese sing in church. She immediately went on tour with Jackson and joined her tour for 5 consecutive summers.
In 1947 she enrolled in Wayne State University as a psychology major and sang in a gospel group called The Meditations. In 1949, at the encouragement of her pastor to pursue more professional singing gigs, Reese took a job at a bowling alley/nightclub as a host and vocalist.
In 1951, Reese was named Detroit’s favorite vocalist in a newspaper poll, which got her a week-long gig at the Flame Show Bar, where the big names in jazz performed. This started a two year period of regular gigs for Reese at the Flame. While at the Flame, she caught the attention of Lee Magid, a New York agent, who convinced her to move to New York in 1953 and found her a placement with the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra.
Unfortunately, her time with the Orchestra was short-lived and she left after less than a year to advance her solo career. Fortunately, this totally worked out for her because her first recordings were hits – “I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm, ”“Time After Time” and “In The Still Of The Night,” sold 500,000 copies. In 1957, her recording of “And That Reminds Me Of You” went gold, selling millions of copies. In 1959, she signed with RCA and had her biggest hit, “Don’t You Know,” which garnered Reese a Grammy nomination.
In the 1960s she had over 300 television appearances, 100 of those just on the Ed Sullivan Show. She was the first woman to substitute-host for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show. She appeared in night clubs in Las Vegas and all over the U.S. By the end of the decade, however, Reese felt like she needed to pivot to keep working, so she turned to acting.
Reese’s acting debut came in 1968, appearing as a disco owner on The Mod Squad. This, along with the success of her hosting The Tonight Show, led to Reese getting her own talk show in 1969 called simply Della. She was the first black woman to host her own television talk show, which ran for two seasons.
In the early 1970s she picked up touring again, hitting all the hot spot night clubs in the U.S. and toured Europe, Asia, and South America. On Sanford and Son, Redd Foxx starting referring to Reese and Lena Horne on the show as the ultimate black super stars, so of course Reese made a few cameos on the show. She guest starred in other TV shows, did a few pilots, landed a role in the show Chico and the Man in 1976, and finished out the final season of Welcome Back Kotter as a substitute teacher in 1978.
Reese went on in the same can’t-stop-won’t-stop into the 1980s and 1990s – she recorded albums, was nominated for another Grammy in 1987, became an ordained minister, appeared in the film Harlem Nights with Eddie Murphey, starred in a cabaret revue called Some of My Best Friends Are the Blues, she was the literal angel in the TV show Touched by an Angel, was nominated for another Grammy in 1999, added festivals and symphony appearances to her regular performance venues, just crushing everything always. She was the last of the Hawkins vocalists (that I was able to find) to go – she made it to 2017, ending an era.
SOURCES Erskine Hawkins Orchestra generally 12345, Billy Daniels 1234, Merle Turner 12, Ruby Hill 123, Dolores Brown 1, Ida James 12, Effie Smith 1, Ace Harris 1234, Carol Tucker 123, Ruth Christian 1, Laura Washington 123, Lu Elliott 1, Della Reese 12
The last time we had a big Lindy Hop workshop in Durham was 2019 and a lot has changed in Durham since that time, in large part due to the pandemic. That said, I still love living here and there will be lots to eat within and near the downtown area where the workshops are held, so here is a non-exhaustive list of some of my favorite places to eat for those of you attending Flying Home:
COFFEE
Cocoa Cinnamon – this is the only one I’m listing because it’s the best and it’s the only one I frequent that’s open on Sunday. Like people don’t need coffee on Sunday…
BREAKFAST/LUNCH
Monuts – delicious donuts, both cake and yeast, and IMO the best sandwiches in Durham. The world is a better place with their focaccia in it.
Loaf – bakery with European and American goodies, their flatbreads are the cheapest lunch downtown. There’s no seating, but you can grab something and walk to the end of the block for a seat in a tiny park or on the swings.
Toast – Italian sandwiches, salads, soups, and accoutrements.
Rise Biscuits and Donuts – great biscuit sandwiches, donuts, and the best apple fritters. No seating here, either, but ideal when you are pressed for time – order online, grab, and go.
Mateo – tapas meets American south, with a stellar cocktail program to boot. Definitely need a reservation.
LATE NIGHT FOOD
Queeny’s – a little something for everyone, spacious and dive-y, this is where the local dancers go after our dances downtown. Open until 2 a.m.
Cosmic Cantina – a short drive away, excellent burritos, open until 4:00 a.m.
COCKTAILS
Alley Twenty-Six – James Beard nominated bar program, my favorite chef is here (my vote for best burger in Durham), and for the summer they have an entire tropical/tiki cocktail menu that is extensive and delightful. If you are eating dinner, I recommend making a reservation.
Kingfisher – across from Alley Twenty-Six, below Queeny’s, they are doing clever and botanical cocktails, along with some nibbles.
The Parlour – our incredible local shop with a mix of regular and seasonal flavors, plus gluten free and vegan options. If there’s a line, it moves quickly.
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams – yes, it’s a chain, but as someone who would seek out Jeni’s locations at other dance events, I need you to know that we have one here and it’s lovely.
GROCERY
Bulldega – food, toiletries, whatever you forgot. Also a good place to grab lunch, they usually have prepared foods like sandwiches and salads.
This is just a jumping off point – there are so many other delicious places in downtown Durham that I haven’t mentioned, you really can’t go wrong. So pull up Yelp, see what looks good, and go for it.
As part of Durham, North Carolina’s 150th anniversary this year, the Museum of Durham History invited the community to submit ideas for community curated exhibits. I’m excited that I was selected to curate one of these exhibits, based on my Early Jazz and Swing in Durham, NC blog post! The exhibit will open on July 5, 2019 with a reception from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. (with dancing under the gazebo to recordings of all the musicians and bands featured in the exhibit), and will be on display throughout the month of July.
If you’re already in town or will be in town for the Bull City Swingout, swing by the museum and check it out! I’ll also have an interactive downtown map that you can pick up if you’d like to do a self-guided walking tour of some of the locations named in the exhibit.
EDITED to add that the museum exhibit got a little love from IndyWeek with a featured article in their Music Issue.
One of the most delightful human beings and ardent jazz fans is also a prolific blogger – Michael Steinman of the blog Jazz Lives covers the news and music of early-jazz performers of today and yesteryear. I was fortunate enough to be at the San Diego Jazz Festival on all accounts, but particularly because Michael is a delightful conversationalist and happened to be in same space with his video camera. He caught Michael Gamble and the Rhythm Serenaders‘ first set and persevered, in spite of the dance noise, dancer chatter, and a herd of children in tap shoes, to capture 10 videos from the set and write this lovely blog post. Check it out and spend a set at the San Diego Jazz Festival in the comfort of your home.
Last year at Lindy Focus I recorded a podcast interview with international swing dance instructor and human of effervescence and light Evita Arce for her podcast The Michael and Evita Show, which she shares with her dance partner Michael Jagger. The episode (#28) was just released this month, so take a listen! We talk about clothing, jazz, copyright law, and more – tune in on their website or subscribe on Apple podcasts.
By land and by air, I’ll be all over the place for a bit:
August 25-26, 2018 with Michael Gamble and the Rhythm Serenaders at The International Lindy Hop Championships, Arlington, VA – excited to be a part of this esteemed and exciting event, to perform for such an enthusiastic jazz audience and to enjoy all the incredible performances that happen over the weekend from dancers all over the world.
August 31 and September 3, 2018 Mint Julep Jazz Band and with Michael Gamble and theRhythm Serenaders at Camp Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA – I’ll be DJ’ing and singing, and this is the Mint Julep Jazz Band’s west coast debut! A little birdie told me that Jean Veloz will be dancing to our live music in the teacher jam and that’s about all my little heart can handle. ❤
CANCELLED DUE TO HURRICANE September 12, 2018 Mint Julep Jazz Band at The Town of Cary’s Park After Dark, Cary, NC – our first performance for the Town of Cary, we’ll send out the summer outdoor concert season in style. –> RESCHEDULED FOR OCTOBER 3, 2018
September 21-22, 2018 with the Classic City Swing All-Stars, Classic City Swing, Athens, GA – excited to be a part of this all-star band, which will perform the music of three bands (The Boilermaker Jazz Band, Michael Gamble and the Rhythm Serenaders, and the Mint Julep Jazz Band) and feature a lineup including Paul Cosentino, Keenan McKenzie, Gordon Au, Lucian Cobb, Russ Wilson, Michael Gamble, Chip Newton, and yours truly, plus special guests Naomi Uyama and Jon Tigert!
October 3, 2018 Mint Julep Jazz Band at The Town of Cary’s Park After Dark, Cary, NC – our first performance for the Town of Cary, we’ll send out the summer outdoor concert season in style, fingers crossed, for real this time…
Much to be excited about, I hope to see you out and about!
You’re floating high on the dreams of planning the perfect wedding and reception, which is essentially a big party to celebrate the union of you and your significant other. People who do not normally engage in event planning are suddenly thrown into the position of entering into contracts with a bunch of different event service providers – a baker, a caterer, venue managers, a florist, and maybe even a band to provide live music for the event. This can all get very expensive very quickly and most couples are trying to get the most out of their wedding budget.
But you think you can swing getting a band, because your friend’s garage band made like $126 in tips at their last gig, this should be completely affordable, maybe even cheaper than a big name wedding DJ, right?
You start sending out inquiries to bands that look like they might be a good fit for your wedding reception and are blown away at the responses. How dare they? Your friend’s band was grateful for that $126 in tips, why can’t these bands play your wedding for something comparable?
This example is an exaggeration, of course, but I do find that some responses to my quotes for wedding receptions have an air of indignation.
Charging more for a wedding just because it’s a wedding is something I hear people say about wedding vendors. While I can’t speak for the other service providers, I can give you some insight into why bands charge more for weddings and it’s not just because the event is labeled “wedding” – there are a number of factors that go into a band’s decision about what to charge for a couple’s special day.
HIRING PROFESSIONALS
The odds are fairly good that if you are researching bands and finding them in your searches or on wedding planning websites that these bands are made up of professional musicians whose base non-wedding pay is already more than the tips at your friend’s garage band gig. You hire professionals because you don’t want to worry about the music – you want it to sound good, you want the musicians to be experienced, you want them to conduct themselves professionally and be able to roll with all the unexpected punches that go along with any wedding reception. You don’t want to look up mid-reception and think, “Why is there no music right now?” or “Why is this drummer so loud?” or “What the hell is this song with depressing lyrics?” Bands who are experienced professionals are going to anticipate your wedding’s needs and deliver a product that is appropriate for the day.
WEEKENDS ARE PRIME TIME
Most weddings occur on a weekend or holiday, when people are already off work and ready to have fun and relax. These are also the same days that restaurants, bars, festivals, and lots of other events also want to hire bands to draw people to their establishments and events. With supply and demand comes an increase in cost, as well as musicians maximizing their prime time, since weeknights can be tricky for musicians to get gigs (depending on the area).
As an added factor, bandleaders also want to hire the best musicians for the gig and want these musicians to have a financial incentive to keep this gig. If a musician is offered a different gig on a weekend that pays more than the gig you offered them, that musician will often take the higher paying gig. This results in more stress for the bandleader and could result in a reduction of quality of the music, depending on the proximity of the musician’s cancellation to the wedding date and the availability of good substitute musicians.
SPECIAL REQUESTS
Special request from the band: can we have a piece of cake? 🙂
Last-minute, unanticipated requests are a wedding specialty. I have a template questionnaire I send to engaged couples to assess how much work and how much time the wedding in question will take. Inevitably, there is always something that the questionnaire didn’t anticipate or that the couple didn’t know at the time they filled out the questionnaire. This can be anything from a venue change to unanticipated electrical access issues for outdoor weddings to the bride’s cousin wanting to sing a song with the band that the band doesn’t have in their book to a completely different reception time. Sometimes the engaged couple will forget that they need an emcee and someone in the band is drafted to do this job, or they forget to tell you that they need your PA for an hour in the middle of the gig so everyone can do toasts. Part of paying more for a wedding band is that you are paying for the flexibility to make major changes to a contractual agreement that the band has to rely on in order to prepare and schedule their day around your wedding. It is rare that there are not changes to terms set forth in the wedding/band contract at some point between the date of signing the contract to the date of the wedding.
PREPARATION
Unless a band is a dedicated wedding band that only plays weddings, chances are that a wedding gig will require some extra preparation beyond a normal gig for the band – that may be in the form of custom charts for the band to perform (i.e. a special first dance song, the groom’s favorite song, that cousin wanting to sit in who sings a certain song in a certain key, etc.), working in extra players/musicians/sitting in, additional rehearsal(s), and, perhaps the most time-consuming for me, communicating about the wedding. Weddings require a lot of attention to detail and all of that is done via phone and email over the course of the months between the booking and the event, usually increasing in the week(s) prior to the event. Weddings necessitate a written and signed contract for me, which isn’t always the case with other venues who book us regularly or people with whom we have worked before. Some weddings have wardrobe requirements in terms of colors or formal attire, which means some or all of the band have to plan ahead to acquire these items and spend money to accommodate that request. Weddings are a one-shot, don’t-mess-this-up kind of event, so it’s important to take the time to get the details right; but this means more time and work from the band, who, conversely, can show up to their weekly/monthly gigs with minimal preparation.
LOAD IN/OUT
Weddings often have difficult and/or lengthy load-in or load-out scenarios. Weddings are frequently held in locations that do not regularly accommodate live music, which makes it difficult to plan for things like the following:
Access to electrical outlets (in relation to wherever the bride/groom/wedding coordinator want the band to set up)
The logistics of loading in and out (access to stairs/elevators/ramps, traversing long hallways and multiple levels, loading in/out through high traffic areas like kitchens or the reception crowd)
Dealing with traffic/loading zones while loading in
Gatekeepers, which can literally mean a person at a gatehouse for a gated community and they won’t let you in because someone forgot to put the band on the guest list. This can also mean other people at the venue who take up more of your time and prevent the band from timely loading in, such as an indecisive or absent (when the band arrives) wedding planner who isn’t providing the band with information they need or someone at the venue forgetting to leave space for the band to set up and the band has to wait while someone goes and gets someone else to move the chairs/tables/whatever that are blocking the area where the band is supposed to set up
If the ceremony is at the same venue as the reception, this almost always necessitates a load in that is anywhere from 2 to 6 hours before the band actually reports for duty to perform. This is additional time that the bandleaders and, usually, the drummer, have to take out of their day to go to the venue and set up and then either hang out at the venue or go home and come back during the interim time, as opposed to a regular gig where the band would simply load in about an hour ahead of time and play almost immediately after loading in.
Ultimately, it usually takes longer to load in/set up and break down/load out than the typical band gig. Sometimes we can anticipate what logistics are involved in advance and sometimes we can’t. If we do a walk-through prior to the wedding day, then that is additional time we have added to preparing for the wedding gig.
I have yet to work a wedding that stayed on the schedule I was given ahead of the wedding, if I was given a schedule at all. The band is expected to roll with the shifting priorities and requirements of a wedding, which, in turn, affects the amount of time we have to play, sit and wait, and the beginning and/or ending time of the band’s performance.
One of my biggest complaints about wedding gigs is that, because the wedding runs on its own schedule without consideration for the band (which is fine, for the most part, this day is not about us!), the newlyweds do not often maximize the band’s playing time and we ultimately play less than anticipated, overall. We really do want to perform for you! However, you are paying for our time in its entirety (playing or not playing), so if we’re contracted to play from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and the party just really got started at 7:00 p.m. because of toasts/photos/arrival/cake cutting, I’m sorry, we have already been at your wedding for a good portion of the day and our contractual obligation is over. Often this is upsetting to the bride/groom/other person in charge, they may get angry at us, give us a guilt trip, or they may even offer to begrudgingly pay us more money to stay longer. This is a very awkward situation and everyone feels terrible – we want to provide the wedding with something of value, but we also want our time to be respected.
In a similar vein, you can’t expect the band to make up for the delays by playing for two hours straight – this is brutal to people who are hitting/plucking/strumming/blowing, essentially using their bodies to create music, without a break at some point (usually somewhere between 40 minutes and an hour of playing).
There may be specific instructions for where and how to enter or when and how the band can leave and we are waiting and paying attention for these things to happen, looking for certain cues to indicate action on our part. With these delays we may be checking in multiple times with the wedding coordinator to get updates on how to proceed or what the new plan involves, since the paper plan is out the window. If there is no wedding coordinator, there may be multiple people telling us different things about what the band is supposed to be doing at any given time. We want to do this right and whoever has the plan, we are willing to go with that new plan.
EMOTIONS
The stakes are high and there’s no dress rehearsal for this show, we are all striving to deliver the best possible services; inevitably, some things will go awry at weddings and there are always people who will get emotional about it and project that onto the staff or whoever may be nearest to them – wedding planners, grooms, brides, fathers of the brides, mothers of the grooms, caterers, whoever has a stake in the day and/or a job to do.
EXTRA COSTS
There are always extra costs, some surprises, some known, such as the aforementioned specific attire or any additional sound equipment that may be needed to accommodate the requests from the bride/groom or the logistics of the venue. I would also note that another difference in wedding v. regular gig is the absence of merchandise sales, CD sales, and tips; obviously, this would be super tacky to hawk our wares at your wedding or pass around a tip jar, but it is one consideration among many in the added cost. There are also fewer intangible rewards, such as creative license in the gig itself and applause – I don’t know that I’ve been to a wedding where the crowd burst into applause, but I have been a part of many weddings where the guests either generally ignored the band or, if they are dancing, didn’t clap after songs. Perhaps applause at a wedding reception is not necessarily appropriate, but it’s one of those things that can add to the feeling that a wedding gig is more work.
RISK FACTOR
This is one type of gig that is at great risk for cancellation, as we certainly can’t control matters of the heart. I always build in some sort of deposit and cancellation policy, because there is risk in taking a gig like this, as we are often holding this date months, maybe even over a year, in advance and turning down other gigs. It’s also risky dealing with people who are not used to booking bands – there are certain norms in the professional music community that may seem odd to someone who is not a professional musician, but are necessary in order to accomplish the gig; if they are not willing to see the necessity, to accommodate the basic needs of the band, or to communicate the necessary details requested, then the gig and/or preparing for the gig can quickly become a nightmare.
IN CONCLUSION…
To sum everything up, it’s simply more work to accept and execute a wedding gig for a band and, for this and all the specific the reasons stated above (and probably some I’m forgetting), this is why your average professional band will often charge more for a wedding than they would charge for a regular gig. That said, while a wedding is more work, that does not mean that bandleaders avoid wedding gigs. The examples listed above don’t all happen at the same time, there are a lot of wonderful aspects of performing at a wedding, and I don’t know of many bandleaders who would refuse a wedding gig with appropriate compensation – there’s a lot of love that is shared, with families and friends coming together, and we’re all here to have a big celebration and contribute to that celebration in some meaningful way.
EDITED 8/2/18: This event is cancelled, to my great dismay, for reasons out of the organizers control. Some other time, Madrid…
There aren’t enough exclamation points, I’m so excited to announce that I’ll be performing with Michael Gamble and the Rhythm Serenaders in Madrid, Spain this September at The World Jam! This is my first international gig and the stakes are high – the premise of The World Jam event is that they invite four bands from all over the world to compete in Madrid, so each set is a band battle and the winners are…well, everyone is a winner, especially the dancers, to get to listen to and dance to all this amazing swing music!
This will be my 12th All Balboa Weekend, attending and/or working in some capacity, and it’s always a joy to bring excellent swing music to these particular shuffling feet. This year I’ll be singing with Michael Gamble and the Rhythm Serenaders octet on Friday night (June 15) and with the Michael Gamble and the Rhythm Serenaders Orchestra on Saturday night (June 16). Michael always works in some new material for Balboa dancers and I’m excited to see what he brings to the table for this weekend and also excited to revisit all the wonderful Ella Fitzgerald charts that Michael utilizes to showcase the Heritage Sounds collection of charts (which you can buy on the Heritage Sounds website!). See you soon, Cleveland!
Laura Windley 