Jim Cullum

JIM CULLUM & BOB BARNARD IN AUSTRALIA 2002 

by Jim Cullum

Almost all my musical adventures are tangled up with my efforts to build a great jazz band and then to present the band's wares. So, it is a rare thing to go off to the wilds without the troops, and naturally these very occasional sojourns are filled with a degree of novelty and charm for me. After three tours, I am beginning to find a second home "Down Under." It was in this high good spirit that I sailed through my 38th consecutive New Year's Eve bash at The Landing, and set out for Australia.

After a day in San Francisco I boarded the great silver kangaroo, "Qantas on the wing" and was off on the 14 hour ordeal across the Pacific. Two meals and two movies later I retreated to the extreme rear of the plane which fortunately was mostly empty. With my very quiet Yamaha practice mute, I ran scales on my cornet for a half hour or so. At one point a couple of Qantas stewardesses wandered back in my direction and discovered me with, "Oh, you're a musician!" We began some polite chit-chat and soon a couple of stewards had joined the crowd. I revealed that I was going to Australia to perform a wide ranging string of one nighters with the great Bob Barnard. All heads nodded. Yes, they all knew about Bob Barnard. After a little pause one of the stewards spoke up, "You're going all over Australia with Bob Barnard?"…another pause and then, "Hope your liver is in good shape!"

Left: Bob Barnard. Photo © Don Mopsick

These days Bob doesn't live up to his drinking reputation. He is fit and healthy and strides around his Sydney neighborhood with great vigor. I have found that, as is sometimes the case, the stories have got bigger in the telling or Bob has calmed down 80% or so.

After a couple of days of chasing him around "Crow's Nest" (that's the name of his Sydney neighborhood) we headed off, flying to Queensland, mostly to the city of Brisbane which is drop dead charming, I'd say. With a winding lovely river snaking all through town, it is not unlike San Antonio, except the river is some 100 times as wide. Big boats zoom up and down taking citizens up and down, and in typical Aussie fashion they all seem to be having a lovely time, all the time. I know they can't always be having a lovely time and I think maybe they see me coming! "Oh look, here comes an American chap, let's put him on a bit."

We went off to gigs in various Queensland towns. I won't go into all the details, but for example, one was in Toowoomba, a town of about 100,000. When we arrived at the site of the gig, the Toowoomba Jazz Club, it was great stuff for me. The Club is an up-on posts, open windowed little house, of about 800 square feet. It was wall to wall folding chairs, soon filled with wall to wall Australians all fanning themselves against the heat. It's hot in Queensland in January and the locals are still waiting for Captain Cook to return as promised with the first air conditioner! I'm pleased to report that Barnard and Cullum armed with nothing more than two cornets, took the place by storm.

The tour went on, and eventually we were back padding around Sydney, which as the world knows is about as high powered a city as one might find. Just as I was thinking this was the place for me, duty again drove us on, this time in Bob's car, some 350 miles to a southern coastal town called Merimbula where we again dazzled the home folks with our little dance, did a quick U turn and raced back to Sydney.

As painful as this 700 mile back seat drive sounds, it was a roaring good time. We were four in the car, being joined by Bob's brother drummer, Len Barnard and pianist Chris Taparell. Len, a brilliant musician, has, in his seventy or so years, accumulated enough great stories to carry one in a highly entertained state, all around the perimeter of Australia and back.

We also played at Mittagong. How about that? Toowoomba, Merimbula and Mittagong! All along, Len, who is also known as the "center of knowledge" about how and where to find the best meat pies in Australia, kept me on the alert. "Now it is only another 100 kilometers to Cooma," he'd say. "There you'll taste near perfection--a meat pie that will dance on the tongue." After several pies he noticed me chewing on an antacid tablet and commented that meat pies sometimes gave him indigestion too. Bob, pondering, offered that they ought to just crush up a couple of antacid tablets and add them to the pie recipe!

We flew to Melbourne, Australia's number two city, but don't let anyone in Melbourne hear you say that. Once you get there, no matter what you might say about Sydney, Melbourne did it first and did it better. Despite the bragging, Melbourne is a hell of a place with amazing grand old buildings all around, and beautiful wide streets and streetcars, they call trams, running all through the city. Unfortunately, some Swiss salesman got there a few years ago and convinced Melbourne to forgo its charming antique streetcars for modern Swiss streetcars that come with plastic seats and no rattles. I tried to tell them that some places like New Orleans and San Francisco have been snooping around places like Melbourne quietly buying up the antique street- cars and that they must not realize that they are being hoodwinked! After I spoke this way a couple of times, I gave it up as I could see my streetcar thoughts were viewed as revolutionary, as though someone from Sydney had put me up to it! Regardless of all this, Melbourne has romance oozing up out of the storm drains and you have to work very hard not to have a good time there.

But for me the best was last, as we flew from Melbourne to Tasmania, and I'm here to tell you that Tasmania is about as nice as it gets. It's an island off the southern coast of mainland Australia--a big island, about the size of Ireland. Being south, it's cold much of the time. There virtually is not a freeway anywhere. All roads are two lane blacktop and they lace hills and valleys, rivers and coastlines, that reminded me of the best of the Texas Hill country. Of course, in a 30 minute drive one tends to run out of the best of the Texas hills, but Tasmania just goes on and on with one beautiful vista after another, hour after hour. Bob and I played on the north/east coast at a small town named St. Helens and there, as W. C. Fields said, they were so packed in, they couldn't laugh Ha Ha Ha, they had to laugh Ho Ho Ho! It's odd, you can hardly find an audience for jazz in Chicago and you go to the end of the earth, close to the end anyway, and here's this big red hot jazz crowd.

My long time friend Diana Allen had joined the Tasmanian leg of the tour, and the Cullum/Barnard escapades finally having ended, Cullum and Allen set off in a rented Aussie auto for a tour of Tasmania. Diana is a jazz impresario/writer from Melbourne who is seriously in pursuit of jazz wherever it hides. I first met her when she discovered The Landing in 1983.

But, in this case we weren't after more jazz, we were bent on soaking up the atmosphere and a little of the fine wine of the island. Our main destination at the other end of Tasmania was the capital, the city of Hobart. This is another very impressive and well preserved city. It's quite old by Australian standards and is situated on a picturesque harbor. It boasts the best seafood in the world.

Tasmania is best known to Americans for the Tasmanian Devil, made famous by a whirling figure in Warner Brothers' cartoons. In truth the Devil is a cute little animal, a little larger than a squirrel. They are black with a white stripe on their backs and they're called "devil" I suppose, because if one gets a hold of your hand he could mess you up pretty badly and you probably would come away cursing like the devil!

But for me, the most fascinating of all Australian animals is the Tasmanian Tiger. This animal is now almost certainly extinct, as they haven't confirmed a sighting of one since 1936. Still, people keep saying they see them now and then.

Tasmania is partially covered with "bush," as they call it. Mostly it's thick forests of eucalyptus trees. All these forests and some more huge areas of craggy, hard to explore mountains they call wilderness, could well have hidden a few remaining tigers and those of us with too much romance and imagination in our blood, like to think that they just might be out there.

The Tasmanian tiger is a marsupial as are most Australian animals. That is, they carry their young in a pouch, ala the kangaroo. But the tiger is closer to a dog in appearance and is slightly smaller than a Dalmatian, with strong kangaroo-like back haunches. It's called a "tiger" because of the tiger-like stripes across its back.

So, one day I wandered off into the bush in search of the tiger--but found him out for the afternoon. I finally had to be content with a couple of tiger museums. I bought tiger socks (socks with tiger stripes), tiger note paper and a tiger sweater that could be fitted to a tiger-like dog! Upon my subsequent and victorious return to San Antonio, I equipped my dog Peggy with this Tasmanian tiger skin and set her loose in the "bush" at the back of my garden. Photos for inspection are supplied for the non-believers among you!

Above: Peggy with Tasmanian tiger skin

Australia is well worth the trouble it takes to get over there. Meat pies, great beer and amazingly friendly people are on every corner. The place is loaded from stem to stern with fine restaurants and quality jazz is lurking in the shadows, waiting to be discovered by addicts like me. The exchange rate makes prices low. If you go, be sure to go to Tasmania and tramp around after the tiger. If you find one, take a photo and you'll be world famous the next day!

NEW JCJB CD ! 

As reported in last month's Jazz Me News, the jazz world lost one of its giants last December: pianist Ralph Sutton. Sutton was an outstanding pianist in the great tradition of Harlem stride giants James P. Johnson, Fats Waller, and Willie "the Lion" Smith.

In his memory, Gaslight Records of St. Louis has released a new CD featuring Ralph Sutton with the Jim Cullum Jazz Band called Long Way From Saint Louis, recorded at Jim Cullum's Landing jazz nightclub in San Antonio for the Riverwalk, Live From The Landing public radio series on Public Radio International. 

Ralph Sutton
Photo: © Don Mopsick

To purchase the new CD, click here or call  1-800-41-RIVER (1-800-417-4837). 

APRIL IS JAZZ APPRECIATION MONTH!

Riverwalk Jazz is pleased to join the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History to kick off the first annual Jazz Appreciation Month, or JAM. JAM is an annual event that pays tribute to jazz both as an historic and a living American art form.

During the month of April the museum will spotlight the history and music of jazz through concerts, programs and museum collections. The museum designated the month of April in honor of the birthdays of such jazz giants as Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Gerry Mulligan and Tito Puente. "Jazz is a vital part of America, and as the nation’s history museum we want to raise public awareness of jazz as one of America’s cultural treasures," said Spencer Crew, director of the National Museum of American History." We hope JAM will continue to nourish the growing appetite for jazz."

The JAM home page links you to a world of events, concerts, and web resources. At 112 Ways to Celebrate Jazz, public radio stations are encouraged to air Riverwalk, and a link to our Riverwalk website is provided.

By Floyd Levin

Information about "Kid Ory's Journey Home" appears a year in advance to allow time for the producers to fine-tune the elaborate event and for fans to consider participating in this once-in-a-lifetime activity.

Next year, a world-class charter train will transport approximately 100 jazz fans and musicians involved in this very historical experience.

The prime purpose of the elegant adventure is to move jazz pioneer Kid Ory's remains for re-burial in New Orleans, near his birthplace, according to his wishes.

Fans who wish to join the journey, will luxuriate on the renowned American Orient Express which has catered to railroad connoisseurs for years. The deluxe streamliner carries 17 vintage cars, each refurbished at a cost of approximately a million dollars.

The elegant train leaves from Los Angeles Saturday, April 5, 2003 arriving in New Orleans on April 10 in time for the fabulous French Quarter Festival. There is also a scheduled unveiling of a new Kid Ory statue in the Crescent City's Armstrong Park.

Upon arrival in New Orleans, passengers may choose to stay at our headquarters hotel, the world-class Windsor Court. For the next four days, the Windsor Court will provide a home away from home as our passengers enjoy non-stop jazz at the French Quarter Festival.

The posh charter train, a quarter of a mile long, will provide ample room for the comfort and entertainment of the passengers. It includes a fully restored dome observation car, spacious lounges, and two attractive dining cars, where an Epicurean experience of gourmet cuisine, prepared by world class chefs, can be anticipated. Throughout the trip, an open bar will serve quality wines and beverages of the passengers' choice.

Fans who book the event can enjoy five days of luxurious travel equivalent to lavish ocean voyages on deluxe cruise ships. There is a choice of comfortable accommodations in cabins ranging from opulent presidential suites, parlor suites, etc. A professional staff and crew of over thirty will be in attendance to serve their needs. Patrons will be entertained by several groupings of top-ranked jazz musicians as the posh train travels to New Orleans.

Along the way, the train will be met by local jazz societies with musical salutes to Kid Ory. Also scheduled are tours and "Stop-off, Stomp-Off" concerts at the Grand Canyon, in Santa Fe, and a special session with the famed Jim Cullum Jazz Band at The Landing Jazz Club on the Riverwalk in San Antonio, Texas.

There will be an authentic New Orleans brass band to meet the train's arrival and lead a typical funeral parade to St. Louis Cemetery where Ory will be laid to rest in a family crypt. Tour patrons are invited to a Memorial Mass at St. Augustine Church on Sunday, April 13, 2003.

There have been two previous funeral services for Kid Ory. The great jazz trombonist died in Hawaii on January 23, 1973. A brief service was attended by friends and musicians in Honolulu. His burial took place in Los Angeles at Holy Cross Cemetery after a second memorial service in the cemetery's chapel. As a pall bearer, I helped carry Ory's casket to his original Los Angeles grave, and I look forward to accompanying his body during his final journey in New Orleans.

"Kid Ory's Journey Home" is being arranged by Babette Ory and the directors of the San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation. If you wish to be a part of this event, your prompt commitment is necessary. Worldwide interest is building rapidly, and only a limited number of passengers can be accommodated.

For complete information about accommodations, tour prices, etc., please request a color brochure from the San Francisco Traditional Foundation, 2644 South Croddy Way, Santa Ana, CA 92704-5238. In California and from overseas: (714) 546-2002 ext. JAZZ (5299). From the rest of the USA: (800) 782-6245 ext. JAZZ (5299). Worldwide Fax: (949) 494-1025. Email: Kidorytrain@cs.com

Note: This is a non-profit program. There are no administrative costs; all details are handled by volunteers. Tax-deductible contributions to the San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation's "Ory's Journey Home" fund are solicited to assist with the funding of the Kid Ory Train and statue project.

EBAY AUCTION OF WILD BILL DAVISON INSTRUMENT COLLECTION

The great jazz cornetist William Edward "Wild Bill" Davison passed away on November 14th, 1989.  His collection of musical instruments will be offered on eBay over the next several months by Dave Braun.  

The collection consists of a mandola and three cornets, each including notarized provenance. All of the auctions will be 10 days in duration.  There will be a minimum bid and a reserve for each item.  

The first instrument will be Wild Bill's Mandola (pictured below), a Bruno made in about 1925 by the Larson Co. of Chicago. Wild Bill started out on string instruments at age 10 and started cornet at age 12.

UNITED WE STAND

For April 2002, Jim Cullum's Landing in San Antonio offers FREE ADMISSION if you are currently employed as:

• Active-duty US Armed Forces

• Firefighter

• Law-enforcement

• EMS

Please show your ID to your server. There is a limit of 4 free admissions per party.

Jim Cullum says: "In this small way we wish to show our love for the country, and our support of our military and our President."

For reservations, email us, or please call The Landing during normal business hours, Central Time, Monday through Friday, at 210-223-7266 or 210-602-0967. Reservations are suggested only on weekend nights or for large parties.

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