
Wolverines
Classic Jazz Orchestra Orchestra
Hall; Minneapolis, MN 1976
The Original
Wolverines Classic Jazz Orchestra
Orchestra Hall; Minneapolis, MN
1976
Orchestra Hall, a major, high profile venue. An organization called Loring-Nicollet-Bethlehem Community
Services hired us to be the main attraction for their annual fundraiser.
As we were setting up in the afternoon, the main Orchestra Hall sound engineer figured we wouldn’t need much amplification;
but I told him I wanted lots of strategic microphones. He wasn’t particularly pleased, but did it. The thing is: we
normally played all of our gigs with a full PA system (that we would haul along with the rest of the equipment)—we would
set it up with a bit of reverb to make the sound more full. Yes, Orchestra Hall had great natural reverb, but we still needed
the mics for special focus. And it all came across beautifully, for the audience and for us re: hearing ourselves.
This was obviously a very special occasion, so I (as I have in many other instances) figured we should have a Special Guest:
a young ‘hot-shot’ Trumpet player from the U of MN, Dave Jensen, whom we nicknamed ‘Jabbo Junior’
because we’d assigned him to play note-for-note solos of a Trumpet Ace of the 1920’s, Cladys (his parents thought
they were getting a girl and had chosen ‘Gladys’ for a name; out came this boy, so they changed the first letter)
‘Jabbo’ Smith. He was the chief rival of the very hot Louis Armstrong. It was said that, in some ways, he had
more ‘chops’ than Louis; and his solos were truly unique. Most special was Jabbo’s ‘concert piece’
"Rhythm In Spain"; and Dave did a bang-up job (even topping Jabbo’s ending note with super-high one, which I thought
was terrific, but an audience member later thought was ‘inappropriate’. We also gave Dave space for individual
improvisation and obligato augmentation. He got the spirit beautifully on "Speakeasy Blues" and was sailing along with just
the right feel, my only regret being that he didn’t continue on the very last verse—still though, the right Feel
makes everything beautiful.
The accuracy of the transcriptions was paramount; but also was The Feel. Each player had the original recordings and studied
their respective parts as played by the originators. Joe Demko was a great example: A great vocalist ("Trickeration", "Ball
and Chain", "Some Of These Day"), but also a cat who studied the Banjo players back then—these weren’t pizza parlor
banjo guys, but rather hot-shot jazz orchestra players. Joe copped their styles beautifully.
Collectively, we presented authentic re-creations of the original band recordings; and people were hearing these arrangements
in stereo for the first time—cool!
Song Of India_WCJO_Orch Hall_MP3
02. Anytime, Anyday, Anywhere
Anytime_WCJO_Orch Hall_MP3
03. Why Couldn't It Be Poor Little Me?
Why Couldn't_WCJO_Orch Hall_MP3
Salt Of Tears_WCJO_Orch Hall_MP3
Longshoreman's_WCJO_Orch Hall_MP3
Apex Blues_WCJO_Orch Hall_MP3
Trickeration_WCJO_Orch Hall_MP3
Tozo_WCJO_Orch Hall_MP3
Speakeasy Blues_WCJO_Orch Hall_MP3
10. Here Comes My Ball And Chain
Ball and Chain_WCJO_Orch Hall_Mp3
Rhythm Spain_WCJO_Orch Hall_MP3
Some Days_WCJO_Orch Hall_MP3
13. Copland_Piano Concerto_Excerpts
13_Copland_excerpts_Orch Hall_MP3
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