|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Home | | | Blues | | | Cajun Zydeco |
| | Country Oldtime |
| | Gospel | | | Jazz | | | Tejano | | | World Music |
| | Videos/Books Other |
| | A-Z | | | Numerical | | | Imports |
Bob Mielke's Bearcats“Live At Sail 'N, 1958”CASS 1099
|
Buy It Now!
|
Bob Mielke - trombone; P. T. Stanton - cornet; Bill Napier - clarinet; Dick Oxtot - banjo; Pete Allen - bass; Don Marchant - drums; Bill Erickson - piano; Burt Bales - piano on `Winin' Boy.'
|
Track Listing Milenburg Joys I'm Satisfied with My Gal Saturday Night Function Winin' Boy Blues Moose March Shout 'Em Aunt Tillie Maryland, My Maryland Pastel Blue Eh, La Bas My Baby Don't Mean Maybe Now Bugle Boy March |
REVIEWS “A decade before the psychedelic rock bands created `the San Francisco Sound,' the Bay Area was rife with traditional jazz combos who played music rooted in the early New Orleans sound. Lu Watters and Turk Murphy were the most prominent, but here's another, Bob Mielke's Bearcats, which featured banjo baron Dick Oxtot, who later led his sextet at the Point in Point Richmond, as well as the Oakland A's Swingers band. Even before he launched Arhoolie Records, Berkeley's Chris Strachwitz was running around with his tape recorder capturing music he liked. In this case it was the Bearcats septet at the Sail `N in San Francisco in 1958, which he has finally issued. The most amazing aspect isn't that the band is so lively and swinging, but that Strachwitz captured such good fidelity with only one microphone. From `Millenburg Joys' through `Bugle Boy March' this is a romping, stomping album, maybe not a historic breakthrough, but a lot of fun.”(Larry Kelp — Oakland Tribune) |
|
“The benefits presented by this album are three fold. Firstly, it presents a glimpse of the `other,' less documented San Francisco traditional jazz scene of the 1950s that was reliant on a propulsive 4/4 beat and New Orleans ensemble values rather than the more familiar Watters-Murphy 2-beat approach. Secondly, it presents work by the previously under-rated and under-recorded cornetist P.T. Stanton in his prime. Lastly, it presents an entertaining program by a very good band that will `please the casual listener who may not care about such weighty matters as the documentation of a past musical era.
At the time of this recording, the Bearcats had been together for four years and had worked up several informal but effective arrangements on a varied array of stomps, marches, blues and 1920s pop tunes that set it apart from being a mere `jam' band. Although actually the band was a coperative group with no real leader, trombonist Bob Mielke was selected as front man because of his ability to communicate verbally with audiences. All of the musicians were top quality in the idiom, able to mesh well in ensemble as well as play good, meaningful solos. The author of the band's sound was P.T. Stanton, whose style was based on usually playing within the ensemble rather than overwhelming it. Always close to the melody or inserting pungent blues licks he colored each performance with a varied collection of shakes, growl, splats and smears that lent a special flavor to the proceedings. His tone was rough and unsentimental, his ideas were apt yet uncomplicated and direct, plus he had great musical empathy with the blues. This album is a testament to the very worthwhile qualities that P.T Stanton possessed and could display under the right circumstances. Bob Mielke, with his alternately punchy and shouting style, and Bill Napier, his clarinet fluid and inventive yet with enough of an edge to avoid being merely slick, round out the front line. Pete Allen's powerful and swinging bass, Dick Oxtot's solid rhythm banjo and Don Marchant's supportive drumming fill out the rest of the basic band. Pianist Bill Erickson, a very pleasant, swinging player who just happened to be in the club the night this material was being recorded, was asked to sit in and thus appears on about half of the cuts presented here. One can hear a bit of fortuitous happenstance occur during `Winin' Boy Blues.' The performance begins sans piano, but apparently around that time the excellent pianist Burt Bales wandered in. About midway through the clarinet chorus an imploring voice can be heard shouting `Hey Burt!' and about 20 seconds later the piano comes creeping into the proceedings. Bales then plays two wonderfully understated but beautiful choruses, the second accompanied by very attractive choir-like chords from the horns. Although this session was recorded with only one microphone on portable equipment (circa 1958) in a busy nightclub, the sound balance is very good, with a minimurn of intrusive blather and clatter from the patrons. The fidelity, while not up to today's studio standards, is acceptable. The Bearcats develop a robust, stomping swing that involves the listener immediately. They possessed a very well-developed ensemble sense that made the entire band the dominating feature rather than the individual soloists, as good as they were.” (Ted des Plantes — The Mississippi Rag) |
