[Tradjazz] Trad Jazz on the Radio
Bruce McNichols
muskrat at bestweb.net
Tue Sep 26 13:35:04 EDT 2006
Yeah, Old Shep prepared plenty, but he ad-libbed, based on his preparation. I was amazed when I read that most of his stories were made up. He didn't really work in the steel mills, he didn't really have a buddy named Flik, etc. Kind of makes me like him all the more.
In NYC there's an interesting radio station named WBAI (99/5 FM). On Tuesday mornings at 5:15AM (yes, AM), they run old Jean Shepherd programs. I don't know if it's on the Net. If I happen to wake up at that early hour, I tune him in. Just this morning, I heard him (until I fell back asleep).
I didn't even know that Dr. Demento had played us, although it does make some kind of convoluted sense.
~~~
As for Long John Nebel, the only reason I knew about him, was because he took over the all-night slot, on WOR Radio, when Jean Shepherd got fired. Shep was in that slot when I first discovered him. Long John was doing some kind of classical music program from 11:15PM to Midnight.
Shepherd often complained that he had no sponsors. One night he decided to do commercials, even though he had no sponsor. He selected a little-known product, Sweetheart Soap, and presented several commercials for it. Management wasn't happy and they canned him.
Turns out that Sweetheart Soap sales rose, and the company arranged to bring Shepherd back, with them as the sponsor. Meanwhile, the station had put Long John into the overnight slot, and thus began his long run as an overnight talk-show host. Nebel was famous for covering subjects such as flying saucers and alien abductions.
Shepherd went into the 11:15 to midnight slot (later changed to an hour earlier).
I was a late-night person in those days, and listened often to Long John. One time, to my delight, he presented an hour of the Dukes of Dixieland. He played their entire new LP, on the Audio Fidelity label. John raved about "this wonderful group." That led me to believe that he really liked that kind of music. Only years later, did I deduce that somebody must've paid him off, to play that record.
Another time, Long John began touting a book about him, being written by his dear friend and associate. After several weeks, he announced the he and the author had a falling out. Since the author was writing about many controversial things in his life, he no longer authorized the book. Each night he would talk about how nobody should ever buy a copy of this terrible book which had invaded his private life. You guessed it. Everybody did buy a copy, and of course, the whole thing was a publicity gimmick. Go ahead and laugh - I was one of the buyers.
Oddly, I paid my respects at John's funeral. Even though I never knew the guy, I felt as if I did.
McN
To: <tradjazz at list.okom.com>
Subject: Re: [Tradjazz] Trad Jazz on the Radio
Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2006 04:47:35 -0700
From: "Bill Barnes" <cleanhead77 at earthlink.net>
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Back in the late '50's and '60's I became a real Jean Shepherd fan when I was playing "Willy the Weeper", as I recall by Bunk Johnson on the radio. Interesting what Bruce McNichols said about his preperation - I always wondered whether it was pure improv or not.
Hey Bruce you forgot you guys were also on the Dr Dimento show more than once. And how you missed Long John Nebel (sp?) I don't know.
Bill Barnes
----- Original Message -----
From: Bruce McNichols
To: tradjazz at list.okom.com
Sent: Monday, September 25, 2006 3:15 PM
Subject: Re: [Tradjazz] Trad Jazz on the Radio
Hey Rick,
Gladyer here with us. Aha! So you remember some of the same radio guys that I do, eh? I like it, I like it. Yerright, Al Collins was indeed, cool man, cool.
By the way, somewhere, along the line, Al Collins changed the spelling of his name. With typical cool-man logic, he said that he had always wanted to have a name with an "X" in it, so he changed it to "Jazzbeaux." Al was a good buddy of ours (The Smith Street Society Jazz Band) and would often appear with us. We'd always get him to do a Hip Fairy Tale (usually "Little Red Riding Hood).
Jean Shepherd (yes "Jean") took a shine to our parody of Bei Mir Bis du Schoen, which we called "The Bear Missed the Train." He used to play that thing one time or more, every night on his WOR Radio program (NYC). That led to us appearing on his PBS-TV program and to several "live" appearances of us, with him, at concerts etc. Shep was a wonderful writer (books and articles) and of course, a successful film producer (A Christmas Story), but for my money (of which don't have much) his place was spinning yarns on the radio. He made it sound as if it was all ad-lib, but you can be assured that that guy put in some heavy prep-time (although he wasn't reading, when on the air). I first stumbled onto his all-night program when I heard an old-time jazz tune. It was followed by another one and I thought that I had discovered a DJ who played that stuff. During the records, I heard some guy playing along on kazoo, and then thumping his head along with the music. Yup. That was Jean Shepherd.
Shep and Beaux were two of the most unique fellows, in broadcasting. I'm proud to have worked with them.
I never actually knew Ted Johnson, but I sure did like his radio program. I'm impressed that you had dealings with him.
McN
To: tradjazz at list.okom.com
Subject: Re: [Tradjazz] Trad Jazz on the Radio
Date: Mon, 25 Sep 2006 11:42:51 -0400
From: RICK KNITTEL <knittelsportland at juno.com>
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Hello Bruce;
I remember many of the names you mentioned in that I grew up in New Jersey and in my formative years, listened to Al (Jazzbo) Collins from the Purple Grotto because he was "COOL" man and featured all Christmas songs (some jazzy) on the 4th of July. It was the early 1950's and I was playing in a 12 piece swing/dance band formed by musicians in my high school in Union. Jazzbo also recorded bop versions of the fairy tales Three Little Pigs and Little Red Riding Hood that were originally written by Steve Allen.
When as a freshman at Cornell, in 1953-54, in Ithaca NY, I discovered a program out of Cincinnati, Ohio that I could pick up at night hosted by the Gene Shepard of A Christmas Story fame. He did a lot of musing about his childhood but also occasionally played jazz recordings from the 20's and 30's. I think it was this program that influenced my musical preferences more toward Dixieland and away from modern jazz. I subsequently joined and later led a Dixie band which we called The Cornell Ivy Five + One, took it on a 3-month European tour and recorded an LP in September of 1959.
The name Ted Johnson also is familiar to me in that I played a summer Dixieland gig in 1956 in a place in Belmar NJ called The Deck which was arranged for that band by Ted.
Rick Knittel - The Maine Street Paraders
37 Ship Channel Road; South Portland, Maine 04106-5136
Bus phone; (207)-741-2407; fax 2409; Cell: (207)-233-3480; Home; (207)-799-6382
E-mail; Knittelsportland at juno.com; Winter (mid Jan to mid April) Office;
7657 Bergamo Ave; Sarasota, FL 34238-4765; Phone/Fax; (941)-924-5186
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