A Good Time Was Had by All in 2005
The Foundation's big October bash in San Francisco is becoming a yearly event. A sold-out crowd at Bimbo's on Sunday, October 16, 2005 foot-tapped, schmoozed, danced, and swooned to the irresistible beat of the Watters-style Bay City Stompers - all in a special honor to Turk Murphy. The momentum seems to be building to make this an annual fall affair.
Members had their choice of super-low prices or preferential seating. All the more reason to join now for only $25 per year. By receiving the SFTJF newsletter, The Cricket, you'll be the first to know what's happening.
PARTY PICTURES! To view and order photos taken by Richard Ressman at the October 16th event, please click here and sign in to visit the photo display. Or go to www.pictage.com, sign in, and enter "Turk Murphy Tribute 2005". Note: If you have a pop-up ad blocker, you may need to disable it.
Below are the band roster and biographies of the stellar 2005 band, drawn from their busy schedules around the U.S.
About Turk Murphy
Melvin Edward Alton "Turk" Murphy was born in Palermo, California, in 1915 and began playing in dance bands in 1930. He performed with the Will Osborne and Mal Hallet orchestras in the 1930s and, in 1939, Turk teamed up with the great Lu Watters in his Yerba Buena Jazz Band, performing at the Dawn Club in downtown San Francisco.
Murphy served in the Navy during World War II, but did play some engagements and made some fine recordings with Bunk Johnson and Lu Watters. The Yerba Buena Jazz Band broke up in 1950; Turk performed with various orchestras until January 1952, when he opened his own band at the Italian Village at Columbus and Lombard, very close to this spot where we are performing this evening.
In 1960, Turk opened his first "Earthquake McGoon's" on Broadway. It relocated to the William Tell Hotel on Clay Street, then to the Embarcadero and to Pier 39. From 1984 until his death in 1987, Turk and his band played in the New Orleans Room of the Fairmont Hotel.
Four of our noted musicians performed with Turk—Leon Oakley, cornet; Bill Carter, clarinet; John Gill, banjo; and Ray Skjelbred, intermission pianist.
The Bay City Stompers
Bay City Stompers Ready To Roll - Bottom row, left to right: Tom Bartlett, Leon Oakley, Jim Cullum and Bill Carter. Top row, left to right: Ray Cadd, Marty Eggers, Clint Baker, John Gill.
The Ensemble
Jim Cullum
Jim began playing cornet in 1955 when he was 14. Fascinated with the records of fabled cornetist, Bix Biederbeck, Cullum was at first self-taught. While attending college he formed a band with his father named the Happy Jazz Band.
Soon after, some San Antonio business leaders and music lovers established "The Landing" a jazz club on San Antonio's famous Riverwalk as a showcase for the Happy Jazz Band. Under Cullum's creative leadership, the band evolved into a nationally acclaimed ensemble now known as the Jim Cullum Jazz Band. The group has toured and recorded 45 record albums as well as hundreds of radio broadcasts.
Leon Oakley
Leon began playing trumpet at the age of 9 and is one of today's most highly regarded jazz cornetists. He is closely associated with the Turk Murphy Jazz Band and has been a major inspiration for many young musicians. Leon continues to play great traditional jazz with a number of groups in the Bay Area and has done a number of appearances with Jim Cullum on his "Live from the Riverwalk" for Texas Public Radio.
William Carter
At the age of 20, Carter toured internationally with Turk Murphy's Jazz Band, recording for Columbia with musicians including Milt Hinton, Billy Butterfield and Lottie Lenya. Bill is a noted photographer, writer and author, as well as a top traditional jazz clarinetist. His four books include one on New Orleans jazz: Preservation Hall. Carter can be heard on a dozen recordings and he has served for over 10 years as Chairman of the San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation board of directors.
John Gill
John took up banjo and drums after hearing his father's Dixieland albums. In 1977 he joined The Turk Murphy Jazz Band on banjo and stayed for almost 11 years. He is now in New York City playing drums with Vince Giordano's Nighthawks and is leader of the Lu Watters-style band called the Yerba Buena Stompers, performing in many jazz festivals throughout the country.
Tom Bartlett
Tom joined the Salty Dogs Jazz Band on the Purdue campus in 1959, playing in the style of Lu Watters and Turk Murphy. He formed jazz bands in South and Central America while serving in the Peace Corps and the United States Army. He rejoined the Salty Dogs in 1969 and has performed and recorded with many notable jazz bands including the Frisco, Red Rose, Down Home, South Frisco jazz bands and the Yerba Buena Stompers.
Clint Baker
Clint is a master of all instruments and has instructed many musicians on the intricacy and secrets of playing authentic New Orleans jazz. His own New Orleans Jazz Band is well known on the jazz festival circuit and on the Bay Area nightclub scene. He has stayed busy as a sideman on his various instruments with the Usonia Six Swing Band. His latest recording is "Tears" on the EFO label.
Marty Eggers
Marty is well known on the West Coast as a top-notch ragtime pianist and bassist. His music career began in Sacramento as a teenager. Besides performing as a solo pianist, Marty plays with a number of traditional jazz and ragtime groups, most notably with the Yerba Buena Stompers, The Royal Society Jazz Orchestra and the Black Diamond Jazz Band. He regularly performs with his wife, pianist Virginia Tichenor. He records frequently and is a skilled composer and arranger of ragtime and traditional jazz.
Ray Cadd
Ray grew up listening to his grandparent's 78s, including recordings of Rosy McHargue, Firehouse Five, Lu Watters and Turk Murphy. He began on tuba at the age of 13. He has performed with the Yerba Buena Stompers, the Titanic Jazz Band and Hal Smith's Frisco Syncopators. Ray's other obsessions are antique trains and 20th century classical music.
Ray Skjelbred
Ray is one of the Bay Area's finest classic jazz performers, a mainstay in the Turk Murphy band for over four years.
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