Willie the Weeper - ClimaxJB:Draga

Willie the Weeper - Climax Jazz Band with Bob Draga in 1996

At the 1996 St Louis Jazz Festival we were recorded for several sets by Bob Byler.
One of the highlights was that Florida clarinetist Bob Draga came to sit in with out band for several tunes. We also had Pieter Meijers from the Los Angeles area substituting for our clarinet man Mick Lewis.
All together it became quite an exciting set. Two fantastic reedplayers made our band even swinging harder.

In this clip we play Willie the Weeper, the first tune Louis Armstrong recorded with his newly formed Hot Seven in May 1927. This tune has always been a sample for me how jazz should be played. Not that we copy that arrangement but the pattern stays with you based on what Louis and his musicians did in those days.

I also had the privilege to play a goldplated Getzen cornet that I had borrowed from a collector in Windsor Ontario, Canada. Dick Luker had a collection of some 20 cornets.
I had been at his place, found this great horn and was able to borrow it for our Climax Jazz Band trip to Japan a few months before this session in St Louis.
It took som 10 years before I found Bob Byler’s VHS tape and then realized what a nice sound this horn could make.
I phoned Dick Luker, and yes, he still had that cornet in his collection. He did not want to sell it but after seeing these clips of Climax in St.Louis he decided I could borrow it. It is now on its way. These were his words:

Flashy Gold job ON THE WAY< MAN////
Canada Poste "assures" me it'll be there in the great wide open WEST,,,in 7-8 days, TOPS... Xmas or no Xmas rush..
 I would sooner listen to an hour of Metallica  than believe them tho'.
HA!
 Anyhoo  some good jazz notes coming atcha, Bob.
 You sounded soooo  great on that Draga Meijers DVD, I didn't have the heart to keep this horn QUIET!! Sitting in a corner
DL    Best to Ilse as always.