1920 | New England Traditional Jazz Plus

Bill Reynolds’ Back Bay Ramblers

Dan Gabel trombone, Bill Drake guitar, Mike Peipman trumpet, Bill Reynolds leader/drums, Billy Novick alto sax and clarinet, Stu Gunn tuba/string bass, John Clark clarinet, tenor and baritone sax, Ross Petot piano, Nancy McGhee vocals.

Bill Reynolds has revivified his Dad’s band, The Back Bay Ramblers, playing hot dance and jazz from the 20’s and 30’s. Four members remain from a previous band: Billy Novick and John Clark reeds, Ross Petot piano, and of course, Bill Reynolds drums. Filling in some very big boots are Mike Peipman for Jon-Erik Kelso, who now plays every Sunday at the Ear Inn in NY; Dan Gabel for Bob Connors, who moved to Florida and is collecting old movies; Bill Drake guitar for Peter Bullis banjo who is Manager of the New Black Eagle Jazz Band; and Stu Gunn for Vince Giordano, who needs no explanation.

Ed’s Back Bay Ramblers

They started with their theme song, Dream Sweetheart, and played many of Ed’s favorite songs and vocals, aptly sung by Nancy McGhee.

Nancy McGhee

Nancy gave a strong, effervescent singing performance, beginning with Daddy, Won’t You Please Come Home. Nancy is a graduate of Berklee and is Choral Director at Lawrence High School Performing Arts. She sang songs of the Boswell Sisters, An Evening In Caroline, Eva Taylor’s 1937 Clarence Williams’ Top of The Town, Mildred Bailey’s Commentating on You. She also touched on Ed’s favorite vocalist, Annette Henshaw, with The Right Kind of Man.

The Band played Little By Little done by the Louisiana Rhythm Kings in 1929. Tiny Parham’s dark, somber Congo Love Song, arranged by Bob Connors. Cho King was arranged by pianist Robin Verdier.

Dan holds megaphone with left foot

Alcoholic Blues, 1929 by Doc Daugherty, Dan Gabel with a slow, moaning muted trombone.

Dan was featured on The River and Me, playing trombone into a 4-foot megaphone braced on his left foot.

He took the first chorus on Red McKenzie’s 1929 Hello Lola, done by the Mound City Blue Blowers. It featured all the guys with many marvelous solos by the front line.

Front Line, Dan Gabel, Mike Peipman, Billy Novick, John Clark

Mike Peipman

The 1951 Nullabor was the most recent tune, an Australian Band jazz revival. It probably means ‘null arbor’, or no trees; a grassy plain, or desert? No one knows for sure. Bill ended it with a pulsating tom-tom drum beat.

Mike Peipman is Australian. His crystal-clear trumpet led many of the tunes.

Riding But Walking – My Wonderful You, arranged by Steve Wright, the interaction between the saxes was mind boggling!

Billy Novick on alto sax, John Clark on baritone sax

Stu holding tuba with string bass beside him

Stu Gunn had big boots to fill!

Fat’s Waller’s Vipers Drag was a knockout! Virtuoso bassist Stu Gunn gives the band energy and drive. He brought two instruments, string bass and tuba, excluding Vince’s bass sax.

A full time musician, Stu Gunn plays fine classical music in local symphonic orchestras, and is fantastic on Jazz and Blues.

Bill in black tux and bow tie, as are all members of the band.

Bill Drake on guitar

Bill Drake’s acoustic rhythm guitar is barely heard by the audience. You can ‘feel’ him more than hear him, but he adds depth to the music that would definitely be missed!

couple in their early 90's dancing, and they're good!

John and Gisella really enjoy dancing!

John and Gisella Bruneccini couldn’t resist dancing!

Ross smiling at camera - Ross Never smiles when he's playing!

Ross Petot is renowned for playing stride piano.

Ross played a solo on Clarence Williams Longshoreman’s Blues, improvising but never straying far from the melody. It was arranged by Billy who was on clarinet.

Shadows on The Swanee also had Ross’s fine piano.

Duke Ellington’s Red Hot Band was played by the Cotton Club Orchestra in 1927.

They closed with Joe Steele’s Top and Bottom, front line playing in staccato, saxes interweaving, twining around each other.

Bill Reynolds closes his eyes and listens

Bill Reynolds has a passion for this music. Ed Reynolds is looking down and smiling.

The Back Bay Ramblers brought a level of style and sophistication of jazz that is rarely heard today. We would like to hear them more often!

Bill has many CD’s of the various Back Bay Ramblers available for sale.

CD: The original band’s first album was in 1986, with Scott Philbrick, Johnny Battis & Billy Novick (no trombone), Robin Verdier, Jimmy Mazzy, Stu Gunn and Bill Reynolds
(Thank you for this, Steve Wright. He and Bob Connors joined the band when Johnny Battis left.)

There will be no Sunday afternoon Jazz at Ken’s Steak House for the summer. Stay tuned – we’ll definitely let you know when it’s back!

6-pc Band plays written arrangements of dance music of the 20''s and 30's

Monte Carlo Jazz Ensemble

November 11, 2014 with Robin Verdier leader/piano, Bob MacInnis cornet, John Clark alto sax, Craig Ball clarinet, Al Bernard tuba, Bill Reynolds drums

Robin Verdier’s Monte Carlo Jazz Ensemble brought us back to the fast paced, energetic music and dances of the optimistic 1920’s. New styles of music and dances evolved. They were an escape from the horror of war, and an opportunity to release pent up emotions created by the restricted lifestyles forced on the public by the war effort. Ragtime which had been popular during and after the war was suited to the new music tempos and so it flourished.

Robin Verdier, our own erudite Rag Time pianist, is well versed in this music. The musicians perform his arrangements in sensitive, sophisticated Ensemble.

They Called It Dixieland began this momentous evening. Mine All Mine, a tune composed by Fats Waller that was not associated with Fats because Fletcher Henderson recorded it first in 1927. Excellent solos.

Bob MacInnis on cornet

1925 Hotsy Totsy Now with Bob’s fine cornet enriched by piano’s soft notes, tuba in the background.

Then we were privileged to hear the World’s first performance of Robin’s arrangement of Irving Berlin’s 1927 Shaking the Blues. Marvelous!

Moving ahead (for them) to 1938 with Fats Waller’s I’ll Dance At Your Wedding with fabulous cornet, smooth alto sax, piano trickling between solos.

Robin sitting at piano with his reflection in piano top

Robin Verdier (file photo)

Rags were popular back in 1902, when Scott Joplin wrote Elite Syncopation. At that time Rags were played on the streets of New Orleans. Our own Scott Joplin, Robin Verdier, handles the difficult syncopated melodic line with ease. He played to a large, appreciative crowd!

A rarity, a collaboration between Cook’s Blame It On The Blues with Sidney Bechet’s Quincy Street Stomp, showed more fabulous ensemble, and clarinet skillfully trading 4’s with alto sax.

Bill Reynolds

1924 Alabamy Bound, adept in this art of drumming, Bill Reynolds was tapping on the wood block. Bill’s father, recently deceased Ed Reynolds, had a big influence on Robin Verdier and was responsible for at least five of the tunes this evening.

Al Bernard

Bill Reynolds’ drums and Al Bernard’s tuba kept the rhythm burning. Albie’s tuba sometimes becomes an extension of the Ensemble.

Dave’s drum introduced a 50’s jazz tune, Nullabor, probably named after a desert in Australia – maybe an aborigine song, with heavy drum accents. Nice clarinet by Craig, then outstanding ensemble, closing with more thunderous drums.

1927 Anabelle Lee was one of Ed Reynolds’ tunes. Ensemble played in stop time in Sonny Clay’s 1931 Cho-King, featuring Bill’s choke cymbals.

My Baby Just Cares For Me 1930, That’s Where You’re Wrong 1929. Everybody’s Doing The Charleston 1925. Tiny Parham’s Now That I Found You 1930. Con Conrad’s 1921 Moonlight included a nice tuba solo with piano backing.

I Wish’t I Was In Peoria, Walter Donaldson’s I’ve Had My Moments. In Our Cottage of Love, Down Where The Sun Goes Down.

Mule Face Blues, nimble fingers flew across piano, Reynolds applying fine choke cymbal and drumming, the Front Line in distinguished ensemble that sets this group apart.

Monte Carlo Front Line: Bob MacInnis, Craig Ball, John Clark

They closed with When Lindy Comes Marching Home, written by George M. Cohan for pilot Charles Lindburgh’s successful solo flight across the ocean. The ensemble interpolated other Cohen tunes – we recognized Yankee Doodle Dandy.

This was a momentous moment for many reasons: John Clark had just returned from his Wolverine Jazz Band’s great reception at the Arizona Classic Jazz Festival. This was Bob MacInnis’s last performance for this year in New England – he left for Florida the next day. We’ll miss him until Spring. And the future of Jazz at the Sherborn Inn is uncertain, as it is under new ownership in January 2015. Just in case, we are searching for new venues.

We certainly hope to hear the Monte Carlo Jazz Ensemble again, either here at the Sherborn Inn or at a new venue. Stay tuned.

New England Traditional Jazz Plus

Swing, Traditional Jazz, Dixieland Jazz, Big Bands

Tag Archives: 1920

Back Bay Ramblers at Ken’s Steak House June 12, 2016

A Fabulous Fall Frolic with the Monte Carlo Jazz Ensemble at the Sherborn Inn