Leader Frank Stadler distributed the appropriate script outlining the tunes, chords and keys to his colleagues in the Seacoast Stompers, all except Jimmy Mazzy who was in Maryland with the Wolverines.  Filling in for Jimmy was Lee Prager, trombone.  That's all it took to cause a....

Free for all! 

This band has been  together now for about six months, and everybody pretty much knows how it goes - who will do what, when, it's always fresh, because they never play it the same way twice.  But introduce a brand new player, and the sky's the limit.  The guys had a ball, changing familiar patterns, introducing new combinations,  creating  ideas on the spur of the moment - THIS IS WHAT JAZZ IS ALL ABOUT!  Challenging each other, conceiving instant responses to something totally unexpected.   They had fun, and so did we.

Generally in a Trad/Dixieland band, the front line is front and center: clarinet, trumpet, trombone.  But Craig Ball has positioned himself and his Buffet clarinet (with its French design that produces a more compact and vibrant sound) far to the left.  This enables Frank Stadler on piano to share the front line, along with Scott Philbrick on vintage 1931 Conn cornet, and Lee Prager on Shires trombone (that Scott, no doubt, had a hand in building) more or less by themselves front and center.  That left the rhythm makers, Bob McHenry on string bass and Steve Taddeo on drums, side by side by the window, where they could easily see and hear each other, a perfect partnership, conceiving all kinds of interesting mischief behind the solos and duets.

On Royal Garden Blues, Steve Taddeo picked up his 'walking cymbal', without missing a beat, drummed on anything within reach, even recreating Bob Haggart and Ray Bauduc's "Noise from Winetka" where Steve drums on the strings of the double bass, while McHenry creates a very percussive bass solo.  The acoustic bass is a classic, 64 year old, Kay Model C-1 bass that he bought new when he was 15 years old.

Lee watches Craig carefully, anticipating whatever he will do next, so he will be ready to respond during a  clarinet and trombone duet on Struttin' With Some Barbecue.

The lovely ballad, I Will Do Most Anything For You was a real barn burner!  Shifting  moods, Scotty introduced Someday Sweetheart with a heart rending, sentimental verse.  He also did a vocal, (Scotty sings too!!) on T'ain't No Sin to Take Off Your Skin and Dance Around in your Bones.  Craig was featured on one of our favorites, Rosetta, followed by a nice bass solo with Taddeo's barely perceptible, gentle, drumming in the background. (He can do that sometimes.)