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When clarinetist Bob Helm produced a chart of “La Rosita” in the key of G, Rose looked at the music, and said to Helm, “We didn’t play this in ‘G’ with Lu! We played it in ‘F’!” Although he was beginning to show signs of aging, his playing on the Down Home CD still sounds lively and adds much to the band’s sound. Rose was having severe trouble with his eyesight at the recording session, so supersized 11x17 sheets were necessary for him to read the arrangements. After Rose tried the music on his piano at home, he called the bandleader and asked in an excited voice, “Where has this rag been all my life?” “Gladiolus Rag” and “Grizzly Bear” had been in Rose’s repertoire since the 1940s, but Charley Straight’s rare “Hot Hands” was suggested for the third piano feature. With the extra time available on a CD, three piano and rhythm numbers were planned. The recording was for the Stomp Off label, which had recently switched over entirely to compact disc releases. In addition to Rose, the session included Bob Mielke, Bob Helm, and Barbara Dane, all of whom performed on the original record. In 1993, Rose was invited to record a tribute to Lu Watters’ Blues Over Bodega by the Down Home Jazz Band. One side contained some of the popular songs Rose performed in piano bars, and the second side consisted of the rags which had established his reputation as a master of the idiom. In 1988, the San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation recorded an album called The Two Sides Of Wally Rose. A 1982 Stomp Off LP included “Ed’s Echoes,” dedicated to longtime friend Ed Sprankle, and “First Step One-Step.” He also composed “Vignette” and played it on a contemporary piano roll. Rose continued to learn new rags, and even to compose his own. He recalled, “Those men just ruined my music!” This time, all twelve rags which were recorded between 1950 – 1953 were included, and the accompanists were Morty Corb on bass and Nick Fatool on drums. He closed out the decade by recording a third version of Ragtime Classics for Good Time Jazz.
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Rose also played the Yerba Buena style and repertoire at the Sail’N with the Bay City Jazz Band. Key players who worked with Rose’s bands include Jack Minger on trumpet, Jerry Butzen on trombone, Vince Cattolica on clarinet, Norman Bates on bass, and Cuz Cosineau on drums. Instead, his bands included musicians who were as comfortable with the repertoires of Ellington and Basie as with those of Armstrong and Morton. On this LP, as well as on nightclub engagements, Rose proved that he was not a traditional jazz purist. He recorded Cakewalk To Lindy Hop for Columbia, which demonstrated the music which accompanied dances from ragtime to swing. In 1957, he performed at the Dixieland Ragtime Jamboree, benefiting the Musicians’ Pension Fund, where, in addition to leading his own Dixieland band, he was the featured soloist on “Rhapsody In Blue” with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. He also worked as a soloist at Goman’s Gay ‘90s, the Palace Hotel, and other venues. He recorded additional rags as piano solos, for a Columbia 10” LP. Rose is heard to good advantage on “Barrelhouse Jazz,” “When The Saints Go Marching In,” and especially “The Music Of Jelly Roll Morton.” With Short on tuba and Murphy on washboard, Rose recorded a second version of Ragtime Classics for Good Time Jazz in 1953, with eight rags from the original group of twelve, which were issued on a 10” LP.
#GRIZZLY BEAR RAG PLAYER PIANO SERIES#
The quintet performed regularly at the Italian Village and also made a series of outstanding recordings for Columbia.
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However, Bob Short, also an excellent cornetist, was willing to double, and Dick Lammi was brought in to play banjo. Kinch and Ballou, based in Portland, Oregon, did not stay with the group. It inspired Turk Murphy to keep the band going and the Italian Village was his base of operations for over two years. When listening to the live recording of the concert, the musicians’ enthusiasm and unquenchable spirit are evident even now.
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In addition to Murphy, the stellar lineup consisted of Bob Helm on clarinet, Don Kinch on trumpet, Monte Ballou on banjo, Bob Short on tuba, Claire Austin as vocalist-and Wally Rose on piano. Meanwhile, Turk Murphy had been struggling to keep a band going until jazz activists Charles Campbell and Bill Mulhern set up a concert for him at the Italian Village in San Francisco on January 6, 1952.