slide_advantage_redoux Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 (edited) During a break between Easter gig services, we were discussing music from the 20's. The conversation came around to the Whiteman band.. A specific question was posed about a trombonist from Ohio who was in the band during that era, and was seen still gigging in Cincinnati into his 80's (back in the mid-1970s or so). None of us could come up with any names. Any ideas? Are there some books available that would give detailed information about who was playing in the band then? An online data base? Aside from the notable soloists such as Beiderbeck, Teagarden, Venuti, Trumbauer, et al I draw blanks. I see nothing in the Simon Big Band book. Thanks! Edited March 28, 2005 by slide_advantage_redoux Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKE BBB Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 Not sure if this will help but... From redhotjazz website: Trombonists in Whiteman´s orchestra (without specifics on which period they played in the band): Bobby Byrne Jim Cassidy Boyce Cullen Chick Dahlsten Tommy Dorsey Jack Fulton Vincent Grande Jose Gutierrez Wilbur Hall Fritz Hummel Buster Johnson Skip Layton Sam Lewis Hal Matthews Roy Maxon Murray McEachern Miff Mole Bill Rank Charlie Small Elmer Smithers Jack Teagarden Allan Thompson Herb Winfield Moe Zudecoff (Buddy Morrow) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKE BBB Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 Anyway... The king is here.... Long play the king! B-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 Bill Rank perhaps? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stereojack Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 I wonder if you are thinking of Speigle Wilcox, who played with the California Ramblers and Jean Goldkette in the 1920's. He left music, but came back after retiring from the day gig in the 1970's. He was a regular fixture on the trad festival scene in those days. He was in the Goldkette band at the same time as Bix Beiderbecke, and appears in Brigitte Berman's film about Bix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BERIGAN Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 I recall in the Bix Documentary an old guy playing trombone to an old record...crap,was it Jean Goldkette member, or Whiteman member??? I'll dig the tape up later today and see who dat was... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 (edited) Could be Wilcox, and he's been active through the nineties and into the 21st century! (I've got a great private recording of him backed by Danny D'Imperio and his father, Pete D'Imperio). Berigan, that was Wilcox on that Bix documentary. Rank was from Cincinnati and was a presence there in the seventies, and did play in Whiteman's Orchestra (poor guy, simultaneously with Tea!) Edited March 28, 2005 by jazzbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 Some info from Yanow: Rank, Bill Trombonist, Rank, Bill is most famous for having participated on some classic recordings with Bix Beiderbecke and Frankie Trumbauer in the 1920's. He began his professional career in 1921, playing with Collins' Jazz Band in Florida and then in Indianapolis as part of Tade Dolan's Singing Orchestra. Rank joined Jean Goldkette's Orchestra in 1923 and was with Goldkette through the summer of 1927 including the Beiderbecke era. He was with Adrian Rollini's legendary (if short-lived) orchestra, recorded with Sam Lanin, Roger Wolfe Kahn and Nat Shilkret and then was with Paul Whiteman's Orchestra from Dec. 1927 up until 1938, appearing on many recordings. After four years playing in the Hollywood studios, Rank moved to Cincinnati where he led his own bands by night while working in the insurance industry by day. In the late 1960's he became more active in music, visiting Europe a few times and appearing at numerous classic jazz festivals in the 70's where he was treated as a legend. Bill Rank led his lone record date in 1973, a tribute to Bix Beiderbecke for Fat Cat's Jazz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 I'd like to hear that, and many other, Fat Cat lp(s)! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slide_advantage_redoux Posted March 28, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 Thanks one and all for all the info. This website is priceless! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free For All Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 Thanks one and all for all the info. This website is priceless! So was Bill Rank the name you were looking for? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 Aw heck, we just love trombonists over here on this board! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenLowe Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 Bill Rank was an excellent soloist - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free For All Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 Bill Rank was an excellent soloist - Anything in particular you'd recommend Allen? Or Lon? I have heard of him, but have not heard him play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 (edited) Singin' the Blues, Columbia This has what Rank has called his favorite perfomance ("At the Jazz Band Ball") and more. . . . I haven't heard anything from Rank's sixties and seventies comeback (would like to!). . . .This material in small group with Bix is what his "name" is built on and shows him off well. Edited March 28, 2005 by jazzbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenLowe Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 I would agree - find the small group stuff with Bix - one good one, a tune called Sorry, from 1927 - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BERIGAN Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 Could be Wilcox, and he's been active through the nineties and into the 21st century! (I've got a great private recording of him backed by Danny D'Imperio and his father, Pete D'Imperio). Berigan, that was Wilcox on that Bix documentary. Rank was from Cincinnati and was a presence there in the seventies, and did play in Whiteman's Orchestra (poor guy, simultaneously with Tea!) Good, now I don't have to fast forward thru a 2 hour tape looking for an old guy on a trombone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slide_advantage_redoux Posted March 29, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2005 Thanks one and all for all the info. This website is priceless! So was Bill Rank the name you were looking for? Bill Rank it is! Thanks again everyone for throwing in on this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKE BBB Posted March 29, 2005 Report Share Posted March 29, 2005 Some more info on Bill Rank: http://www.lafayettejc.com/columns/2004052...085288494.shtml Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 29, 2006 Report Share Posted March 29, 2006 I'd also say it would be Speigle Wilcox. He even traveled to Amsterdam, NL. in the 90's at least three times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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