Sometimes It Happens...
By Dan Augustine
Sometimes it happens that a band and an audience will, like two perfectly congruent polygons, exactly match each other. That is not to deny either entity's polymorphic characteristics, but simply to say that the band was able to tailor its performance to the audience at hand.
That is what happened on Sunday, February 10, 2008, at the concert hosted by the Austin Traditional Jazz Society at the Capital City Comedy Club from 2 to 5 pm. The band was the Band Aid Jazz Band (also called sometimes just the Band Aids) of San Antonio, and their performance (no doubt influenced by over a decade of experience with this particular audience) was just what the people wanted to hear. This is not to intimate that other bands would not also be equally enjoyed, as audiences like many different kinds of traditional jazz. But the songs that the Band Aids played matched the expectations of the large crowd present, as evidenced by the hearty applause and the couples on the dance floor.
The Band Aids accomplished this even though they say they have no leader and rarely rehearse. They've played in central Texas for thirty years and get their name from their professions in the health-care industry: the band members include a physician, an ophthalmologist, a dermatologist, and a drug-company executive, and are the husband and wife duo of Neil Walsdorf on clarinet (and
announcing) and Beverly Walsdorf on keyboard; Dan Bacon on trombone; Jerry Linder on trumpet; Bill Chapman on ("stratospheric") tuba; Bob Black on banjo; and Arthur Richardson on drums.
The first set started out with a rousing version of "Washington and Lee Swing", with Jerry Linder (in a sporty multi-colored cap) doing the vocal and Bill Chapman on tuba demonstrating not only his stratospheric abilities but his improvisational prowess. Other songs included "Muskrat Ramble" with a tricky tag-ending played by the trombone and tuba. Bobby Black played and sang "I Want a Little Girl" with great style, and Jerry Linder sang "Darktown Strutters' Ball" in French. During their performance of "Second Line" the band paraded single-file through the audience, but garnered no followers. Dan Bacon sang a couple of numbers, including "St. James Infirmary" and "Beale Street Blues". The set ended with "Bourbon Street Parade", featuring a nice introduction on drums by Art Richardson.
The first intermission included the drawing for door prizes and an announcement by Malcolm Rodman (ATJS Secretary-Treasurer) of the special concert on March 2nd by Jim Cullum.
The second set included the rarely heard but quite nice "Take Me Back to New Orleans" by Chris Barber, sung by Jerry Linder, "Bye Bye Blackbird" featuring Bobby Black on banjo, and "I Ain't Gonna Give You None of My Jelly Roll", sung by Jerry Linder. He also sang a song very few (including your reviewer) have ever heard of before, "I Got Two Mamas". Following it was a medley of Hoagy Carmichael songs, including "Georgia on My Mind" and "Stardust", and the set ended with an energetic rendition of "That's a-Plenty".
The third set witnessed one of the newer ATJS members sitting in with the band: Scott Bailey both played the trombone and sang "Buddy Bolden Blues" with the band, to loud applause. In a little-girl voice, Beverly Walsdorf cried, "Mister, is my daddy in there?", and Jerry Linder roared back (with true Turk Murphy gusto), "Get away from them swingin' doors!", and then sang the old barroom ballad, "The Curse of the Aching Heart". Dan Bacon sang "What a Wonderful World", followed by the last song of the concert, "When the Saints Go Marching In", with a section introducing the band-members while playing "Mama Don' 'Low", and a final section of "Dixie" just to cap things off right.
Many people in the audience stood and applauded the band after the last song, demonstrating that this particular band knows its audience well and delivers what they want to hear, even though they may not rehearse much.
