October 2005's
Featured Band
Fog City Stompers
The Fog City
Stompers are a well known traditional jazz band. "Their
music is truly infectious. The more you hear them, the more
you'll look for them at jazz festivals, or wherever, to
see if they're on the list. Tom really has one “sweet” band".
Quote from the Redding Jazz Society web page.
Tom
Belmessieri - Trumpet / Leader
Tom began playing trumpet
when he was 9 years old and has been involved with music ever
since. He grew up with an appreciation for the music of the
20s, 30s and 40s because his dad was always playing those
records, particularly the early jazz of Paul Whiteman and
Bix Beiderbecke, as well as the big bands. In addition to
the bands in high school and college, he played in various
combos on the side and also sang in a barbershop quartet.
In 1985 he organized a group of musicians to play Dixieland
and that was the birth of the Fog City Stompers .
Tom is also a composer of note. Among the tunes that make the
group unique is his "Here Comes the Fog" which is
also the title song of the group's C
Brian
Cardello - Tuba
Brian picked up the
trombone in the fifth grade after watching the bands with
his dad at Disneyland . He played with his first Dixieland
band in high school, Big Ralph's Dixieland Band .
In college, he played with the Cal Poly Dixieland Band
. They bumped into some real traditional jazz in Pismo
Beach at the Basin Street Regular's Club, got hooked and formed
their own band, Sticks, Strings & Hot Air . They
performed around campus, around town, at various jazz clubs,
and also played as a student band at the Sacramento Jazz Festival
in 1982 and 1983.
Born in Santa Barbara
, Brian grew up in San Juan Capistrano . He joined Fog
City in 1987. A journalism major in college,
he's now doing video production (broadcast and corporate)
along with being a TV cameraman at KRON-TV. Besides music,
recreation includes water skiing and wake boarding.
Bill Cooper
- Banjo
"When you're tired of banjo, you're
tired of life," says "Banjo" Bill Cooper, our
numero uno banjoist since 1996. Bill has been playing the
banjo since he was 12 years old. He has been musical director
of the East Bay Banjo Club for over 15 years, playing
with them at such venues as the Concord Pavilion, Lesher Center
, and Candlestick Park . He has played with other groups,
including the Yellow Stutz Bearcat of Reno , Swingrass
, the Banjo Wizards , and the East Bay Bearcats
. He has substituted for many groups and he also teaches
banjo at his home in Martinez .
Bill also supplies much of the spoken material between tunes,
most of it humorous. A tribute to his value with the banjo and
his humor is his ability poke fun at members of the group, including
the leader, and make them laugh.
Rich
Owens - Piano
Rich
has played various keyboard instruments for over 30 years.
He has 10 years of performance experience playing piano for
melodramas, various traditional jazz bands, and traditional
music revues. He believes in the importance of keeping jazz
alive by maintaining active memberships in local traditional
jazz societies.
Rich
is a past president of the South Bay Tradtional Jazz Society
and is active on the group's Board of Directors, currently
serving as the publicity chairman.
Bruce Stuart
- Trombone
Bruce has been
playing jazz for more than 20 years. He graduated from Cal
State University-Hayward in Trombone Performance and has played
with the San Francisco Symphony, the Ringling Bros. Circus
Band and numerous jazz bands including the Devil Mountain
Jazz Band , of which he is a charter member.
While at Santa Rosa
Junior College he did jazz performances with Maynard Ferguson
and Frank Rosolino. He was 1st Trombone and assistant bandmaster
with the U.S. Coast Guard Band and Principal Trombone with
the Contra Costa Symphony Orchestra.
Andy Parker
- Drums
Andy was born in
Lafayette , Indiana , and first started drumming by playing
brushes on his dad's album covers when he was 8. He played
in high school and college with the orchestra, marching &
jazz bands, and ensembles.
Later he played
regularly with a touring band that included gigs at Disneyland
and Scarlet La Rue's in the South Bay . Andy enjoys the early
jazz, traditional jazz, West Coast revival, and swing
Guido Fazio
- Clarinet
Guido is a San
Francisco native and has played professionally since 1968.
He studied music at San Jose State University and with prominent
teachers locally on tenor sax, woodwinds, and composition.
He teaches privately full time and performs regularly throughout
the San Francisco bay area. He has co-authored a book with
the late jazz guitarist, Warren Nunes, on jazz improvisation
technique.
- Date:
Sunday, September 25, 2005
- Time:
1:00 PM - 5:00 PM
- Price: member: $8, other jazz club member: $9,
non-member: $10
- Location: Palo Alto Elk's Lodge
- Directions: Take Hwy 101 to San Antonio
Road, Go South to El Camino Real, turn right on El Camino Real.
The Elk's Lodge is at 4249 El Camino Real, Palo Alto,
California.
(get map).
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