March 2014 Number 412

Delta RagA non-profit organization dedicated to the education,preservation, and promotion of Traditional Jazz

Live Dixieland in StocktonThe first Sunday of the month, noon until 5:00 pm, Elks Lodge, 8900 Thornton Road

IT’S KRISTY REED COCUZZI & JOHN COCUZZIWITH THAT SWINGING JAZZ YOU LOVE

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SJDJS 2014 OFFICERSPresident.....................................Frank Lindskoog

Past President...............................Dick Lockwood

VP/Music Director.. ................Bill Sharp

Secretary.................................Barbara Baughman

Treasurer..... .Geri Eckert

Promotional Mgr...........................Gladys DuncanEquipment Mgr..................................Larry TyrellMember at Large...........................Judith GriffithsMember at Large.......................Kerry LockwoodHistorian.............................................Larry TyrellDelta Rag Editor...... ...........Billie Ricker

Delta Rag email.................... ricker@dishmail.netDelta Rag contributors....…. Frank Lindskoog,Bill Sharp, Dick Lockwood, Dave Tygett.

VOLUNTEERSAdmission desk coordinator............Judy GriffithsAdm. desk Volunteers.................................Mary Jane Gill, Beverly Martin, Tony &Delores Moreira, Edie Sanchez, ElizabethGunter, Alice Hannan, Judy Griffiths.Raffle chairman......................................Dave Tygett

Webmistress..............................Kerry Lockwoodhttp://www.sanjoaquindixielandjazz.org

The DELTA RAG is published monthly bythe San Joaquin Dixieland Jazz Society, at Wal-lace, CA. Please address mail to: Billie Ricker, POBox 14, Wallace, CA 95254. The deadline for material to be published isthe day of the session preceding the issue date.

ADVERTISING RATESFull page........................ $50Half page.......................$25Business card size..........$10

Business card size is $100 for 1 year

EDITOR’S SPOTListen, this is not my fault. You think I

keep fouling up the calendar of guest bands,don’t you! Not so! The cleverly named HotFlashes w/ Men-O-Paws have a most ex-cellent reason for becoming, Kristy (Reed)Cocuzzi & John Cocuzzi. One of the HotFlashes, the famed pianist, Bonnie Otto,bowed out in order to spend the weekendwith her seafaring son. Actually, under-sea-faring son. His submarine puts in to port onthe very weekend of our Sunday session,and guess what took precedence! Yay, Bon-nie! Give him a hug for us.

So John Cocuzzi moved from drums topiano, and Ian Stanbaugh takes over asdrummer, and the show goes on, with JeffKreis remaining on trumpet, and Bill Sharpon upright bass. Please turn to page 4 toread about the Cocuzzis.

Beware. The big purge is coming, sodon’t get dis-membered. You won’t want tomiss a single fun-filled Sunday at the clubthis year, so save some money by buying asustaining membership. It will save all thatfumbling at the door as you look for a fiveand 3 ones. Although some folks just dropa tener and say, “Keep the change.” And welike that just fine, thank you.

Do not forget to give us your emailaddress. Even if you think we already haveit. Please? Thank you.

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Hello FellowClubbers.

Last month Imade a rain dancerequest and you obliged. I didn't seeany feathered head-dresses on thefloor but obviously one or more ofyou were endowed with a sufficient-ly large fraction of Native AmericanDNA to bring forth the rain whenyou began your dance. Yup, that'sprecisely when it started. Heap bigthanks from all of us Pale-Faces.

An important house-keeping matterlooms. This past session a few people im-ported food. This is a violation of our con-tract with Elks. Lest you think otherwise,it's purpose is not to promote sale of acouple of hot dogs. Rather the purpose is tomaintain control of bacterial mal-aspects.[This matter rears it's head as regards thewisdom of food stores packing groceriesinto patron's home-sourced bags. We sim-ply cannot know how fastidious is the re-pose of these between store visits]

Did you ever notice how "smooth"were/are the tones of the big dance bands?What that takes is an abundance of reedsboth in unison and harmony. That is whatwe enjoyed this February session. Thanksto our past Pres. for hunting and gatheringall that black and gold plumbing.

Attendance was not bad but we need tokeep working on it.

Random thought: Of all the arts the onethat brings us together each month, musicthat is, seems the most natural. Considerthis; Any sound produced by our vocalchords -gargling doesn't count- if uniform-ly sustained turns into a musical tone.Speaking, chanting, yelling, groaning, we

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGEBy Frank Lindskoog

have only to stopmid-stream, holdon to that sound,and quite magi-

cally it turns into a hum with a dis-crete identifiable place in the musicscale. Try it. Now is not that as natu-ral as an art can get? If we pick up apaint brush does the first stroke re-veal itself? Sculpting, weaving etc.the same.

Well I said it was a thought; Ididn't say it was a useful thought. Regard-less, music is flat-out wonderful.

Let's wish our athletes safe passage asthey go about their quests in Russia.

Lament about two guys named Frank:I did it my way, but if I had it to do overagain I would do it Frank Sinatra's way!

Till next time.....................

Conversation overheard. What is that indentation on the bridgeof your nose?

From my glasses. How about trying contact lenses.

Those things don't hold enough beer!

MYSTERY RAFFLE WINNER

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In addition to LarryTyrell’s prizes we had a dona-tion of three CD’s from ReidJohnson. The CD’s were wonby Kerry Lockwood, BarbaraShaw, and Bob Breckenridge. The “winos” for the daywere Reid Johnson, Reva Williams, DonRees, Larry Tyrell, Bob Breckenridge, andGinger Devaney. The ale champ again thismonth was Ellie Buhlert.

The miniature orchid found a home withLaurie Sundholm. The Ranunculus (redflowers) were won by Wilt Fernandez.Dannie Balzer got the tangerines and RichKreis the chocolate cupcakes.

The raffle raised $87 and CD’s $7. Hap-py Valentines Day to all.

RAFFLE RAMBLEBy Dave TygettNorthern California multi-instrumentalists

and vocalists Kristy Reed Cocuzzi and JohnCocuzzi bring the classic sounds and music ofMiss Peggy Lee, Natalie Cole, Benny Good-man, Artie Shaw, Pete Fountainand Sydney Bechet, Nat "King" Cole, LionelHampton, Red Norvo with a little Jelly RollMorton, among others, to the stage for an after-noon of classic swing and jazz.

Kristy Reed Cocuzzi has a sultry voice thathas thrilled audiences everywhere and was fea-tured on vocals, sax and clarinet with Big TinyLittle for almost 10 years. She has toured aslead alto, clarinet, and vocalist with the "LiveLawrence Welk Show" throughout the UnitedStates and Canada, as well as being a memberof the "Champagne Music Makers" at the WelkResort in Branson, Missouri. She has performedon many cruise lines, worked with the Tempta-tions, Franki Valli, the Russ Morgan Orchestra,the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, the Cab Callawayorchestra, and so on, for pages and pages. Butyou get the idea. Locally she can be seen withthe Bob Ringwald Trio, Sensible Sounds, andthe Kristy Reed Dance Trio.

John Cocuzzi plays with passion and inten-sity on piano, vibes and drums. For more than30 years, John has been entertaining crowdsinternationally performing alongside jazz andblues greats such as Bucky Pizzarelli, DukeHeitger, Allan Vache, Ken Peplowski, DaveBennett, Harry Allen, Antti Sarpila and NewOrleans musicians, Tom Hook and Banu Gib-son at festivals, ocean cruises and jazz eventsacross the United States and in Europe. Withdynamic style and diverse rhythms, John's inno-vation breathes new life into familiar tunes,from swingin' and burnin' jazz and blues to lushand sultry ballads. An intuitive performer, Johnpossesses that musical "fire in the belly," ignit-ing the crowd with skillful improvisation.

GUEST BAND - KRISTY & JOHN

LARRY TYRELL

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ELLIE BUHLERT

KERRY LOCKWOOD RICH KREIS DON REES

REVA WILLIAMS LAURIE SUNDHOLM

WILT FERNANDEZ

BOB BRECKENRIDGE

that again? Andagain!

And then the verynext set, I heard Dan-

nie Balser sing, “LouisianaFairytale.” Thank you, Dannie, onbehalf of all the dancers and listen-ers who were smart enough to be atSJDJS on February 2nd.

And here is something thatDick Lockwood did that was so

thoughtful I’m going to share it with you.He sent me a link to a recording of “LittleEnough,” after I said I enjoyed it so muchwhen Cell Block 7 played it.

The first time I heard Vince Marino onthe radio, in about 1983, he said Modestohad a Dixieland Jazz club, and had livemusic at Carman’s restaurant. So Cliff & Ihustled right over there. I have a prettyvivid memory of that day. The two trumpetplayers I remember making a big impres-sion, were Dale Gardner and Deck Hogin.So it is with heavy heart that I tell you thatDale passed away in December. For thepast several years he had been too ill toattend our sessions, but he kept up hismembership so he could keep track of hisjazz friends. Our sympathy to Frances.

Pencil in some wrinkles on the pictureabove so you’ll know it’s me, and thencome on over to the table closest to the bar,(no comment) and tell me what is going onin your life, or what your favorite tune is, orwho your favorite band is, or what you likebest about the club, or what you like least.You know! Give me some news to report. Late news added. Just heard that Char-ter Member, Drew Mercer died. Sad news!

March is such awonderful month!Daylight Saving Timebegins March 9th, andthe days get longer. And if that isn’tenough excitement, St. Patrick’sDay is the 17, so all you Irish lassiesand laddies can dress up in your elfcostumes on March 2 to hear theCocuzzis. But hang on, there is moreto celebrate in March! The first dayof Spring is the 20th! Here’s a lovely poemabout Spring Mother taught me when I wasa child.‘Tis Spring — the boid is on the wing. But that’s absoid!I thought the wing was on the boid.

All righty, now on to more serious mat-ters. Tom Dutart, who currently resides inSanta Maria, was a charter member of SJD-JS and an original member of the TuleburgJazz Band. He saw my mention of the oldphoto of the “Pete Dust” band, with his,and Bob Edson’s pictures, and filled me in.He said Steve Douville was the drummer,and Muriel Roget was on banjo. I’m sav-ing a copy of that photo to give Tom thenext time he and Linda come to SJDJS.

I was so delighted to hear, “Water froman Ancient Well,” that I just closed my eyesand drank it in. (Feel free to snort at the punif you want to punish me. Oh! Stop mesomebody—just throw water on me. Letme out of these parentheses before I’m lost forever.) Yes, well with my eyes closed, Icouldn’t see who was playing that wonder-ful music, but I think I recognized DominicRuggieri’s tootling. (Actually, I peeked.)I just want to know if we can’t please hear

HEARD BETWEEN SETSBy Billie Ricker

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GENE MONDRO

CHECK OUT THE TIE!

DANNIE BALSERBETTY WARMDAHL

GINGER DEVANEY

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MUSIC DIRECTOR’S REPORT

SharpBY BILL SHARP

For the firstSunday meeting,during February, ofthe SJDJS at theElks Lodge, therewere 5 separate and unique bandson stage that were comprised onlyof jammers, and it was totally a“blast” - - - literally. What withone band stacked heavily with reedplayers (I think there were 6), sup-plemented with 3 trombone play-ers, and miscellaneous others, the resultingtotal was 14 people on stage, so it wasdefinitely a blast. A big blast. As I reiterate- - literally. Somehow or other, it wasmostly quite musical. And it sure was fun,as music is supposed to be.

Boy oh boy, the youth group, as the firstgroup on stage, nailed it and got us off to agreat start ! ! Then everyone joined forceswith the driving pace that had been estab-lished and kept it up. Each band providedit’s own unique sound that you just feltcompelled to listen to. I felt like the prover-bial “kid in a candy shop” with all the enjoy-able music being played. Using the word“awesome” barely describes it. It was quitephenomenal how 5 bands materialized outof thin air in the few weeks before the ses-sion. As I’ve stated before, the San JoaquinDixieland Jazz Society is “the real jazzclub.”

And for those of you who stayed athome to watch the Broncos win, well weknow what happened there. Those of youwho came to the club know that you had aone-of-a-kind, real, live, and wonderfulexperience.

Even before themusic started, thefirst thing quite no-ticeable as the musi-

cians began showingup, was that most of the guys (andGeri) were dressed “to the nines.” Sonot only did they sound great, theylooked great too—some to the pointthat I almost didn’t recognize them. Ieven took a bath, pressed a shirt, andwore a tie. Folks kept asking me if I

was a member, and if not, would I like tojoin.

Topic: Sports. Instead of watching yourfavorite team lose on TV, adjust your think-ing. Think of yourself as a spectator of jazzbands. Come to the Jazz Club and cheer theguest bands along to their glory. Tap yourfeet, dance, holler, scream as if you werewatching a playoff game. And have just asmuch fun doing it. You have a chance tosupport the next team (guest band) on Sun-day, March 2nd. The 5-piece group will befronted by the Cocuzzi duo– John on pianoand wife Kristy on reeds and vocals, andmost of you know how great they are.

To give you the genuine feeling of beingin a sports arena, I’ll ask the member musi-cians to exercise heavily in the morning butnot shower. You see, we’ll do anything tokeep our our “spectators" happy. (And themusicians will return to being recognizable).

Please have your 2014 membership card ready to

show at the door.

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SUPPORT LIVE DIXIELAND1st Sunday: San Joaquin Dixieland JazzSoc. Elks Lodge, 8900 Thornton Rd.,Stockton. March. 2, Hot Flashes w/ Men-O-Paws.

2nd Sunday: Sacramento TraditionalJazz Soc. Dante Club.

3rd Sunday: Modesto Traditional JazzSoc. Clarion Inn, 1612 Sisk Rd.

1st & 3rd Tuesday evening 6:30 to 8:30:Cell Block 7 playing at Royce’s Bar BQ,just off Hwy 99 @ Eight Mile.

ATTENTION FRIENDS If you know of someone who is ill or inneed of cheering up and would like theirname on the Sunsh phoneMarlena Tygett at

IN NEED OF SUNSHINEFrances Gardner

Bob RomansCell Block 7 Leader, Cornet,

Double Bell Euphonium1617 Lakeshore DriveLodi, California, 95242cellblk7@comcast.net

Cell 209-747-1148A DONATION IN MEMORY OF

DALE GARDNER

WAS RECEIVED FROM

LEONARD SMITH

DONATIONS IN MEMORY OF

CLIFF RICKER

WERE RECEIVED FROM

DICK & PAT HUNGERFORD

DICK & KERRY LOCKWOOD

In Memoryof

Dale Gardner

In Memoryof

Drew Mercer

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PAST PRESIDENT’S REPORTBy Dick Lockwood

outstanding. Ourgroup, in addition tothose already named

were: Geri Eckert – Vocals, NancyKreis – Tenor Sax (Yes! Tenor),Don Rees – Alto, Gene Mondro –Clarinet, Frank Lindskoog – Piano,Mark Kramer – Guitar, Jan Buhlert– Guitar/Banjo, Carl Warmdahl –Drums, and Dick Lockwood –Tenor Sax, “Cat” Herder and fear-less leader. Wait a minute, that’s

13 members…not 14. Well….that ex-plains it totally! Unless I missed namingsomeone, we were the Dirty Dozen PlusOne.

The Wee Can Reed Orchestra startedout as the W C R Band but grew to orches-tra size by performance time. We do havea C D out. Priced at One Dollar each. So,order yours now and the Wee Can ReedOrchestra will send you Two Dollars forbuying it!

See you at the March session. Remem-ber that friend or group of friends you havebeen meaning to invite to our Session?Stop what you are doing and phone themor send them an e mail right now! We needthem (and you) to attend. Organize a groupif you can. First time attendees get in free.Tell them to mention my invitation at thedoor and it will happen.

For the SJDJSDick Lockwood, AKA: el Jefe, AKA:ex-Presidente AKA: Pastor del gato (CatHerder)

Our Februarysession, also knownas Super Bowel (sic)Day, went wonderfully well. Thegeneral audience numbers were su-perseded by musicians in atten-dance. Our Vice President andMusic Director (Bill Sharp) put outa request for organized jammerbands several weeks in advance ofthe Session. As in years past, theBPOE has their Super Bowl gather-ing in the Poolside Lounge. This leaves uswith only the Main Ballroom for our Ses-sion. It also results in a Jammers Only day.

We were treated to some really goodbands. Yours truly put together a band thatgrew to 14 members by the time we played.While I am extremely thankful for thosemusicians who joined in with the Wee CanReed Orchestra, I must say that I learned alot from the experience. Fourteen musi-cians, all playing by ear is very similar toherding cats. No, not like the “cats” as inmusicians. Realizing that some of our reg-ular jammer musicians would not get toplay until the final hour, I added a trombonesection. After all, band political correctnesswould dictate at least one “brass” instru-ment among all those reeds. That honor hadalready been bestowed on Trombonist CarlKaiser. So, there was room to add LarryTyrell and Bob Edson. Good thing I did so.They really saved our bacon on a couple ofthe tunes.

The very nice bass line laid down byJim Lucas with his baritone sax was

2014 MEMBERSHIP APPLICATIONMembership includes the Delta Rag and a

reduced admission* at our monthly sessions. Sendcheck payable to SJDJS to P.O. Box 4746, Stock-ton, CA 95204-0746.Name(s)AddressCity, State, ZipPhoneE-mail

$25 Single annual membership$40 Couple (2 cards 1 address)$100 each Sustaining membership

Delta Rag only (No membership) $8.00*ADMISSION

Member = $8.00, Non-Member = $12.00Sustaining Member = FreeGold Card/Musician and Spouse = No chargeStudent with current Student Body card = $2.

SAN JOAQUINDIXIELAND

JAZZ SOCIETY

P.O. BOX 4746STOCKTON, CA 95204

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

2014 CALENDARMar.2: See Page 1, 4.Apr. 6: Cell Block 7May 4: The Jazz JumpersJune 1: Black Diamond Blue FiveJuly 6: Cell Block 7Aug. 3: Jammers

www.stocktondixielandjazz.org