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BILL CROW continued from page 12
high school I was working after school and saving my money. I was
able to buy this brand new $75 or $80 baritone horn. I played that
right through high school and got good enough to win solo contests
on it; but when the teacher started a swing band I wanted to be in it.
He said, “There are no parts for a baritone horn, but if you learn
another instrument we’ll be glad to have you.” My brother had gone
into the Navy and left an alto saxophone, so I got that and started
learning. I was able to play the third alto parts by the end of that
season. I never got a decent tone, but [chuckles] that wasn’t one of
the criteria. The next year we merged with another high school that
had awfully good saxophone players and I was aced out of that chair.
The drummer had graduated, so I went to [him] and said, “Show me
that high hat beat and how you hold those sticks.” The school had a
set of drums, and I practiced and got the job playing with the high
school swing band.
I went into the Army expecting to get into a band since there were
a couple of bands that wanted me. For one reason or another
I couldn’t. They sent me to headquarters to be a typist. I finally met
a guy who knew they were starting a new band and he was able
to get my name on the roster. I
became a member and it really got
to be a good jazz band. Just as it
got good, my enlistment was up. I
had enlisted for 18 months and I
was in the middle of the best
musical scene I’d ever been on, so I
extended to three years and immediately
it got rotten. [Laughs]
I was glad to get out when I finally
did, but during that band experience,
I met a cornet player who
taught me the whole traditionalist
repertoire. I was playing tailgate
baritone horn with him and he said,
“Why don’t you get a valve trombone?
That is what Brad Gowans
and Juan Tizol play.” So I found this
30-year-old valve trombone. It had
kind of a tubby sound, but it was
acceptable so I started playing that.
My bit of drumming experience came
in handy because the other drummers in that band were not interested in
playing the trap set at the service club. So I got a trap set and did all the service
club jobs as a drummer. I used to keep the valve trombone by the drums and
when it came time for me to play a chorus, the trumpet player would play the
ride cymbal. I’d keep my feet going and do my solos on the valve trombone.
By the time I got out of the Army I really thought of myself as a jazz valve
trombone player. I got back into college at the University of Washington in
Seattle and right away met all the musicians there through jam sessions.
I ended up living on a houseboat with three other musicians and we just played
all the time. Then I met a drummer, Buzzy Bridgford. He was amazed at how
innocent I was. He really delighted himself by filling me in on all the gossip and
inside knowledge about the jazz world. Finally he was ready to go back to New
York. He said to me, “If you want to be a musician you have to go where the
A gig is a gig and I was going to do
my best. I knew how to play and I
knew I was no Oscar Pettiford. In
fact, the second time I played with
Stan we were in Birdland and …
there is Oscar at the bar along with
about six other good bass players
around the house. I said, “Well, this
is me and this is how I play. I can’t
really worry that there are a lot of
better players in the house. I’m just
going to do my job.”
Crow (alternately playing drums, valve trombone, bass, and singing) worked with
Glen Moore and his Mooremen. Left to right, Carl Janelli, Glen Moore, Bill Crow.
music is; come to New York with
me.” I said, “That sounds like a good
idea.” I dropped out of school,
packed my valve trombone and we
got on a bus and came to New
York. I think I had about 50 dollars
in my pocket.
I stayed the rest of that year being
a valve trombone player on jam
sessions and met a whole bunch
of people. One was Dave Lambert,
who was very poor at that time,
scuffling around the Lower East
Side. He showed me how to live real
cheap in New York, which was a
blessing. I even lived with him for a
while in a basement on West 10th
Street. That first summer, Buzzy got
a job up in Tupper Lake, New York.
He told me, “I’m going up to the
mountains with this quartet. If you
want to hitchhike up, I’ll put you up and we can play a little.” So I did, around
the 4th of July and he goes to the boss…the boss wouldn’t hire a bass player
because he felt two rhythm instruments were enough. Buzzy convinced him to
hire me. He gave me 15 bucks a week plus room and board. The second day I
was there, Buzzy rented a Kay bass for the summer from some kid and put it
on the stand. He said, “Anytime you are not taking a chorus, you’ve got to try
to play this. I can’t stand playing without a bass player.” [Chuckles]
By the end of the summer I had found my way around the bass enough to play
acceptably as long as I could make my own lines. I didn’t even know there was
a fingering system. I knew nothing about how to set up a bass or get the action
easier. I did figure out how to replace a string. By the end of the summer, I was
back in New York with my valve trombone, hanging around Charlie’s Tavern
where the musicians all hung out. Somebody would say, “I need a bass for
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__________________________________ May 2010