Continued: Jazz in the Heartland

Fogel in Flight: Congratulations to Minnesota-based singer/writer/radio host/raconteur Arne Fogel on 40 years in music, www.minnpost.com, April 8. He prepared a memoir to date especially for you:

"It was April 4, 1968, the same day Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, that I did my first recording session as part of a rock band called The Puddle, later called The Batch, some of whose recordings were re-released recently. Within a year or two, legendary Twin Cities composer/producer/performer Dale Menten began hiring me for studio work: singing on TV and radio commercials, film soundtracks, industrial films etc. Over the years, I'd estimate that I've been involved in more than 1500 recording sessions."

When Fogel was 12, he discovered Bing Crosby in the film The Road to Hong Kong and over time became a Crosby aficionado and authority. After discovering Crosby, Fogel recalls, "I became acquainted with Bix, Armstrong, Teagarden, Mildred Bailey, Eddie Lang and Joe Venuti, Sinatra, Astaire and many more.

"About 18 years ago, I began to sing in jazz clubs. I had worked in a trio (on Garrison Keillor's nationally syndicated radio show A Prairie Home Companion), had studied jazz all my life and had the notion that singing in jazz clubs would be a breeze. Wrong! I had so much to learn and I've been serving a long apprenticeship ever since. Someday, I'll get it right!

"I love to sing, love to swing with the great jazz musicians, and I'm proud of my efforts over the past 40 years, including working at Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis, with Rosemary Clooney, singing on national radio with Margaret Whiting, singing at several venues with Kathryn (Mrs. Bing) Crosby and recently being inducted into the Minnesota and Mid-America Music Halls of Fame this year. I'm very thankful."

And he ain't done yet, not by a long shot. Maybe even writing more for the RAG? (He wrote exceptionally good pieces on Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra in the past.) Contact Arne Fogel at FOGARN@aol.com and wish him a mazel tov.

Media Matters: If you're not already pumped for this year's Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival July 24-27, Quad Cities/Illinois and Iowa, the Spring edition of Bix Notes is guaranteed to rev you up to full power with the complete talent lineup, info on accommodations, ticket prices and much more. The journal also mourns the passing of Bixophile Ben Dension and Illinois drummer Francis Potter Clay and tries to do the seemingly impossible: peek inside musicians' brains! www.bixsociety.org or 1-888-249-5487.

In that same vicinity, the May edition of the newsletter of the Catfish Jazz Society (Iowa-Illinois) carries Judy McKinley's report on her jazz visit to Arizona's "Valley of the Sun," listings of area events and William Perry's farewell column, catfish jazz@yahoo.com; (309) 764-4935.

Northeast Ohio's EarlyJas Rag, May, carries a review of a new CD by Ted Shafer's Jelly Roll Jazz Band; a profile of under-appreciated Tin Pan Alley composer Joseph Meyer, and plans for the club's Fall Jazz Festival Sept. 26-28 (Buffalo Ridge, Dave Greer, Devil Mountain, Paramount Jazz Band and St. Louis Stompers), www.earlyjas.org.

The death of Lucille Loeffler, wife of Central Ohio Jazz Society board member Jim Loeffler, is reported in the May issue of the club's The Dixieland Hot Sheet, plus news of its Sept. 14 concert with Ray Heitger and The Cakewalkin' Jazz Band, www.cohjs.org

Minnesota's Insight News, www.insight news.com, April 14-20 carried a neat photo story on this year's Twin Cities Jazz Camp.

If you want to learn how to transfer LPs to digital, check www.startribune.com April 22.

Perhaps the worst ad I've seen yet for a jazz performance was prepared by some nudnick for Mike Vax's big band concert at the University of Minnesota May 3: "Sharp, swinging jive for a spine-tingling adventure" www.startribunecom April 27. Still, about 600 fans turned out. FYI, Vax once led the Dukes of Dixieland, according to Minnesota big band maven Gerry Swanberg, www.kfai.org, April 27, Big Band Scene, Gswanbe@aol.com.

Frank Sinatra, 10 years after (hey, that could be the name of a rock band!), was covered in the May 2-4 USA Weekend, www.usaweekend.com.

To end on an upbeat note, vocalist Ed Reed, who made his recording debut at 78 last year after overcoming a life of adversity, has issued his second CD, The Song Is You, on his Blue Shorts album. Like his first CD, Ed Reed Sings Love Stories, No. 2 is replete with time-honored standards RAG readers are bound to enjoy (again) while discovering this formidable, better-late-than never talent. Available through http://amazon.com; www.cdbaby.com/edreed; www.edreedsings.com or hudba@sbcglobal.net. Highly recommended.

Please send me your ring-a-ding-ding, better-late-than-never news by the fifth of the month preceding publication: Will Shapira, 5644 Morgan Av. S., Minneapolis, MN 55419; wshapira@aol.com. No attachments. Thanks, later. 

June 2008 issue | © 2008 The Mississippi Rag

P.O. Box 19068, Minneapolis, MN 55419.