Houston Big Band Conservancy
Hello everyone!
I’m not going to introduce myself (because this is my website so there is plenty of info about me here), but I am going to introduce this page and the project. I have a new idea for an extensive, historically significant project that will serve to record and preserve the big band culture that was prevalent here in Houston up until the turn of the century.
The big bands have mostly disbanded and their members are aging and dying. I don’t want our history and culture to die when we die.
I Need Your Help
This projects is impossible for me to do on my own. I don’t mind doing most of the footwork, but I am not a fulltime researcher. I cannot pursue the information I’m looking for. So I am asking you to help me at the various stages of this project.
Stage One – Collecting Names
To get started, we will compile a list of names. First, I list of the names of the big bands. Then I would like to record as many names as possible of the members who played with those bands.
This is only the first step folks. I know it sounds like a stupid first step, but I’ve thought this through, and the rest of the project will run a lot more smoothly if we have a fairly comprehensive list of names to start with.
How You Can Help – Getting Started
If you want to participate, then all you have to do at this stage is look at the list of names below and tell me (in the comments below – or use the contact form if you want it to be private) who is missing from the list.
Please keep in mind, for now I am limiting this list to working bands only. I do not want to include school jazz ensembles or reading bands yet. Maybe we will add those in the future, if the project really takes off. But for now, let’s keep it to the actual working bands.
Houston Area Big Bands
We will begin with the bands that I can remember off the top of my head. The point of listing these first bands is to help trigger your memory. I am hoping that seeing these first few names will help you remember the ones I either don’t remember or have never heard of.
Also, if one of the names is wrong, please feel free to offer a correction. For example, if Ed Gerlach Orchestra is not the proper name, then please let us know what is.
I’m listing them in alphabetical order…
Remember, we are only in stage one here. I want a list of the working Houston area big bands. Stage two will be collecting names of the members. But because of the way I’m doing this, we cannot move on to stage two until I have a comprehensive list of names of the bands.
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Johnny Dyson
Hal Woolery
Cary Richards
The following message is from Martin Langford:
Mel Arvin had a great band with the entire book written for his instrumentation of 4 saxes, 3 trumpets, and 1 bone. I met players like Kit Reid, Reggie Goebel, and Chuck Nolan on this band.
Phil Gray had the big band that backed up the acts that came to The International Room at The Shamrock.
Bob Smith had a big band until his passing. He was an excellent pianist and father of Tristan Smith.
Paul Nabors(sp) had the band at a place called The Cork Club. Tony Campise played there as a kid.
Len Carnagy had the first racially mixed band I had the good fortune to play with, and I owe some of my great and lasting friendships to this opportunity. On his band I met-
Lanny Steele, who had the most experimental and avant-garde ensemble I ever played with.
Let us not forget the years of The Danny Ward group.