SWINGIN HOT SPOTS WHEN JAZZ WAS KING.Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
The Valley was jumpin' with jazz spots as the 1970s dawned, and a couple of guys named Don Randi and Tom Monteleone Thomas "Tom" Monteleone (Hamilton, Ontario- March 1979 Hartford, Connecticut was a Canadian born mobster who was a shadowy suspect involved the 1978 Lufthansa heist. Tom is of no relation to the science fiction author of the same name. decided to join the party and open their own clubs - the Baked Potato in Studio City and Monteleone's in Encino. Everywhere you looked, from the East Valley to the West Valley, the landscape was dotted with jazz joints dating back to the '40s, '50s and '60s that were packing them in seven nights a week for some great music. There was the Shalimar Club, Ram's Horn ram's horn n. Judaism A shofar. Noun 1. ram's horn - annual of southern United States to Mexico having large whitish or yellowish flowers mottled with purple and a long curving beak , Dante's, Chadneys, Whittinghills, Alphonse's, Samoa House, Ruddy Duck, China Trader, Money Tree, Tail o' the Cock, Smoke House and many more. Today, the old clubs are gone except for the Baked Potato and Monteleone's West in Tarzana. A few newer clubs, like Jax in Glendale, have replaced them, but not many. The Money Tree in Toluca Lake went through some transitions and ownership changes over the years, and it has also recently returned to its jazz roots six night a week, said current owner Francis Ruggieri. ``One by one, the old clubs just faded away,'' said Randi, whose Baked Potato is, at 31, the oldest jazz club A jazz club is a venue where the primary entertainment is live jazz. Often such venues are in the basement of residential buildings. They are rather small compared to other music venues, reflecting the intimate atmosphere of jazz concerts. left in the Valley, and maybe the entire city, he says. Why so many popular jazz spots faded away has as many opinions as musicians have riffs. But there is one thing the club owners, musicians and band leaders agree on. They'd all love to turn that clock back to the days when the Valley was a hotbed hotbed, low, glass-covered frame structure for starting tender plants. It differs from a cold frame only in that the soil is heated—either artificially as by underground electric wiring or steampipes, or naturally with partially fermented stable manure, which of great jazz, and just about every neighborhood had a club in it. The place was swingin', they said. ``When I opened in '71 at Balboa Avenue and Ventura Boulevard Ventura Boulevard is one of the primary east-west thouroughfares in the San Fernando Valley; as it was originally a part of the El Camino Real (the trail between Spanish missions), Ventura Boulevard is the oldest route in the San Fernando Valley. It was also U.S. in Encino, there was the Smoke House across the street with jazz, the Ram's Horn just east of me, Travaglini's Restaurant with its lounge down the block, and the Samoa House playing jazz about three blocks away,'' said Monteleone, who also opened Monteleone's West in Tarzana in 1980. By the time he closed his Encino club in 1984 to concentrate solely on the Tarzana location, the nightly jazz crowds were already beginning to thin. ``People still wanted to hear the music, but not more than one night a week,'' he said. ``The clubs began to lose that flow of steady customers coming out two or three nights a week to hear good jazz. ``But everything really took a hard left turn in 1990 when Mothers Against Drunk Driving Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is a nonprofit organization with more than 600 chapters nationwide. MADD seeks to find effective solutions to the problems of drunk driving and underage drinking, while also supporting those persons whose relatives and friends have been killed by drunk hit the scene. A lot of clubs came tumbling down because a majority of their business was the bar, not food. ``Instead of three or four drinks, people would have one or two, and nobody was hanging out after 11 p.m. Nobody wanted to walk outside and look at a black and white (police car).'' One of the keys to their own clubs' success and longevity, both Monteleone and Randi agree, is booking jazz acts that draw people in. And that ain't easy. ``There are certain bands in this town that for one night a week are the hottest band in town,'' Randi said. ``Two nights a week, they ain't.'' The implication is pretty clear. Once they run out of family, friends and a few fans showing up that first night to jam the place, the club definitely takes on a vacant look that second night. ``Years ago, you could book an act in your place for two months and do well,'' Monteleone said. ``Today, it's one night and out.'' Veteran jazz musicians This is a list of jazz musicians on whom Wikipedia has articles. Some of the most notable jazz musicians
``I miss the old spots,'' said Kaye, a renowned jazz guitarist Jazz guitarists are guitar players who play jazz music using an approach to playing chords, melodies, and improvised solo lines which is called jazz guitar playing. The guitar has a long history in jazz music, both as an ensemble instrument performing chordal accompaniment, and as and studio musician who also teaches young jazz rhythm players at the Henry Mancini Institute at UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX . ``When I started playing the clubs in the Valley around 1955, people were serious about listening to the music. They weren't there to pick up anybody. ``It was mainly a radio crowd, not people who grew up on TV,'' she said. ``They listened, not talked and looked around.'' Kotwitz, who has been playing the piano and accordion at Barbata's Steak House steak house or steak·house n. A restaurant that specializes in beefsteak dishes. in Woodland Hills for the last 17 years, broke into jazz playing at the old Samoa House in Encino back in the late '60s. ``Every place had a little life in it for a while, but they all faded,'' he said. ``But I think the audiences today are about the same as the audiences back then. People who love jazz still love it.'' True, Randi says, but when he looks out from behind the piano keys at the people sitting in his Baked Potato today, he's seeing something he didn't see more than 50 years ago when he broke into jazz. ``I'm seeing more young people, and more mixed audiences today,'' he said. ``It's not just black or white like it used to be. People of different colors and races aren't so afraid to go out and enjoy some jazz together anymore, and that's wonderful. ``It's been a great 30 years, and I want to thank the people of the Valley for making us one of the survivors,'' Randi said. The dean of jazz band leaders in the Valley - the man who played all the clubs starting back in the late '40s at the old Shalimar Club on Ventura Boulevard in Encino - thinks jazz is only a star away from regaining its place at the top of the musical mantel in this country. ``We need a guru, somebody like an Elvis Presley,'' said Del Simmons, whose New Year's Eve show at the Sportsmen's Lodge The Sportsmen's Lodge in the San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles, California is something of a kitsch landmark but remains a popular spot for celebrations, dinners and public events. sold out, and had to be moved to a bigger room. ``I thought for a while it would be Kenny G, but he's beginning to fade. We need someone with great energy.'' Until that someone comes along to make jazz king again - a Louie Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959), born Eleanora Fagan and later nicknamed Lady Day (see "Jazz royalty" regarding similar nicknames), was an American jazz singer, a seminal influence on jazz and pop singers, and generally regarded as one of the or Ella Fitzgerald Noun 1. Ella Fitzgerald - United States scat singer (1917-1996) Fitzgerald who did it for another generation - we'll just have to bide bide v. bid·ed or bode , bid·ed, bid·ing, bides v.intr. 1. To remain in a condition or state. 2. a. To wait; tarry. b. our time and get by with the one-night stands. But it's going to happen someday because the audience is still there, still hungry for good jazz, Simmons said. ``Standing up there on stage New Year's Eve after selling the place out, I felt so big that it kind of embarrassed me,'' he said. ``People I haven't seen in 25 years were asking me if I still remember their song. I lied and said sure, but help me out a little, hum a few bars. ``But the great thing was to see them bring their grown children along, and to watch these kids react to the music and have such a great time, just like their parents and grandparents grandparents npl → abuelos mpl grandparents grand npl → grands-parents mpl grandparents grand npl did when they were young. ``It isn't me,'' Simmons said. ``It's the music. Jazz is just too good to ever fade away.'' Amen. CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1) Tom Monteleone enjoys a performance by singer Gina D'Onofrio at his Monteleone's West jazz and supper club in Tarzana. Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Staff Photographer (2) Don Randi mans the mixing board at his Studio City club, the Baked Potato, which has been a San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. live jazz emporium for 31 years. Phil McCarten/Staff Photographer |
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