1957 Pelletiers 2004b

Ed and Judy Pelletier Chamber Jazz Sextet and Kenneth Patchen Email 7/12/04, 2004b, 1957

     ". . . I. . . pulled out my old Chamber Jazz Sextet albums, and was so excited to see a reference to a Cadence album they had done with Kenneth Patchen (CLP-3004). . . . (The Patchen connection, by the way, was merely a coincidence, since, while we had previously spoken briefly of POP and the Chamber Jazz Sextet, the conversation had never taken us into "Patchen land".)

     "The CJS personnel you mentioned included the original trumpet player Robert Wilson. My friend was his replacement, Dent Hand, who is heard on a later CJS recording Pal Joey as the Chamber Jazz Sextet Sees Him (CLP-3015).  Dent has several solos, but I always felt the the real star of the group was Mo Briseno on the baritone sax. He was only a teenager at the time (circa 1960), and I never heard of him again. Dent Hand was a law graduate . . . working for the Milk Advisory Board promoting the benefits of milk . . ., and I have lost track of him too. Allyn Ferguson became quite prominent in movie and television music composition/arranging, and may have been, if I recall correctly, connected as the musical director/arranger for Dinah Shore or Carol Burnett,. . ."

      "I recall seeing the Sextet live with Patchen on stage at the old Ivar Theatre (I believe) on Ivar in Hollywood.  I well remember Patchen's thunderous opening line to one of his readings..."Lonesome is a long, long time". Another was his lament "Egg into eggplant", . . . "

     "The definitive CJS album is Cadence CLP-1020 (again pre-Dent Hand).  The group was struggling, most of them living at Allyn Ferguson's house, circa 1960, and were willing to take almost any gig offered. Thus it came to pass that they were employed as a strolling Dixieland band for the grand opening of Pacific Ocean Park (straw hats, red and white striped blazers, white pants, etc.). I was amazed at how well they could play in this genre, given their background and preoccupation with the classical and jazz idioms. When we would go to the bullfights in Tijuana on Sundays, Dent would even sit in with the Mariachis and seemed just as comfortable there too. Hence my total awe of trained and talented musicians, and that extra gift that they have to hear and create music."

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 Kelyn Roberts 2017