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A Bite of the Apple … Part II

Willie Thomas | February 23, 2011

I was serving my last four months in the 3rd Army HQ band, when the daily challenge of keeping my sanity was momentarily put on hold by a letter to my CO informing him about the possibilities of an early release for me. I too, received a letter that same day from Hal McIntyre asking if I would be interested in coming back on the band to work the Jackie Gleason, June Taylor Dancer's road tour. Hal informed me that if I was interested the wheels were already in motion in D.C. to make it happen. My immediate response was "Hell Yes!" Two weeks later when I got a, "we're sorry to inform you" letter, I was crushed and ready to go AWOL, however, their decision was reversed 24 hours before I had to be in New Orleans to meet the band, creating an impossible mission that I somehow managed to achieve.

Only hours after giving my CO a final salute, I was on the bus leaving the Big Easy with all of the cats headed for NYC to meet the dancers, again munching on that delicious apple. Our route took us through Biloxi, Mississippi, where the Al Belletto Sextet was playing at Gus Stevens. Since we had four days before rehearsals started with the dancers, and Al's drummer, Tom Montgomery and the trombone player Jimmy Guinn were both Hal McIntyre alum, we stopped for a visit that lasted almost three days. We rolled into NYC about 30 minutes before our first rehearsal. That's how we did things, on a whim and by the seat of our pants. The time in Biloxi was filled with a marathon jam session enriched by a few other extra goodies that jazzers deemed delectable, I'll leave it at that.

Al a few year later.

An early out from the Army and regaining a spot with a name band was very large, but, unbeknownst to me, it was only a part of my good fortune and a prelude to more of the apple that would soon to be available. For sure, I enjoyed the road tour with the dancing Taylor girls, a smitten love affair with the lead dancer and three nights in Chicago's Bee Hive Jazz Club listening to Clifford Brown for the first time in person. Upon finishing the tour, I got a call from Ray Anthony to join his band for more money and a promised TV series in L.A., that sounded great. However, after six weeks on the band, Ray and I both were not terribly confident that my reading skills were adequate to handle all of the new music required every week for the TV show. While the final decision was being made, Al Belletto's trumpeter up and split, leaving Al without a trumpet player for his first big Capitol record date scheduled in two weeks. The gig was offered, I accepted and the problem was solved for both Ray and me!

I met the Belletto band at the Band Box in Rochester, NY, in the middle of a blizzard on New Year's eve, 1956. I had never heard the band and was amazed, thrilled and excited at how good they were. The Four Freshman styled vocals I knew would be a challenge with me expected to sing the castrato part on top. After the gig, it was decided that I would ride in Fred Crain's car and we headed off through the snow to Toledo. I learned the music for the record date in the next two weeks and by the time we hit the Capitol Studios in NYC, I had a handle on things. And even today, fifty plus years later, I'm, still occasionally asked about Lover Man, my feature on the album and my national jazz scene recording debut.

Over the next almost three years, the Al Belletto Sextet recorded two more albums and it soon became a well known and popular commodity on the national jazz scene. From our recording of Relaxing played nightly by Moonglow with Martin in New Orleans, our group was heard from LA to NYC. We worked non stop, week after week at some of the most prestigious jazz venues in the country, including 8 weeks a year in Birdland, NYC, The Town Casino in Buffalo, NY, opening for Mel Torme, appearing opposite Max and Clifford, Sonny Stitt, Diz and many other jazz giants on numerous occasions, as well as an appearance on the Patti Page TV show and others. We were in Las Vegas at the California Hotel when it looked like the biggest apple of all was about to fall from the tree.

A well known Vegas agent liked the band and began negotiating a deal with Marlboro Company for us to participate in a huge national ad campaign they wanted to run associated with jazz. It would include a weekly TV spot on an upcoming show they were sponsoring, spots in their ads on TV and the entire works. I had also acquired a wife, Jerri Winters, a former Stan Kenton singer and recording artist, who was now a part of the Belletto package. This would have been a major upgrade in salary and acclaim for all. The deal was about to happen, when Al Belletto somehow threw a monkey wrench into the works and the whole thing fell apart.

Our gig at the Vegas Hotel was over, and because of the upcoming Marlboro deal, nothing had been booked, so, there we were, out of work and wondering what was next. Well, "next" came that same week when Woody Herman who had seen the band just a few weeks earlier in Denver called with an offer for the entire sextet to join his band for a 16 week South American tour for the

Woody Herman

State Department. For Jerri and I, that offer certainly beat being out of work for weeks, but, wasn't what some of the others

wanted and the entire rhythm section quit. Carl Fontana, who was currently on the band, also stayed in Vegas, and the rest of us headed for NYC to put the new band togther before we headed South.

It was a great band, Major Holly on bass, Joe Romano on tenor, and fourteen other killer players and my wife, Jerri, were headed for Panama.. However, as always, a chorus here and there on the same tune every night wasn't exactly what I wanted and needed to grow as a player. But, work was work and it was jazz we were playing every night with a cookin’ rhythm section for real live people. The tour was a blast for sure. We met lots of great people and did manage to get in some playing in Rio and a few other spots. At the end of the tour, Al had no work booked, and the rest of the people that had learned to sing a couple of songs for the show weren't interested, nor was I, in trying to build another sextet. So, I stayed on Woody's band playing the jazz chair for another year, Jerri went to Chicago where she always had work and lot's of friends.


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3 responses to “A Bite of the Apple … Part II”

  1. Fred Crain. When I got married in ’69 and moved to TX to go to school at NTSU our friend Lou Feldman got me a gig with Vaughn Monroe’s pianist and arranger, Ernie Johnson who lead a trio with singer at a plush Dallas club. I lasted 3 months before Ernie had to let me go cause I just didn’t know enough tunes. One night Fred Crain came in to sub for Ernie. What a complete gentleman and beautiful player. That night we only played the more common, mainstream tunes – Fred and the singer Joyce Wilson taking pity on me. It was a good night. Later I made it a point of learning every tune I could. Working in Dallas on bass and playing trombone in Denton were great learning experiences.

  2. “a few other extra goodies that jazzers deemed delectable” LOL

  3. Thanks for writing these Willie. I thought I had heard these stories before, but I learn a little bit more every time I hear them. I look forward to the 3rd installment.

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