Dan Barrett, Becky Kilgore and Eddie Erickson. Photo courtesy of bedjazz.com.
Get Ready for B.E.D., a Riverwalk Jazz broadcast recorded live at The Crest Theatre in downtown Sacramento as part of the city’s annual Jazz Jubilee in 2003 spotlights special guest band B.E.D., a West Coast jazz trio named for its members Becky, Eddie and Dan. The trio features Riverwalk Jazz favorites Rebecca Kilgore on vocals and Dan Barrett on trombone, with guitar player and vocalist Eddie Erickson, making his radio show debut.
The Jim Cullum Jazz Band gets the broadcast concert under way with “King Chanticleer,” a tune from 1911, the same vintage as The Crest Theatre. In the playing of the brass, you can hear the tale this song tells about the king of the roosters. They follow it up with “Pasadena Shout,” a tune composed by a mentor of Jim Cullum Jazz Band pianist Jim Turner, the great California swing and ragtime pianist and composer Johnny Guarneri.
About B.E.D. aka The Rebecca Kilgore Quartet
Rebecca Kilgore. Photo courtesy of Oregon Music News.
Trombonist Dan Barrett explains how the genesis of the ensemble B.E.D. came about when the three principals, who had never before performed together, were hired for the same gig.
Vocalist Rebecca Kilgore is one of America’s leading song stylists, and she finds particular delight in preserving and interpreting music of the Great American Songbook. She is a frequent guest on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross, has appeared on A Prairie Home Companion and with Michael Feinstein at Carnegie Hall. She is known in the Pacific Northwest, where she lives, for her longtime collaborations with songwriter and pianist Dave Frishberg. Ms. Kilgore has over 40 recordings in her discography, many on the Arbors label.
Trombonist and bandleader Dan Barrett was born in Pasadena and migrated to New York City just in time to be invited into the final incarnation of the Benny Goodman Orchestra. He’s performed and recorded with many greats of jazz including Buck Clayton, Rosemary Clooney and Swing Era pianist Joe Bushkin.
Dan Barrett. Photo courtesy of the artist.
Highly regarded as a composer and arranger, Dan frequently lends his talents to creating music for television and movies, notably the American Playhouse television production of Rocket to the Moon and Christopher Munch’s motion picture Sleepy Time Gal, starring Jacqueline Bisset. He has played trombone on numerous film sound tracks including, Mighty Aphrodite, Everyone Says I Love You and Bullets Over Broadway and he has recorded widely for Arbors Records. At present, Dan tours with The Rebecca Kilgore Quartet and is a headliner at jazz parties and festivals around the world.
Eddie Erickson. Photo courtesy of the artist.
Guitarist and vocalist Eddie Erickson, in addition to being a fine jazz guitarist, is a well-recognized master of the plectrum banjo and he performs at banjo conventions and shows nationwide when not playing jazz guitar on the road with The Rebecca Kilgore Quartet. Eddie makes his home in the Monterey Peninsula in northern California and is a frequent guest at jazz concerts and parties there and around the country. Affectionately known as ‘Fast Eddie’ by fans and friends, Erickson notes his guitar heroes include, Joe Pass, George Van Eps and Howard Alden.
Broadcast Music Playlist Notes
“If I Could Be With You One Hour Tonight” from 1926 scored a major hit for James P. Johnson, Father of Stride Piano. Dan Barrett sits in with The Jim Cullum Jazz Band on this number. One can hear the influence of several pre-war trombone jazz styles in Dan’s playing here, especially that of the great Vic Dickenson.
“'Deed I Do” from 1926 features Rebecca Kilgore with The Jim Cullum Jazz Band. Major jazz artists Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles, Diana Krall and others have recorded this song countless times, in addition to Benny Goodman’s 1926 landmark debut recording of it.
Meet Me In St. Louis poster. Image courtesy wikimedia.
“Who Walks In When I Walk Out?” features the entire B.E.D. ensemble with Dave Stone sitting in on bass. This tune entered the jazz world through a recording by Louis Armstrong in the 30s. Its composer Al Hoffman also wrote the mega-hit "Mairzy Doats." The light-hearted interplay between Becky and Eddie in the version heard here is a trademark feature of the group.
“Trolley Song,” written by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane, was made famous by Judy Garland in the 1944 movie Meet Me in St. Louis; subsequently, Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan and Dave Brubeck among others have recorded the song.
The B.E.D. trio performs “Sleepy Time” here, a song composed by Dan Barrett for the 2001 movie Sleepy Time Gal, where Becky Kilgore sings it in the film.
Pete Kelly's Blues movie poster. Image courtesy of the hallwalls.org.
The 1936 collaboration between Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields, “Pick Yourself Up,” here features Eddie Erickson singing and “showing of his guitar chops.”
The Jim Cullum Jazz Band retakes the stage at The Crest with Fats Waller’s “Fair And Square,” a staple of the band’s playlist.
Ray Heindorf and Sammy Cahn penned “Pete Kelly’s Blues” for the 1955 movie of the same name, starring the popular television actor Jack Webb, known for his lead role in the detective series Dragnet. In the movie, the great Ella Fitzgerald performs “Pete Kelly’s Blues.” The Jim Cullum Jazz Band offers their instrumental interpretation on this broadcast concert.
“Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives to Me” is a “novelty” number from 1919, and here Dan Barrett mixes it up with The Jim Cullum Jazz Band to close out the set.
Photo credit for Home Page: Bed Trio. Photo courtesy of bedmusic.com.
Text based on Riverwalk Jazz script by Margaret Moos Pick ©2003