45 Fabulous Years

Evolving from the corps of popular traditional jazz bands of the 1960s, the Barbary Coast Dixieland Show Band, as it is now known, came together in 1967. And they haven’t missed a beat since. From area night clubs, theaters, and the State Fair to venues along the Mississippi and as far away as Nagasaki, Japan, Barbary Coast has entertained thousands in person as well as on radio and recordings. Elected to the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame in 2001, the current configuration of six musicians playing 18 instruments is celebrating their 45th anniversary with concerts and the release of a double CD compilation (45 Fabulous Years), mostly drawn from their 17 albums.

The current band is led by left-handed banjo/guitar player Dick Petersen, and includes Tom Andrews on drums, clarinet, and vocals; Jim ten Bensel on trombone, cornet, drums, and vocals; Russ Peterson on trumpet, trombone, sax, clarinet, flute, bass, and vocals; Steve Pikal on bass, trombone, and piano; and Dick Ramberg on piano and clarinet. Their versatility is sometimes highlighted when they swap instruments on stage without missing a note.

The Barbary Coast performs many concerts this summer, including Phipps Center for the Arts in Hudson, WI (June 9); the Bloomington Center for the Arts (June 16); Forest Lake Park Gazebo (June 19); Mora Public Library (June 24); Freedom Fest in Pine City (June 29); Old Log Theater in Excelsior (July 9); Hilde Performance Amphitheater in Plymouth (July 18); and the Lakeside Festival in Clear Lake, IA (July 28-29). (See the band’s website for complete schedule.)

45 Fabulous Years (2012, Barbary Coast Productions)

On this two-volume set, the listener is treated to the full history of the Barbary Coast band, from its first performances at Jimmy’s on the Levee in 1967 and its brief identity as Doc Wesley’s Banjo Band to their 2009 release, High Society, and up through 2011, when the current band laid down four new tracks at Wild Sound Studios to cap their 45 Fabulous Years. Long-time banjoist/ historian/ journalist Dick Parker provides the details of the band’s evolution and recordings in his extensive liner note. There are 27 numbered tracks in all, but the two volumes include 7-, 3- and 9-part medleys (“Broadway” on volume 1, “Oriental” and “Big Band” on volume 2), thus totaling 43 tunes in a little under two hours of music. Sooner or later, you will need to put on your dancing shoes!

Everyone will have his or her own favorites. On volume one, my ear was most captivated by “Memories of You” from a live recording at Kelly’s (1983), featuring Dick Ramberg’s sweet-as-sin clarinet; a pair of tracks from 1993’s Saturday Night/Sunday Morning-- “Making Whoopee,” with Bill Butler (trombone) and Tom Hyatt (trumpet) making some juicy horn collaborations with Dick Peterson nailing the pulse on banjo, and “Big Noise From Winnetka” with a steady bass solo from Bob Andrews and joyful whistling from Tom Hyatt, Peterson again a major rhythmic force on banjo; and the Broadway Show Medley (Bill Butler’s arrangements on 2000’s Bourbon Street to Broadway). The latter includes the “Fiddler on the Roof” theme and “Sunrise/Sunset,” seemingly unlikely fare for a Dixieland band, but clarinet and banjo spell “Klezmer” loud and clear. The band is certainly well suited for Jerome Kern’s “Here Comes the Showboat”; tight horn harmonies grace “People Will Say We’re in Love”; and while the band may seem short-handed for “76 Trombones,” Butler and Steve Pikal keep the spirit and energy intact with just two bones.

Barbary Coast Dixieland Show Band

The Barbary Coast Dixieland Band added “Show” to their moniker in 2004 (after an Arizona agent pointed out that they were a “show band”), and the first recording under that name was Memories (2005). Ramberg, with Pikal on piano, shines on the title track from the Broadway hit Cats—yet another unlikely tune for a Dixieland Band, but the clarinet seems perfect for the nuances of the melody. Dixieland goes south of the border, swinging with Russ Peterson’s soprano sax, on “Fish Vendor” from On Tour (2006); three tunes comprise the “Oriental Medley,” also from On Tour, with Dick Peterson’s banjo leading the way through “Chinatown,” “China Boy,” and “Limehouse Blues.”

A fifteen-minute “Big Band Medley” from the 2007 CD, Celebration, pays tribute to the great bands of the 40s. How does a sextet replicate a big band? By playing multiple instruments. (And I have seen Russ Peterson play two horns at once… but here it seems to be one at a time.) Peterson, Pikal, and Jim ten Bensel (who replaced Butler in 2005) all play on trombone in particularly elegant fashion on “Getting Sentimental Over You”; drummer Tom Andrews keeps the beat moving and prominent on “Sing, Sing, Sing”; you really want to grab a partner and sway to Dick Ramberg’s exquisite clarinet on “Stardust”; Pikal’s bass skips with authority through “Woodchopper’s Ball”; and the ensemble steps up to make Basie proud on “April in Paris.” Sure this isn’t a big band?

The closing four tracks were newly recorded in 2011 under the expert ear of Matthew Zimmerman at Wild Sound, including “My Inspiration” (beautiful lines from Ramberg), “I’ve Got Rhythm” (again, the romping trombone trio takes center stage), “What a Wonderful World” (showcasing ten Bensel’s deep vocals), and “Wait Till The Sun Shines Nellie,” the finale nodding to the band’s original Dixie roots, complete with a Barbershop Quartet filling the breaks.

You don’t have to be well versed in trad jazz or Dixieland to recognize where modern jazz comes from or to appreciate the bands that preserve the legacy. And you don’t need any special coordination or rhythmic compass to tap your feet when the Barbary Coast comes out to play. 45 Fabulous Years is a treasure chest of music, celebrating a “big noise from Minnesota.” And it’s a joyful noise.

Barbary Coast closes out the Bloomington Center for the Arts music season in the Schneider Theater on June 16th at 7:30 pm; tickets at 952-563-8575; 1800 W. Old Shakopee Rd. The performance schedule and recordings of the Barbary Coast are available from the band website, www.barbary-coast.com

Reprinted with permission from TCJS CODA, June 2012.

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