Written by John Dawe in collaboration with Michael de Courcy and Gavin Walker.
Photo Credits: Wally Lightbody, Vivian Cook, Don Cumming; Carol Hunter, and the Bill Boyle Collection.Extra thanks extended to musician & TV producer Jim Carney, without whose help this site would not have been able to present many of the outsanding artists that appeared there. Website created and maintained by Gregg Simpson.
Foreword
The opening and the following success of the Cellar was a unique experience for us and Vancouver jazz fans in general.....there had been nothing like it before and it inspired others to open similar types of clubs in other parts of the city...... such as the "Black Spot" in Dunbar and the Flat Five, later the Blue Horn near Broadway and Alma....followed by others later.....not to forget Howie Bateman's "Inquisition". For many of us younger musicians with little previous jazz experience, it was a total gas to be able to sit back a listen and get to know all these great out of town players "doing their thing" it was better than any music school and a hell of a lot more fun. The Cellar had no liquor license and was known as a "bottle club".
What we accomplished was phenomenal and it was all done on a "shoe-string" budget
(lt-rt) Jerry Fuller, drums, Freddy Scheiber, bass;
Joe Gordon (trumpet) and Bob Nixon (piano)
The Story
(lt-rt) Al Neil (piano), Bob Frogge (vibraphone), Freddy Schreiber (bass),
Bill Boyle (drums), John Dawe (trumpet)
The weekend of May 16 /57 brought in the" infamous" L.A. alto player Art Pepper...he did 2 nites with the Al Neil trio and the 3rd nite with Chris Gage...... the last nite Art was 40 mins. late in showing, making everyone pretty nervous that he wasn't going to show....... finally he burst thru the door, sweating profusely and obviously Very stoned.... ha ha, he played his ass off !! By the summer of /57 Don Cherry's "Messiahs" were back in for 3 days with the very great James Clay on tenor, Don Payne, bass and Billy Higgins, drums.......... we were all somewhat in awe of this
group.... at this time they sounded much like a combination of Miles' group and the "Jazz Messengers"....... wow! again! ....on the last day we all got together and went speedboating out toHorseshoe Bay Bowen Island
The next really bigtime player booked in was the marvelous L.A. bebop pianist Lou Levy......a big press party was thrown at the club beforehand for publicity and to push Lou's new album.....also to help pay his expenses. It was arranged for Lou to do a solo spot on a local TV show called "Club Date" and the Fred Massey quintet also appeared....Fred's group was Fred Masseys group had Paul Perry, tenor, John Dawe, trpt., Tony Clithero,e bass & Bill Boyle, drums.
On the Cellar gig Lou used Paul Ruhland, bass, and Ted Owen, drums. Next to appear was the great Harold Land group for 3 days. Harold's guys ate most of their meals at a "greasy-spoon" cafe on Kingsway called (haha) "Uncle Tom's Cabin".... those guys loved that place and went out of their way to "dine" there !!
Harold Land at the Cellar, 1960
(with Joe Peters, drums and Clarence Jones, bass)
Dale Hillary on alto sax with Philly Joe Jones in Cuba
(Bill Barron, tenor sax, Mike Downs, trumpet)
Around the summer of /58 a new phenomenom had surfaced.......the "BEAT GENERATION".......... it had started inSan Francisco
and the locals guys who played there made $10 bucks a nite, so none of us were getting rich.... it was a a labour of love.
(lt-rt) Jerry Fuller, drums, Freddy Scheiber, bass;
Joe Gordon (trumpet) and Bob Nixon (piano)
The Story
The original Cellar club was something just short of a miracle!!...... we took a bare-assed concrete basement and turned it into what later became one of the most important jazz clubs on the west coast........ in time it became known as a great place to play with jazz players as far south as San Diego
Getting the place ready was no easy task and involved a lot of hard work and dedication. It was located a half block east ofMain St. 2514 Watson St
people involved in getting the doors open and the place up and running were: Ken Hole, Wally Lightbody, Bill Boyle, Jim Kilburn, John Dawe, Jim Johnson, Al Neil, Tony Clitheroe, Dave Quarin, Ed Roop and Barry Cramer. The basic design and decor of the club was left to the very creative abilities of architect John Grinnell, artist/designer Harry Webb, Jim Kilburn and Al Neil.
Art works were donated or loaned and hung at various spots throughout the club and "other" venues were tried at later dates, such as plays performed on Sundays and poetry & jazz was also introduced. The club was registered under the "non-profit"
Societies Act and the main core group were the " Charter Members" and the others were "Social Members". In order to make sure that all our expenses would be covered the Charter Members paid a yearly fee of about $60 and each had their own individual keys.......after expenses all profits were banked and when enough money was built up we would then book in out of town jazz groups, mostly from L.A. and San Francisco.
The first opening month was Apr. /56 and we were only renting half the basement and it's a bit hazy, but I think we had about 8 or 9 tables and probably about 18 or 20 members and friends showed up and the music was just various guys sitting in and jamming. The following weekend however was an other story....people were lined up to get in from the bottom of the stairs and spilling out into the parking area. We decided then to take a chance and rent the whole basement at the exorbitant fee of ninety bucks a month!
This involved more work.......a larger bandstand, more decorating and lighting and new washrooms etc. and the place began to look very groovy.....this became the Cellar most people remember and news of the place was spread mostly by word of mouth and the UBC jazz society .
Getting the place ready was no easy task and involved a lot of hard work and dedication. It was located a half block east of
people involved in getting the doors open and the place up and running were: Ken Hole, Wally Lightbody, Bill Boyle, Jim Kilburn, John Dawe, Jim Johnson, Al Neil, Tony Clitheroe, Dave Quarin, Ed Roop and Barry Cramer. The basic design and decor of the club was left to the very creative abilities of architect John Grinnell, artist/designer Harry Webb, Jim Kilburn and Al Neil.
Art works were donated or loaned and hung at various spots throughout the club and "other" venues were tried at later dates, such as plays performed on Sundays and poetry & jazz was also introduced. The club was registered under the "non-profit"
Societies Act and the main core group were the " Charter Members" and the others were "Social Members". In order to make sure that all our expenses would be covered the Charter Members paid a yearly fee of about $60 and each had their own individual keys.......after expenses all profits were banked and when enough money was built up we would then book in out of town jazz groups, mostly from L.A. and San Francisco.
The first opening month was Apr. /56 and we were only renting half the basement and it's a bit hazy, but I think we had about 8 or 9 tables and probably about 18 or 20 members and friends showed up and the music was just various guys sitting in and jamming. The following weekend however was an other story....people were lined up to get in from the bottom of the stairs and spilling out into the parking area. We decided then to take a chance and rent the whole basement at the exorbitant fee of ninety bucks a month!
This involved more work.......a larger bandstand, more decorating and lighting and new washrooms etc. and the place began to look very groovy.....this became the Cellar most people remember and news of the place was spread mostly by word of mouth and the UBC jazz society .
(lt-rt) Al Neil (piano), Bob Frogge (vibraphone), Freddy Schreiber (bass),
Bill Boyle (drums), John Dawe (trumpet)
About this time Al Neil and Jim Kilburn formed their own groups. Al's was: Jim Johnson, tenor....John Dawe, trumpet....Tony Clitheroe, bass....and Bill Boyle, drums....... this group played the Cellar until about 1961. Jim Kilburn's group. varied
over the years, but was mainly.... Jim Johnson or Bill Holmes, tenor sax.....Tony. Clitheroe, bass....Bill Boyle or Chuck Logan, drums and at times Harvey Adams, bassoon and Dorene Williams, jazz vocals. A little later came the Bob Frogge quintet with Bob Miller or Freddy Schrieber, bass. These 3 groups sort of became the regular "house bands" for the Cellar and Dave Quarin also brought in an occasional group.
The food menu was a gourmet's delight (haha)..... hot dogs, saran wrapped sandwiches, coffee and pizza and NO table service...... hell, we were serving jazz, not food!! The doors usually opened about 10:30 and the bands started anytime after that......usually about 11pm and finished about 2 am.... sometimes followed by a late nite session, depending on who might fall by after their gigs.....there was really no official closing hour and we often hung around 'till sunup.
The first really exciting out of town group to be booked in was the "Jazz Messiahs", who had been doing a gig inSeattle
(lt.) Don Cherry (rt.) Billy Higgins (Nov. 1957)
over the years, but was mainly.... Jim Johnson or Bill Holmes, tenor sax.....Tony. Clitheroe, bass....Bill Boyle or Chuck Logan, drums and at times Harvey Adams, bassoon and Dorene Williams, jazz vocals. A little later came the Bob Frogge quintet with Bob Miller or Freddy Schrieber, bass. These 3 groups sort of became the regular "house bands" for the Cellar and Dave Quarin also brought in an occasional group.
The food menu was a gourmet's delight (haha)..... hot dogs, saran wrapped sandwiches, coffee and pizza and NO table service...... hell, we were serving jazz, not food!! The doors usually opened about 10:30 and the bands started anytime after that......usually about 11pm and finished about 2 am.... sometimes followed by a late nite session, depending on who might fall by after their gigs.....there was really no official closing hour and we often hung around 'till sunup.
The first really exciting out of town group to be booked in was the "Jazz Messiahs", who had been doing a gig in
About the end of /56 a new guy appeared in the Cellar.....BOB FROGGE!!.....trying to describe him is impossible....when they made Bobby they threw away the mold. He was the funniest, grooviest and most laid-back cat you'd ever meet....... and he was totally insane ( in a very groovy way).... I don't know what planet he was from, but it wasn't in this galaxy, or the next ....Bob soon put together a quintet with himself on vibes, Al Neil, piano, Freddy Schrieber or Bob Miller, bass, myself, trumpet and Bill Boyle, drums ......this group. stayed together until about 1960, when Bob's lifestyle finally caught up with him and he had to return to his home town of Kansas City
The Paul Bley Quartet from L A did an interesting 4 or 5 day gig....... the first 2 days without a bass, as Charlie Haden had a serious drug problem and was in no shape to play..... a very young Dave Pike was on vibes...... it was a super group.
The next out of towners were the newly formed "The Master Sounds" from San Francisco with Monk, Buddy and Wes Montgomery, filled out with Richie Crabtree piano and Benny Barth, drums, a good group but rather a poor man's copy of the MJQ.
Dave Pike, Carla Bley, Paul Bley, Don Franks, Dave Quarin,
Ken Hole in the parking area at the entrance to the Cellar
Ken Hole in the parking area at the entrance to the Cellar
In early 1957 a real surprise to us was the booking in of a then unknown (to us) alto player from L.A. named Sonny Redd. Besides being an excellent jazz player, he introduced us to a great (new) tune..."Green Dolphin Street".....Miles' recording of this tune had not yet been released and this tune really knocked us out. Sonny laid the "changes" to this tune on us and naturally we all started playing it.....as I remember it, he was backed up by locals Tony Clitheroe, bass.... Bill Boyle, drums......and Fred Massey, piano. (Sonny was from Detroit, via New York and last played Vancouver
in 1974 at Lucy's Jazz Workshop with drummer Roy Brooks - Gavin Walker)
in 1974 at Lucy's Jazz Workshop with drummer Roy Brooks - Gavin Walker)
The weekend of May 16 /57 brought in the" infamous" L.A. alto player Art Pepper...he did 2 nites with the Al Neil trio and the 3rd nite with Chris Gage...... the last nite Art was 40 mins. late in showing, making everyone pretty nervous that he wasn't going to show....... finally he burst thru the door, sweating profusely and obviously Very stoned.... ha ha, he played his ass off !! By the summer of /57 Don Cherry's "Messiahs" were back in for 3 days with the very great James Clay on tenor, Don Payne, bass and Billy Higgins, drums.......... we were all somewhat in awe of this
group.... at this time they sounded much like a combination of Miles' group and the "Jazz Messengers"....... wow! again! ....on the last day we all got together and went speedboating out to
The next really bigtime player booked in was the marvelous L.A. bebop pianist Lou Levy......a big press party was thrown at the club beforehand for publicity and to push Lou's new album.....also to help pay his expenses. It was arranged for Lou to do a solo spot on a local TV show called "Club Date" and the Fred Massey quintet also appeared....Fred's group was Fred Masseys group had Paul Perry, tenor, John Dawe, trpt., Tony Clithero,e bass & Bill Boyle, drums.
On the Cellar gig Lou used Paul Ruhland, bass, and Ted Owen, drums. Next to appear was the great Harold Land group for 3 days. Harold's guys ate most of their meals at a "greasy-spoon" cafe on Kingsway called (haha) "Uncle Tom's Cabin".... those guys loved that place and went out of their way to "dine" there !!
Harold Land at the Cellar, 1960
(with Joe Peters, drums and Clarence Jones, bass)
In the fall of /57 Don Cherry was back again......this time with a very startling group....... this was the first time that these guys had worked together as a group publicly and Ornette Coleman was more than a bit of a shocker!........ they did a lot of Ornette's tunes, which at that time were still fairly conventional, but Ornette's solo style was extremely "unorthodox"....... you either dug them or you hated them, but after the 3rd nite most of us were starting to dig what they were putting down.
Ornette Coleman, Ben Tucker (hidden) and Billy Higgins
Around Jan./58 a management change took place........Wally and Ken moved off to follow other pursuits and they opened a very groovy jazz club called "The Scene" in Victoria........at times some of us would trek over there to do a weekend. Alto saxist Dave Quarin took over as the fulltime paid manager and guitarist Jim Kilburn stepped in as the new president of the club.
The club was now starting to get onto a high roll and a steady stream of excellent players were coming in .......some as singles working with local rhythm sections ........guys such as Howard Roberts who surprised the hell out of all of us........he was a stone-assed bebopper and the whole weekend just cooked..... he was backed by Tony
Clitheroe bass, and Bill Boyle drums. ...Howard's wife also sat in on drums occasionally.
Tenor player Herman Green brought an excellent bebop group in from San Francisco with an marvelous trumpet player named Richard "Notes" Williams and bassist Larry Lewis.......the group was filled out with locals Fred Massey, piano and Bill Boyle........they would do "Cherokee" every nite at an outrageous tempo and Boyle would come off the stand wringing in sweat and cursing !!
The club by this time had started to attract a large group of very colorful "regulars".......some real characters like Larry Goon and "Dan-Dan" ........Danny was an ex-airline pilot from Peru ........ between the two of them their alcohol consumption could have fueled a 747!
Don Franks and Frank Lewis had become regulars at the club since it's inception.........Francks was an extremely talented up and coming actor and Frank Lewis a very talented modern artist. Frank donated a fantastic floor to ceiling self portrait that hung at the bottom of the entrance stairs......... both these guys pulled off some outrageous stunts during some of their Cellar visits.
Ornette Coleman, Ben Tucker (hidden) and Billy Higgins
The club was now starting to get onto a high roll and a steady stream of excellent players were coming in .......some as singles working with local rhythm sections ........guys such as Howard Roberts who surprised the hell out of all of us........he was a stone-assed bebopper and the whole weekend just cooked..... he was backed by Tony
Clitheroe bass, and Bill Boyle drums. ...Howard's wife also sat in on drums occasionally.
Tenor player Herman Green brought an excellent bebop group in from San Francisco with an marvelous trumpet player named Richard "Notes" Williams and bassist Larry Lewis.......the group was filled out with locals Fred Massey, piano and Bill Boyle........they would do "Cherokee" every nite at an outrageous tempo and Boyle would come off the stand wringing in sweat and cursing !!
 Dave Quarin Playing art the cellar, August, 1958 |  "makin' some steam" with the Al Neil Group, late /59 lt-rt.: Jerry Fuller, (drums, John Dawe (trumpet), Jim Johnson (tenor sax) unseen is Bob Miller (bass) and, of course, the maestro, Al Neil (piano) |
The club by this time had started to attract a large group of very colorful "regulars".......some real characters like Larry Goon and "Dan-Dan" ........Danny was an ex-airline pilot from Peru ........ between the two of them their alcohol consumption could have fueled a 747!
Don Franks and Frank Lewis had become regulars at the club since it's inception.........Francks was an extremely talented up and coming actor and Frank Lewis a very talented modern artist. Frank donated a fantastic floor to ceiling self portrait that hung at the bottom of the entrance stairs......... both these guys pulled off some outrageous stunts during some of their Cellar visits.
There was a small group of chicks who were always hangin' out at the club and helping to make life a helluvalot more peasant for us musicians......Carol Hunter...Vivian Cook...Doreen Williams...Lois Scott...Rae Sawyer and others......
Doreen worked the door for years and was a good jazz singer to boot and Viv Cook worked the kitchen for a while. One nite while working with Al Neil's group, Al peered out over the crowd, turned back to us, laughed and said, "hey man, where are the bebop girls tonite ?"....... ha ha, after that we usually referred to the chicks as "the bebop girls".
Doreen worked the door for years and was a good jazz singer to boot and Viv Cook worked the kitchen for a while. One nite while working with Al Neil's group, Al peered out over the crowd, turned back to us, laughed and said, "hey man, where are the bebop girls tonite ?"....... ha ha, after that we usually referred to the chicks as "the bebop girls".
Some of the other regulars were Sam Toren... Arnie Chycoski, Don Cumming, Ray Sikora, Birgit, Stan Perry, Bob Streeter...a very young Gavin Walker
 Bassist Larry Lewis, bassist with the Herman Green Quintet. |  Doreen Williams singing with Al Neil and his trio |
Another pretty colorful cat was trumpet player Dick Forrest...... he came to town with Louis Bellson's big band....... he came for 1 week and stayed for 2 years!!!....
at that time Dick's whole life swung the whole gamut between the hilarious and the absurd.......I think I spent too much time hangin' out with Dick! Word of the Cellar was getting to be known and talked about in other cities and in late July /58 a great young alto player arrived on the Vancouver
Dale already had quite a bit of playing experience...... he had just done time at the Lennox School
Dale Hillary on alto sax with Philly Joe Jones in Cuba
(Bill Barron, tenor sax, Mike Downs, trumpet)
Around the summer of /58 a new phenomenom had surfaced.......the "BEAT GENERATION".......... it had started in
Newspaper Ads featuring the Cellar and more archival momentosScroll down to view
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Cellar Gallery: The Musicians
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new: Stories of Mingus, Wes and the CBC
by Jim Carney Jack Fulton and Fraser McPherson, 1958 |  Don Cumming and Chuck Knott |
 (lt-rt.) Bill Boyle, Tony Clitheroe, Jim Johnson, Jack Feyer, John Dawe |  (lt.-rt.) Fraser MacPherson, Bill Holmes, Earl Freeman, Bill Perkins, Chuck Logan, Tom Thorsburn |
 Fred Massey |  Bill Boyle |
 lt. Harold Land, tenor sax; rt. Amos Trice, piano |  John Dawe playing at the Cellar with Bob Miller, bass |
 Tony Clitheroe, bass |  (lt) Stan "Cuddles" Johnson, bass (rt.) Art Pepper, alto sax |
 lt.John Dawe, trumpet, (rt) Harold Krause, piano |  (lt-rt) Ray Sikora, (trombone) Bob Miller, bass, Chuck Logan, drums , The Scene, Victoria, ca. 1960 |
 The Mastersounds: (lt-rt.) Benny Barth, Monk Montgomery, Buddy Montgomery, Richie Crabtree, The Cellar, 1959 |  (lt-rt) Eddy Roop, Tony Clitheroe, Bill Perkins, Chuck Logan, Tom Thorsburn, The Cellar, 1960 |
 lt-rt. Chuck Logan, Bill Boyle, Tony Clitheroe, Harold Krause, John Dawe, The Cellar, ca 1958 |  (lt-rt) Dale Hillary, Ornette Coleman, Spanky de Brest, Don Cherry, Mel Lewis, New York, ca. 1959 |
 Bob Frogge |  Walley Lightbody |
 Ray Sikora and Bob Miller |  Jerry Fuller |
Frequent visitors to the Cellar: Carl Perkins, piano, Curtis Counce, bass, Frank Butler, drums,
Harold Land, tenor sax and Jack Sheldon, trumpet, Unidentified club in L.A., 1957
Sonny Gillette, 1957
Top of Page
Stories of Mingus, Wes and the CBC
by Jim Carney
In the spring of 1961, I was a young producer at CBC-Televsion Vancouver (CBUT) collaborating with Cellar manager Dave Quarin in a cost-sharing
arrangement whereby The Cellar was able to present outstanding West Coast musicians for a period of one or two weeks, while Pacific Regional CBC-TV
viewers enjoyed a unique series of jazz shows.
Between January and July 1961, I produced six half-hour TV programs featuring stellar US performers such as Charles Mingus, Monk and Buddy
Montgomery (“The Mastersounds” - later joined by brother Wes and known as “The Montgomery Brothers”), guitarist Barney Kessel and singer Ernestine Anderson
– all of whom also appeared at The Cellar - as well as outstanding local artists Eleanor Collins, the Al Neil Quartet and The Ray Sikora Jazz Orchestra.
The Al Neil show was broadcast live as a “remote” from The Cellar on March 21, 1961, an innovative approach at the time.
The Al Neil Quartet: Dale Hillary, alto sax, Al Neil, piano (behind Dale Hillary)
Tony Clitheroe, bass, Jerry Fuller Jr., drums,
CBC remote unit at 2415 Watson St. Mar. 21, 1961
Memories of Mingus and other musical adventures
by Jim Carney
The first show - “Mind of Mingus” – shot in CBUT’s Studio 41 and broadcast on January 12, 1961, included excerpts from an interview of Mingus by Bob
Quintrell, filmed in The Cellar. Dark and moody, it presented a thoughtful and introspective dimension not normally associated with jazz performances and
revealed a compassionate and sensitive side of the virtuoso bassist and composer.
Mind of Mingus was picked up by CBC Toronto and repeated on the national network as part of Daryl Duke’s “Quest” series, hosted by Andrew Alan, on
March 29, 1961. A copy of that rebroadcast, a poor quality kinescope recording, is the only remaining evidence of this pioneering jazz series.
March 29, 1961. A copy of that rebroadcast, a poor quality kinescope recording, is the only remaining evidence of this pioneering jazz series.
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For more on this series of TV shows and other Cellar stories see The Cellar Blog
CBC-TV Vancouver (CBUT) began broadcasting on December 16, 1953 from a converted automotive service garage at 1200 West Georgia St.. CBUT’s
primary mandate was to produce programming for the Pacific Region. Access to the national network in terms of production and programming was limited and
air-time for even regional programming was allocated by the network brass in Toronto.
Nonetheless, there was a remarkable spirit of experimentation and innovation at CBUT in the early days. It had quickly attracted a remarkable cohort of
production talent including Alan King, Daryl Duke, Ron Kelly, Mario Prizek, Jorn Winther, Jack Thorne, Peter Elkington, Gene Lawrence, Phil Keatley, Len Lauk
and Frank Goodship, many of whom moved on to Toronto and the US.
During my last two years at UBC (‘56, ‘57) I worked nights at 1200 West Georgia as a stagehand (9:30 pm to 7:30 am) dismantling and setting up sets for the
next day’s productions, as well as reporting on UBC sports for the Vancouver Province. I found it was a great way to ensure that I got to my 8 am lectures !!
I was an avid jazz fan and trumpet player while at UBC and along with tenor saxophonist Walley Lightbody formed a UBC jazz group called “The Campus Coolsters.”
I was also one of the handful of jazz players (part-time, non-union) who in the mid-fifties frequented the “The Wailhouse” in Richmond, several of whom were
among the initial proponents of The Cellar.
I spent the summer of 1958 on a CKNW scholarship at the Radio and Television Institute at Stanford University, near Palo Alto, California. A course requirement
was the production of a short film or TV program. The three Canadians in the class – Tom Koch, John Edwards and me - decided to make a film on the “Beatniks”,
then famously living very colourful lives on San Francisco’s “North Beach” district along Grant Avenue. (Jack Kerouac’s iconic “On the Road” had been published
a few months before). After our late-evening filming I would drop into The Jazz Workshop on Columbus Avenue where a group called The Mastersounds often played:
brothers Monk and Buddy Montgomery, with pianist Richie Crabtree and drummer Benny Barth.
During our between-sets chats Monk and Buddy would tell me about their brother Wes, still back home in Indianapolis, who played guitar. They said he “played his ass”
– the ultimate accolade - and would soon come out to the West Coast and “blow everybody away”. And he did.
 Wailhouse, Richmond ca. 1955 - Jim Carney |  Wailhouse: Jimmy Johnson, Bill Boyle, (Carney’s left ear) Photos-Gordon Sedawie, Vancouver Province. |
Lt to Rt: Jimmy Johnson, Walley Lightbody, Ron “Zoot” Chandler, Jim Carney,
Alexander (“Sandy”) Ross, Norval Garrard, Brian Guns, “Saxy” Johnson
One of his ventures was the Ken Hole Big Band which attracted many young musicians, many of whom would become distinguished professionals with national and international reputations, long before the college and university programs available today. It provided an opportunity for young musicians to play advanced, demanding charts alongside gifted peers for the sheer enjoyment and experience of doing so. Below is a photo of one of Ken’s big bands taken at the Alma Academy on West Broadway in the mid 1950s.
The Ken Hole Big Band
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(L to R:) Trombones: George Burgess, Bill Trussel, Bud Trussel; Rhythm section: Tony Clitheroe, guitar; Ken Hole, bass;
Bill “Sweeney” Shiner, drums; Trumpets: John Dawe, Arnold Emery, Arnie Chykoski, Jim Carney; Reeds: Gordy Brown,
Charles Hendricks, Jimmy Johnson, Jim Peters, and Walley Lightbody.
Ken was tireless in searching out gigs. Paid work for large 16-piece jazz orchestras was hard to find. He would occasionally organize “tours” of
Vancouver Island, where we would perform at dances in places like Ladysmith, Chemainus and Nanaimo, playing charts by Count Basie, Woody Herman,
Stan Kenton. We sounded pretty good and the locals loved it. We were mostly non-union and certainly weren’t in it for the money. I remember one return
passage on BC Ferries, when Ken doled out the revenues less expenses. I think the net return for each of us was one dollar.
On a Monday following one such weekend, I had to write a Physics exam. I wisely did NOT attend the lecture when Professor Gordon Shrum returned
the marked papers. Having completed this task and determined that Mr. Carney was not in attendance, Prof Shrum expressed his deep regret, my friends
later told me, “for Mr Carney has truly distinguished himself. He received a mark of two (out of 150), but only because he managed to spell his name correctly”.
Vancouver Island, where we would perform at dances in places like Ladysmith, Chemainus and Nanaimo, playing charts by Count Basie, Woody Herman,
Stan Kenton. We sounded pretty good and the locals loved it. We were mostly non-union and certainly weren’t in it for the money. I remember one return
passage on BC Ferries, when Ken doled out the revenues less expenses. I think the net return for each of us was one dollar.
On the ferry returning from a Vancouver Island tour
L-R (ladies unknown) Brian Guns, Jimmy Johnson, Walley Lightbody, Jack Reynolds
L-R (ladies unknown) Brian Guns, Jimmy Johnson, Walley Lightbody, Jack Reynolds
On a Monday following one such weekend, I had to write a Physics exam. I wisely did NOT attend the lecture when Professor Gordon Shrum returned
the marked papers. Having completed this task and determined that Mr. Carney was not in attendance, Prof Shrum expressed his deep regret, my friends
later told me, “for Mr Carney has truly distinguished himself. He received a mark of two (out of 150), but only because he managed to spell his name correctly”.
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