Castle Jazz Band

History

The Castle Jazz Band began in 1943, named after a roadhouse tavern south of Portland called The Castle, though the group working there was initially billed as Monte Ballou and his Orchestra. Its roots trace to 1940, when trumpeter Dick Sheuerman assembled a five-piece band with Bill Pavia on clarinet, George Phillips on trombone, Al Puderbaugh on piano, and Axel Tyle on drums, playing at the Hi-Hat Club in downtown Portland until late 1941. Guitarist and vocalist Monte Ballou, then a headliner at the Clover Club, frequently sat in.

In 1943 Ballou reassembled the Hi-Hat group to play Saturdays at The Castle. The band operated as a cooperative that never paid its members, with Ballou leading on banjo. Their first recordings took place on March 28 and April 16, 1944; the initial issue of 200 copies was followed by a second issue of 100 copies, on which trumpeter Bob Scobey of San Francisco's Lu Watters Yerba Buena Jazz Band substituted for cornetist Ned Dotson. Wartime and employment difficulties prevented further recording until December 29, 1947, when the session for At a Georgia Camp Meeting/Ory's Creole Trombone (Castle Records 2) received wider distribution and critical acclaim.

For that recording Ballou switched from guitar to banjo, and the band changed from string bass to tuba, significantly altering the sound. The most famous lineup formed in 1948, playing at Jantzen Beach Amusement Park in costumes, then becoming regulars at the Rathskeller Club and later the Sportsman Club. The band's heyday spanned 1949 to 1951, including a featured appearance at the 1949 Dixieland Jubilee concert recorded by Decca Records, and thirteen more 78 RPM recordings on Castle Records.

Style

The Castle Jazz Band was an all-white traditional jazz ensemble whose members considered themselves neo-traditionalists, rejecting big band music as over-arranged and bebop as the domain of drug-addicted crackpots. They aimed to emulate Jelly Roll Morton and King Oliver, with instrumentation of trumpet, clarinet, trombone, tuba, drums, banjo, and piano. The band was reviewed as rousing and capable of imparting fire to cornier numbers.

Key to its success were the rhythm and enthusiasm of Ballou and Don Kinch's trumpet, which could evoke Bix Beiderbecke. Individual solos were limited; Ballou preferred an ensemble style. The band was considered a superior, authentic, two-beat group, well-rehearsed but not overly polished, with greatest importance placed on blending ensemble work.

Did You Know?

• Trumpet player Don Kinch claimed one of their records, Floating Down the Old Green River, sold more than a million copies.
• George Avakian stated the band made Oregon 'a better place to live' and considered them the acme of semi-professional jazz groups.
• Castle Records was founded by Harry Fosbury to release the band's records.