On page 237 of Duncan Scheidt's The Jazz State of Indiana, sax player Waldo Sundsmo reminisces,
"...In the summer of 1923, I went to Clear Lake with a local band... When our season closed that fall, a pianist from Elkhart, Dick Lucke, came around looking for a sax man, and for three years I was a member of his Arcadians. Joe Farren and Ducky Yontz were the trumpet team. Late in that time, we were in vaudeville, part of the first Orpheum road show, hitting the big time with such singers as Marion Harris and Margaret Young, both Brunswick recording artists. There were also the Two Black Crows, the dancer Bill Robinson, and George Jessel, who at the time was just introducing his "Hello Mama" telephone act."
This morning I brought Duncan Scheidt's The Jazz State of Indiana along with me on my early morning train ride. Seems that the passage above is just loaded with clues!!!
I learned about this book & purchased it after record hunting at a vintage phonograph show in Union, IL that my sister & I went to this spring. We didn't find Dick's vintage album that he recorded, but we did meet some fascinating & helpful people. Many pointed to Duncan, and thought that we could find and contact him pretty easily.
Well, I whipped out my Blackberry smart phone and did a quick Google search. Boom! Found him easily, and there was even a phone number!
Dana and I called him right away on speaker phone, right there at the show. We had a wonderful conversation, learning that he's been a jazz photographer since 1939. He remembered our great-grandfather and sent us a great band photo, which is posted in a previous entry below.
Below are photos from Duncan's book, The Jazz State of Indiana, scanned & sent to us from Robert Coon, one of the helpful folks we met at the vintage phonograph show.
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Dick Lucke- piano (he played everything except the harp) Waldo Sundsmo- tenor saxophone Jimmy Kirkwood- alto saxophone Walt Lucke- alto saxophone (he played various reed instruments) Max Williams- trombone Joe Farren- trumpet Charles Ducky Yontz- trumpet "Shady Lane"- banjo Jimmy Jackson- drums Don Combs- bassoon Click on the photo to enlarge. |
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| Cover of Duncan Schiedt's The Jazz Sate of Indiana |
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| Page from The Jazz State of Indiana, showing the context of the passage quoted above. |
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