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By John Fulmer
THE SUN HERALD TONY Bennett’s on the
phone. The voice
is unmistakable. Smokey, just a tad
like sandpaper. But somehow still
smooth.
And sleepy. It’s noon but he’s just awakened
in his room at the Gold Strike Casino in Tunica
where he’s playing a date. We’re doing an interview
for Bennett’s May 11 concert at the Biloxi Grand
Theatre, a benefit for the Gulf Coast Symphony
Orchestra.
“I’m in Missis-
sippi,” he says and his
voice implies that he’s
SINGER TO
just around the corner.
That distances between JAZZ UP
people are small.
He sounds amazed,
too, at what he’s
GRAND
found here. He starts
talking about the
number and size of
BENEFIT
casinos in Tunica. “They’re huge. It’s pretty wild.”
Bennett explains that his son Danny, who’s also

Bennett
his manager, got him the date: “He always puts me
in the best places.”
Lest you think that a father hiring a son as
manager is a blatant case of nepotism, consider that
Danny Bennett engineered an incredible marketing
job by turning his 72 year-old father into an MTV
icon. Bennett did his part, too. As his popularity

diction
surged, he remained cool without turning into a
parody of an aging hipster.
This was, after all, a man who in 1971 walked away
from a 20-year relationship with Columbia Records.
Bennett refused to sing rock, disco or country. In 1979,
Danny Bennett took over and re-signed his father to
Columbia a few years later.
But Bennett, who’d always toured, was a long way
from the kind of hit records -- “Tony Bennett: MTV
Unplugged” and “Perfectly Frank” -- that he’s scored

Columbia Records
Sony Records

IN CONCERT
WHO: Tony Bennett
WHAT: Benefit Concert for the Gulf Coast Symphony Orchestra
WHERE: Biloxi Grand Theatre
WHEN: 8 p.m. May 11 with recently.
COST: $50 floor; $40 balcony But don’t call it a comeback. Bennett won’t attach
TICKETS: (800) WIN-2-WIN;Ticketmaster (800) 409-9959 that word to his recent run of success. Call it faith.
DETAILS: Gulf Coast Symphony Orchestra 875-2310
Bennett stuck with Gershwin and Cole Porter when
some of his contemporaries embarrassed themselves
by following trends.
Bennett’s ‘90s success story has often been told,

See Bennett,
nnett, page H4
nnett
BENNETT, FROM PAGE H1 day, a singer who hit her peak before a well- Ramone found an old recording of Holiday and
documented fall into drugs and dissolution. Basie and spliced Bennett in; Bennett says he was
and it’s one that, at first glance, defies explana- “When she was young, she sang a lot of pleased with the results and that it brought back
tion. Other singers of his generation remained optimistic, happy songs,” says Bennett. His voice some old memories.
true to jazz and standards, but Bennett seemed raises somewhat in anger or frustration as he “I liked it very much. I was the first white singer
destined to carry the flame. notes the skewed media focus on Holiday’s life. to sing with Count Basie,” he said. “Doing this
In fact, destiny, is a word that Bennett uses “They say the same thing about Frank Sina- together was dynamite.”
often. He uses it to describe Billie Holiday, one tra, that he’s on his deathbed. Frank’s my best Perhaps that’s what Bennett means by destiny:
of three artists, along with Edith Piaf and Hank friend, and I can tell you he’s in a mellow mood to be part of an artistic reunion that had to wait 40
and he’s going to live a long time,” Bennett says. years. It seems that Bennett’s life follows the old
“It’s tragic. They just do this to sell papers.” adage that good things come to those who wait.
Bennett remembers a Billie Holiday stroll- But it still doesn’t explain Bennett’s cross-gen-
ing into a club and jamming with other larger- erational appeal. Why is he hot and Perry Como a
than-life artists -- folks like Basie, Lester Young, wet match? Why is Bennett cool and why was Pat
George Shearing and Stan Getz. It was no Boone never cool? What made Bennett a hit for 50
contest, Bennett says. A carnival-sized crowd years?
gathered on the sidewalk to hear Lady Day. Elizabeth Raley, a board member with the
“When Billie showed up there would be an Gulf Coast Symphony Orchestra and community
overflow, it was like Mardi Gras,” says Bennett. relations representative with the Grand, says the
On this latest album, Bennett finally gets a symphony wanted an upscale performer, a big-
chance to duet with Holiday. Through studio magic, name draw.
Bennett and Holiday are reunited on her signature Last year, they booked Natalie Cole for the sym-
song, “God Bless the Child.” Super producer Phil phony benefit. Cole did two-nights and the Grand
and the symphony split the proceeds. They wanted
a similar deal this year.
‘Somehow they became Tony Bennett’s name came up. Raley says: “We
wanted him real bad.” But he was “so expensive,”
Williams, he mentions in the same breath. autobiographical. Listening says Raley and Bennett would only book for one
“Somehow they became autobiographical. night. Still, they grabbed him.
Listening to them was like reading a biography. to them was like reading a `The Grand booked him for us, but its totally a
symphony event,” says Raley.
She sang songs that explained herself,” he says.
“They were true artists. They had a true biography. She sang songs Despite Bennett’s big price tag, the symphony
destiny, unlike artists who were just trying to
sell something.”
that explained herself. They hopes to get from $20,000 to $25,000 through its
sponsorships. Raley says the $1,500 sponsorships
“On Holiday,” Bennett’s third tribute album were true artists. They had have sold out and only three $500 sponsorships
remain. As of last week, about 300 individual seats
-- his priors were Sinatra and Fred Astaire -- is
a paean to a singer he first met in a Philadelphia a true destiny, unlike artists were unsold, but Raley is “absolutely sure” of a sell
nightclub some 40 years ago. He was an up-and- out.
comer with a string of hits (“I was the Madonna who were just trying to sell Raley says the big question was whether the or-
of my day,” he says) and Holiday asked him to
sing.
something.’ chestra would back Bennett, but synchronizing the
dates and setting up rehearsals would have been too
“But my table discouraged me,” he says. “It’s difficult, she says, and Bennett will perform with his
a shame, something I always regretted. We could own ensemble.
have a beautiful jam session.” Tony Bennett—on Billie In the end, Raley has the answer for that old
Bennett, a career optimist, sees a silver lin- Bennett magic.
ing in Holiday’s tragic life. In the late ‘40s and Holiday, Hank Williams and “Tony Bennett is, like, hot,” said Raley.
early ‘50s, Bennett studied New York’s 52nd
Street jazz scene and recalls a different Holi- Edith Piaf

Factoring the Intangible


A Wall Street Journal article, “The Tony Bennett Factor,” offers a clue to the singer’s newfound popularity. The author, Marianne
M. Jennings, studied business longevity, looking into eight companies that had paid investment dividends for 100 years or more.
She applied the principals of their business success to Bennett :

• They were low-cost producers. (All Mr. Bennett needs are a microphone and a pianist to make music.)
• Continuity and stability (Mr. Bennett has used the same musical director—Ralph Sharon—for nearly 30 years.)
• Customer service. (Mr. Bennett has always spent time on the road in concert, in direct contact with audiences—no mega tours, just constant gigs.)
• They knew their strengths and stuck with them (Mr. Bennett never performed without singing `I Wanna Be Around,’ Jennings said.)
• Integrity (Mr. Bennett has never made a bad recording or disappointed an audience during a live performance.)

That’s all true, but could be said of other performers as well. When figuring the Tony Bennett “factor,” figure in the intangible. Call it class, call it soul, call it style.
Whatever you call it, Bennett’s got it. And it doesn’t come cheap. Bennett will command $75,000 for his show at the Grand.
231 east mill st saint marys, pa 15857
john
fulmer 814.335.3141 phone 814.834.4611 fax
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John Gardner
Remembering a Regional Bard on the
25th Anniversary of his Death
By John Fulmer
sellers is now often represented though Gardner did not use it to strictly
1971, the time it was written. “He was
by a single volume in your define sexual or cultural behavior. To
the first, I think, to write a modern
neighborhood bookstore—and him, moral fiction meant the writer
retelling of myth. He was a pioneer in
that book is usually Grendel, his must try to discover universal truths
that regard.”
shortest and most postmodern and what values are lasting and good
Coming to Binghamton was a career
novel.” for humankind. This was difficult to
move, Strehle said, but also a way to
In 2006, Gardner was enjoying swallow at a time when moral relativism
forget about his marriage break-up and

T
wenty-five years ago this a bit of rebirth, courtesy of had come into vogue.
reconnect with his roots.
month, novelist and critic
Broadway director Julie Taymor’s Susan Strehle, a professor in SUNY
“He’d recently divorced and was
John Gardner died in a production of an opera based on that Binghamton’s English Department,
teaching at James Mason University
motorcycle accident near Susquehanna,
1971 novel, which is a take on the said she and Gardner quickly became
near Washington. I think he wanted to
Pennsylvania, at the age of forty-nine.
Beowulf myth from the perspective friends after he arrived. She described
get out of the post-divorce morass and
While his novels were praised, he of Grendel, the monster in the tale. him as passionate and engaging and
also wanted to get out of the big-city,
was also a subject of controversy and
Stanton goes on to say that Gardner said he made an immediate impression
urban atmosphere. It also meant he
some derision at the time because of
“was once frequently mentioned in on campus. And unlike many creative-
was closer to his parents and he visited
the comments he’d made in On Moralthe same breath as Roth, Updike and writing teachers, Gardner was an
them quite frequently in Batavia,”
Fiction, a book of criticism published
Malamud. For a long time, however, academic, an accomplished medieval
Strehle said. “He was flamboyant,
in 1978, the same year he’d arrived
his name has seldom been mentioned scholar who had pubished several
eccentric. All of the above. The thing
at SUNY Binghamton to direct its at all.” books in that field. Though his 1972
I remember most about John was his
writing program. The book was a Stanton says Gardner’s fortunes novel The Sunlight Dialogues is usually
energy.”
jeremiad—some called it a screed—that
changed quickly because On Moral considered his best work, Strehle thinks
Strehle said Gardner routinely stayed
condemned the irony and nihilism Fiction “was as brutal and reckless up until, two, three, four in the
he saw as pervasive in contemporary
as Grendel.” He described Philip morning, and that his energy was
fiction. Roth as “creepy” and dismissed
JOHN GARDNER’S WORKS contagious. Gardner was selected to
Gardner was born on a dairy farm
Saul Bellow as “an essayist disguised breathe life into the writing program
near Batavia, New York, in 1933. His
as a writer of fiction.” Stanton
Fiction: and Strehle said he delivered the
father, in addition to running the farm,
said, “Mailer, Albee, Vonnegut and
The Resurrection (1966) goods, living up to his reputation
was a lay preacher and his mother many others come in for similar
The Wreckage of Agathon (1970) as a demanding teacher who cared
taught English. Literature, especially
drubbings. Their work was not
Grendel (1971) deeply about his students.
the works of Shakespeare, was an just bad, in Gardner’s view, but
The Sunlight Dialogues (1972) “They just adored him,” she said.
important part of the Gardner home.
dangerous. Is it any wonder that
Jason and Medeia (1973) “They were often invited out to his
When he was eleven years old, Gardner
some in the publishing world
Nickel Mountain (1973) farm on the weekend to talk about
was driving a tractor when his younger
came to want Gardner’s blood? . .
The King’s Indian (1974) writing, literature and art. There was
brother, Gilbert, was crushed beneath October Light (1976)
. He felt that many of his literary nothing he loved more than debate,
the cultipacker they were towing. In In the Suicide Mountains (1977)
contemporaries took comfort in an exchange of ideas.”
a July 2006 Washington Post article, Freddy’s Book (1980)
theory rather than emotion and all One of his students, Raymond
David Stanton said Gardner once The Art of Living and Other Stories (1981)
but dismissed the value of faith and Carver, became perhaps the best
explained that he had turned around
love.” Mickelsson’s Ghosts (1982) short-story writer in the last half of
to see his brother half covered by Stanton also seems to intimate the twentieth century. Carver met
the cultipacker’s one-ton drums, and Nonfiction:
that the recklessness with which he
The Life and Times of Chaucer (1977)
Gardner in the late 1950s at Chico
believing Gilbert would rather be dead
attacked his peers is somehow linked State College in California, before
The Poetry of Chaucer (1977)
than paralyzed, made a quick, fatal
to the reckless behavior that ended the aspiring novelist had published
On Moral Fiction (1978)
decision not to reach for the brakes.
his life, which, in turn, is linked to
On Becoming a Novelist (1983) anything of note. Carver’s often-
“Although the brakes on the oldthe guilt he felt from his brother’s
The Art of Fiction (1983) anthologized elegy to Gardner
tractor almost certainly could notdeath. details the extreme care he took
have made a whit of difference—and Gardner was hard to miss in
Children’s literature: with his writing students, how he
although no eleven-year-old shoulda crowd. In photographs, he is
Dragon, Dragon (and Other Tales) (1975) pored over their stories word by
be put in the position of choosinginvariably puffing on a pipe and
Gudgekin The Thistle Girl (and Other Tales) (1976) word looking for ways to improve
his own brother’s fate—the feelinghis long, white hair looks like a the work, and, more important,
that he had snuffed out Gilbert’s life
disheveled mop. But On Moral Fiction
Translation: finding ways to praise them. If the
through carelessness and perhaps even
put him in the spotlight and under
Gilgamesh (with John Maier, Richard A. writer were insensitive, careless, or
intentional negligence haunted Gardner
the microscope in a way he probably
Henshaw) (1984) sentimental, Gardner would call
until his death,” Stanton wrote. never dreamed possible. In our them on it. But, Carver tells us,
“According to John’s younger brother, Essays and reviews:
pop-culture age, it’s hard to imagine Gardner considered dishonesty as
Jim, the accident gave Gardner a ‘death On Writers and Writing (1994)
that the criticism of a serious writer the writer’s greatest sin.
wish,’ one seemingly played out in his
would excite anybody except folks “If the words and sentiments
reckless motorcycle driving, his copious
who read The New York Times Book were dishonest, the writer was
drinking and nonsleeping—all of which
Review, but the book put Gardner faking it, writing about things he
may have contributed to his untimely
on the cover of Time and landed him a
he’ll be ultimately be remembered for didn’t care about or believe in,” Carver
death . . . As Jim put it to me in a recent
guest spot on The Dick Cavett Show.
Grendel. wrote, “then nobody could ever care
interview, ‘John dared God to keep him “I think that Grendel will be his legacy. anything about it.
It’s difficult to put Gardner’s thesis
alive.’” in shorthand, especially since he used
I doubt if that will ever go out of “A writer’s values and craft. This
Stanton noted that “today, much
some of the postmodern gimmicks
print,” Strehle said, adding the character is what the man taught and what he
of Gardner’s fiction is out of print;
that he railed against and admired
he created, this monster with a sense stood for, and this is what I’ve kept by
the winner of a National Book Critics
many of the writers he criticized. It’s
of irony and self-awareness of his fate, me in the years since that brief but all-
Circle Award and author of several best
also hard to get past the word “moral,”
was very unusual, perhaps unique in important time.”
September 2007 MOUNTAIN HOME Page 33
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Phil Burkhouse

PA’s
photo by

Elk
Herd
Is Worth
A Look
This bull elk wears a garland of vegetation. During mating season or ‘rut,’ excited bulls thrash around in the underbrush with their antlers, and these
headdresses are common. The fall rut is one of the best time to view elk in the several Pennsylvania counties that are home to the herd.

By John Fulmer to “bugle” like crazy all the time, hardly have a minute tourists who flock here in the autumn.
to eat, and must fight off lesser bulls to control their In the fall, a bull’s antlers will have reached their im-

I t’s fall and the sounds of love will once again fill the
air in Elk Alley.
By that we mean screaming and bugling. Grunting
harems, which normally contain fifteen to twenty cows,
though Bainey said some harems can reach twenty-
five females. The rut is crucial to the bull’s legacy, but
pressive peak, which can mean forty pounds of bone
that’s four feet high. They’re a pretty effective weapon,
and part of mating season’s fascination and fun—or
and bellowing. Huffing and puffing from aggressively its rigorous demands—it can cause a twenty-percent horror, for the squeamish—is watching these massive
flared nostrils. The loud clack of antler-on-antler body-weight loss—might spell his doom during the creatures lock horns—or “antler wrestle”—as they
contact. Yes, it’s mating season for Pennsylvania’s wild long, cold Pennsylvania winter. battle over cows. This can be extremely violent and
elk herd, when the big fellows with an overabundance The rut is the best time of year for elk viewing sometimes fatal, though Bainey said rutting deaths are
of chest hair look for the girl of their dreams. But it’s in the Alley, officially designated by the state as Elk a rare occurrence. There’s also comic relief, provided
never easy. Faint heart never won fair cow. Scenic Drive, a 127-mile loop made up of Interstate 80 by adolescent bulls still perplexed by the proceedings.
“This is the time of year it gears up,” said Lisa Bainey, between Exit 120 and Exit 111 and five state highways. “The yearlings are fun to watch,” said Bainey, who
park manager at Cameron County’s Sinnemahonig State Route 555 from Weedville, in Elk County, to Drift- studied wildlife management at Penn State. “They’re
Park, which has a program of guided elk watches that wood, in Cameron County and part of State Route 872 totally confused because the hormones are kicking in
lasts until October 20. “The bulls are vying for domi- to Sinnemahonig State Park is where most of the ac- and yet they want to be by mamma’s side.”
nance over the herd. It goes on until the second week tion takes place. The elk range covers about 850 square A full-grown bull elk can weigh up to 1,000
of October, but usually by the first week in October, the miles and also includes parts of Clearfield, Clinton, pounds—cows are more petite and usually maintain
big bulls, the dominant bulls are pretty worn out. There’s and Potter counties. However, the town of Benezette, a svelte 500- to 600- pound figure—and a normal set
a lot of fighting going on. It’s interesting to watch be- in Elk County, is Elk Central, and there are several of antlers has six tines per side. The twelve points give
cause if there’s a cow in heat, they are just ravenous.” public viewing areas nearby. Also, a string of hotels, him the designation of “royal” bull while an “impe-
During the “rut,” as it’s called, big, older bulls have restaurants, and gift shops along Route 555 cater to the rial” bull has fourteen points. The rut’s time can vary,
Page  MOUNTAIN HOME OcTObEr 2007
but late September and early October mark
ELK SCENIC DRIVE C0UDERSPORT
the height of mating season. One thing that 6
EMPORIUM
doesn’t change is the bull elk’s “bugling,” Sinnemahonig
State Park
which is a signal that the rut is in full swing. 120 Kettle Creek
The elk’s distinctive mating call has been 3 872 State Park

described as a low bellow that continues as ST. MARYS 2 555 DRIFTWOOD


a squealing or whistle followed by several 1 RENOVO 120
255
grunts. BENEZETTE
Winslow Hill Road 120 LOCK
Bucktail HAVEN
Several elk-viewing areas, equipped with State Park 120
blinds and staffed by volunteers from “The WEEDVILLE
555
Bugle Corps,” have been set up along the Wykoff Run Road

drive. An estimated 75,000 people visit Elk 255


Quehanna Highway
4 144
Alley in the fall, and the herd is now 800 Parker Dam
strong, the largest one east of the Mississippi. PENFIELD
State Park 5
Hunted to extinction in the Appalachians VIEWING AREAS
West Branch
153 Susquehanna
around the time of the Civil War, the elk’s 4 BEAVER RUN DAM
River
1 GILBERT FARM
reintroduction and survival here is a tale befit- 2 DENTS RUN 5 HOOVER FARM
S B Elliot 3 HICKS RUN 6 SINNEMAHONIG
ting a proud creature. State Park STATE PARK
Exit 111
Today’s herd is descended from 177 elk 144
sent in by train from Wyoming and South
BELLEFONTE/
Dakota and set loose in ten Pennsylvania 322 153 STATE COLLEGE

counties from 1913 to 1926; but only those


twenty-four released in Cameron County and CLEARFIELD
80
Exit 147
the ten reintroduced in Elk County thrived SNOW SHOE
and developed a breeding base. Habitat loss
and elk hunting, legal from 1923 to 1931, 80

helped spell their decline in the other eight


map by john fulmer
counties. The commonwealth put them
Guided elk Watches
under protection in 1932 and elk hunting
was not made legal again until 2001. It is,
where: Sinnemahoning State Park. Route 872, eight
however, a lottery-type hunt and only forty
elk tags will be issued in 2007, with the $10 miles north of Route 120 junction, Cameron County
license fee going to farmers’ crop damage. when: Through October 20. Starts at 4:30 p.m.
In last twenty-five years, Bainey has cost: $30 for families; $15 for individuals. Week’s notice
worked with the herd as part of several required
commonwealth commissions, and she said it information: sinnemahoningsp@state.pa.us or
was endangered recently until state agencies Jackie Flynn or Janet Colwell at (814) 647-8401
and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation description: After a short discussion on elk-watching
stepped in. “I can even remember when we tips, you’ll be driven into the range to observe the rut.
almost didn’t have herd,” she said. “This was A limited number of spaces is available and registra-
back in the 1970s and early ‘80s. The numbers tion is required. Park Manager Lisa Bainey said it’s a
were very low, probably 100 elk.” long program, so set aside some time. “One of the
Several factors were in play. The brain- woman lives right in the heart of elk country and has
worm parasite, which attacks an ungulate’s a good pulse as to where they are,” Bainey said.
spinal cord and brain, thinned the herd,
and without an effective fencing program
to keep them from feeding on crops, elk Elk Alley locals. mind,” she said. “And he’s not thinking about the park
were the target of angry farmers. Poaching was “There needed to be some way to disperse the num- visitor who’s trying to get close to take photographs.”
another concern. ber of tourists,” Bainey said. So the partnership helped Though she’s been close to the herd for a quarter
“Plus there were not a lot of habitat-enhancement design the Elk Scenic Highway. “It guides the visitor century, like the arrival of fall foliage, the elk-mating
programs at that time,” Bainey said. “The foundation along in an organized way, instead of the helter-skelter season always seems like a surprise to Bainey.
entered and helped with land acquisitions. Elk are viewing that was occurring.” “I’m always amazed. It’s a cyclical thing, and you
grazing animals, like cows, and the Benezette area has A system of “elk etiquette” was instituted with the look forward to it just like the leaves changing color
a lot of reclaimed strip mines. It’s grassland and it’s a help of Bugle Corps volunteers trained through the every year,” said Bainey.
magnet to the elk. Plus it was remote. DCNR. Responsible elk watching, Bainey said, is a com- Watching the elk mate can have an immediate,
“Tourism really became a factor in the ‘90s,” Bainey bination of respect for the animal and local property elemental effect, she said.
said. “Before that, you could come to elk country and owners, and recognizing that you, the observer, are very “There’s nothing that compares to sitting out in
you had to look hard to find one.” close to a wild, huge, unpredictable beast. a blind on a moonlit night and you hear that squeal
More tourists may have guaranteed the elk’s survival, “What happens is you see an elk for the first time, and of a bull elk and the responding bugle from another
but the influx of visitors required a delicate balancing they’re so big and magnificent and incredible, people dominant bull,” Bainey said. “You can smell them. You
act. With the increased number of tourists, locals need- just immediately drawn like a magnet to the animal and can smell the musk. They come clashing together and
ed relief from the pressure the herd and herd watchers start taking pictures,” Bainey said. The viewing areas, you can hear the grunting and groaning and the sound
made on their lives. The infrastructure couldn’t handle with their hedgerows and blinds, provide protection and of the antlers clashing.
it, Bainey said, and the Department of Conservation a good look at an animal in the throes of sexual ecstasy. “I think, if anything, it reconnects you with the
and Natural Resources, the Game Commission, Bureau Not an easy feat. natural world when you listen to those wild sounds. To
of State Parks, and the Rocky Mountain Elk Founda- “It’s for their own safety because a 1,000-pound bull me, it’s right up there with the howl of the wolf and
tion formed a partnership to address the concerns of elk in full rut has only one thing racing through his that of the coyote.”
OcTObEr 2007 MOUNTAIN HOME Page 2
Ed Clute plays a tune on his Mason-Hamlin grand piano at his

Photos By John Fulmer


T
Watkins Glens home. Clute will headline the Mountain Home WINTER
Jazz fest on March 1 at the Penn Wells Hotel.
he ten-inch wide records used on the machines
are one-quarter-inch thick. The eighty-rpm discs,
Ed Clute slips an Edison diamond disc on his Edison Machine.
a transitional technology from the earlier cylinder- a precursor to the modern phonograph, it is one of HIS prize
recording method and the thirty-three-rpm vinyl lp,

A
possessions. The first edisons went on sale in 1912.
are heavy as serving platters and made of an ungodly
chemical mixture of phenol, formaldehyde, wood-
flour and solvent. As the needle slips into the record’s
groove, a slightly scratchy ragtime stomp bleats out
from the “horn,” or speaker, hidden behind a grille.
Except for record collectors and amateur archivists
like Clute, the song, which regales the listener to the
joys and wonders of Wisconsin, has been long forgot-
ten. Clute himself can’t think of its title or the name
of the band off the top of his head.
But that’s understandable. Clute, who, along with his
Dixie Five Plus One, will headline the first Mountain
Home Winter Jazz Fest on March 1, is a professional mu-
sician, a classically trained pianist, and a lover of ragtime
and early jazz. His studio, in which the Edison machine
sits, is a minor museum, stuffed with sound stuff. There

Sound
are three pianos in the center of the room: two Mason-
Hamlin grands, one of which is also a player piano, and
a Foster upright foot-pump player.
It would take an assistant or two to catalog the
records, tapes, CDs, and piano rolls stacked in the
shelves that cover the studio’s walls. And since Clute is
blind, they all had to be coded with a braille writer and
By John Fulmer elaborately organized.
But instead of worrying too much about whether
he can identify a band or its nearly 100-year-old ditty,
Clute sways in front of his prize machine with a
childlike look of delight on his face, blissed out by a
song to which Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald might have

Home
danced The Charleston. Obedience to minutia, the
curse of too many collectors, doesn’t seem to be his
problem.
Clute also keeps an archive in his head. Ask him
to play a ragtime-era song or one of the standards
from the Great American Songbook, and he doesn’t
hesitate. Nor does he say much, except perhaps, “Oh,
that’s a great song.” He just plays it. And flawlessly. But
this talent took years of practice.

C lute, who is sixty-four, was born and, for the


first six years of his life, lived in the house next
to the studio. High on a hill in Watkins Glen, New

STANDING
York, it offers a stunning view of Seneca Lake. Clute
said his mother encouraged his interest in music.
“My mother says I was playing the piano at the age
of three” Clute said. “I went to the Batavia School
before his Edison Machine, a chest-high cabinet of burnished oak, Ed Clute wound its for the Blind when I was seven and studied all the
subjects—math, English, history—but with a big
hand crank and gingerly set the stylus down on a record spinning on the turntable. emphasis on music.”
After graduating from Batavia in 1964, he headed to
the New England Conservatory in Boston, where he
The record, like the machine, is vintage, from the 1920s, when Edison’s Diamond Disc spent four “wonderful years.” During the summer, he
attended the Amherst Summer Music Center in Maine,
which is no longer in existence, but Clute described it
Phonographs were all the rage, a must-have for flapper-era audiophiles, equivalent as “a very good music school.”
After graduating from the conservatory, he met
perhaps to today’s top-of-line iPod or, better yet, a home-theater sound system. up with Jean Casadesus, a French classic pianist and
the son of Robert and Gaby Casadesus. Jean Casa-
Please See Home on page 10

Page  MOUNTAIN HOME February 2008 February 2008 MOUNTAIN HOME Page 
‘He thought I could play as learning how to play stride because I was learning

PhotosBy John Fulmer


Home continued from page 9 how to jump around the keyboard. Make two-octave
anything I put my mind to. . . .
He was just a wonderful teacher to me.’ leaps. That has enabled me to play ‘Sweet Georgia
desus was teaching at Harpur College at Binghamton Brown’ as fast as I can.”
University and Clute’s apprenticeship with him turned
out to be one of the most important parts of his musi-
cal career. He studied with Casadesus for three years,
including one at the Fountainebleau Schools in Paris.
Ed Clute on Jean Casadesus
with Jean Casadesus were priceless.
“I loved every minute of it. He was my major,
W hen Clute uses the term “stride,” he’s speak-
ing of a particular piano style developed in
Harlem around World War I that uses improvisation

A
major teacher. He was just a delightful man to know,” and swing rhythms. Wikipedia tells us, “practitioners
ll three of the French musicians were interna- Clute said. “He helped me overcome some of the of this style practiced a very full jazz piano style that
tionally renowned. Father, mother, and son per- difficult problems I was having. I was a little bit afraid made use of classical devices.” On his Web site, mod-
formed Mozart’s concertos for two and three pianos of big jumps and leaps. He helped me get over those. ern-day stride pianist Mike Lipskin says you can hear
and recorded these works with the Columbia Sym- “He thought I could play anything I put my mind Gershwin, Cole Porter and Chopin in stride.
phony, the Cleveland Orchestras conducted by George to,” he added. “And he really liked the way I played. “Duke Ellington was a fine stride pianist,” Lipskin
Szell, and the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by We had not just a really good pianistic relationship, writes, “and his 1920s recordings sometimes sounded
Eugene Ormandy. but we had a good all-around relationship. And we like orchestrated James P. Johnson . . . Art Tatum
In 1922, Robert Casadesus helped French composer had a lot of fun together. We did things and he was was a stride pianist, as was Count Basie, and early on,
Maurice Ravel on a project to create piano rolls for just a wonderful teacher to me.” Thelonious Monk and Erroll Garner.
More of Ed Clute’s player-piano rolls. During the
some of his works. The elder Casadesus and Ravel also 1920s, the height of their popularity, they were made by
“He helped me gain confidence,” Clute said. “I hundreds of companies. Though still made today, they
performed together in Europe. And since Ravel—best think as a pianist, I learned more from him, as far Please See Home on page 43 are being slowly replaced by software programs.
known for his Bolero—was a friend of George Gersh-
win and an admirer of American jazz—he included
some jazz elements in a few of his later composi-

Photo By John Fulmer


tions—it’s possible this influence filtered down from
father to son to pupil. In any event, Clute said his years
Have Piano, Will Travel
chance in the area. Kefover said that jazz venues have
Photo By Walter Jobst

Pianist Charles Kefover and drummer Tom Nelson play at The


Wren’s Nest in Mansfield, Pennsylvania. They will be part of the dwindled considerably since the early ‘90s when the
Mountain Home Winter Jazz Fest.
music scene was much stronger. Like Ed Clute, with
couple, no one seems to be listening to the music. whom he shares the bill at The Mountain Home Winter
Too bad because Kefover, bass player Tim Breon, Jazz Fest, he is a classically trained musician. Kefover, a
A Foster foot-pump player piano with some of Ed Clute’s piano rolls on top. The Watkins Glen pianist learns songs and drummer Tom Nelson are giving it their all—in Wellsboro native, began his studies in high school with
by listening to one of his two player pianos. the kind of understated way that jazz players give it Wayne Rusk, who taught at Mansfield University.
their all. Kefover looks as if he’s quietly concentrating “He was really, really good. Not only did he teach me
on a difficult New York Times crossword, Breon closes how to interpret music, he taught me discipline. There’s
his eyes as his fingers spider along the bass strings, a right way and wrong way. His approach was very

A Southern Songbird and Nelson keeps time effortlessly, which is always the
hardest part: making it look easy.
After each song, Kefover leafs through a thick sheaf
on his music stand and suggests a tune. The rhythm
detailed. Everything mattered. He was adamant about
every aspect of playing the piano. That stayed with me.”
He attended Boston’s Berklee College of Music and,
after graduating, worked as a professional musician in the
Juanita Jobst, left, will sing with Ed Clute’s band at the section nods and they they launch into “Someday My city, including a long-time job at The Premier Restaurant
Mountain Home Winter Jazz Fest.
Mountain Home
Prince Will Come,” turning that hokey song from and Deli, kind of a strange job for a jazz musician, playing
Winter Jazz Fest Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs into a swinging for yuppies at noon, but it paid the bills.
private parties. She was a member of a quartet that
performed at the USO club in Biloxi, Mississippi, and waltz, just as Miles Davis did many years ago. Which is “It was every day. A weekday job. The thing
When: March 1 at 8 p.m.
was frequently featured in radio music shows.. what jazz players do, and if Miles were listening, you about this place is that it was close to Prudential and
Where: Penn Wells Hotel, Wellsboro, Pennsylvania
After marrying an Air Force man, she took a hiatus could imagine him grunting in approval, and, as every Hancock so their lunchtime crowd was enormous. I
Who: Ed Clute Dixie Five Plus One (Juanita
from performing to raise her family of seven. The love
Jobst) and The Charles Kefover Trio
by John Fulmer jazz buff knows, he was a hard man to please. had the lunch gig,” he said, laughing.
of music never left, and as soon as the children were Which is pleasing because Kefover, at forty-four, He worked as a temp during the day but realized,

I
Tickets: $10 advance and $12 at the door.
by Linda Williams older, she began performing in a dinner heater near her t’s a Wednesday evening and Charles Kefover was born several years after Miles turned that piece after a few years, he’d have to find a permanent day job
Available at at Indigo Wireless (570) 787-6000; From
home in Wilmington, Delaware, in such favorites as and his trio are playing at The Wren’s Nest in of schmaltz into art. It’s especially pleasing because to make it in the city. Kefover had struggled with his

T
My Shelf Books (570) 724-5793; or Balsam Real
ioga County’s own jazz diva, Juanita Jobst, will The King and I, Paint your Wagon and Follies. Mansfield, Pennsylvania. It’s a convivial setting. The his drummer and bass player look much younger and earlier career choice because he had always loved math,
Estate Settlement Company (570) 723-7200
join the Ed Clute Dixie Five Plus One at the After moving to Tioga County in l993, she began band—electric piano, six-string electric bass, and because they seem to care so much. The KBN Trio, and he decided to get a math degree. He returned to
Mountain Home Winter Jazz Fest on March 1 at the Penn singing locally and with New York bands, performing drums—are set up in a corner of a dining room off as they call themselves, has a stack of CDs set up on a Pennsylvania and started attending Mansfield. He had
Wells Hotel. She comes to us from deep in the heart of standards and Dixieland jazz in area country clubs Morning Musicals. Sadie Green Sales has frequently the foyer. Tables have been cleared and the wood floor dining-room chair. A small sign says they sell for $10 thought about going back to Boston, but found work
the South—the Mississippi Gulf Coast, to be exact— and at jazz festivals with Walt Hoffman’s band, and included Jobst in their performances as well. Juanita glows warmly from the subdued lighting. Christmas apiece. The name of the CD is Standards, and, indeed, teaching math at Liberty High School. Kefover, who
and jazz is in her soul. Her first experience was singing Ed Clute’s Dixie 5 Plus One. Tioga Countians were has also performed with the Hamilton-Gibson players decorations are still up and yellow stars sparkle in the the songs are timeless: “Body and Soul,” “All the lives in Blossburg, didn’t quit music, though.
“Shorten’ Bread” at the age of seven in full blackface. fortunate to discover her at the Penn Wells Hotel in several presentations, including The Quilters. window behind the impromptu bandstand. Things You Are,” “Have You Met Miss Jones.” “What happened is that I started hanging out with
“My most vivid memory of that early experience with Walt Hoffman at the piano; and with Ed Clute “I prefer singing the blues, but like to break them The one couple in the room, enjoying what looks like Eventually, the bar noise dies down and the people some of the musicians in upstate New York and ended
was the difficulty of removing the make up, consisting or Pat Davis and David Driscoll at the Gmeiner Art up with old-time standards and some novelty tunes,” a pretty tempting meal, sip red wine and there’s laughter become more appreciative, more attentive. Diners stop up playing with them all the time,” he said.
of ashes and cold cream,” Jobst says. “Music was to & Cultural Center. Jobst and Davis opened the Laurel says Jobst, and “Blues in the Night,” “A Good Man from the small bar behind their table. Too much by on their way out and tell Kefover and his band how When Bob Williams called him out of the blue to
become an important part of my life after that.” Festival Music Series in 2007. Their The Lady Sings the is Hard to Find,” and “Summertime” are a few of laughter, really, and too loud. Waiters parade across the much they enjoyed the music. work the jazz fest, Kefover immediately agreed.
At the age of sixteen, she was performing with local Blues and World War II Songs were also performed for her favorites. “I really enjoy singing those deep-down, floor and duck into the kitchen, and the hostess leads This is a regular gig for Kefover and he gives much “I said, ‘Hey, that’s great. The more you can do for
bands for Gulf Coast night clubs, country clubs, and the Mansfield University alumnae and the Wednesday break-your-heart blues.” diners into other rooms. In fact, except for the lone of the credit to restaurateur James Fry for giving jazz a the music, the better,’” Kefover said.

Page  MOUNTAIN HOME February 2008 February 2008 MOUNTAIN HOME Page 
Home continued from page 11

was a stride pianist, as was Count Basie, I wanted my technique to be as good


and early on, Thelonious Monk and Er- as I could possibly get it,” Clute said.
roll Garner.” “The only way to do that would be to
Lipskin says the best stride art- study the classics and play Chopin and
ists, such as Fats Waller and Johnson, Schumann and get my technique down
“respected European musical tradition as best as I could so I could play fast
and had some formal training” and jazz. So that’s why I went into the popu-
were concerned with dynamics, tone, lar field. I wanted to do both solo piano
and tension and release, more so than and play with a band. And I do both.”
boogie-woogie, New Orleans, and swing His first jobs were at Pierce’s Restau-
stylists. Indeed, Clute calls Waller one rant and the Pour House in Elmira and
of his favorite pianists. at a Watkins Glen club with an all-Ital-
“I’ve never really studied jazz,” he ian band. “They wanted me to change
said. “I’ve taught myself how to do that. my name to Eduardo Clutini.” He
All that I studied was classical. But I’m laughed. “I told them, I didn’t care. We
a real advocate of that. I think anybody had a lot of fun.”

C
who studies piano should study classical
if they’re going to do any kind of jazz lute likes being versatile. Besides
because that way you really develop a playing music, he tunes pianos Stride piano greats include Fats Waller
good technique for all the things you’ll for a rebuilder. He’s sat in with Dixie- (with arms raised, top), James P. Johnson
have to play.” land trombonist Turk Murphy, played (right), and Art Tatum. Ed clute calls
Waller one of his favorite players.
As for those who take shortcuts, Clute Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with three
said: “You can play jazz to a certain ex- symphony orchestras. He’s tuned pianos at old-time radio conventions. Clute,
tent but you can’t go up and down the for Dave Brubeck and Maynard Fergu- who said he never let his blindness get
keyboard lickety-split without a good son. A particular highlight was playing in the way, played live music during
foundation.” with jazz legend Benny Goodman at recreations of radio shows. Perhaps
the opening of the Corning Museum of it’s better for someone who shared the

B ut in 1972, Casadesus died in an


auto accident. Clute was devastated.
“It was a very difficult time,” he said.
Glass’s Birkerts Building in 1980.
“I had a ball,” said Clute, which, while
relating to this particular event, seems
couple’s passion for radio, and who
knew them over the years, to explain.
On his Web site, Derek Tague called
“But my wife was very supportive. She to mean he’s had a blast all his life play- Nana “Ed’s eyes” and said: “It always
knew how much I loved that guy.” ing music, sitting in with new friends amazed me what a dynamo Nana was.
Actually Clute was not married at and new bands. To say that Clute is up- She was a short-statured woman who
the time though he and his future wife, beat is an understatement. Everything dedicated herself to her husband, whom
Nana, were together. He met her at a is wonderful: Wellsboro is wonderful; she usually referred to as ‘Edward,’ and
concert in Glenora where she heard him his many friends are wonderful; Bob his art. She tirelessly drove the minivan
playing in a band. She came up and intro- and Linda Williams who enlisted him and unloaded Ed’s keyboards, speakers,
duced herself and on their first date they for the March 1 jazz fest “are wonderful & other musical accoutrements.”
went to her mother’s cottage on the lake. people”; Mountain Home columnist and Tague recalled hanging out with Clute
“And she was also teaching horseback piano teacher Pat Davis, with whom and other conventioneers after the shows.
riding in Connecticut,” Clute said. “So he has struck up a fast friendship, is “It was at these ad hoc gatherings
we got together and horsed around.” wonderful. Mansfield University and its where Ed and I would trade awful puns
Which brings us to Clute and his music school are wonderful. (the less said about them, the better).
puns; he is an inveterate punster. He is “Peggy Dettwiler. She’s wonderful. One time, Nana got a good one in:
a Gatling gun of puns. The object of A great asset to that community down ‘Q: Did ya hear about the guy who
the punster, of course, is to make his there. A great asset to the university. went to sleep and dreamed he was the
audience groan not laugh. That is, until She’s done a lot to promote the school. tailpipe of a 1952 Studebaker?
the puns pile up so fast the audience There’s a lot of wonderful people. Mike A: He woke up exhausted.’”

c
is forced to laugh at their combined Galloway. He’s a wonderful individual.
absurdity. And when it’s noted that Pennsylvania.” He paused. “That area is lute walked along the short path
Shakespeare was a great punster, Clute, so blessed with culture. I went to a band from his studio to his house. A
without skipping a beat, said, “Yes, he concert last summer in Wellsboro. It’s security alarm sounded when he opened win, Hoagy Carmichael. He noodled
was always writing plays on words.” so nice to maintain that kind of thing— the door and he said to ignore it, as on a Chopin ballade, made the silence

A
having band concerts in the park—peo- if this might be disconcerting or even between the notes profound. He tapped
fter marrying Nana, he settled ple just aren’t doing it anymore.” frightening to a guest. He wanted to the keys with left hand and said with awe:
down in Watkins Glen, estab- “Listen to that bass!” He took a request,

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show off what he called the pièce de résis-
lished a repertoire, and worked clubs hree years ago, Nana died. Clute tance, the big seven-foot Mason-Hamlin “Moonlight in Vermont.”
in the Twin Tiers. He continued his said stoically that he got through grand he had recently purchased. “That’s a great song.” He played a few
studies at Ithaca College and did some this rough period with a strong consti- His house was as neat as a Marine bars and stopped. “Did you know the
classical concerts; however, the amount tution and the support of friends. He barracks but without the Spartan cold- verses don’t rhyme?” He played again and
of preparation, such as reading Braille was reluctant to talk about it, but when ness. And the piano, made of African sang: “Pennies in a stream/Falling leaves,
music, was too time-consuming. he mentions the name of his wife of mahogany and gleaming as if it had a sycamore/Moonlight in Vermont.”
“I didn’t really think I could make it thirty-two years, his voice lowers slight- been worked over by a team of shoe- He looked up, smiled. “I’m a horrible
completely as a classical pianist but I ly, becomes shaded with melancholy. shine boys, sat in the middle of the singer.” He resumed playing, singing
wanted to study as much as possible and For years, the pair had been regulars room. Clute sat down to play: Gersh- quietly anyway, in love with the music.

Page  MOUNTAIN HOME February 2008

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