| Butch,
Merv had the show in New York first and Danny did do the show with his good friend Bill Watrous when they filmed on the East Coast. When Merv moved the show to Hollywood in 70's ( I think '74 -"75 ) Bill made the trip out west with the show along with Bill Berry ( same way Snooky , Ed Shaunassy and Gil Falco came out west with Doc and the tonight show move), but Danny decided to stay in NY.
Bill and Danny did do some small group albums after Bill came out West, but did the Watrous Big Band album " Manhattan Wildlife Refuge " and " Tiger of San Pedro " in NY with the NY guys. You can hear Danny playing lead on those albums and doing his famous " chromatic " lick in his solos both in the Big Band and small band recordings. Danny Stiles - great player - lost him way to young.
Stiles Equipment:
Bach ML 72 lt.
Giadinelli 7M mouthpiece
For the younger readers , get the Watrous Big Band albums ( CD ) and listen to how the " East Coast " guys ( circa early 70's ) could really play with that notorious East Coast swing ,feel and rhythm. I can't say enough of the great players during that time in NY.
I don't know if they are re-released on CD - but I'm going to dig out my albums and see who the players were and make cd's of them.
I remember Wayne Andre ( trb )and Ed Soph ( drums ) among the players. Dave Gale ( trpt ) or Joe Newman could also have been on there - don't quote me on that yet.
Thanks Butch for getting to think of those great albums again.
LG |