Way Down Yonder

Hi MG,
Thanks again! I love Dixieland, too. I lived directly across the street from the leader of the Baltimore Colts Marching Band. I was 9 years old in 1947, and he asked my mother if I could play in the band ( Clarinet ). There was no football team at that time. The old Baltimore Colts left in the mid 1940’s. Our uniform colors were green and silver. The new Colts football team did not come until 1954. The band stayed together that whole time (just as they did when the current NFL Colts left for Indiana and the band stayed together again until the Ravens came). I started with the marching band at age 9 and 2 years later became a part an offshoot Dixieland band, and I played with them for 6 years. We played on the trains taking the fans and the team to nearby games as far as New York. We passed the hat and made a ton of money. My first real job was with that band at a nightclub called the Paddock near Pimlico Race Track. I was only 14, but my mother let me play there because my parents were such good friends with the bandleader and he was my "chaperone". So my first real job with any band was playing Dixie. I left the Colt band in 1956 to go on the road with a Rock group. Needless to say, of all the band or orchestra compositions and arrangements I’ve done lately, this piece was the easiest ( about 2 and a half days ) and, probably, the most fun!

Cheers,
Fred