Oct. 6, 1973: The House Rockers without Spoon
A quick return visit with the House Rockers,
soldiering on without Elmo "Spoon" Weatherspoon, the man who inspired them to get together in the first place.
Oct. 6, 1973
Busy House Rockers
Drive Music Forward
With Style and Grace
ACCORDING TO
the rules and regulations of this garden planet, the price of a memorable night
is payable in full the morning after – no checks, credit cards or IOU’s
accepted.
Several of The House Rockers thus are still working on
their belated final installments for Monday night’s revelry at Casey’s on
Hertel as they gather for afternoon picture-taking and a brief practice session
at saxophonist Phil DiRe’s house near
“I wish we had a movie camera for nights like that,” road
manager George Zakrzewski grins at guitarist Ernie Corallo.
Ernie, the main spokesman for the group, manages a smile
and recalls the song he made up on the spot about the club, its waitress and
nearby points of interest.
“Tonight oughta be good too,” he reckons.
* * *
THE REHEARSAL
in Phil’s basement consists of listening to a couple cuts on The Pointer
Sisters album and a bouncy something called “Day and Night” from Nina Simone,
which is given to singer Barbara St. Clair to learn.
If this seems like sluffing off, The House Rockers have
earned it, working up 15 tunes in 10 days since Barbara joined the group and
playing six nights a week.
This week’s schedule is no easier. Tonight they’re at the
Belle Starr in Colden, tomorrow afternoon half of them hold another reunion
with blues singer Elmo Weatherspoon at Sundays on Elmwood. Monday they’re at
Casey’s, Tuesday and Thursday it’s the One-Eyed Cat on Bryant and back to the
Belle Starr for the weekend.
As it was with Spoon, the group continues to be one of the
most formidable collections of rock and jazz-rock talents in the city, capable
of driving hard with style and grace.
* * *
THERE’S ERNIE,
who in the 10 years since he started out with Stan & The Ravens has become
the equal of almost any studio guitarist; bass guitarist Joey Giarrano,
formerly with Posse; drummer Bradd Gray, veteran of several local rock and
commercial groups.
Also saxophonist Jay Beckenstein, formerly a student with
UB’s Creative Associates, and Phil, president of the Association for Jazz
Performers, which has concerts Wednesday nights at the One-Eyed Cat.
With the addition of Barbara St. Clair, whose voice and
experience are the equals of anyone in the band, The House Rockers seem to have
hit upon the winning combination they’ve sought since their split with Spoon
last June.
“It was strange,” one of the group recalls. “One night we
were packing up and a bartender told us we weren’t going to be there the next
night. I told him Spoon’s supposed to be there and he says yeah, Spoon is.”
* * *
THEY REMAINED
The House Rockers, mostly so they could use their reputation to get jobs in the
small club circuit which their eight-month stint with Spoon helped open up.
“We gotta change that name,” Ernie says. “What do you think
of ‘Matchstick?’”
Their second ordeal was the loss of Jimmy Calire, the
impishly inventive pianist who doubled on synthesizer and took over vocals
after the split with Spoon.
“That was a real blow,” Ernie says, “losing Jimmy.”
Calire took off for
“She’s a real pro,” Ernie says. “She knows arrangements,
she brings in parts.”
“She told my wife last week she’s been looking for a band
like this,” Bradd remarks.
* * *
ANYONE FAMILIAR
with the cramped front room of Casey’s will wonder how both a band and an
audience can co-exist in there, but they do. Intimacy is what these small club
gigs are all about.
When a band is cooking four feet away from your ectoplasm,
you can’t help but feel the spirit.
For the second set, the numbers the group does before
Barbara comes out give an idea of their range of interest.
There’s an instrumental Eddie Harris jazz piece that
contrasts sax styles of Jay (wild and intense) and Phil (calm and lyrical).
Or Joey stepping up to belt out “Statesboro Blues” while
Ernie experiments with Fender edge-of-distortion licks run through reverb so
they hang like smoke from fireworks.
* * *
BARBARA’S FIRST SONG – Gladys Knight’s “Daddy Could Swear, I Declare” – answers the old
question of what she could do with a tough band behind her. She matches the
energy easily, with no jive.
“I’ll Take You There,” an up-on-your-feet number when the
Staple Singers do it, somehow bogs down, then Luther Ingram’s “If Loving You Is
Wrong, I Don’t Want to be Right” is a minor masterpiece of sweet suffering.
There’s a flawless Aretha Franklin “Rock Steady” and just
about the time you think they could play all night Barbara disappears and the
band takes an instrumental into the break.
“Two o’clock already?” Bradd questions the clock behind the
bar. “It feels like we just got started.”
* * * * *
IN THE PHOTO:
From left, front, pianist Jimmy Beishline, road manager George Zakrzewski and
saxophonist Jay Beckenstein; center, bass guitarist Joey Giarrano, singer
Barbara St. Clair and drummer Bradd Gray; rear, saxophonist Phil DiRe and
guitarist Ernie Corallo.
* * * * *
FOOTNOTE: Pretty
much the same lineup that was in place when this band made its first appearance in this column in May, except Barbara St. Clair is now a full-fledged member and a worthy
replacement has been found for departed keyboardist Jim Calire.
For pianist Jim Beishline, this was an early step in what has become a wonderfully wide-ranging career, in which he's toured extensively and shared stages with the likes of Muddy Waters and Aretha Franklin. Check it out on his website – jimbeishline.com. A telling line there: “Musicians often request Jim to perform with them for the annual Buffalo Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony.”
His jazz and blues trio features his wife, singer Janice Mitchell, a Buffalo Music Hall of Famer who toured with Ray Charles as a Raelette in the 1980s. And here at
the end of August 2021, he was part of the Thursday open blues jam last week at the
GFY Bar and Grill on
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