Cleburne Times-Review, Cleburne, TX

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January 4, 2010

Pete Kendall: Dance band leader could spin a good tale

You know somebody has written a good column when a writer from the same newspaper opts to quote from it.

Such was the tribute I paid to Monte Swatzell when I repeated his thoughts on former Times-Review editor Jack Proctor.

Monte fondly recalled old Cleburne in our Nov. 23 issue.

He remarked that Proc sure knew how to sell papers. I remarked that I agreed.

You know someone has written an especially good column when a writer at the same newspaper opts to quote from it twice.

Such is the rare honor I pay to Swatzell today. In the same space he used to describe Proc, Monte wrote about the late Cleburne dance band leader Harvey Anderson.

Monte made very flattering references to the impish musician with the bow tie. Harvey was one of my favorite people, too.

“My fondest memories of the Liberty [Hotel] are of the ballroom, which was a well-used and enjoyable dancing spot for Cleburne High School students of the 1940s,” Monte wrote in part. “Listening and dancing to the music of Big C’s own Harvey Anderson Band were favorite times of those days.

“These exciting occasions would be held on Friday or Saturday nights when other events such as football games didn’t reign supreme. In the spring, though, other fun things such as dances did hold forth and often were held in the Liberty Hotel ballroom.

“If Harvey’s bunch wasn’t playing, plenty of kids would bring records of the popular bands of the times including Glen Miller, the Dorsey Brothers, Benny Goodman, Harry James, Bunny Berigan, Woody Herman, Kay Kaiser, Artie Shaw and singers like Patti Page, Helen O’Connell, the Andrews Sisters, the Ink Spots and the Ames Brothers. ...

“There were many cute girls in Cleburne who enjoyed dancing. Later I was fortunate in convincing the cutest one, Joyce Chafin, to marry me, but not for any dance steps.

“Joyce and I are still romantically involved and often reminisce about dancing to Harvey Anderson’s music. A special treat during a dance was watching Cloyce Chafin [Woodruff] and the late Bob ‘King Kong’ Ross perform jitterbug dancing, finishing with Bob doing a backward somersault after turning Cloyce in a forward flip. I wonder if Cloyce can still move like that on the dance floor?

“Bob, as a U.S. Marine, survived many Pacific island invasions in World War II but died as an unappreciated war hero several years ago.

“Band members included Harvey on the sax and clarinet; John E. Weeks on the drums; Kenneth Looper, Bobby English and Emmett Mahanay on trombones; Roy Anderson; Charles ‘Peewee’ Allard; Ronald ‘Dopey’ Faulkenbury and Allen Wilbanks on trumpets; Bill Boger; Donald Lanman; Jack Anderson, and Tyson ‘Neck’ Payne on the saxes; Danny Harris at the piano after Billy Jim Clarke graduated; and, as I recall, Nan Bradbury and Jean Stewart were the vocalists.”

As many know, Harvey could entertain as well with an anecdote as he could with his clarinet, flute or saxophone.

He had me in stitches with a story about meeting jazz legends Jo Jones and Charlie Parker in New York.

Jones was the dexterous drummer for Count Basie. Parker was a lone wolf junkie but the most creative horn player of his era.

“There are those who covet death, and there are those whom death covets,” I wrote in part. “Charlie Parker, the legendary jazz alto saxophonist, was only 32 and two years removed from death by the time 29-year-old Harvey Anderson met him in 1953 in New York City.

“The moment was more melancholy than amusing, more anecdotal than significant. But it typified what the jazz scene was about in America in the early ’50s. And it typifies what Anderson, now a 61-year-old band leader residing in Cleburne, has always been about.

“Some of the names, such as Parker and drummer Jo Jones, are as well known as those of heads of state. Some of the places, such as the nightclub Birdland, may someday be deemed worthy of historical markers.”

The story began in 1953, when Harvey went to New York as part of the Shriners marching band.

He arrived at his hotel at 1 in the morning, parked his bags and asked the concierge the location of Birdland, the famous jazz club.

It was right around the corner. Harvey zoomed.

Harvey had met Jones in 1949 at Vivian Courtney’s Club on Fort Worth’s north side.

Jones, Illinois Jacquet and others of their ilk had breezed into town with a Jazz At The Philharmonic touring group.

Jacquet, a saxophonist, needed a horn. Harvey located one to his liking.

Jones had shown his appreciation by inviting Harvey to a party.

That was in 1949, and Anderson was pretty sure Jones wouldn’t remember him at Birdland. He said hello to the drummer during a break, and Jones replied, “Hey, Fort Worth.”

The two continued their conversation on the sidewalk in front of the club several hours later.

“Out of the corner of my eye, I saw this guy walking toward us,” Harvey told me. “He had on old baggy pants and a gray sweatshirt and some of the ugliest brown and white shoes you’ve ever seen. He came up to Jo and started talking.

“I figured out the guy had just come from Europe, because he told Jo. ‘Man, I’ve got some records I bought in Sweden that you won’t believe. You need to come over to my place and hear these things.’

“Jo turned to me and said, ‘Why don’t you come with us? It’s just a subway ride.’ I really had to get back to the hotel. I told him I couldn’t go with them, that we were supposed to turn out for a parade at 7 in the morning.

“Jo said, ‘Man, I’m sorry I didn’t introduce you. Fort Worth, this is Charlie Parker.’

“My mouth flew open. I’ve thought of a million things since then that I wish I’d asked him. I didn’t because I was so much in awe.”

Anderson didn’t follow when Parker and Jones departed for the subway.

“Parker had just gotten out of jail on a narcotics deal,” Harvey said. “I didn’t know whether he was still using, but I could just imagine getting to his place and the police busting down the door and me telling them, ‘Hey, I just came over to listen to records.’ ”

Not going was probably a wise decision. In two more years, Parker would be dead of an overdose.

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