Bandstand Stories

Bob Thomas is a quiet unassuming sort of guy. If you met him you likely would think of him as a kindly retired teacher or maybe a minister. He's a distinguished looking older gent who looks to be in his early 60's. . Bob is in fact a retired airport manager, a professional among professionals. He also happens to play the saxophone pretty well and currently plays with Dr. Wayne Dyess's "civilian" band, the Night and Day Orchestra. This is a community based dance band in Beaumont, Texas made up of local musicians who love swing music.

I met Bob when I went out to Beaumont

to hear Dr. Dyess's Lamar University Jazz band play a concert featuring the music of Bill Holman (photo above). The annual concert features guest artists and this time Mr. Holman was directing the band but as he no longer plays, another guest artist was needed to play Mr. Holman's sax feature on "Yesterdays" written originally for the Stan Kenton Orchestra.

It appeared that Mr. Holman was a bit hesitant when "Yesterdays" was first mentioned. It was written to feature Tenor Saxist Bill Perkins and takes a first rate soloist to play well. The hesitation lasted about one bar after the downbeat as it was clear that Bob had that solo under control. Subsequently, in response to some rather persistent questioning, it became clear that Bob has a history of his own with Stan Kenton's band and music.

The world of big bands has its stepping stones not unlike the farm teams of baseball. In the baseball world, minor leaguers climb the ladder of A teams AA teams and AAA teams, and fewer players are chosen with each step... Only a few make it to the "show" or the major leagues. In the music world Bob Thomas made it to the "show". He did a tour with Stan Kenton on the lead Alto sax chair. In football that would have made him the quarterback, in baseball, an ace of a pitcher.

Like so many of the old time road musicians, after touring with the Kenton band, Bob settled down got married and went into another profession. After retirement that saxophone beckoned again. In the year prior to the concert Bob had answered the call of the road one more time and had done a season in Branson, MO with the Les Brown Orchestra. His "audition" for the Les Brown band was a phone call from one if his old associates from the Kenton days. In his early 70's, Bob was once more on a big time name band, playing a daily show plus road gigs in the surrounding states. If this were baseball, it would be like Don Drysdale coming out of retirement to play one more season with the Dodgers....and a winning season at that!

At the concert, the University band began the haunting opening chords of "Yesterdays", under the direction of the man who had been Stan Kenton's chief arranger and himself a world renowned tenor sax performer. The audience sat in silence as Bob delivered a beautiful rendition of this jazz classic. At the end in addition to cheers from the audience, Bob got one well deserved accolade that meant more to him than any other....a smile and nod from the man who wrote the music.

It was a silent salute between two great players. Players who have been to the show, more than once.

PHOTOS: Hector Bourg Jr.

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The contents of this page will contain short notes of interest on a variety of
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