Pete Gemski's Favorite Concert - Faddis!

Pete Gemski with new 'weapon'.

Pete Gemski is the founder & leader of The Lighthouse Little Big Band - an 8-piece unit in St. Augustine that promotes creativity in the region by performing original arrangements as well as more famous ones. Pete plays valve trombone & bass trumpet in the band, but the instrument for most of his life is the trumpet; playing professionally from 11th grade on. He studied at Brown University, did graduate school at the University of Pittsburgh Medical School, post doctoral research at the Stanford University Medical School and put in 30 years at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Washington, DC. In DC he played in the Bill Potts Big Band, also performing at several inauguration Balls; in particular, Ronald Reagan's 2nd inauguration with the Benny Carter Big Band.

After retiring as Chief of the Department of Molecular Pathology at Walter Reed, he and wife Lenny moved to New Hampshire where he performed and expanded his "arsenal of brass weapons" to euphonium, baritone horn, valve trombone and bass trumpet. The Gemski's became St. Augustine residents in 2005. In 2012 The Lighthouse Little Big Band put out their

The Lighthouse Little Big Band

self-titled first cd featuring arrangements by Pete, Dave Wolpe, Ralph Martin, Larry Dickson and the late bassist, composer and member Frank Capek.

At 77 years young, Pete's 'bucket list' is to play all the brass instruments. He's currently learning the Bb tuba, with thoughts of forming a Dixieland group in the future. Below is his very entertaining anecdote about an encounter between two trumpet players...


Jon Faddis Quartet at The Wolf Trap, D.C. Area  November 24, 1989

(Renee Rosnes - piano, Louis Nash - drums, ????? - Bass (sorry, I can't remember----too many high notes played as I age as a trumpet player)

As is typical of Jon Faddis, he paid homage to Louis Armstrong by performing (ala Satchmo) "West End Blues" at the end of the set. A standing ovation from the
audience was almost universal. Faddis responded with a big grin and shared the moment with his group that also caught the essence of Satchmo's style in their playing. 

As Faddis walked off the stage, he stopped, turned to the audience and said "How about this?"  He then did Harry James' version of "Ciribiribin" for a few measures, this time having the style and sound associated with Harry James. Someone in the audience requested his version of Wynton---he smiled, took a proper concert posture and played several measures of the Hayden Trumpet Concerto as recorded at one time by Wynton---then gave it a Faddis touch by repeating the same measures octaves above. He then continued interacting with the audience saying "Ready for Miles?"---walked off the stage, returned wearing a borrowed long coat, turned his back to audience, stooped over with the horn pointing at the floor and started

L-R: Lewis Nash, Bill Charlap, Jon Faddis &
Renee Rosnes - from reneerosnes.coml

playing "Freddie Freeloader". Standing ovation again. "Any other requests?" he inquired.  The big mouth of yours truly took over and from the front row I said "How about the famous Faddis  Double C's?" Faddis grinned and said "How many?". Not to be outdone, I answered "100".  Because he 'clamed' on the 86th double C, I treasure an autographed program by Faddis to "Mr 86" on my music wall. PS--that's how I know the exact date of this memory.

Thanks, Pete, for a very fun concert story and for insight into the congeniality and good humor of a world-class star! - PCJ

Bill Doyle's Top 10 Jazz Albums

Drummer Bill Doyle and his sweet red Gretsch kit '09

We continue our postings of individual lists from our popular Top 50 Jazz Albums List with Palm Coast's own Bill Doyle. Bill has been keeping things swinging through thick and thin in NE Florida since 2004 with his own trio. He began playing drums at 12, studying under some serious cats including Larry Rosen from the Dave Grusin band; working in the New York/New Jersey area with some of it's top jazz, pop and society musicians. He managed to maintain a part-time music career while becoming quite successful full-time in marketing.

Nowadays Bill is a high-profile musician in St. Augustine, Palm Coast, Daytona Beach and more, performing with stellar musicians like Ray Guiser and Cheryl Page; and especially with his crowd-drawing trio, featuring Don Durkee on piano and Frank Capek on bass. His top 10 jazz albums list is an exposition in exquisite taste!

1. Woody Herman - 1964  When my Dad ,who was a musician,first brought this home I was in awe and could not stop playing it and tried to master playing along with the up tempo tunes.Great charts, great solos and Jake Hanna knew how to push a big band.

2. Dave Brubeck - Time Out My role model as a drummer was Joe Morello (R.I.P.). His skill set and ability to be totally musical was unbelievable. I tried to imitate him in every way. Hah! That's a joke.

3. Lambert, Hendricks and Ross - The Hottest New Group in Jazz  Just too cool and from this I learned to appreciate scat.

4. Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um  Timeless, could have been recorded yesterday.

5. Joe Morello - It's About Time  Again, I loved Joe. This was a straight-ahead jazz album with some very cool work with Phil Woods, Gary Burton and Joe.

6. Jazz Crusaders - Live at the Light House 1966  I can listen to this for hours. Joe Sample grooves as does Wayne Henderson.

7. Sinatra and Basie  Big fan of both.

8. Ella and Basie  Big fan of Ella, too.

9. John Coltrane - Blue Train  He's just too good with Lee Morgan, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones to boot!

10. Tie with all the other great work with great artists!



Thanks Bill for the list and for keeping jazz thriving in PC! You can check out more of Bill at his youtube channel, and below is a video of the Bill Doyle Trio + 2 (Pete Gemski - valve trombone; Larry Dickson - baritone sax) performing at the Three Dogs Grille this past February; they're playing Frank Capek's original "Abba". - PCJ