Father-in-law’s love for jazz lives on

Three years ago, my father-in-law, Dave passed shortly before turning ninety-one.  

He had a successful career, a prosperous retirement, and a devoted family.  One of the blessings in my life was opening our home to my in-laws for these past few years.

Dave may have left but his love of music is still with us.  He had acquired an impressive collection of long-playing records, cassette tapes, and compact discs.

With thanks to David Letterman’s writers who came up with the title of this column (named after a comedy bit on Letterman’s old talk show), here are some of the highlights from my father-in-law’s music collection:

Guitar players

Dave had three records and two compact discs of Tony Mattola.  Tony backed up some of the finest singers of the Great American Songbook. 

I saw him perform a duet with Sinatra in Las Vegas back in 1982.  The solo works are glorious in their simplicity of arrangements mixed with the complicated fingerings of this master.

Chet Atkins was known primarily as a country guitarist, but he had an amazing career producing country singers for RCA Records in Nashville. 

His guitar solos are featured in some of Elvis Presley’s early recordings (listen for it in the instrumental bridge of Hound Dog among others). 

There’s a story I found in a book by Ralph Emery that recounts how Chet created instrumental acts at RCA primarily to keep the musicians he used in recording sessions working. 

He was considered a musician’s musician and was widely respected in the industry.

The Singers

Dave was not a fan of my two favorite pop singers: Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett.  But he did appreciate the stylings of Ella Fitzgerald and Mel Torme.  Both are well represented in his music collection.

The Bands

Most prominent throughout Dave’s collection are albums, compact discs, and tape recordings of jazz bands and swing orchestras.  He turned me on to Count Basie back in the early eighties, and his collection shows that he tried to assemble as much of the Count’s music as he could. 

The Duke Ellington and Stan Kenton orchestras frequently pop up among the tapes, as well as more contemporary groups such as Spyro Gyra and the Chuck Magione band.

In the home he owned until moving in with us, he liked to crank up the volume on his Bose music system.   One of the first purchases made for him upon taking up residence in California was a set of headphones.

Over the past two years, I have occasionally transferred the audiotapes and vinyl recordings to digital. 

I enjoy the music, and I appreciate the connection it gives me to the man who acquired it all for about seventy years.

One of Dave’s other hobbies was fishing.  He enjoyed the solitude of fishing among many of New York’s lakes.  I’d wager he would be listening to his music on the car stereo traveling to and from his favorite fishing spots.  

Just as the memories of the jazz greats such as Oscar Peterson, Lionel Hampton, and Dave Brubeck live on through their music, the legacy of my father-in-law lives on within me through the music he collected.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced. 

His book Can Do Californians is available at BarnesandNoble.com and at Lulu.com