Thank you Michael. Great Story! This club is one reason I moved here in 2002 from LA. Brannen Temple played with me on a SXSW showcase in 2001 and I loved his playing and he told me he was playing at the Elephant Room and gave me the address. I walked up and down the street and couldn't find it after looking for signs - then looked down and there it was! Initially walked down the stairs and the vibe was amazing. I felt it would be a great club for Hammond organ and had a NYC vibe. Narrow stairs so how would I get the organ down there? Will and Japa told me there was an elevator behind the bandstand and how to load in so I've been playing there once a month on my organ since then and bringing a lot of iconic tenor players and other horns and drums together since then. BTW the song I played when the fire hit Swift's attic was Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight (first) then Smoke On the Water. Then the firemen came in. Fortunately no damage to my Hammond...
Great article about an iconic Austin venue! Bassist Chris Maresh and I were the other two members of Tomás Ramirez's group that played the very first public gig that was mentioned above (Japa said there was a private event with music held before ours). As I recall it was February 14 - Valentine's Day - that it happened. Since then I played countless, regular gigs there with just about every Austin jazz musician until late 2000, when my wife and I moved away for the last time. My first CD release was held there in 1998. The last gig I played there was when I was visiting from our new home in Louisville in 2018, in a band I assembled featuring Rich Harney, Russell Remington, Alex Browne, and Wayne Salzmann III. Great memories!
Thank you Michael. Great Story! This club is one reason I moved here in 2002 from LA. Brannen Temple played with me on a SXSW showcase in 2001 and I loved his playing and he told me he was playing at the Elephant Room and gave me the address. I walked up and down the street and couldn't find it after looking for signs - then looked down and there it was! Initially walked down the stairs and the vibe was amazing. I felt it would be a great club for Hammond organ and had a NYC vibe. Narrow stairs so how would I get the organ down there? Will and Japa told me there was an elevator behind the bandstand and how to load in so I've been playing there once a month on my organ since then and bringing a lot of iconic tenor players and other horns and drums together since then. BTW the song I played when the fire hit Swift's attic was Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight (first) then Smoke On the Water. Then the firemen came in. Fortunately no damage to my Hammond...
I love this article, and I loved hearing about some of my Dad's friends (my Dad is musician Bob Meyer) Thanks so much for writing this... *peace*!
Great article about an iconic Austin venue! Bassist Chris Maresh and I were the other two members of Tomás Ramirez's group that played the very first public gig that was mentioned above (Japa said there was a private event with music held before ours). As I recall it was February 14 - Valentine's Day - that it happened. Since then I played countless, regular gigs there with just about every Austin jazz musician until late 2000, when my wife and I moved away for the last time. My first CD release was held there in 1998. The last gig I played there was when I was visiting from our new home in Louisville in 2018, in a band I assembled featuring Rich Harney, Russell Remington, Alex Browne, and Wayne Salzmann III. Great memories!