Jerry's Last Jam

Dateline Wednesday December 27, 2017:
          Jerry's Last Jam at Gilly's

     Saxophone player extraordinaire, Hal Melia, was the host for Jerry Gillotti's last jam at Gilly's in honor of Jerry Gillotti. The club will close on December 31st this year.

     The first band to take the stage was Eddie Brookshire's Big Band. They were raucously received by the capacity crowd in attendance and Cliff Darrett on latin percussion and congas with Fenton Sparks on drums enhanced a rousing rendition of Dizzy Gillespie's  Manteca! These percussionists also had some help from Ismail Muhammad.
     The second tribute of the night was from the quartet of Randy Villars on piano, Hal Melia on tenor sax, Fenton Sparks on drums and Eddie Brookshire on bass. Also well received, the crowd heard some excellent solos as these veteran musicians demonstrated their ability to interact and musically communicate to the crowd's delight!

      Master of Ceremonies Hal Melia kept things moving along by bringing up on stage the first jam group of the evening. This group included vocalist Sandra Rutledge, Randy Villars on piano, Bill Dixon on trumpet, King Koeller on tenor sax, Vince Gillotti on tenor sax, Eddie Brookshire on bass , Hal Melia on flute and [ ? ] Mallott on drums. This jazz jam group really seemed to fire up the crowd even more.

     Next up was Dave Greer and his Classic Jazz Stompers; a Dayton area mainstay for several decades, this group always gives the impression that they play Dixieland jazz but jazz lovers quickly realize that there is a jazz musicianship that smoothly moves right into bop and provides a musical mixture that results in pure delight to listeners. As 89.5 FM WDPS radio show host often says, "There may be other bands out there somewhere that are just as good as the Jazz Stompers but there are none better!" This was the one band at the Jerry Gillotti tribute that does play a regular gig on the second Tuesday of the month at Jimmy's Ladder Eleven down on Brown Street.

     The second jazz jam group was brought to the stage next and included Gary Onady on trumpet, Jim Smith on guitar, Mike Koogan on trombone, Lee McKinney on drums, Hal Melia on tenor sax and various other sundry players (apologies to those not mentioned). It is worth noting that this group contained two trombones. Do not see that much around the Dayton area unless you are hearing a big band. This group kept the crowd pretty enthusiastic as well.

     Arguably the most fun group of the night was The Random Flashbacks Band led by Generations Big Band trombone player, Dustin Malone. You can learn more about this band on their Facebook page. They have a lot of fun on stage!

      The next band took quite a while to set up but this is a good time to point out that there was also a DJ set up at the club that played music at the appropriate times and who knew Jerry Gillotti well and played music that Jerry liked. Once the band was set up the crowd learned it was The Floyd Witherspoon Band with Touch! Touch as played Gillys in February for the past 25 years. This band was tough to beat for Gillys longevity. Many of you reading this are familiar with Touch as they have been around Dayton for a very long time. For those of you NOT familiar with Touch, they are four band members that do an excellent job of recreating the Motown sound, in particular the Temptations and the Four Tops. They brought the house down. Even though tables and chairs had been set up on the dance floor to accommodate the expected standing-room-only crowd, dancers were not deterred during this performance. You can find videos of this group on the internet by doing a search for "motown sound of touch web" - if you like Motown, you need to find them on the web.

      Jerry's brother Tom was brought to the stage to tell some club stories, of which he had too many to talk about them all, but he did talk about Richard Pryor coming to the club and delivering about a half hour performance because he liked the band he heard so well. Another story this reporter heard from trumpet player Gary Onady was that the year Wynton Marsalis won awards in both the classical and jazz genre, he actually heard Wynton, Branford and the Marsalis family matriarch Ellis at Gilly's for 6 bucks! Unfortunately (and disappointingly),  this reporter was unable to stay for the final jazz jam group of the evening, but there were two female vocalists, Dayton area jazz musician regulars Jason Swann on tenor sax (who also backed up Touch) and Grant "King" Koeller on tenor sax. Two jazz musicians who returned to the area were also in the band - unfortunately, facial recognition did not also result in remembering names. The trombone player attended Central State and actually once played an Australian instrument, the diggory do,  at Jazz Central and the bass player, first name Ian it seems, is now earning a living playing bass in New York City. Hats off to them for returning to the area to pay tribute to long time jazz and blues club owner Jerry Gillotti. The group also include various other jazz musicians (again, apologies to those not specifically mentioned in print). It was a night to remember.

Article by Jim Woodford

Photos by Sarah Woodford



Comment by Ron Gable on Jan. 1, 2018:

     My most memorable event at Gilly’s was the 2005 jazz advocate hurricane Katrina benefit concert; where Jerry Gillotti furnished the venue and many local jazz musicians furnished the entertainment. The Dayton Pizza Factory, Cold Beer & Cheeseburgers and others furnished food. The evening had a true New Orleans Jazz flavor provided by Dave Greer’s Classic Jazz Stompers from Dayton and Don Vappie of the Creole Jazz Serenaders from New Orleans who happened to be in town when Katrina hit. Gilly’s closing marks the end of an era for me and many other local music fans so now is the time to be thankful for Jerry’s gift of many memories of good times at Gilly’s.