“Blue Notes” Reunion Musicians Reunite

“The Blue Notes,” a pop-up musical group of classmates that entertained at the class dinner at the 55^th reunion had their own mini-reunion on a Saturday in March. Planning began last fall, spearheaded by the indefatigable Eliot Norman.  The date, the 29^th, was selected, and the location, the Harrison Presbyterian Church, in Westchester, New York, where our Jay Castelli is Music Minister.

As the date approached, flurries of emails exchanged set-list possibilities, key-change suggestions, and copies of music and lyrics.  Since everyone was prone to hitting “reply all” to everything, the eventual total in everyone’s in-box was just north of 200.  Key logistical support (recommending a written set list, suggesting we agree on a schedule for the day) was provided by Terry Benson, putting to use his skills honed as a PBS stage manager. 

The eclectic list of tunes that resulted ranged from Russian and American folk songs to classic rock and jazz. Group members Eliot, Jay, Terry, John Adams, Tom Guterbock, Mat Kastner, Dick Williams, and Harry Wise, joined by another musician from the class (although he graduated in ’70), Norm Zamcheck (a/k/a “Real Stormin Norman”) spent the day at the church, hosted by Jay and his wife, Carolyn.  (Jon Hoffman, a group member who couldn’t make it, was there in spirit.)

During the morning, singers Williams and Benson worked with keyboardist Eliot Norman in the basement common room while the rest rehearsed in the sanctuary.  After a pizza lunch, the group united in the sanctuary for the rest of the day, playing tunes from a set list that included two choices from each member. (The finale was, of course, a spirited rendition of “Bright College Years,” complete with waving handkerchiefs.) After the session ended, the group reassembled at a local Italian restaurant for dinner, discussing, among other things, the possibility of future jam sessions, and their confidence that time and change shall naught avail to break the friendships formed at Yale—and afterwards.

Here are some of the performances:

Yes, Baby, Yes

[add some backstory here … or call attn to one of the performers or anything.  Or delete ]
 

 

Take Five

[add some backstory here … or call attn to one of the performers or anything.  Or delete ]
 

 

Black Orpheus

[add some backstory here … or call attn to one of the performers or anything.  Or delete ]
 

 

Since the meeting, a few members of the group have written reminiscences, both of the day and of the role music played in their life at Yale.

            Here are some excerpts:

From Jay Castelli:

We each got to pick two songs for the group to play on the day. I was surprised to hear why John Adams chose “When I’m 64” by the Beatles, and a strange Dylanesque song by the Rolling Stones, ”Something Happened to Me Yesterday.” The reason? They both incorporated Dixieland bands allowing John to play his sassy clarinet!

Who knew that Eliot Norman was a closet lounge singer? His two song choices both called for him to sing: “Baker Street” by Gerry Rafferty and [are you ready?] “A Whiter Shade of Pale” by Procol Harum. I accompanied the latter song on the church organ.

Playing three Beatles’ songs brought me back to my bursary job working at the Yale Collection of Musical Instruments on Hillhouse Ave. In the front entry of the building sat one of Beethoven’s own pianos. One fun aspect of the job for me was playing songs from the ‘60s by folk singers, The Association, Jimmy Webb, the Beatles, etc., on that sacred piano during slow hours.

We also got to hear the lead song from Norm Zamcheck’s and Mat Kastner’s recent mp3 entitled “Bride of Science” based on Norm’s own parents. It proved to be a clever and energetic tune full of great lyrics and challenging chord changes that Mat navigated flawlessly on his guitar chasing after Norm’s nimble piano moves and raucous voice.

I have played Paul Desmond’s “Take 5” for over 50 years on the piano combining Desmond’s sax solo and improv with Dave Brubeck’s piano accompaniment. How wonderful it was to play this ground-breaking song in our own ’69 Blue Notes jazz quartet with a pseudo-sax (Adams’ sassy clarinet again), Harry Wise’s tasty backup trumpet, and Tom Guterbock’s steady bass (keeping the rhythm going just right in 5/4 time without a drummer against all kinds of improv syncopation). Loved Harry’s flugelhorn playing too.

I think we all enjoyed being exposed to songs we weren’t familiar with from many different genres: from jazz to jug bands; from folk to rock; from torch songs to movie themes; and Dick’s heartfelt songs from Brazil to Russia. I’m definitely going to add several to my regular piano-playing repertoire including “Baker Street” (Eliot’s favorite rock song), “All the Things You Are” by Kern and Hammerstein, Blue Bossa, and “Manha De Carnaval” from the movie “Black Orpheus.”

From Mat Kastner:

That afternoon, Tom provided the bass guitar bottom, Jay, Norm and Eliot all played keyboards – and managed to pretty much stay out of each other’s way.  Flugelhorn and trumpet (or was it a cornet?) by Harry, clarinet by John, while Terry and I strummed our guitars.  Dick sang, and so did a few more of us.

A few of the tunes stood out:

• “I Put a Spell on You” – the old Screamin’ Jay Hawkins tune. Angus, our freshman resident advisor on the Old Campus, loved this song and insisted we listen to it loud and often.  It packs a ton of emotion.
• “Whiter Shade of Pale” – it sounds timeless (this probably has something to do with the descending figure and the Bach connection). I recently began appreciating Tim O’Brien’s airy version with “Psychograss”.
• “Get Together” – quite an anthem of the ‘60’s, always fun to play and meaningful – lots of us sang along.
• “Manha de Carnaval” (Theme from “Black Orpheus”) – one of Dick’s favorites, he sang it,  and the rest of us backed him with joy.

From Tom Guterbock:      

It was not without trepidation that I boarded the Amtrak from Charlottesville on March 28^th to join the ’69 Blue Notes for our musical reunion.  I’ve only been playing electric bass for a few years, and plans were afoot to play several dozen songs that I’d never played before. 

After about a million emails going back and forth in the weeks before, some of the guys only shared their music with me and the others on the night before we were due to travel.  I was able to print out and hole-punch all the music at home in the wee hours of Friday morning, and I spent the first bleary-eyed hour of the train ride that morning putting index tabs on the song sheets and sorting them in my 3-ring binder.  And wondering how this was all going to work.

Somehow it DID work, and beautifully.  Jay Castelli had rustled up two extra keyboards, mikes and mike stands, music stands, amps and cables and, with the help of professional stage manager Terry Benson, had it all set up for us in the chancel of his church on Saturday morning.  Elliot and Jay had agreed to split us into two groups for a Saturday morning session.  I joined the upstairs group and played through the jazz and pop numbers with Jay and our horn players Harry and John.  That set included a very creditable rendition of “Take Five,” Brubeck’s famous excursion into five-four rhythm.  After a delicious pizza luncheon provided by Jay, the whole group convened upstairs in the church to play through our agreed list of songs, compiled by having each guy nominate two songs.  Having professional rockers Matt Kastner on guitar and Norm Zamcheck along with us helped greatly on the songs that invited jamming.  And jam we did!  Our vocalists, Terry and Dick were in good voice. And Elliot Norman once again showed his versatility on piano, as did our host Jay.   The recordings show me stumbling along passably for the most part, and my colleagues assure me they didn’t hear hardly any of my wrong notes. 

From Dick Williams:

While I very much enjoyed performing with the Blue Notes at the class dinner at our 55^th Reunion, my modest contribution was singing a couple of songs in Spanish, i.e., Bésame Mucho and Por Una Cabeza) each with accompaniment from two consummate pianists, Eliot Norman and Jay Castelli, both of our class.  I have some Latin  ancestry on my father’s side of the family, and I majored in Latin American Studies (which requires both Spanish and Portuguese language study), so I was thrilled that my proposal to sing these Spanish language pieces was accepted. Although I was not entirely satisfied with my own performance, I was nevertheless gratified to be a member of the group and to entertain our classmates and their families.  “A wonderful, one-time experience,” I thought.

To my surprise, however, Eliot Norman (the most ambitious, and visionary, member of our group), tracked me down in November of 2024 to invite me to a get-together of the Blue Notes in the spring of 2025.  Sure enough, beginning in February of 2025, E-mail traffic began to grow among Blue Note members and others about the March 29th jam session, and the possible songs the group might perform together.  As the list grew, I became increasingly uneasy about what I, as a singer, would be able to contribute.  This had lot had to do with my countercultural youth, where I spent all my time listening to Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger and other folksy types rather than to the Beatles, the Rollin’ Stones and the Grateful Dead.

For me personally, the day itself was unforgettable.  At first, I adopted the posture of, “Well, I will just wait to sing the songs assigned to me.  After all, I don’t know by heart the words to pop songs like Fly Me to the Moon or to show tunes like Summertime.”  As time passed, however, I couldn’t help myself, and I joined in the fun by dialing up song lyrics on my iPhone and following along, either singing harmony with the lead singer or providing general vocal backup. This made all the difference in my overall experience.  I actually became a member of the Blue Notes for real.

I will conclude with some indelible impressions of those lively hours of music making, which include the following:

• the wan smile of Norm Zamcheck, utterly transported to some heavenly place, as he pounded the heck out of his electric keyboard, elbows almost parallel to the floor and hands turned down almost vertically above the keys, striking them so hard that the entire keyboard was nearly knocked off its base

• the cacophony of voices and shouts, in advance of the selection of each piece, something akin to traders on the NY Stock Exchange floor bidding on various stocks (this was in stark contrast to the harmonious sounds that followed)

• the cool way that John Adams shifted his clarinet to his left hand when he wasn’t playing, casually holding it out from his side until his next musical entrance (his left hand and the clarinet looked as if they were physically attached)

• the “rocker posture” of Tom Guterbock as he fingered his bass guitar, which was slung so low over his shoulder that the body of the guitar seemed only knee high

• the Zen like concentration of Mat Kastner as he strummed and picked his guitar in a dizzying variety of rhythms, from Brazilian Bossa Nova to American hard rock, all with the utmost of ease

• the sound of Harry Wise’s horn, as he played the first few notes of the “Godfather waltz”, easily taking me back to the opening sequence of the movie

• Eliot Norman’s catlike grace, as he scooted from side to side on his piano bench, dominating the entire length of the keyboard and generating impossibly complex embellishments and riffs of all kinds, regardless of what he was playing

• the unspoken etiquette around instrumental “solos” during pieces like Blue Bossa, as the other players slid into the background and others emerged, all in response to head nods, hand signals and mutterings like “get back in there, Harry”

• the spontaneous (and unanimous) decision to sing Bright College Years as our last official song, swaying together as we waved our real, or imagined, white handkerchiefs , once again making us all feel a part of a tradition much larger than ourselves

From Norm:

It was an honor to be able to join this great group of 69ers and participate in this day of music.  In awe of Eliot’s brilliant pianism and the wonderful musicianship of classmates.  Thanks to everyone for having me as part of the orchestra, and looking forward to playing with all you amazing musicians again!!!!

From John Adams:

I was fascinated at the clash of cultures in the ’69 Blue Notes.  I play written music; I suspect Harry, our trumpet player, prefers it too.  I envy those, like Mat and Norm, who can riff without the “safety net” of a score.  Most of the other members, like pianist Jay and electric bassist Tom, might use some written music but thrive without it.  Eliot was pounding the ivories after warming up on Chopin.  And the singers did fine reading lyrics, with no written notes, from their phones.  Once the downbeat came, all those cultures came together!

After Yale, I continued to play in the University of Pennsylvania band, even writing a couple of scripts and announcing for a season at Franklin Field.  My future wife, Peggy, was called to the Provost’s Office more than once for lines such as “Welcome to the Penn Band, the band that marches best on grass!”

At the same time, I was a member of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard Band for the six years while I was finishing my degree.  At the end it was close whether it was Sergeant Doctor Adams, or was it Doctor Sergeant?

Like everyone else, I laid the horn down as I married, moved to the Washington area, and settled into a career.  Then a windfall:  we started a band at work, rehearsing during lunchtimes.  I was surprised that the chops (embouchure) took time to get back into shape but the fingers worked even better than before. 

From that opportunity to get back in shape came gigs with the Starlight Orchestra, a 16-piece stage band playing often at Officers’ Clubs around Washington.  Later came the LaSalle Dance Orchestra, playing music of the 20’s and 30’s (Charleston!) for ballroom dancers—once at the Kennedy Center Terrace   For both bands I doubled on clarinet and either Tenor or Baritone Sax.

Now I’m down to one band, a stage band playing music of the 1950s and 1960s (think “Laura,” “A Taste of Honey”).   The chance to play with the Blue Notes was a real charge, and mighty modern to boot.  Maybe we’ll do it again!

From Eliot Norman:

At Yale I studied piano at the Yale School of Music, principally with Professor Donald Currier.  I gave recitals freshman and sophomore years, which included Beethoven’s Appassionata Sonata and Ravel’s Jeux d’ Eau, and was the piano accompanist of the Freshman Glee Club.  For my sophomore recital, Davenport’s Master, Horace Taft, got a rented Steinway piano from New York installed in the Davenport common room for me to play. Off to France for a junior at Paris’s “Sciences Po,” I gave up piano for a year, but renewed studying senior year.

I never intended to do anything with piano after Yale, but I did do some playing on the side while working as a lawyer. Then, in 2018, as I started to retire, I got more serious, taking lessons and setting up a YouTube channel: “Joy of Music—Eliot and Friends.”  Eventually, I swiped one type of practice (law) for another (piano).  I see the 69 Blue Notes as a way to stay in touch and make new friends from the class through music.  Putting the group together for March was fun—sort of like “Ocean’s Eleven” but with a church takeover instead of a heist!

From me (Harry Wise):

My career as a trumpeter at Yale began inauspiciously, as I flunked the audition to play in the Yale Concert Band (although I had played since fourth grade).  Check out the Marine Corps Band playing Samuel Barber’s “Chester” Overture on YouTube and see if you could sight-read the first-trumpet part!  Eventually, probably because band director Keith Wilson saw I was spending my parents’ money studying with Robert Nagel in the Music School, I got in, and played with that group for four years, as well as, of course, the Yale Precision Marching Band, and, when it got started, the Yale Orchestra.  A fine trumpeter, and musician’s musician, in the class of ’67, Peter Ecklund, became something of a mentor to me.  He was both a classical player and a jazz player—his Dixieland band (which then included, on banjo, our classmate Mark Finks), was good enough to draw Woody Allen up from NYC to sit in on clarinet. Peter and I played together in the orchestra and on at least one Yale Dramat musical I recall—the Brecht/Weill “Threepenny Opera.” Peter went on to have a fine career as a trumpeter—including playing the cornet solos backing the Ken Burns “Civil War” documentary, and, one of my favorites, playing on Bonnie Raitt’s “Give it Up or Let Me Go.” (Search “Peter Ecklund” on YouTube for much more.)

After graduation I gave up playing, until, in ’94, our beloved high-school band director retired, and someone got the idea of all the band alumni getting together for a farewell concert. A few months of practicing was enough to get through the third-trumpet parts there, and I soon discovered that New York City, where I was practicing law, is filled with amateur or semi-professional orchestras, jazz bands, and opera companies that kept me busy for a quarter century until my relocation here to DC in 2019, where, luckily for me, American University, near where I live, has been chronically short of trumpets, and lets “community members” sit in. So I’m back to playing in college groups, except almost everyone else is more than a half-century younger.

The Set List

• John Adams:
  • When I’m 64 (Beatles)
  • Something Happened (Rolling Stones)
• Tom Guterbock:
  • I put a Spell on You (Creedence)
  • Old Time Rock & Roll (Bob Seeger)
• Eliot Norman:
  • Baker Street (Gerry Rafferty)
  • Whiter Shade of Pale (Procol Harum)
  • (Rachmaninoff? Piano Man?)
• Jay Castelli:
  • Here, There and Everywhere (Beatles)
  • Got to Get You Into My Life (Beatles)
• Mat Kastner:
  • Yes, Baby, Yes (Jug Band song)
  • East Virginia (Joan Baez)
• Terry Benson:
  • Leaving on a Jet Plane (Peter, Paul and Mary)
  • The Streets of Laredo (Johnny Cash)
• Dick Williams:
  • Parla Piu Piano (Godfather theme)
  • The Long Black Veil (Johnny Cash)
• Norm Zamchek:
  • Ain’t Misbehavin” (Fats Waller)
  • On the Sunny Side of the Street (Louis Armstrong)
• Harry Wise:
  • Blue Bossa
  • All the Things You Are
• John H.
  • True Love Ways (Buddy Holly)
• Jay, John, Tom, Harry:
  • Take Five (Dave Brubeck)
• Norm, Mat:
  • Original songs
• Mat, Dick:
  • Manha de Carnaval (Black Orpheus)
• Possible Reunion Songs:
  • Get Together (Youngbloods)
  • Chicago tunes (Saturday or Time)