Back in the day of a more innocent time, most of us in Houston were pretty much like the rest of the world when it came to New Years Eve. We saw midnight as the magical time gate to tomorrow and more fertile ground for all our old hopes. Sad but true, my generation also drank and smoked too much for its own good, and also made the mistake of equating carousing and partying as the pathways to love. It all added up to a fairly volatile and highly liquid in composition version of the New Years Eve party that still goes on today in some ceremonial form.
I say “ceremonial form” in the sense that today’s New Years Eve celebrations are not even close to being ghosts of their former lives as formulae for debauchery. America has really cleaned up its act in that regard, even if the main external changes are sometimes only motivated by a fear of disapproval or an abject adherence to the now loudly rumbling voice of political correctness.
One thing that has only changed for younger generations in its form is music. New Years Eve celebration in Houston or anyplace else is inconceivable without it. The following are simply the Houston musicians that I associate with New Years Eves Past. You most likely have some other favorites of your own:
Ed Gerlach
The Ed Gerlach orchestra take me way back on memory lane to my l prom days at St. Thomas High School here in Houston. The adopted Hosutonian was born in Livingston, Texas in 1920. Skilled on the paino and sax, Gerlach played for the Glenn Miller band for a while before returning to Houston to lead his own band, continue his own education at Sam Houston State, and then teach music at UH. At age 89, Gerlach continues his music career in 2009 as the director of his own talent management agency,
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Arnett Cobb
Native Houstonian Arnett Cobb (1918-1989) was one of the great tenor sax players in American Jazz history. He spent some time playing with the Lionel Hampton band before returning to Houston to play some with Peck Kelley and to organize his own band offerings. Before he died, Cobb also established himself as a composer. His “Smooth Sailing” number from 1951 was later recorded by Ella Fitzgerald and included on her “lullab of Birdland” album. Cobb also played interntaionally up to the very end of his life. He is another Houston art treasure that deserves a lot more local attention than he has received to date.
Peck Kelley (foreground at piano)
Native Houstonian Peck Kelley (1898-1980) is revered today as one the great undiscovered geniuses of jazz. As composer and a performer, Kelley was only held back from fame in his lifetime by his unwillingness to play far from Houston and rarely out of Texas. He dclined constant invivitations from stars like Bing Crosby, the Dorsey Brothers, and Paul Whitman go on the road. Today the few recordings he made here with the Paul Shannon Quartet are the major audio record we have of hhis work.
Johnny Nash
Remember “I Can See Clearly Now?” It was the pop music work of the talented 67 year old native Houstonian named Johnny Nash. His 1972 release of the song was a national hit for several weeks and is the number for which he is best remembered today. He also wrote music for the Cowsills in his earlier years and he stays active in the music business today as a producer. Nask also continues to reside in his native Houston.
Kenny Rogers
71-year old Kenny Rogers is the one native Houstonian talent who needs no introduction to anyone who has not been living under s rock over the past fifty years. The Jeff Davis High graduate started singing and playing guitar here with a group called the Scholars in the late 1950s, moving over to the Bobby Doyle Trio by the early 1960s and then moving on to Hollywood with The First Edition in in the mid-60s. Kenny and I were at UH at the same time, but our paths only croseed in two areas. I heard him perform in several clubs in Houston. I also sold him clothes while I was working in a small men’s store in downtown Houston as a UH student. After “You Took a Fine Time to Leave Me, Lucille,” Rogers was off to the races as a country/pop crossover artist.
Several other musicians who made their names here, including Lightnin’ Hopkins, Mickey Gilley, and Archie Bell are worthy of mention. They just don’t make my personal New Year’s Eve memory list. Perhaps they or others ring your bell. Whatever. We are careening toward New Year’s Eve faster than ever, even if my personal celebrations these days are appropriately mild. Since New Year’s Eve is also my birthday, I have a little bell that rests on my study desk in service to one dual purpose, once a year. I ring out my birthday and I ring in the new year in one fell swoop. Twelve clangs is usually enough to get the job down.
Pretty wild stuff, eh?
Tags: New Year's Eve
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