Cullum Band movin' and shakin'

Jim Beal Jr., Express-News Music Writer

Photo: STAFF, LISA KRANTZ / SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

hen you make music on the city's River Walk, the world comes to you. When you make music around town, locals come to you.

After almost 50 years of playing traditional jazz on the River Walk at The Landing, in several locations, the Jim Cullum Jazz Band is mobile. The current Landing, on the River Walk level of the Hyatt Regency Hotel, is undergoing renovation. Though cornetist and band leader Cullum no longer owns the club, the band remains a fixture in the room.

"We won't be back at The Landing at least until February," Cullum said.

In the meantime, Cullum and the band - Howard Elkins (banjo, tenor guitar), John Sheridan (piano), Benji Bohannon (drums) and Evan Arntzen (clarinet, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone a la Sidney Bechet) - are working around town at Soho on Mondays, Tucker's Kozy Korner on Tuesdays, Bohanan's Wednesdays and Thursdays, Sam's Burger Joint, Boardwalk Bistro and other places. Swing-dance Friday evenings at Liberty Bar are on the horizon.

"Moving around is kind of nice," said Cullum, 70. "There are advantages and disadvantages. You lose a little precision, maybe, but there are different stimulations that come with the place. I enjoy the deal at Tucker's, for example. At Soho we play from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., like the old days. Then you go to Mi Tierra. It makes me feel kind of like I did when I was a young guy. And Bohanan's is a good fit for us, and it has a beautiful piano."

Speaking of pianos, piano ace John Sheridan, 65, a 20-year-plus Cullum Band veteran, left the group for a while and returned to the fold in July.

"I like being mobile," Sheridan said "You get to take the music to the people, and that's a good thing. The repertoire is pre-World War II jazz; traditional, swing and we play some blues. The band sounds great."

There are two newcomers to the band, "a youth movement," as Sheridan points out, drummer Bohannon and reed man Arntzen.

Arntzen, 27, from Vancouver, is opening ears and earning fans with a combination of energy, chops and seemingly wide-eyed delight at mixing it up musically with the veteran players. The Cullum Band vets know thousands of songs by heart.

Cullum estimates he knows 1,000 and thinks Sheridan knows at least 5,000. So the clarinetist is likely exposed to new old music all night every night. Though Arntzen hasn't quite made a permanent move to S.A., and will return to Canada to work some gigs early in 2012 then be in and out of the Alamo City, he's making an impact while he's here.

"I was raised in a family of mostly musicians. My grandfather is a clarinet and soprano-sax player in the traditional style, and he got me started when I was 7," Arntzen said. "I play in a band with my grandfather called Black Stick."

Arntzen studied music at Capilano University. He's well aware of the gulfs, real and imagined, between traditional and not-so-traditional jazz.

"It's definitely been a central issue to my musical existence," Arntzen said. "I like a lot of different types of music, specifically different types of jazz. If people like it, I want to give it a shot. That's led me to interesting places. I've played modern jazz and original music.

"The Cullum Band has a lot of history. Some of the guys playing with the band now have been there for decades. They have been actively studying swing and jazz in its purest form for many years. That wealth of knowledge is great to be around."

Tenor guitarist and banjo player Elkins has been a Cullum Band member for 33 years.

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