Hi, my name is Melody Anne. I had the pleasure of performing with my father Jack "Jive" Schafer for many years until his death in 1984. Jack was a fine trumpeter, arranger, composer and an outstanding showman and entertainer.
I use to love hearing him tell his stories about being a musician, bandleader, performing on the road - the good old days. Jack knew his music and played it everywhere. He told a reporter once, "somebody stuck a horn in my hand when I was 8 years old and it's been blow blow blow ever since". Down through the gigs Jack played in theaters for silent movies - "Valentino, Garbo, Rin Tin Tin, it didn't matter" - Vaudeville with George Burns, Jack Benny, Bob Hope - took Big Band Bus trips with Harry James, lounges in Vegas, television on occasion and one-night stands everywhere.
But I must tell you my fondest memories of Jack were when He talked about his friend, the man that changed his life, his main man and mentor, the great Louis Satchmo Armstrong. When Jack first heard Louis Armstrong it literally blew him away. "From that moment on all I wanted to do was play music like him. Through the years we became great pals and when he died I broke down and cried. I rate him the finest human being who ever lived."
When a writer from the San Francisco Magazine Robert Hardin interviewed my father, Jack said Armstrong taught him that jazz was not a technique but a state of mind. It was the spirit that mattered. After all, Armstrong himself told him jazz had begun when blacks" started shoutin' in church."
Jack wrote a song about Louis Armstrong entitled "Pops Had Some Chops" that can be heard on the CD called "Melody Anne Sings Quiet Whiskey With The Jack "Jive" Schafer Band".
I would like to share with you Jack's story in his words about his friend the one and only Louis Armstrong and I hope you enjoy the music that Jack and I had so much fun performing together.
Melody Anne
Melody Anne
