Original Faustina Club
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Have a listen to these recordings made by Orville "Chick" Braley. He was a working sax man all his life, playing dance halls and saloons throughout the Midwest. These disks and tapes were recently rescued from storage and digitized. Other musicians participating include Frankie Barnes on piano, Charlie Johnson on guitar, a guy named Red on sax, and trumpet man "Hot Lips" Howie Nelson, with guest vocalist Pearl. |
I don't know how long Chick might have been with this particular band, or who else was in it. That's grandma above.
The Chick Disks
These tunes were originally recorded by Chick on 78 rpm records, late in life, sometime around 1959-1960. He began his career in the late Twenties and played all his life. Most of these tracks were apparently recorded at home, for fun, though some were recorded in clubs.
The Braley Tapes
Chick apparently moved to tape around 1961. Of several tapes I digitized, this material comes from a single tape recorded in March of 1962, containing, seemingly, a gig on each side. The setting is a small club, perhaps in Madison. Lots of atmosphere, lots of rough edges, and a good time was had by all.
There is also an animated version of Chick and friends playing the classic song Streets of Cairo, also called The Snake Charmer Song, or simply "the Hutchy Kutchy."
Chick's daughter Bev says:
Dad's real name was Joseph Orville Braley, known by most people as Chick. He did love to play the saxophone, and was in his glory when there was someone to play another instrument, and if there was a group, he really got into it. He played the jam sessions up into approximately 1972. I know he has played with many bands, but I do not know the names of them, as his big band days ended prior to my birth.
Dad played with Tom Tierney, Red Gerth, Art Lund, and got to know many famous people like Gene Autry, and many of the acts that came to Madison and played at the Orpheum and Capitol theaters when they had live acts on stage, in the 20's and 30's.
The Frank that is on the records is Frank Barnes, who played piano all over. He played in many night clubs and came to Madison from South Dakota. He was killed in an auto crash between Madison and Stoughton. He was friends with Dad for a number of years before his death.
Howie Nelson was affiliated with the Madison Police Department and would join in the jam sessions with Frank and Dad at home or in some of the local bars where they would play sometimes at the request of the bar owners, or even sometimes when the patrons would egg them into getting the instruments out and play a song, or many songs if they really got into it.
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