ARTIST
Fulton, Jack
"Whenever he played with my band, he fit like a glove."-Bobby Hales
September 21, 1925—
INSTRUMENTS Composer/Arranger, Trombone
Jack Fulton, "Fraser MacPherson's number one call-guy for years" (Bobby Hales), grew up in Winnipeg with a musical family. "I played the trombone because my brother brought one home and he said, 'Here, you can have this,'" recalls Fulton, who was sure that his brother found the trombone in a junkyard. "I didn't know where to put the slide, so it didn't matter." Self-taught on the trombone, Fulton met and played with other Winnipeg musicians including Stew Barnett, Chris Gage, and Carse Sneddon, all of whom eventually made their way to Vancouver.
Jack Fulton moved to Vancouver in the 1950s where he worked continually playing two or three broadcasts a week at the CBC studios as well as playing at the Cave (with Fraser MacPherson), the Palomar (with Lance Harrison and Chris Gage), and the Embassy Ballroom (with Doug Parker). "In between those kind of jobs that demanded time and attention, I could work at the Commodore which was the local big dance hall," says Fulton. "In those days, rarely did the hotels get the kind of work that was done to the Commodore. The high-society jobs were at the Commodore."
"When I first came here, I was really lucky because I was first-call for a lot of guys [like] Lance Harrison and Doug Parker."
-Jack Fulton
A longtime trombonist in Lance Harrison's Dixieland band (1951 through the late 1990s), Jack Fulton says, "I played with Lance all the time. He was such a swell guy to work for. And we got to play with him for so long... He had some mannerisms. He wouldn't tell us what the tune was or what key it was. He'd just count it off and we'd start. More often than not, we'd guess the right tune, and the right key." Fulton praises: "I liked Dixieland the way Lance played it... there's a big whack of swing in the Dixieland as Lance played it."
Fulton remembers the Penthouse as the city's afterhours hangout for musicians (before the original Cellar came about). "The club was open 'til 2 in the morning, so afterhours was really afterhours," says Fulton. One night, after leading his own band in a performance of his arrangements at the Orpheum, Fulton met Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn at the Penthouse. "Ellington said, 'Give me some of those arrangements,'" Fulton recalls. "I never did give them to him."
As an arranger, Jack Fulton has written countless arrangements for groups such as the quintet with Fraser MacPherson and Wally Snider, the Chris Gage Trio, and more recently in the mid-nineties, the WOW Band which he started with Paul Ruhland and Stew Barnett, consisting of two trombones, three saxes, two trumpets playing flugelhorns, guitar, bass, and drums. "The reason I'm continuing with it is because there's a lot of music there and I'd hate to see it disappear," says Fulton, who declares, "I like arranging best."
Jack Fulton moved to Vancouver in the 1950s where he worked continually playing two or three broadcasts a week at the CBC studios as well as playing at the Cave (with Fraser MacPherson), the Palomar (with Lance Harrison and Chris Gage), and the Embassy Ballroom (with Doug Parker). "In between those kind of jobs that demanded time and attention, I could work at the Commodore which was the local big dance hall," says Fulton. "In those days, rarely did the hotels get the kind of work that was done to the Commodore. The high-society jobs were at the Commodore."
"When I first came here, I was really lucky because I was first-call for a lot of guys [like] Lance Harrison and Doug Parker."
-Jack Fulton
A longtime trombonist in Lance Harrison's Dixieland band (1951 through the late 1990s), Jack Fulton says, "I played with Lance all the time. He was such a swell guy to work for. And we got to play with him for so long... He had some mannerisms. He wouldn't tell us what the tune was or what key it was. He'd just count it off and we'd start. More often than not, we'd guess the right tune, and the right key." Fulton praises: "I liked Dixieland the way Lance played it... there's a big whack of swing in the Dixieland as Lance played it."
Fulton remembers the Penthouse as the city's afterhours hangout for musicians (before the original Cellar came about). "The club was open 'til 2 in the morning, so afterhours was really afterhours," says Fulton. One night, after leading his own band in a performance of his arrangements at the Orpheum, Fulton met Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn at the Penthouse. "Ellington said, 'Give me some of those arrangements,'" Fulton recalls. "I never did give them to him."
As an arranger, Jack Fulton has written countless arrangements for groups such as the quintet with Fraser MacPherson and Wally Snider, the Chris Gage Trio, and more recently in the mid-nineties, the WOW Band which he started with Paul Ruhland and Stew Barnett, consisting of two trombones, three saxes, two trumpets playing flugelhorns, guitar, bass, and drums. "The reason I'm continuing with it is because there's a lot of music there and I'd hate to see it disappear," says Fulton, who declares, "I like arranging best."
PHOTO GALLERY
Click on thumbnail for larger image
VIDEO
Jack Fulton Interview - the Cave
Jack Fulton Interview - the Palomar, the Penthouse, and Duke Ellington
BIBLIOGRAPHY
JazzStreet Vancouver Interview
Fulton, Jack. Personal Interview with Alan Matheson. Vancouver, BC. 08 Nov 2005.
JazzStreet Vancouver Interview
Hales, Bobby. Personal Interview with Fred Stride. Vancouver, BC. 10 Nov 2005.
