Berlin’s Bugler and his Banjo

This is a story of the power of memory, music, and love. My column last month on Connecticut’s restaurant Bill’s Seafood, its longtime owner the late Butch Claffey, and the legacy of live music and good times that continue there prompted correspondence asking to hear more about banjoist Dan Vece, who I’ve referenced several times on this page (most recently in November 2024) and with whom I played for years at Bill’s. It’s time to tell his story. But first, I need to remind you of piano player Jan Fitzgerald, who first encouraged me when I was thirteen to sit-in and play between her sets at the Ground Round (TST April 2022) and then invited me to keep her place at the piano at the Yankee Silversmith Inn while she underwent treatment for lung cancer (TST June 2022). She came through that round of treatment and began to play again at the same time I embarked for college in 1985. However, by 1987, it was evident Jan would have to undergo another round of chemo and she contacted me to see if I’d be able to “sub” for her in the longterm at one of her other gigs. That gig was a Sunday afternoon sing-along session in Westbrook CT at the seafood shack Bill’s Seafood. “All you have to do is play tunes called by the leader, who is an old banjo