For the fourth month in a row, I’ve set out to write about one topic or story for this column only to have some event take me in an alternate direction. This month’s detour is a particularly sad one as on May 30 the classic jazz world lost reedman Noel Kaletsky, an incredible musician and a person I was proud to call a close friend.
Our relationship didn’t start out that way. Noel was almost thirty years older than me and I was only ten years old when I first encountered him at the storied Millpond Tavern in North Branford, CT. He was playing with my home state’s most-celebrated and longest-running jazz band, The Galvanized Jazz Band (the story of which has been lovingly chronicled by tubist/bassist Art Hovey in TST in July, August, and October 2021).
As many Sundays as possible, my dad would take me to the band’s weekly residency and I reveled in the sounds and the personalities of the musicians making them. Drummer Bob Bequllard always had a smile on his face as he drove the band. The aforementioned Art Hovey sported strenuously working eyebrows when playing his helicon with more agility than many double bass players could attain on their instrument. The piano chair was firmly held by the legendary Bill Sinclair, who would channel New Orleans piano greats in both his accompaniment and solos. Hot banjo was provided by my partner in the House Party series, Joel Schiavo
