The Golden Jazz Band from California

Jeff Barnhart: Welcome! This month we’re taking a break from poring over recordings created 95+ years ago and concentrating on a Californian group that had its heyday in the 1950s and 1960s and greatly influenced my co-author. Hal, could you share your first impressions of the El Dorado Jazz Band as well as the elements that make this outfit unique? Then it’d be great if you could share who was in the band and lead us into the session we’ll be hearing this time around! Hal Smith: Thanks, Jeff. To be clear, we are going to talk about the Southern California edition of the band, which was active from 1962 to 1966 (as opposed to the Northern California version, led by trombonist Jim Leigh, that performed from 1954-1961). The name of the group translates from Spanish to English as “The Golden” Jazz Band (thus the title for this month’s column)! Even though the El Dorado is one of my favorite traditional jazz groups, I never heard the band in person! In 1966 I bought one of their LPs on the Epitaph label and was hooked on t