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Neighborhood report

He won't blow his own horn for praise

Bay area jazz legend Ernie Calhoun isn't too sure about all the upcoming fuss over him, culminating in a tribute concert.

By JON WILSON
Published October 14, 2005

Ernie Calhoun leaned against a door casing and smiled as if about to reveal a sly secret. He put his lips to an old tenor saxophone and began to blow, his fingers fast as spider legs as he keyed a descending scale.

Calhoun, 80, is one of the bay area's last old-time jazzmen. He played with Ray Charles. He sparred with heavyweight contender Tampa Tommy Gomez. He knew Korean War horrors and Jim Crow blues and big-name bandmen in small-club venues.

The Al Downing Tampa Bay Jazz Association will honor Calhoun Oct. 23 at St. Peter's Cathedral in St. Petersburg. Belinda Womack, Theo Valentine and a host of other jazz artists will play from 2 to 5 p.m. Proceeds will go toward $1,000 scholarships for two school seniors who plan to study jazz in college.

"Our tribute will allow us to thank Ernie for his many contributions to jazz," said Vincent Sims, president of the Al Downing Tampa Bay Jazz Association Inc. "It is long overdue."

On Monday, in his century-old Ybor City house, Calhoun put down his Arturo Fuente cigar, picked up his faded 1961 Yamaha tenor and poured out notes.

Still hip, still the man with the sound and still playing gigs, Calhoun links a musical golden age to the present.

Calhoun crossed Tampa Bay through segregation-era nightclubs. He played the Blue Room and the Apollo in Tampa's African-American cultural center. He played the Manhattan Casino on St. Petersburg's 22nd Street S, the Sunshine City's counterpart to Central Avenue.

He recalls entertainers like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway and Louis Jordan playing in Tampa.

"This city was wide open," he said. "Dance halls all over. All the bands could play all night."

Local musicians from both cities opened for the big names or backed them up. Calhoun's bands backed the Inkspots, Arthur Prysock, Little Willie John, and the Mills Brothers, among others.

Calhoun got his musical start while working at Joe Pullara's grocery store in Ybor City. Upstairs was the Central Hotel, where a lot of musicians stayed. Calhoun made them baskets of salami sandwiches, juice and milk. Maybe he'd throw in a pint of Early Times.

"All of it started at the grocery store," Calhoun said. "Those guys'd eat like hell and teach you from then on."

His first sax mentor was Bill Harvey, a tenor sax man who played Texas blues with Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown.

His own style still sounds "like the tenors who came out of Texas," Calhoun said.

He taught himself to read music. He learned to hear chord changes. Eventually, he began practicing outside on the Port of Tampa docks, believing the open air encouraged a big sound.

"I could hear what I wanted to play and I could feel it," he said.

"Music comes from yourself. ... you play from your heart. Playing music and playing a solo is just like painting a picture. Playing the blues is playing some of the things you been through. Like you got lima beans and collard greens, you want a steak but you can't get it. You got the blues for that steak," Calhoun said.

He feels a bit self-conscious about the upcoming event in his honor.

"I'm not flamboyant. I don't know what I'm going to say. To honor me, it's not necessary. What I've done in the music world, what I've done for my community or the people of the world, all races, I don't need any award, any plaques."

The Al Downing Tampa Bay Jazz Association Inc. hosts a scholarship benefit honoring Ybor City jazz saxophonist Ernie Calhoun from 2 to 5 p.m. Oct. 23 at St. Peter's Cathedral, 140 Fourth St. NE in St. Petersburg. A reception will follow. Tickets are $20 in advance and at the door. For information or to buy tickets, call 894-4718.

[Last modified October 13, 2005, 08:20:12]