Bob Ringwald's
'not so brief'
Bio:
Robert Scott (Bob)
Ringwald was born November 26, 1940 in a small community 14 miles northeast of
Sacramento, California which later became Citrus Heights. Rumors of his virgin birth,
being abandoned by wolves and being raised by parents, living in a log cabin, chopping
down a cherry tree, throwing a half dollar across the Potomac River and walking 10 miles
to and from school (uphill both ways) in the snow are grossly exaggerated.
Bob was interested in music from a very
early age and began playing piano at 8 and guitar at 10. This was tough because he had to
go to bed at 7.
His first "Paying Gig" was at
the age of 12 playing with the Sutter Junior High School Dance Band of Sacramento, for a
Mormon Church New Year's Eve youth dance in Roseville, CA.
He, along with guitarist
Jerry Jaccobs, formed his own band, "The Rhythmaires," at the age of 13 and
has continued to lead various bands ever since.
At the age of 17 he grew a beard in order
to look older to fool the ABC (California State Alcoholic Beverage Control) officers into
letting him work in nightclubs. At that time in California, you had to be 21 to work where
alcohol was being served.
Bob quickly earned a
reputation as a leading jazz pianist. He worked at many night clubs in the Sacramento area
including 15 1/2 years at the famous Capone's Chicago Tea Room and Pizza Joint,
7 1/2 years at Sam's Town, Cameron Park, California, and was a
semi-regular intermission pianist for Turk Murphy's famous San Francisco
night spot, Earthquake McGoon's, from 1970 to 1973.
In 1967 Bob Joined The
Boondockers at the El Rancho Motel in West Sacramento on Monday nights.
The Boondockers
were a Skiffle/Honky-Tonk/Jazz/Comedy group. They reorganized in 1998 and
became very popular, entertaining at conventions, private parties and
jazz festivals.
In 1968 he appeared in the Monterey
Dixieland Festival with Sugar Willie And The Cubes.
Also on the show was The original Dukes of Dixieland, Mickie Finn, Bob
Crosby and the Bobcats, the Firehouse 5 Plus 2, Turk Murphy's San Francisco
Jazz Band, Clancy Hayes and Louis Armstrong and the All Stars.
In 1961 he took up banjo and quickly
became proficient on that instrument. In 1963 he appeared with the Sacramento
Banjo Band on Gary Moore's network TV show, "I've Got a Secret."
Bob, along with Jerry
Kehele, Bill Borcher, Jill Harper and other Sacramento area Jazz musicians
and enthusiasts, helped found the Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society in 1968 and the now internationally famous
Sacramento Jazz Festival and Jubilee
in 1974. He served on the Music Committee for the Jubilee until his
relocation to Los Angeles in the fall of 1978.
In the mid '60s he organized the Bob
Ringwald Jazz Band, which was renamed "The Fulton Street Jazz Band"
on Sunday, March 14, 1971. He led the group for 15 years, recorded four albums and, along
with the other members of the band, consumed 1,823 kegs of beer, mostly orally.
Bob left the Fulton Street Jazz
Band in 1978 to move to Los Angeles. After he left the band, the FSJB became even
more popular - Could this be a mere coincidence???
During his 17-year sojourn in Los
Angeles, he founded the Great Pacific Jazz Band, which boasted such great
musicians as Zeke Zarchy on trumpet and Bob Havens on trombone. In 1988, the
band recorded one of the first Traditional, Classic Jazz CDs to be released,
"The Great Pacific Jazz Band", "The Music Of Louis Armstrong." This
recording has recently been re-released on the Mountain Gold Recordings
label.
Bob served as band committee chairman for
the Los Angeles Classic Jazz Festival (renamed the Los Angeles
Sweet and Hot Music Festival in 1988) and for 16 1/2 years, hosted a weekly jazz
radio show titled "Bob Ringwald's Bourbon Street Parade" on
KCSN 88.5FM Los Angeles.
Along with trombonist Jim Beebe, he
co-led the Bob Scobey Frisco Band (Reunion Band) at the Los
Angeles Classic Jazz Festival, September 2-5, 1988 and at the Big Horn
Jazz Festival, Chicago February 17-19, 1989.
In 1995, Bob, along with his wife Adele,
moved back to the Sacramento area where he once again is active and in much demand in the
Northern California jazz scene.
On December 1, 1998 after a 20 year
absence, he rejoined the Fulton Street Jazz Band
(pictured above), the band that he organized some 33 years before.
In October, 2005 he once again took over as leader. The band's latest CD, "
Bob Ringwald's Fulton Street Jazz Band with special guest Molly Ringwald",
is now available.
FSJB
Logoed Merchandise - Be The First Person on Your Block to own a Fulton
Street Coffee Mug
In 1998, Bob appeared in the movie "Twice
Upon a Time" with his daughter
Molly. In the film, Bob was cast as a saloon
piano player -- Type casting, eh?
On May 30, 2011 Bob was
given the great honor of being named the Emperor of Jazz by the
Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society for the 39th annual Sacramento Jazz
Festival and Jubilee, (renamed the Sacramento Music Festival), May
25-28, 2012.
Throughout Ringwald's musical career, he
has always subscribed to the motto: "If my music does not come up to
your standards, lower your standards."
Bob is a licensed Amateur (ham) Radio
operator with the call sign K6YBV, the proud father of three children,
Beth,
Kelly,
the actress Molly
Ringwald, and 4 grandchildren, Chance, Mathilda, and twins Adele and
Roman.
Bob has discovered that
professional baseball is in his DNA.
Ringwald genealogy can
be found here.
Currently he is working on a new
recording project which will be titled, "Bob Ringwald Plays The Music Of Tab
Hunter".
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