Jim Cullum Jazz Band Biographies

Jim CullumPhoto © 2001 by William Carter

JIM CULLUM, JR., Cornetist and Bandleader, began playing cornet in 1955 at age 14. Fascinated with the records of legendary cornetist Bix Beiderbecke, Jim was at first self-taught. In high school he organized his fellow musicians into after-the-game dance bands. While attending college, Jim began a partnership with his clarinetist father, the late Jim Cullum, Sr., forming a seven-piece traditional group they called the Happy Jazz Band.

The next year, a group of San Antonio business leaders established The Landing, a jazz club on the San Antonio Riverwalk, as a showcase for the Happy Jazz Band. Under Jim Jr.'s direction the band evolved into a nationally acclaimed professional company known as the Jim Cullum Jazz Band. Boasting 45 cd’s of traditional jazz, The Jim Cullum Jazz Band has performed with a great number of jazz luminaries and at many famous venues including Carnegie Hall and Kennedy Center.

Right: Photo courtesy of Quentin Fennessy. Jim Cullum

In 1990, Jim Cullum along with Margaret Moos Pick, under the auspices of Texas Public Radio, created the high-profile radio show Riverwalk, Live from the Landing. Riverwalk features the great jazz music of the early 20th century and the great jazz luminaries who best extol the music. Riverwalk is distributed by Public Radio International and is broadcast on over 150 stations nationwide.

In 1992, Jim Cullum and Frank Ticheli composed a 25-minute concerto, Playing With Fire for jazz band and orchestra which was premiered with the San Antonio Symphony in April 1992 and has since been enthusiastically received before many audiences including those of several American major symphony orchestras.

Jim's cornet playing is a composite style and reflects the influence of a number of great jazz masters. He lists as his influences; driving trumpeters King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Yank Lawson and the more lyrical Bobby Hackett, Bix Beiderbecke, and Texas cornetist (and Jim's cousin) Garner Clark.

Jim TurnerJIM TURNER, piano

Jim Turner joined the JCJB in March of 2003. He was born and raised in Los Angeles where, as a youth, he studied with his father, noted classical pianist and teacher Robert E. Turner. He later studied jazz piano with Johnny Guarnieri and Dick Cary. He is a graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara where he received a degree in music composition and arranging.

Turner has performed for audiences in concerts and jazz festivals throughout the West from San Diego to the San Juan Islands in Washington, and in New York City. For 16 years, he was a soloist at the Sacramento Traditional Jazz Festival. For 27 consecutive years including the year 2001, he was featured at the Old Town Music Hall Ragtime Festivals in El Segundo, California.

Jim Turner recorded his first solo album in 1981. Entitled Old Fashioned Love--A Tribute To James P. Johnson (Euphonic Sounds ESR-1222), the recording received unanimous critical acclaim. Jazz Report magazine stated, "Only words like finesse, surety and brilliance will do." The Rag Times wrote "Some of the best stride playing on record."

Turner's second solo recording, Poet And Peasant (Sacramento Jazz SJS-32), also won favorable reviews. Turner's newest CD is The Dazzler (Klavier KD-77017) and it includes a duet with pianist Dick Hyman. Rapport Magazine exclaimed "This album is, as the name indicates, a dazzler!" 

In 1983, Turner joined Bob Ringwald's Great Pacific Jazz Band as pianist and arranger. This group featured trombonist Bob Havens and trumpeter Zeke Zarchy and was, during Turner's eight-year tenure, widely regarded as the West Coast's premiere classic jazz band.

Before joining the Jim Cullum Jazz Band, he enjoyed a career as a producer of piano recordings. His producing credits include Teddy Wilson, George Shearing, Chick Corea, Oscar Peterson, Liberace, Dick Hyman, Johnny Guarnieri, Roger Williams, Peter Nero, Floyd Cramer and Steve Allen. In the year 2000, Turner produced a 10-CD boxed set of the Canadian pianist Robert Silverman playing the Complete Thirty-Two Beethoven Sonatas on the Orpheum Masters label. This set received a Juno Award nomination.

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Ron Hockett  

RON HOCKETT, clarinet

Photo ©2000 by William Carter

Ron took over the clarinet duties in the Jim Cullum Jazz Band in May of 1999.Ron was born and raised in Evanston, Illinois, near Chicago, and while in high school played jobs with George Brunies, the Salty Dogs, Bobby Gordon, Dave Remington, Jim Beebe, and Eddie Davis. He was also a member of the Windjammers, a high school dixie group who played club dates around Chicago, had a weekly radio show, recorded for Argo Records, and appeared on the Ted Mack Amateur Hour. They rehearsed at Squirrel Ashcraft's home in Evanston, and occasionally their rehearsals would turn into jam sessions with visiting greats such as Bobby Hackett, Bud Freeman, and Jimmy McPartland.

Ron went on to attend Princeton, graduating in 1969. While in college, he did a tour of the Orient with the Dukes of Dixieland led by Frank Assunto.  From 1970-1999, Ron was the lead saxophonist and clarinet soloist in the "President's Own" U.S. Marine Band in Washington, D.C., performing thousands of concerts throughout the U.S. and Europe as well as regular appearances at the White House for the last six presidents. The band job left him plenty of free time to pursue his jazz playing, and he gigged regularly in the Washington, D.C. area with local players such as John Cocuzzi, Tom Roberts, David Sager, Brooks Tegler, and Larry Eanet. He appeared and recorded at many of "Fat Cat" McRee's Manassas Jazz Festivals, and has played at many Princeton Reunions, with groups including Bob Haggart, Tom Pletcher, and Ed Polcer's All-Stars. He also played occasionally with the Jim Cullum Jazz Band, and has recorded two albums for Arbors Records with John Sheridan's "Dream Band" as well as playing at the 1997 Arbors March of Jazz, and the 1998 Odessa Jazz Festival.

Ron appears as featured guest artist on the Larry Eanet Arbors CD: Sunset Stomp.

Send Email to Ron Hockett.

Don MopsickDON MOPSICK, bass

Photo ©2001 by William Carter

A native of New Jersey and educated at Rutgers, Berklee and the Manhattan School of Music, Mopsick joined the Cullum Band in 1991. During a thirteen-year free-lance career in Florida, he played concert dates with Al Cohn, Mousey and Tracy Alexander, Don Lamond, Buddy DeFranco, Clark Terry, Mose Allison, Warren Vache Jr., Scott Hamilton, Red Rodney, Flip Phillips, Howard Alden, Dan Barrett, Kenny Davern, and many others.

Don has composed two tunes that are being used in the Riverwalk series: An adaptation of Emily Kaitz' anthem, The Day The Bass Players Took Over the World, and My Christmas List, included in the 1995 Riverwalk Vintage Jazz Series release, Hot Jazz For A Cool Yule. Another original tune, Fantasy, was included in the soundtrack of the 1998 October Films release, Still Breathing.

In Don's bass playing, one hears echoes of bass greats Bill Johnson, Pops Foster, and Milt Hinton. Mopsick presents something endearing to musicians and jazz fans of an earlier era: a completely acoustic approach.

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Kenny Rupp

KENNY RUPP, trombone

Photo courtesy of Quentin Fennessy.

Kenny Rupp took over the trombone duties of the Jim Cullum Jazz Band on June 10, 2000.

Ken holds Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the prestigious Manhattan School of Music in New York City. While there, he took trombone instruction from Ed Herman, Principle Trombonist with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

Ken has had a long career in New York playing in symphony orchestras, chamber ensembles, Broadway pit bands, and behind vocalists such as Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Liza Minelli, Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, Sammy Davis Jr., Peggy Lee, Sarah Vaughn, and Nancy Wilson.

In the jazz field, Rupp worked with the bands of Maynard Ferguson, Al Belletto, Woody Herman, Thad Jones/Mel Lewis, Clark Terry and Vince Giordano's Nighthawks, a well as at Eddie Condon's nightclub.

Ken's style is reminiscent of the great Jack Teagarden, whom Ken acknowledges as a major influence.

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Howard ElkinsHOWARD ELKINS, banjo, guitar and vocalist. 

Photo ©2000 by William Carter

It was love at first sight in '78 when Cullum heard Elkins playing in El Paso. He joined the band the next day and the rest is history. Howard proved to be a swinging rhythm guitarist par excellence and provides rock-solid time to the band's rhythm section. He is the composer of the Riverwalk theme, Nightspell.

When he's not traveling and working with the band, Howard enjoys te nding his 10-acre pecan grove southwest of San Antonio.

Send email to Howard Elkins.

MIKE WASKIEWICZ, drums

Michael John Waskiewicz (was-KE-vich) is a youthful protégé of longtime Jim Cullum Jazz Band drummer Ed Torres. He is an amazing virtuoso and possesses an inborn sense of swing. 

Mike was a member of the Jim Cullum Jazz Band from January 2000 to the end of June 2002, then rejoined the Band in May, 2004. He is featured in all Riverwalk programs recorded during this period. During his hiatus from the Band, Mike lived in New Orleans and worked with Banu Gibson, Duke Heitger, and other leaders. He led his own band, featuring Evan Christopher, at Fritzel's on Bourbon Street.

Send email to Mike Waskiewicz