Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Jaz Jamming: Bob Craddock, San Jose's 'Jazz Guy' (right), on soprano saxophone, takes a break in the music while his son, Chris, on tenor saxophone, keeps playing. The 71-year-old Craddock has been leading a group of five other musicians during Friday 'Jazz Jams' at the Willows Senior Center.
'Jazz Guy' offers class at senior center
Bob Craddock brings love of music to senior friends
By Kate Carter
Music wafts down the main hallway at the Willows Senior Center and draws curious observers to the doorway of one of the center's new Friday afternoon "Jazz Jams."
Looking in, they see Bob Craddock, 71, San Jose's "Jazz Guy," playing his soprano saxophone and leading a group of five other musicians in a rendition of "Summertime," appropriately enough.
"Last four bars," Craddock calls, to help the amateur and professional participants find their way to the end of the piece. As they finish, a small audience, some of whom are playing rhythm instruments, applauds enthusiastically.
"It gives all levels of people a chance to get out and play in a group," Craddock says of the class that started in May and has been growing in popularity ever since. "We encourage everybody to extend themselves, to not be embarrassed and to try things they think they might not be able to try."
Calling the sessions, which run Fridays from 2:30 to 4 p.m., "classes" might be a misnomer--Craddock isn't teaching anyone to play, and there is no discussion after any performance except about what to play next. But he is providing people who like to play the blues (and in the future, he says, even sing the blues) the chance to jam with others like them. And he is developing a following, not only of committed guitarists, saxophonists, percussionists and keyboard players, but also some "groupies" who show up each week to encourage and enjoy.
"It's strictly for fun," he says. "We're not heading for anything."
Craddock knows something about bringing music to the masses. He has been keeping a regular "gig" Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons, "weather permitting," in the courtyard between downtown San Jose's Museum of Art and Fairmont Hotel for the past five years. He's changed his street performance schedule to Tuesdays and Thursdays from noon to 2 p.m. since starting the center's class, he says. But he does the street playing regularly, as he has since his retirement from computer programming six years ago.
Craddock has also played some indoor gigs at downtown San Jose's Bella Mia bar and restaurant and Santa Clara's now-closed Pizza and Pipes restaurant. He still does the occasional gig, as well as plays with his son, Christopher, on Thursday nights. At this particular session, Christopher, and his tenor sax, are there, along with guitarists Sam Cuenca and Brandon Bruious, drummer Sylvia Cuenca and melodica-player Mary Hoard.
Craddock has spent his whole life in San Jose--he now lives near The Alameda--and nearly his whole life has been spent in music. His mother was a piano teacher, and he played classical piano throughout high school. During high school, he started on the tenor sax and played in dance and big bands. Then he began working, started a family and went to college, and music became less of a priority.
Then his children started playing music of their own. Like them, he took up the guitar. He learned some folk music and played in some local coffee shops. But his real love was jazz, and he wanted to try a soprano sax, which his wife, Dale, bought for him about eight years ago.
"Classical is rigid, and I hate strict rules," Craddock says. "It's like playing in a straight-jacket. I like something that's a little freer. In jazz, you can play it any way you want it. Every note is the right note. It may be a bad-sounding note, but it's the right note."
Dale was also the person who got him interested in leading a session at the Willows Center. He approached the center about two years ago but didn't get a positive response. But now, Jane Hemeon, the center's executive director, says the response to the new class has been great, and attendance is growing. The group even played for a July 27 ice cream social attended by state Rep. Rebecca Cohn.
Most days, though, the sessions are casual. Craddock brings in his sax and all his equipment, including a laptop computer and an amplifier. The computer is loaded with hundreds of songs, and using it, he can provide accompaniment to many requested songs as well as change the key, the tempo and the background instruments.
A varying retinue of musicians brings instruments and requests their jazz and blues favorites--"Summertime," "Autumn Leaves" and Duke Ellington's "Satin Doll" are common requests, Craddock says. He knows most of the songs, he says, but if he's asked for something he doesn't have or doesn't know, he looks it up and learns it for the next week.
The sessions are unpredictable and dynamic, Dale says.
'"You don't know what's going to happen from week to week," she says.
This is not unlike jazz itself, Craddock points out.
"It's often a surprise," he says of his favorite musical form. "You don't know what's going to come next."
For more information about the center's jazz jams, call 408.448.6400.
Willow Glen, California Since 1992
