Frank and Mark have been playing music together for an awfully long time, and it was great to sit with them in the woods and hear their stories. They’ve warmly contributed to the the Michigan music community for decades in a remarkable way, playing with and mentoring countless musicians of all genres.
The Details
The Drinks: Dragon’s Milk Bourbon Barrel Stout by New Holland Brewing
The Music: “Wealthy Street” © and courtesy of Drew Nelson on intro and outro, members of Jive at Five perform “L.O.V.E.” Composed by Bert Kaempfert, with lyrics by Milt Gabler and “Galaxy Song” composed by Eric Idle and John Du Prez.
Guest Bios:
Jive at Five: Inspired by the small combo traditions of Nat King Cole, the Mills Brothers, Louis Jordan, Count Basie, and swing and jazz legends, Jive At Five gets the room swinging from the first note. Formed in 1992, Jive At Five features Michigan musical veterans Tom T. Ball on upright bass, Mark Schrock on electric guitar and vocals, Frank Youngman on trumpet, archtop acoustic guitar and vocals, Charlie Walmsley on keyboards and vocals, Gene Harris on saxophone, Dan Giacobassi on saxophone and flute, and Dave Zerbe on drums. Over the years Jive at Five has recorded three CDs and has performed at hundreds of concerts, workshops, dances, receptions, clubs, parties and festivals.
Frank Youngman first saw Louis Armstrong when he was 8 years old and he seemed to know then that he also wanted to play music and entertain people. Starting on piano and trumpet, he played his first professional job at the age of 15 with a Glenn Miller style band, the Royalaires, who later became The Formalaires. It was during those many years playing the country club circuit, in big bands and Dixieland bands that he learned to dance and understand just how music moved people. The college years brought marching bands, a stint with a Chinese orchestra, and recitals, until he heard a guitar player named Joel Mabus play some music of Mississippi John Hurt. After that there was a new world to discover: banjos and pennywhistles, fiddles, guitars, button accordions, and stepdancing. Soon Frank found himself playing folk music from Michigan to Boston to New York City with The Pretty Shakey Stringband and The Lost World Stringband. Frank has performed with Martin, Bogan and Armstrong, The Fiction Brothers and Johnny Gimble. As a singer, guitarist and trumpet player, and founding member of Jive at Five, Frank came full circle back to jazz and swing and performs with a passion for music bringing every sound, style and beat he’s heard along the way.
Multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and songwriter Mark Schrock was brought up in a musical family of singers, pianists, fiddlers, and other musicians. Born in 1954, he was growing up as the big bands were giving way to rock n roll. Mark received his first guitar from his grandfather when he was 8, formed his first band at 12, and played his first gig at 13. Since then he has been continually involved in musical performance with groups including Cabbage Crik, Iowa Rose, Madcat Midnight Blues Journey, Drew Nelson and Highway 2, and The Schrock Bros with sons Andrew and Jasen. A founding member of Jive At Five, he provides a blues inflected swinging guitar style to the group sound, citing influences from Charlie Christian to B.B. King, Wes Montgomery to Freddie Green.