The Fadale family has been a part of the Greater Buffalo region’s jazz scene for the better part of nearly seven decades. Including Bud Fadale who has appeared often throughout the past few decades as one of the area’s finest jazz bassists. Throughout these decades, the family has often been cited as “Buffalo’s First Family of Jazz.”
In September of 2014, to help mark the occasion of Bud’s Mom, jazz pianist Ann Fadale, long-overdue induction into the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame, JazzBuffalo wrote an article highlighting a CD of his Mom’s recordings produced in that same year. You can read it here: JazzBuffalo Remembers The Legendary Ann Fadale.
Recently, Bud shared another unearthed another recording. He states:
“My Brother Charlie just found an old tape of a recording we made of my mother, Anne Fadale with Tom Azarello on Bass. This was recorded live at the Fountain Room in Buffalo NY. Wonderful to hear her playing one of my favorites. Tom was also one of my early mentors. Hope you enjoy and maybe bring back some memories.”
It is believed, by Buddy as he is called amongst jazz musicians locally, that the recording is from around the mid-1960s. Here is Ann Fadale in a duo with Tom Azarello:
Bud Fadale also shared a recent find of his Uncle, Dick Fadale. A jazz pianist and vocalist, Dick Fadale is found in a studio recording that featured Wally Schuman on bass (his son is Tom Schuman of Spyro Gyra fame), the late Ray Chamberlain on guitar (before he switched to bass due to medical reasons), and the legendary drummer Mel Lewis on drums. It is a recording from New York City believed to have taken place in the late 1950s or early 1960s of the song “Born To Be Blue.”
We hear the astonishing vocals and piano playing of Dick Fadale in this rare recording. A real treasure treat from Bud Fadale:
Treasure finds these are and Bud Fadale provides context with photos of Ann and Dick Fadale. A sharing, thanks to Bud, reflective of the fabulous history of jazz in Buffalo.
So great to read this, Tony! Will share on Facebook now. It was wonderful for me to be able to work with the Fadales and Schumans. Some of my earliest gigs were with Dick and Wally. Dick was a great mentor and we enjoyed doing some singing together. He was a first class arranger, as well, and I remember doing one of the Jerry Lewis telethons in NYC and at rehearsal with the orchestra several musicians complemented Dick’s arrangement of the song I sang. It didn’t matter where I performed, in years following my time with the Fadales and other outstanding Buffalo musicians, there were always well-known musicians who praised their talents from the time Ann accompanied me for an audition for the Merv Griffin Show in NYC and band members who saw her walking into the studio began to applaud her, to an appearance on the Virginia Graham Show in California and stage crew members from Buffalo working the show as well as one of the band members were excited to share their memories o working with musicians from Buffalo. What an amazing legacy and, of course, having the joy of working with my favorite bass player (and brother-in-law) Bud Fadale. How neat to have him unearthing these beautiful recordings! Again, thank you for writing such a fine article.
Sincerely,
Diane Taber
Thank you very much Diane for your wonderful comment. Sharing even more that just adds to the story of Ann Fadale and Dick Fadale. Good memories to treasure for you!! Tony
These two recordings were so nice to hear! I was “Bud’s” (we called him “Fid”) room-mate in the 298th Army Band in Berlin, Germany in the early 70s. He had some recordings with his mom, his brother Charlie, and him that we’d listen to occasionally. They were beautiful! Charlie was just a kid and already sounding great as did Fid and Ann, his mom. I particularly remember “Gentle Rain.” I learned from Fid that his mom was quite well known in the Buffalo/upstate NY area and that Oscar Peterson was a family friend. When Oscar came to Berlin, of course we went to see him. After the concert, Fid said, “You want to go backstage?” I said “Sure,” so back we went. We walked in the door to the dressing room, Oscar looked up, and said “Buddy! What are you doing here.” If I had doubted for even a second the veracity of OP’s friendship with the Fadales, this dispelled any questions. It was even more amusing because “Fid” didn’t really like his nickname “Buddy” in those days, so that reinforced the clear friendship OP had with the family, Good memories!
Hi Doug, thanks for sharing a great story here on JazzBuffalo! What history and it must have been a highlight of your tour in Germany to meet the great Oscar Peterson!