It’s always a wonder when a band that’s earmarked for sure success fails to land the big break that catapults them into the public consciousness. Jumbo is a perfect example. The group had it all: An incredible pedigree of musicians, with members hailing from St. John Green and The Strawberry Alarm Clock; a go-getter manager in Jean-Louis Janssen; the backing of major record producer Lou Adler and producer Gary LeMel; and a contract as the first rock group to promote a national beer company. Due to Adler’s support for other acts, however, Jumbo was never provided the attention they deserved and needed, and as a result their album was never released. Keyboardist Mike Baxter is back in contact with the other members of the band, and has just created a website detailing the band’s musical journey.
For more on Jumbo—and to obtain downloads of their music—visit www.jumbo70.com.
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An Interview With Mike Baxter
60sgaragebands.com: Were you looking to form a band immediately after St. John Green dissolved?
Mike Baxter (MB): Actually, it was more of an evolution. St. John Green was having problems. After the St. John Green album was released, a definite split in direction was solidified. That album was a great disappointment for some of us. It was, in a sense, two albums in one. There were differences both musically and intellectually. The band was stumbling, searching for answers. Some members left and some members were replaced.
As the struggle to rebuild got more difficult, Vic and I committed to create the band we wanted and the job to find members for our new band became our priority.
60s: Was Brad DelaValley an original member of Jumbo? If so, why was he replaced by Jim Pitman?
MB: Brad was originally asked to join the ailing St. John Green, or what was the evolving remainder of such. We should just call it the band at this point. So, yes—he was an original member of Jumbo. Brad was and still is one of the most creative and entertaining men we have ever known. He was an actor and had practiced that profession for many years prior to meeting Vic and me. He was our Robin Williams.
Vic and I had known Brad from the Topanga Canyon days, when we played The Corral. He had auditioned for us at one time previously, and so, when the time came to replace the guitar player from St. John Green, Brad was nominated. We had searched for months prior with no luck. Rock guitarists are like gunslingers, always seeing who has the biggest, fastest and loudest one, and we wanted to add a creative addition, not a superstar. Brad was a perfect fit.
Sadly the time came, a year or so later, when the need for a more musically experienced player was required. Our music was involved and needed a player with more musical training to step in. It was with great difficulty and sadness that we had to say goodbye to Brad as a working member of Jumbo. He is still nearby and we keep an eye on him from time to time.
Jim Pitman had jammed with us on previous occasions, and was working with The Strawberry Alarm Clock at this time. He was asked to step in and become the newest member of Jumbo and he obliged. Jim joined us in 1970 and was involved in all our touring and recording sessions, and is with us to this day.
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| Jumbo, 1969 (clockwise from 9): Brad DelaValley, Neil Olson, Mike Baxter, Vic Sabino, Rich Pisula |
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60s: Where did you and Vic find Jim, Neil and Rich?
MB: As our bios state in our website, www.jumbo70.com, Neil had just come out from Fargo with his wife and son and was looking for work. We found his posting on the musician’s board at Wallache's Music City, in Hollywood. Brad and I were going over the board and Brad pulled his name and said, “let's try this guy.” I guess I had auditioned so many drummers I was pretty fed up at the time and said he would be the last one we would audition. As luck would have it…he was.
You already know that Jim came to us later via The Alarm Clock, but Jim is from Florida, and had been in Hollywood for a while gigging here and there. He had played with The Hour Glass and had befriended the Wilson's (The Beach Boys) while out in California so he had been around the block a few times.
Rich, our amazing bass player, was from Southern California. I had played with Rich years earlier in a band from the San Marino/Pasadena area. He had since moved on and was now enrolled at USC.
I took Vic one day to the bungalow Rich was renting near the Shrine Auditorium, just South of USC, knocked on his door and found him on the couch playing his acoustic guitar. "So", I said,"how would you like to join our band and become famous?” That was that. He quit school and joined us in what would become Jumbo.
60s: For those of us who like to classify things, do you consider Jumbo more of an L.A. band, or a San Francisco band? Where did you perform more?
MB: Jumbo was a band from the greater Los Angeles area. We performed in San Francisco many times but were only tourists there. Our homes and haunts were in Hollywood, LA, and the beach cities south of LA. We played clubs and arenas around the LA area as well, but there were two venues in SoCal that we considered home. One was The Flying Jib in Redondo Beach, where we played with both Brad and Jim, and swapped weeks periodically with Danny Kortchmar's band Joe Mama; and the other was Bill's Beech Inn in Pasadena. Neither was considered classy or upscale by any means. They were funky beer bars and were great places to hone our craft.
60s: To what extent was Jumbo involved with John Phillips? How did you come to back him?
MB: This is in our Bio and is certainly worthy of a story telling and as historical content, but isn't really more than that. Jumbo was signed at the time to Ode Records I believe—if not, we were very close to it—anyway, we were booked to play The Los Angeles Sports Arena. It was A Special Concert of some sort. On the bill were a variety of musical groups and actors from TVs Laugh In. John Phillips was one of the headliners. We did our set and then were asked to join Phillips in his dressing room by our manger, Jean Louis. Apparently, Phillips wanted us to back him up for his set. "Great, but…no rehearsal? OK… whatever." John Phillips was gracious, not too concerned about the music, and was escorted by two beautiful young women, who proceeded to sit next to me on stage while we played his set. I remember our Jim wearing John Phillips signature fur hat and upstaging him several times with guitar solos. It was bizarre and hilarious and very entertaining. It’s a good memory.
John Phillips was a friend and colleague of Lou Adler's, and so there may have been some pre-determined "use my band" type of arrangement made before the concert; regardless, it was fun.
60s: How did you first come to the attention of Jean-Louis Janssen?
MB: Jean says we came to his attention in Hollywood, on the Strip. We were playing at Club Galaxy on Sunset and he saw us there. He approached us later with a sincere and positive demeanor and suggested we get serious about our management. At the time we were being represented by another gentleman who really wasn't experienced in "the business" and who was soon encouraged to relinquish his contractual agreements with us. Jean Louis Janssen became our manager, mentor, and friend. He brought us to and stayed with us through our remaining adventures. He is still, to this day, our friend and mentor, and confident in matters that require such discussions.
60s: Was Janssen instrumental in hooking Jumbo up with Lou Adler?
MB: Yes, JLJ as he calls himself, was the link to Adler, LeMel and all of our concert and future engagements with Jumbo.
60s: What are your recollections of Adler? Of Gary LeMel?
MB: Lou Adler was and is a huge name in the rock and roll world. He was responsible for the success of The Mamas and Papas, Carole King (solo), The Rocky Horror Picture Show and on and on. He had just started his new label Ode 70 Records, and Jumbo was one of his new additions to that label along with Merry Clayton, Scott Mackenzie, Barry McGuire, and Carole King. I gotta say…I never met the man. I saw him at A&M Records and in his white Rolls Royce, and I guess he came by the studio, but I never had the pleasure of personally meeting him.
Gary LeMel, on the other hand, I have met and worked with in the studio, and played music with and hung out with and will say that I found him to be a nice, soft spoken man. He was pleasant and quietly reassuring. I think we all found Gary to be a good guy. He is also very talented—musically as well as in business.
I remember one story...he had brought a demo tape to Jean’s house in Laurel Canyon one afternoon for us to hear. (This was before we recorded our album.) He was planning on releasing the tune as a 45, but had gotten beaten to the punch by The Hollies, who had recorded the same tune and released it a week or so prior. The tune was ‘He's Not Heavy, He's My Brother." Too bad.
I also remember watching him do a guest spot on Hefner's TV show Playboy After Dark; he was singing and playing his guitar.
60s: What was a typical Jumbo session like?
MB: It was intense and crazy and fun. We were all very serious about our music. We worked very hard creating our sound and the arrangements and had played them all for months on stage working out the rough spots, so we were well ready to lay the tunes down. We also were very funny guys. It was hard to get by without a laugh or some sort of goofiness. We liked each other and laughed a lot. But the music was the priority and we were very intense when we were in the groove.
60s: 'Tell The People' was released as a single. How did it fare?
MB: ‘Tell The People’ and the flip-side ‘Not so Bad’ was the first 45 to be released in stereo, so we were told. It was test marketed in 13 markets and apparently fared very well. It was the #1 requested tune in three of the markets and rated between five and eight in the other 10 markets. That being said, the album was earmarked for definite release, according to the powers that measure that sort of thing.
60s: So the Jumbo LP was never released?
MB: No, it was not released. Lou Adler had also just signed Carole King and Tapestry was her new to be released album. The marketing and contractual agreements Adler (Ode Records), had with A&M Records required him to bring in several guarantees and Carole King obviously was one of them (the others being Scott Mackenzie and Barry McGuire). Anyway, the story has it that Carole King and her management required so much more of Adler's resources and attention that he chose not to release the Jumbo album and released us from our contract. Also, as we understand it, the group Humble Pie had just been signed as well and required more attention from the record company then they were willing to share.
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60s: Jumbo was selected to record commercials for Hamm's Beer. How did that come about?
MB: That was in 1970. It was a big deal for the times. A rock band pitching beer...the devil you say. Actually, they are pretty benign. The jingles were written by Jim Helms and Gary LeMel, and Gary also did the producing. I think we recorded six or seven and we have found five of them, they will be added to our website for your listening pleasure.
60s: How involved were you with Hamms? Did you record jingles only, or did you tour for them or in any other way use them as a sponsor?
MB: We thought we were going to get rich doing these jingles but, sorry, union scale was all she wrote. No free beer either. It was a fun thing and made the business news in Variety as well.
60s: What year and why did Jumbo dissolve?
MB: Jumbo slowly and sadly dissolved in 1971. We tried to keep the momentum going, but there were too many others issues that contributed to our demise. Neil had to leave because of health issues, and Jim went back to Florida after the big earthquake scared the hell out of him. Rich went back to the university and Vic fell back on the family hair business, opening several successful salons in SoCal and I continued to play music as a studio musician, sideman and songwriter.
After 40 years, we have found each other again, all alive and well...and curious. What's next?
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| Jumbo, 1970 (clockwise from 12): Mike Baxter, Vic Sabino, Jim Pitman, Neil Olson and Rich Pisula |
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