JAM: October/November 2006 Issue: Feature Story

A Biography of Russ Long, as told by Gary Sivils:

“In 1957, when Russ was 16 or 17 years old, a senior in high school, I got him a job at the 111 Club, 111 East 13 th Street . He worked there his senior year, six nights a week. No bass player: piano, drums, tenor sax, he played bass lines on the piano with his left hand. Then he went to the Jungle Club in downtown Kansas City , and worked there a year. After that he went with a territorial band, a jazz band, the John Beecher Band. This was two years of one night gigs, on the road. He returned to Kansas City after this, and was at the Fandango Club, at 26 th and Troost. Claude “Fiddler” Williams and Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson played with him.

“He then went to Omaha for two years with his own group. Julie Turner and Tommy Ruskin may have worked with him a little bit then. After this, he moved to San Francisco for four years, living in the Haight-Asbury district. He played in some rock bands. He had a Farfisa organ where you stood to play. He would play bass with his left hand. This was towards the end of the psychedelic period in San Francisco .

“He was then hired to work at the big Playboy Club in Lake Geneva , Wisconsin . It had a Las Vegas style showroom. He was there from 1973 until 1981. This was the house trio with Mike Barnett, a bass player, and Charles McFarland, both from Kansas City . They accompanied all the big stars up there, including Joe Williams. That is where Joe got Russ' tune “Save That Time”, which he recorded ( Here's to Life, Joe Williams with the Robert Farnon Orchestra, 1993, on the Telarc label).

“He came back to Kansas City in 1981. He played in the lobby at Crown Center for two years with his trio with Gerald Spaits and Ray DeMarchi. They then played the Vista for a year, returning to the Crown Center for two years after that. Kim Park was on that gig. Later the trio played at the Alameda Plaza (now the Intercontinental).”

Sivils adds: “That night at Jardine's, I've never seen anything like it in my forty-plus years here. What a tribute! And Butch Berman, who financed Russ' Never Let Me Go CD, was there, and they have arranged for the same seven piece band to go in the studio (Soundtrek) and record these new arrangements of nine of Russ' songs.”






	Search our site:		A Biography of Russ Long, as told by Gary Sivils: “In 1957, when Russ was 16 or 17 years old, a senior in high school, I got him a job at the 111 Club, 111 East 13 th Street . He worked there his senior year, six nights a week. No bass player: piano, drums, tenor sax, he played bass lines on the piano with his left hand. Then he went to the Jungle Club in downtown Kansas City , and worked there a year. After that he went with a territorial band, a jazz band, the John Beecher Band. This was two years of one night gigs, on the road. He returned to Kansas City after this, and was at the Fandango Club, at 26 th and Troost. Claude “Fiddler” Williams and Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson played with him. “He then went to Omaha for two years with his own group. Julie Turner and Tommy Ruskin may have worked with him a little bit then. After this, he moved to San Francisco for four years, living in the Haight-Asbury district. He played in some rock bands. He had a Farfisa organ where you stood to play. He would play bass with his left hand. This was towards the end of the psychedelic period in San Francisco . “He was then hired to work at the big Playboy Club in Lake Geneva , Wisconsin . It had a Las Vegas style showroom. He was there from 1973 until 1981. This was the house trio with Mike Barnett, a bass player, and Charles McFarland, both from Kansas City . They accompanied all the big stars up there, including Joe Williams. That is where Joe got Russ' tune “Save That Time”, which he recorded ( Here's to Life, Joe Williams with the Robert Farnon Orchestra, 1993, on the Telarc label). “He came back to Kansas City in 1981. He played in the lobby at Crown Center for two years with his trio with Gerald Spaits and Ray DeMarchi. They then played the Vista for a year, returning to the Crown Center for two years after that. Kim Park was on that gig. Later the trio played at the Alameda Plaza (now the Intercontinental).” Sivils adds: “That night at Jardine's, I've never seen anything like it in my forty-plus years here. What a tribute! And Butch Berman, who financed Russ' Never Let Me Go CD, was there, and they have arranged for the same seven piece band to go in the studio (Soundtrek) and record these new arrangements of nine of Russ' songs.” RETURN TO OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2006 MAIN INDEX © Kansas City Jazz Ambassadors 1996-2006. All rights reserved.