Randy Ttatso' Reece lives in a world oi music
"It's as if I became a musi
cian by accident. My mother
had always told me that
musicians were bums. ’*
Kandy (Ratso) Reece, who has
been a sax player for nearly
every leading Eugene band for
the last 14 years, was sitting in
my cluttered living room on
14th Avenue after the usual
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Taylor's Monday night blues
jam.
He was bushed from having
played with James T. And The
Tough at the Huit Center and
the WOW Hall on Saturday
night, and with the Church o'
de Blues at Taylor's on Sunday
night.
Reece has been thought
anorexic by some; a tall, thin
man with hair thinning in front
and a ready smile. He was bom
Randolph William Reece in
Iowa City, Iowa, on Sept. 27,
19S1.
Story by William Homans
Photo by lamos Marks
His father Dick Reece was
already an accomplished Jazz
and Dixieland drummer by the
late 40s. By 1948, he had
already sat in with Sidney
Bechet, the great jazz clarinetist
and soprano saxophone player,
in Chicago.
Dick Reece was an active
musician from the 40s through
the early 80s. He was a member
of the St. Ivouis Folk Music
.Society in the 50s. and played
with several jazz trios. When he
lived in St. Louis at sixteen.
Reece says that he ventured out
with his father to the local jazz
hotspots “dressed in a suit and
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tie” so that he would look old
enough to be bar hopping.
“My father was the greatest
musical influence in my life. He
exposed me to everything
musical.” Reece says "By the
time I was ready for first grade. 1
could keep the beat on I-ouis
Armstrong Dixieland tunes.”
I started playing clarinet at
nine. I was a terrible sight
reader then, and 1 still am to
day. I haven't even tried to do it
since 1976.” he adds. (This
seems hard to believe for
anyone who has heard him
play.)
aummomniB was uw vciy
first blues song I ever played in
strumenlally. with the clarinet
Hut I knew what a one-four-five
(the basic blues chord progres
sion) was when I was six. I've
still got a picture of me at home
from when I was one year old.
with my mother holding me.
and me hitting the drums ”
I listened to jazz as a kid. 1
didn't even listen to rock'n'roll
until I was a teenager. The first
rock album I ever bought was
Sgt. Pepper's, in 1967. And
even then. I got much more into
the Rolling Stones." Reece
says.
"When I was in the fifth and
sixth grade. I'd be listening to
Gerry Mulligan and Paul Des
mond (sax player for Dave
Brubeck). Those two were my
main influences on saxophone.
The kids thought 1 was a little
strange, and I was very shy at
that time Maybe they were a lit
tle jealous."
Reece spent the 60s learning
to play the many instruments
upon which he is proficient —
drums, clarinet, saxophone,
flute, vihraphones. guitar, and
bass, lie is probably best known
for his emphatic rythym 'n'
blues solos on the sax.
"I won't say I've done it
alone. My dad and my friend
John Campy (who was an im
portant supporter of many of the
seminal trawls in Eugene) are
my mentors.” Reece says.
"They pushed me in the begin
ning. and all the way to the pre
sent. It's like being an athlete
with a coach. And the women
in my life have been mentors
too."
My dad's an administrator at
a mental hospital in Holbolt.
Minnesota now," he adds.
"When I was a kid, he was a
severe stutterer. When he got
out of the hospital, he went and
got his trachelor's degree in
psychology, specializing in
speech therapy It's weird: he
got over his stuttering by
becoming a speech therapist."
Dick Re<*ce later received his
Masters, and came to Eugene to
work on his doctorate. After
graduating from high school in
St Diuis. Reece followed his
father to Eugene in 1970.
"I had played with trends in
high school before, but the day I
arrived in Eugene. I resolved to
be a professional musician. I
was Immersed. I guess that's
Although saxophone is Kandy "Ratso" Reece's main instru
ment. he is also proficient with the drums, clarinet, flute,
vibraphones and guitar.
why this place is magic to me. I
guess that's why I've hung
around Eugene for so long.”
Music is not the only thing
Reece has been heavily involv
ed in. "My draft number was
335, hut I registered as a cons
cientious objector. I got six sup
porting letters from teachers in
my senior year in high school
because I was an antiwar ac
tivist." he says.
Reece continued to take part
in antiwar activities until the
war had pretty much left the
ground for the air. He was one
of the Eugene 37, arrested for
his purl in a riotous demonstra
tion over the mining of
Haiphong Harbor in April of
1972.
"I got a job as an X-ray order
ly in Sacred Heart Hospital in
1970. The depressing stuff I saw
there strengthened my resolve
to make it in music," Reece
says.
In 1971. he had been working
at Sacred Heart for a year when
Dave Stewart, a fine local piano
player, came in with a severely
injured back. Ratso helped him
in his convalescence. He and
Tom Ross, an acoustic blues
guitarist, closed the curtains
and played music in Stewart's
hospital room.
Stewart later was an integral
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pari of Reece's first major band.
Three Fingered Jack.
“When Dave got hurt, he got
a settlement big enough to set
up a complete sound company.
With that. Three Fingered Jack
had all the best equipment,
enough to carry in a 16-foot
truck," Reece says.
Three Fingered Jack was
Reece. Bob Beisser on drums,
Rob Thomas, rythym guitar and
electric violin, Joel Rice on lead
guitar. Steve Mosher on bass,
Dave on piano, and Curtis
Salgado on harmonica and
vocals.
“It was the first serious band
for all of us. Dave was the oldest
of us. and he was only 24 or 25
when we started," Reece says.
Three Fingered Jack worked
quite steadily from 1972 to
1974, primarily at the old
Roman Forum in Eugene.
"We had some times there,”
he says. “We really connected
with the audience. Picture this:
we were at the Forum, playing
this original instrumental tune,
and suddenly this woman starts
dancing and takes off her
blouse, and then her skirt. She
was dancing in bra and panties.
But the barmaid told her to stop.
Eventually, it turned out that
she was the wife of a sheriff.”
Continued on Pago 3B
I iinnpl)icv °V<)tfurt
co~~ r/;e °Mu ffit/ s
844 Pearl St.
Eugene
683-5978