(The old, original Golden Gate Rhythm Machine website)

The Golden Gate Rhythm Machine is a small band with a big, swinging, fun loving sound, produced by some of the best traditional jazz musicians in the country. We celebrated our 34th anniversary together this year (2018). We love to play a wide range of music, from the standard Dixieland favorites, through the West Coast originals of Lou Watters and Turk Murphy, to more recent standards and novelties played in a traditional style. We are particularly pleased when we’re are able to fill the dance floor.

History

In 1984, I was asked to get a band together to fill in for Sunday afternoon sessions at Earthquake McGoon’s. The original band consisted of me on banjo and “pedal” bass, Bob Neighbor on trumpet, and Jack Frost on guitar. In addition to the bass, we used an electronic drum machine which I used in my intermission solo act for the Turk Murphy Jazz Band at Earthquake McGoon’s. (Most people think that the name Golden Gate Rhythm Machine emerged from the use of the electronic drum machine; however, the original intent was really to convey a meaning similar to a political “machine”- having lots of drive and power). So we were really the sound of a 5-piece band packaged into 3 people.

As a soloist using two supporting electronic instruments, I had only very occasionally sensed some hostility from other musicians, especially drummers and bass players, but for this and other, mostly logistical reasons the GGRM simply could not continue appearing at Traditional Jazz festivals using all this new-fangled stuff. We soon asked Mike Starr to join us on trombone and then Jim Rothermel on reeds. Within a year, we had filled out the “front line” and gotten rid of both the bass pedals and the electronic drums, with the addition of John Moore on tuba and “Buffalo” Bill Maginnis on drums and somewhat later, Jim Maihack on piano. Except for a couple of instances, the band has remained remarkably stable until 2006 (not counting the state of mind of some of its members that will remain unnamed!) In 1987 we lost two of its founding members when Bob Neighbor moved to Chicago and Jack Frost relocated to Sedona, Arizona. Luckily, one Bob was replaced with another – the great Bob Schulz, and we were off and running again. Then, around 1999, because of many local commitments, John Moore was unable to do many GGRM jobs and festivals, so Jim Maihack switched to tuba and the great Bob Hirsch joined us on piano. Since 2006 we have been saddened by the deaths of  four of our members (Mike Starr in 2006, Jim Rothermel in 2011, John Moore in 2015, and Bill Maginnis in 2017). Since its beginning we have played at many premier jazz festivals including The Sacramento Dixieland Jubilee, The San Diego Dixieland Festival, Pismo Beach, Friday Harbor, Whidbey Island, Seaside Oregon, and many others. We performed on 20 of the 21 Dixieland Jazz Festivals At Sea.

Currently

We are available in any configuration from Scott as a soloist to the full 7-piece band. We frequently use just a 5-piece without drums or piano for economic reasons.  Bob Schulz on cornet, Jim Maihack, now mostly playing piano but sometimes on tuba or trombone, and I are the remaining members of the original band. With the great work of John Hunt on trombone, Don Neely or Brian Campbell on reeds, and Robert Young on bass sax, we are now a re-constituted band with an equally exciting sound as the original GGRM. In the last few years we have also been playing locally about once a month as a group we call the “Bay Area All-Stars including the great Pat Yankee. There is a separate page here (as well as via the menu item above) now devoted to them.