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I Can't Escape

The December Band

Jim Robinson, John Handy, Kid Thomas Valentine

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This footage of "John Handy's New Orleans Stompers" (aka the "December Band") was filmed during
their tour through Connecticut on December 4th 1965 produced for local TV by Bill Bissonnette.

Comprised of two generations of jazzmen the band perform "I Can't Escape" and "Girl of My Dreams".

The band consists of four musicians of the early New Orleans tradition; 'Kid' Thomas Valentine trumpet,
Jim Robinson trombone, Capt. John Handy alto sax, and Sammy Penn drums & vocals.

The players from the younger generation are; Sammy Rimington clarinet, Bill Sinclair piano, Dick Griffith banjo, and Dick McCarthy bass.

'Captain' John Handy (1900 - 1970) was an important musician of the New Orleans jazz idiom, yet was almost totally unknown. The main reason for his obscurity was that he chose to remain in his hometown for most of his life and made very few recordings. During the earlier part of the 1920s Captain Handy played clarinet sporadically with his group the "Louisiana Shakers" before switching to alto saxophone completely in 1928. His imaginative playing would place him among the top musician of the 1960's New Orleans jazz revival.