Notes From the Grid is a bi-weekly column about the Columbia County music scene written by Rob. It is featured every other Friday in the "On the Scene" supplement of the Hudson Register Star. See all »

December 17, 2011

The Holiday Column – Walter Bauer: The Man, The Myth and The Reality

The Holiday Column – Walter Bauer: The Man, The Myth and The Reality

Okay, imagine the tune Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer. Ready? Here we go….

You may know Otto and Peter and Trevens and Carrow,
Melissa and Wendy and Chops and N’dgeocello….
But do you recall?
The most famous Columbia County Bass Player of all?

Walter plays bass and trombone
And he plays them very well
If he was ever nervous
No one in the crowd could tell

He likes to play in combos
also likes to play solo
He never hits a wrong note,
Always plays it sweet and low

Um… sorry about that. Really. But the above is useful, inasmuch as I now have given The Register Star and the Daily Mail ample opportunity to fire me for tacky and cheesy literature references. Concrete example right there, but I have a feeble excuse: I was trying to remember significant moments for our ongoing descriptions and evaluations of local open mics and my mind kept returning to a significant moment last December at the Helsinki Hudson Tuesday night version of open mic.

A lank, dark and handsome man was holding a blue electric bass on the side of the stage. I’m sure Mr Bluhm, the emcee, announced his name before he strolled out onto the stage but I only remember my specific moment of recognition as I saw the familiar and determined stride.

“It’s Walter!”

Walter Bauer is one of the most talented, creative and elusive artists to have lived in Columbia County. He is the sort of person who inspires a crazy montage of single word descriptions most of which generally have no relation or bearing on the others – Cryptic. Brilliant. Bewildered. Humorous.  Ethereal. Kind. Infuriating. Most of us know him as an amazing musician with a variety of skills: his singing abilities are first class and his work on the electric bass is as unique as it is splendid,  but it was as an expressive and creative trombonist he first acquired his reputation appearing with the popular and now legendary capitol district band “Conehead Buddha” .

When Walter was in high school his father once let him stay home in order to learn to play the trombone for a school play. Within a week he was ready to read parts in the orchestra pit. His prowess and versatility on the instrument became legendary. Terry and Shannon Lynch, the rest of the Conehead Buddha horn section, told me they would sometimes listen to tapes of the bands performances in order to document (“and steal!” Terry added) Walters’ improvised solos. Life on the road with a successful ska/Latin/funk/rock band was grueling and before long Walter had had enough days spent sleeping at Super 8 motels,afternoons spent riding to the next gig and evenings setting up in the venue for a few hours of infectious rocking joy.

In the early aught years Walter began to teach bass and trombone in Chatham, occasionally sitting in with other local musicians in both traditional and non-traditional scenarios (I remember a specific gig at the Morris Memorial with his improvised band playing innovative rendition of Pink Floyd’s “Brain Damage” arranged for quartet consisting of guitar, bass, mandolin and Low D Irish whistle.

Walter Performing

I was so happy to see Walter canter out to the microphone that evening at the Club Helsinki - He had been laying pretty low for a few years working at making yogurt at Old Sheepherders, stirring nuts at Tierra Farm – His musical projects seemed to have been put on hold. Occasionally there would be new of him popping up at an event or jamming with someone but he maintained a general cloak of invisibility.

Walter raised his chin, squinted his eyes and scanned the crowd of the Helsinki night club. His right hand began to slap the blue G&L bass in a brilliant funk groove. The distracted crowd, began to sit up, turn their heads and furl their brows.

“What is this guy doing?”
“ A bass solo?”
There was an ominous tension in the room, an auro of expectation.

...and then Walter started to sing.

Come
They told me
Pa Rumpa Pum Pum

The newborn king to see
Pa Rumpa Pum Pum

A lot of Walter’s fans know him only from his performances in local musical theater productions, and his love both pop, rock and musical theater is as consistent as it is immense. In the early aught years of this century he sought out and was awarded prime roles in local productions starring in rock musicals like “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “Tommy” - the performances were legendary, vibrant and convincing.

“I like playing messiahs…he once joked. “It’s type casting.”  Walter still he continues to sporadically show up as a featured singing actor, playing bass or trombone in a pit orchestral or singing his songs at the the odd event at Chatham Fairgrounds.

Walter Sings at Work

In the year 2000 he became a founding member of Chatham Airplane with his sister Sheri, Renee Harvitt and yours truly. The band also sometimes featured notable gueast artists like Broadway star Jim Wann and virtuoso pianist and film maker Lincoln Mayorga. This configuration suited Walter because the members shared his eclectic musical interests – Irish folk songs, Slim Whitman ballads, Jazz/Country/Modern, originals by Walter and Sheri, English traditional songs and more. It also gave him a chance to play both guitar and trombone as well as the opportunity to perform some of the popular classic rock he is fond of.

As Walter left the Helsinki stage after his allotted two songs (both Christmas carols) the smattering crowd burst into as loud an applause as they could muster while many patrons leaned over to the person next to them in order to ask:

“Who was that guy?”

Walter in the Studio

The elusive Mr. Bauer has laid low lately but was seen recently as the top hatted. arrogant corporate real estate speculating Big Bad Wolf at a recent Panto at the Ghent Playhouse. He assured me that he is ready to get out and start playing and singing in front of people more often, that this particular installment of covert music making was drawing to a close and he will be going public. It is my intention by writing this column to encourage him to do so. Keep your eyes peeled, keep attending those musical events - you never know where the evanescent Columbia County treasure that is Walter Bauer may appear.