BCJB BIOGRAPHIES

John Skillman - Clarinet

Our Clarinetist is John Skillman. He recently retired after 32 years as an Electronics Engineer in the US Department of Defense. He now owns his own Electronics consulting Co. which he operates with the help of his wife Nancy. John was born in Kalamazoo Michigan and his dad got him started in Dixieland. His dad had some Firehouse Five Plus Two records and John would play them for hours........ and Hours !! In the third grade, John took up the clarinet ( cause his dad had one) . The high school band director came to his one-room country school-house, once a week to give lessons. Soon he started to play by ear ( never was too good at reading music) and impressed his third grade class with a rendition "On Wisconsin" -during show & tell. By sixth grade , John had organized a Dixieland Band-who played together throughout high school. They played everywhere they could: the band room, the auditorium, teen clubs, ladies-club show on local TV , the local fair-(the Coke booth- right in the middle of the midway!), a, the Lions Club Minstrel Shows and even at a local Rock & Roll club ( the piano was a half-tone flat there !). In late high school, the Band director played Cornet with the Band - that helped !

John could read music well enough ( just barely) to get into the National Music camp at Interlochen Mich for two summers. The most memorable time there were the jam sessions in the practice rooms. In college John played in the University of Michigan marching band and with the Huron River Jazz Band . This Band was the understudy for the then very popular Bol-weevil ( Dan Havens, Frank Powers) Jazz band, and the Huron River Band included Paul Klinger on Cornet.

After college, John had a 2 year stint in the Army and then joined the US Department of Defense - but no Dixieland. About 1967, John started playing 2 nites a week with the Band at the Buzzy's Pizza Parlor, across the street from the Naval Academy in Annapolis Maryland. This 8 year stint was followed by another fun 8 years with Al Brogden's "Southern Comfort" jazz band ( with Johnny Roulet) .

Then John heard an early version of what was to come the BCJB at a local Fest put on by the Potomac Jazz Club. John heard something that resonated in his soul--and he called Jim Ritter and said " If you ever need a substitute ......". A month later he joined the BCJB . John says: "Its been 20 Great years ...I was lucky enough to find people who think ( musically) like I do- AND they will put up with me--what luck !"