JIM CULLUM'S LANDING
For nearly 50 years this has been not only a major tourist draw on the River Walk, but a magnet attracting world-class musicians to showcase their talents. Jim Cullum Jr.’s (1941- ) life has been about music, and his passion has been researching, preserving, and presenting jazz and popular songs from the first half of the 20th century. With his father’s interest in music, he grew up listening to Louis Armstrong and other famous musicians, thinking that someday he wanted to play the coronet or trombone. At around age 14, he bought a used coronet for $8 and an instruction book for $1, and then taught himself to play the instrument. Because he couldn’t read music at that time, he was twice rejected for the Alamo Heights High School band before gaining acceptance. In 1962, while attending Trinity University, Cullum formed a seven-piece traditional jazz group, the Happy Jazz Band, with his late father, clarinetist Jim Cullum, Sr. A year later, a group of San Antonio businessmen established the Landing, a jazz club on the River Walk, and for about 10 years they hosted the World Series of Jazz, inviting some of the world’s best musicians such as Benny Goodman and Pete Fountain to go head to head with their band. After Jim Sr. died in 1973, the name of the group was changed to The Jim Cullum Jazz Band. Although the location has changed twice (for years The Landing resided in the basement of the Nix Hospital), its home has been at the Hyatt Regency since 1982. Sounds of the band are not confined to San Antonio; since 1989 River Walk Jazz has been broadcast nationwide weekly to over 200 Public Radio stations around the country. They have performed live in many of the nation’s most prestigious music venues including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, and have appeared also in many cities in Europe, Russia, Latin America, and Australia.
For nearly 50 years this has been not only a major tourist draw on the River Walk, but a magnet attracting world-class musicians to showcase their talents. Jim Cullum Jr.’s (1941- ) life has been about music, and his passion has been researching, preserving, and presenting jazz and popular songs from the first half of the 20th century. With his father’s interest in music, he grew up listening to Louis Armstrong and other famous musicians, thinking that someday he wanted to play the coronet or trombone. At around age 14, he bought a used coronet for $8 and an instruction book for $1, and then taught himself to play the instrument. Because he couldn’t read music at that time, he was twice rejected for the Alamo Heights High School band before gaining acceptance. In 1962, while attending Trinity University, Cullum formed a seven-piece traditional jazz group, the Happy Jazz Band, with his late father, clarinetist Jim Cullum, Sr. A year later, a group of San Antonio businessmen established the Landing, a jazz club on the River Walk, and for about 10 years they hosted the World Series of Jazz, inviting some of the world’s best musicians such as Benny Goodman and Pete Fountain to go head to head with their band. After Jim Sr. died in 1973, the name of the group was changed to The Jim Cullum Jazz Band. Although the location has changed twice (for years The Landing resided in the basement of the Nix Hospital), its home has been at the Hyatt Regency since 1982. Sounds of the band are not confined to San Antonio; since 1989 River Walk Jazz has been broadcast nationwide weekly to over 200 Public Radio stations around the country. They have performed live in many of the nation’s most prestigious music venues including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, and have appeared also in many cities in Europe, Russia, Latin America, and Australia.
