IN MEMORY OF
Live the Music!
A web site dedicated to the memories of a couple great musicians!
Live the Music!
A web site dedicated to the memories of a couple great musicians!
IN MEMORY OF
A web site dedicated to the memories of a couple great musicians!
A web site dedicated to the memories of a couple great musicians!
Jack D. Martz Sr.
Winifred "Win" Davis
"Win McDonnell"
Robert “Bob” Everly Smith
Jack was a piano player, an organ player, a retired Baltimore County schools vocal music teacher and composer of the Baltimore Clippers ice hockey team's fight song.
Born in Altoona, Pa., Jack was an Altoona Mirror photographer before enlisting in the Army in 1942 and serving as Gen. George S. Patton Jr.'s personal photographer in the Rhineland and the Ardennes during World War II.
After the war, Jack moved to Baltimore to use his GI Bill benefits to enroll at the Peabody Conservatory of Music and the Johns Hopkins University, where he earned degrees. In 1959, he received a master's degree at what was then Western Maryland College and worked first for the Carroll County public school system and then in Baltimore County where he retired in 1980 from Randallstown Elementary School.
Jack also played piano and keyboard in local bands, including The Bill Maisel Orchestra, The Men of Note, The Debonaires, The Goldenaires Orchestra, Zim Zemarel Orchestra, Sentimental Journey, Savoy Bands, Ches Kellem and the Richard Anthony V Quartet.
Jack performed in and made musical arrangements for the annual Paint and Powder Club shows for 44 years and appeared in one of its acts, Bob Maslin's Uptown String Band.
Jack collaborated with Winifred Davis on songs and jingles since his years at the Peabody Conservatory of Music and the Johns Hopkins University. Two of their tunes, “Star Gazer,” which was popularized by the Zim Zemarel’s Orchestra and “Lavender,” which was played on a coast to coast radio broadcast in 1954 by the Ralph Fay Orchestra. They also co-wrote the song "Marry Me" which was performed at one of the annual Paint and Powder Club shows.
In 1962, to coincide with the opening of the Baltimore Civic Center, Jack wrote the music for the Baltimore Clippers fight song: "Win, you Baltimore Clippers/ Win, you Clippers from Baltimore./ Fight, you Baltimore Clippers/ Face off!/ Fight for a Baltimore score." with Winifred Davis who wrote the lyrics. The song was played every time the team scored, proved so popular with teams and fans that it remained the fight song for the Skipjacks and Bandits, successor teams to the Clippers.
Jack also volunteered weekly for Gene Nardone's band and played for patients at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, the Masonic home at Bonnie Blink and at Roland Park Place.
A Mason, he was a member of the Scottish Rite and Boumi Temple, where he played.
Jack passed away at the age of 83 on July 4, 2006 .
Winifred “Win” Davis, a Baltimore organist and accompanist was a fixture on radio and television variety shows in the early 1950’s. For years she kept Civic Center sports fans charged up at Baltimore Clippers ice hockey games.
Born at the foot of the Black Hills in Spearfish, South Dakota she was raised by her parents, cattle and sheep ranchers. She had few playmates. Mail arrived twice a week.
As a child Win began studying piano. She became proficient and formed a duo with a friend. Soon they were being paid for playing and singing.
Win graduated from high school and earned a teaching certificate from Minot, North Dakota State Teachers College. She studied music at the McPhail School of Music in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
In 1935 she married Wilson “Scotty” McDonnell. She turned professional and formed the Win McDonnell trio. Included in the trio was jazz guitarist, Mary Osborne, then age sixteen. Osborne went on to become a much sought after musician performing with Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy Gillespie and Art Tatum.
The trio crisscrossed North Dakota and Minnesota performing on local radio stations, in hotels and supper clubs.
Howard King, the arranger for the Buddy Rogers orchestra spotted them after one of their gigs in Bismarck, North Dakota. They auditioned for the Rogers orchestra got the gig and performed across the country including on the Fitch Bandwagon, a nationwide radio show. The Fitch company made a popular hair oil.
When the orchestra disbanded they signed to do a daily show at KDKA in Pittsburg. Their announcer was Dave Garroway who went on to become the first host of NBC's Today Show.
In 1942 Win moved to Baltimore and married Dr. Henry Davis, a dentist. Claiming she was frustrated bassist she began playing the organ. She played the organ on the radio stations WITH,WFBR, WCBM and at Hecht Co. fashion shows, Christmas shows at the 5th Regiment Armory and the piano at the Belvedere and Emerson hotels.
The Baltimore Civic Center opened in 1963. Win became the official organist for the Baltimore Clippers ice hockey team. She had to respond instantly with timely and appropriate music that corresponded with actions on the ice.
She provided musical entertainment for the hockey fans from 7:30 PM to 11 PM. Win had a repertoire of songs to fall back on at any given moment. If a decision of the referees was challenged she launched into a spirited rendition of “Three Blind Mice.” If the players got into a fracas she’d play, “Cuddle Up A Little Closer.”
Win co-authored the Baltimore Clippers fight song, “Win You Baltimore Clippers Win/Win You Clippers From Baltimore” with Jack Martz, Baltimore songwriter and retired public schools music teacher.
The song was played when the team scored. The song became popular with teams and fans. It remained the fight song for the Skipjacks and Bandits, successor teams to the Clippers.
“ She was my lyricist. Good lyric writers aren't easy to find. She was very cooperative and talented,” said Jack Martz.
The pair collaborated on songs and jingles for years. Two of their tunes, “Star Gazer,” which was popularized by the Zim Zemarel’s Orchestra and “Lavender,” which was played on a coast to coast radio broadcast in 1954 by the Ralph Fay Orchestra.
Win was an avid collector of theater organ recordings. She was a member of the Free State Theater Organ Society and the Potomac Valley Chapter of the American Theater Ogan Society. She enjoyed gardening and was a member of Grace United Methodist Church.
Win passed away at the age of 89 on May 11, 2003.
This web site was originally created by Robert “Bob” Everely Smith for his jazz band "Take 2" located in Santa Cruz, California.
Bob started playing the trumpet in second grade. At 16, his talent was compared to Harry James. By the time Bob graduated from high school in 1943, he had toured with Pinky Tomlinson, Chuck Cabot, Johnny Richards, Alvino Ray and Tommy Dorsey.
Bob joined the war effort at age 18 to become a fighter pilot but was injured in a flight accident and received an honorable discharge. He then joined the Third Air Force Band playing USO shows until the war’s end. In 1948 he put down his horn and went on to UCLA and a career in business.
Bob retired in 1992 after a serious heart condition where he picked up his trumpet after forty years to help strengthen his lungs. He never put it down again. He formed his own band in his late seventies, "Take 2 Jazz", with musicians decades younger than him playing gigs featuring pieces by Duke Ellington, Thelonius Monk and Dizzy Gillespie among others. With "Take 2", he played numerous Jazz Festivals in Santa Cruz, Monterey and Palo Alto. He often played gigs until 3 A.M. in his eighties and played his last gig on Dec. 17, 2011 which was shared with family and friends.
Bob passed away at the age of 85 on January 23, 2011.