It’s about time I wrote this blahg.
Let me say that I think this blahg will practically write itself…which it probably should if it has to wait around for me. Let me also say what I won’t talk about in this blahg. I won’t comment on Doug Ford being elected as the new Premier of Ontario and how he and his party are rife with scandal and are attacking the working class and poor and disenfranchised of this Province. No, I won’t talk about that. I also won’t go on and on about my problems with my Father’s health and how he’s been home twice since October 15th and back again and how Belleville General Hospital had him on the mat with a count of 9 with us all around expecting him to lose the fight. Didn’t happen. He’s better and ornery and I hope to have him home again next week. I’m not talking about that though. This blahg is back to the music and an interesting story about a a dixieland jazz band that was but wasn’t. I know, I flipped the title. Read on and you’ll find out why.
Earlier this year, at a thrift store in Kingston, I picked up a jazz band record that looked very interesting. 
It was Dixieland played by The Left Bank Bearcats on the Reo label (this is probably a Canada label and in the USA the record was issued on the Sommerset label). 
I had never heard of the band but the front cover and the description on the back cover sounded interesting. If you click on the back cover image to the right, you will get the description of the band. Here’s the description from the back cover:
Paris and New Orleans. Both of these cities suggest about the same things to the traveler and the dreamer; Gayiety, food, the spice of naughtiness and music.
It’s small wonder that Parissiennes have taken to the greatest of all New Orleans commodities; Jazz. The urban Frenchman always expresses himself in a free and uninhibited manner and yet never loses his identity as a Frenchman. Is this not so of Dixieland? Remain harmonious and sympathetic to the group, but never conform to preconceived pattern. This is Jazz – This is Paris.
The romance of the Left Bank with all its color and excitement has an individual quality that sets it apart from the rest of Paris just as the French quarter in New Orleans is unlike any place in any American City. The Left Bank Bearcats are a group of young French jazz devotees that play the various small cafes and bistros of Monmarte. Except for Marcel Durand, the leader (and trombonist) no member of the group has ever had any formal musical training. Jacques Cas the drummer worked four years as a deck hand aboard a French luxury liner and spent every off duty moment with the ship’s orchestra at rehearsals.
Bernard Gasté plays piano, Robert Eluist banjo, Louis Marquant guitar. Aron Dubois, the trumpeter, is an ardent fan of Louis Armstrong and boasts the largest personal collection of “Satchmo” recordings on the continent. These sides were made after closing hours at Maison Diabolique. They were recorded under the supervision of D.L. Miller.
Whether you are a student at Sobornne, a tourist, gendarme or just a darn fussy record collector, we’re certain you will enjoy the Left Bank Bearcats in Dixieland. Cover art by Joe Krush.
I can only tell you that I was very intrigued when reading the back cover of the LP. A mysterious french band doing New Orleans style jazz? Recorded after hours at the Maison Diabolique? Who were these guys? I had to know more. First, here’s a sample of one of the songs from the LP. I wanted to choose something that swings and wasn’t one of the traditional songs you hear on most Dixieland Jazz LPs:
CHINATOWN, MY CHINATOWN
Some research online brought me more information about the band. 
They had recorded 3 LPs on the Sommerset label. I had the first and was able to track down “The Left Bank Bearcats Take George M. Cohan to Dixieland”. 
On the rear cover of that record was a little more about the band. Some of the description of the band and their backgrounds and interests is lifted right from the back of the first LP and we also find out that they’re still under the direction of D.L. Miller and the cover art is once again by Joe Krush:
Dixieland is as purely American as the Eifel Tower is French. However, while Dixieland itself was born and developed here, the appetite for this happy music has not been confined to our shores. As stompin’ evidence of its popularity overseas, we present this program of dixie all the way by a group of Parisian jazz devotees – The Left Bank Bearcats. This is the second Long Play record of the Bearcats released on Somerset. Their first release, “The Left Bank Bearcats in Dixieland” (Somerset P-1400), has racked up such an impressive sales figure that we found ourselves back in Maison Diabolique laying down more tapes after hours.
The Left Bank Bearcats are a group of young french jazz devotees that play the various small cafes and bistros Monmartre. Except for Marcel Durand, the leader (and trombonist) no member of the group has ever had any formal musical training. Jacques Cas the drummer worked four years as a deck hand aboard a French luxury liner and spent every off duty moment with the ships orchestra at rehearsals.
Bernard Gasté plays piano, Robert Eluist banjo, Louis Marquant guitar. Aron Dubois, the trumpeter, is an ardent fan of Louis Armstrong and boasts the largest personal collection of “Satchmo” recordings on the continent.
This collection of George M. Cohan songs (except for one original by J. Kuhn, Jr.—“It’s George With Joe”) has been causing no end of packed performances at the Diabolique. Cohan was most certainly one of our greatest song writers. He was as uncomplicated a person as the wonderful songs he wrote. He was loved by his contemporaries while alive, as much as his songs are loved after his leaving us.
We reel that tunes and performance of this calibre will be with us a long time. After all, it is the good things that last.
Recording under direction of D. L. Miller at Maison Diabolique. Remote audio mix G. Berliot. Cover art Joe Krush.
Give a listen to the original song from this LP, “It’s George (M. That Is) With Joe”:
Okay, so we didn’t really learn a great deal more about the band from the cover of the second album. 
In fact, we don’t learn much more either with the release of the third album “the Left Bank Bearcats in Hi-Fi!” which was also released as “the Left Bank Bearcats in ‘Stereo’ “. Here’s what we get from the back cover:
Due to the many requests since the first two releases, we returned to the Maison Diabolique, and not only give you more of the Left Bank Bearcats Dixieland, but give it to you both in high fidelity and stereophonic sound!
For those of you that haven’t met the group until now, they are all young French jazz devotees who (with the exception of Marchel Durand) have never had formal musical training. Monsier Durand (leader and trombonist) and his group play the various small cafes and bistros Monmarte. Jacques Cas, former French liner deck hand on drums, Robert Eluist on banjo, Bernard Gasté on piano, Louis Marquant on guitar, “Satchmo” Armstrong fan, Aron Dubois on trumpet, and Jacques Bonner on clarinet, were the original men, and since out last recording another has joined their midst. Jon Gautreaux was formerly a classical bass player, who, for undisclosed personal reasons left the concert halls and started sitting in on the Monmarte sessions. Needless to say, he found the tuba more his forte and is now a regular Bearcat member.
Again these sides were made after hours and again the Left Bank Bearcats give you Dixieland “tres magnifique”.
Recording under the direction of D.L. Miller. Cover art by Will Dressler.
So, we still don’t know much more about the band but John Gautreaux has joined on tuba and Will Dressler has done the artwork. You can click on the rear cover on the left which is in fact the rear cover of the “the Left Bank Bearcats in ‘Stereo’ ” and not the Hi-Fi version. I haven’t tracked down that LP but I have been able to get the audio files so I’ll offer up one from that third record in the ‘Stereo’ version. This time it’s “Good News on Bourbon St.”
At this point, I still had questions. What happened to the band? Why only three albums? Where was this famous Maison Diabolique? The answers to these questions will surprise you. The fact is, the band wasn’t a french band at all and there was no Maison Diabolique. It was all lies. In researching the band, I came across two videos that explained the truth behind the Left Bank Bearcats. The first is an interview with Al Leopold who was the real trombonist on the three albums. On the albums he was credited as Marcel Durand. Have a listen to his interview:
So, the mystery began to unravel. The albums actually were recorded in Philadelphia by American musicians. I then found a second video posted by the son of Joe Techner who played the trumpet on the albums but was credited as Aron Dubois. Here’s that video:
What’s really interesting is the text comment under the video posted by Joe Techner’s son. It gives a little bit more about the whole ruse and I post it here as a quote from the Youtube page where the video is posted:
“My father Joe Techner (pictured) was trumpet on the three Left Bank Bearcats “Dixieland” albums. Crazy solo at 1:54. The Left Bank Bearcat albums were knock-off albums probably made by Dave Miller’s Somerset label to cash-in on the Dukes of Dixieland albums that debuted in May 1957. The recordings were locally supervised by Joe Kuhn, an army musician buddy of my dad.
My dad recalled that the records were sort of “underground” since those responsible for them didn’t go through the “proper channels” to make them. As a result, according to my father, Kuhn was beat up and later died. The official cause of death was cancer of the spinal cord following a two-year illness.
Kuhn was probably beaten up for years of under-the-table recordings for Dave Miller. Miller imported recordings he supervised in Germany using readily-available cheap labor from the local musicans in post-World War II Europe. But Miller apparently didn’t have the availability of French musicians at the time. So he tried to pass the Left Bank Bearcats LPs (“recorded in Paris”) as some of these imports.
Kuhn made the recordings hastily and clandestinely. However, local Philly musicians recognized the players’ styles on the albums and the players themselves kidded about it. Those that controlled the music business came after Kuhn. Miller was elusive and was mostly abroad in Germany or England.
Most of what we know about these recordings comes from trombonist Al Leopold, who also played trombone in the band of Jan Savitt from 1937 – 1941. Leopold told both PhilaVideo and Belgian jazz discographer Walter Bruyninckx the story. Leopold got a phone call from Dave Miller producer of the Somerset label to put a band together that had to play Dixieland music but had to sound like a French amateur band! Miller put out the recording “as recorded in Paris” with fictitious French names! Aaron Dubois was Joe Techner (trumpet), Marcel Durand was Al Leopold (trombone, leader), Jack Bonner was Frank Lewis (clarinet), Bertrand Gasté was Bernie Lowe (piano), Robert Eluist was Billy La Pata (banjo, guitar), Jon Gautreaux was Joe Kuhn (bass, tuba) and Jacques Cas was Jack Cassidy (drums).
Al Leopold told me that the first album was Somerset P1400 recorded at the Reco-Art studio, 212 N. 12th St. in Philadelphia, but Al can’t remember the exact dates although he thinks they must have been made 1956-1957. The second album was Somerset SF8300 and was recorded in Swarthmore, PA. The third album was Somerset P5300, recorded in Wallingford, PA and there’s some history about this LP. Dave Miller chose as location a bar which had a room behind for all sorts of events. The bar and the room were both connected to the toilet in between. Miller wanted to add some echo to this LP and opened the toilet door on the room side. After the first number they were listening to the balance when suddenly there was a flush of a toilet so Dave decided they should make the record without an echo!”
This “bar” was most likely Silvio “Babe” D’Ignazio’s The Towne House in Media, Pa. A picture of this tavern is on Somerset LP # 7600.
In a blog, Dave Stoddard accurately recounts how these recordings were viewed in Philly music circles, “The 1957 LPs were partly performances, partly musical jokes (hence the pseudonyms). I was aware of the records because friends of mine knew Al Leopold, and he had mentioned recording them. Once, to Leopold’s absolute delight, a jazz aficionado trying to impress him described (erroneously) having heard the Left Bank Bearcats play in Paris.”
In 1997, I contacted Al Sherman, owner of Alshire Records in Burbank, Calif. At the time, Sherman owned the Somerset catalog. I told Sherman the recordings were not made in Paris and he became irate. He knew it was a lie. At the time, I purchased copies of the Left Bank Bearcats LPs from Sherman. He mailed me USED copies with the name Dave Miller crossed out on the liner notes! The Somerset catalog is now owned by Madacy Entertainment, Montreal. I contacted Madacy but they showed no interest nor provided any information when requested. They were more interested in Dave Miller’s 1955 recordings of Bill Hailey and the Comets on his earlier Essex label.
Philadelphia Evening Bulletin March 12, 1962, page 31: JOSEPH F. KUHN, Musical Director Joseph F. Kuhn, composer, arranger and conductor, died Saturday. He was 37 and lived at 2423 Poplar road, Havertown. Mr. Kuhn was musical director for Miller International Co., and was well known for his recording work in Hollywood, the east coast and Germany. Surviving are his wife, Anna Marie, an opera singer; three sons, Kevin, David and Joseph; his mother, Mrs. F. G. Kuhn, and a sister. Requiem mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Thursday at St. Denis Roman Catholic Church, Oakmont.
I recently met Joe Kuhn’s son Kevin who remembered Miller well. Perhaps out of guilt, Miller treated them to boat trips down the shore. Miller died in London May 24, 1985.”
Okay, is your mind blown yet? An all-American band recording as a Paris band with fake names in a fake bar.
By the way, the Somerset LP #7600 that is referenced in the quote above is “Lee Gotch’s Ivy Barflies – To The Tables Down At Mory’s”. A picture of it can be seen on the right. Will the craziness never end? From that one thrift shop find of the first Left Bank Bearcats record we get great jazz and a conspiracy to deceive the music buying public. I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried.
I’m going to end this blahg because nothing more I could say would change the lies into truths. It’s unfortunate that these albums are long out of print because they’re fun. The deception still gave us some great music. I’ve decided to post all three albums as full downloads so get them before they disappear:
Dixieland played by the Left Bank Bearcats
http://www.mediafire.com/file/e635jv6bb8s61r0/Dixieland.rar/file
The Left Bank Bearcats Take George M. Cohan to Dixieland
http://www.mediafire.com/file/ehz7cc9dx4xzzxv/Take_George_M._Cohan_To_Dixieland.rar/file
The Left Bank Bearcats in ‘Stereo’
http://www.mediafire.com/file/by0s9ddwdemrt2k/The_Left_Bank_Bearcats_In_Stereo.rar/file
If anyone asks you where you downloaded the Left Bank Bearcats albums, deny everything. Tell them it’s a band that wasn’t…but was. You get the drift.