ITALIAN JAZZMAN SPARKIE MIELE – AN
ORIGINAL BOSTON TREASURE
(Originally
published in the Boston Post Gazette May
19, 2000)
Spartaco
Silvio Giovanni (Sparkie) Miele is an inspiration, demonstrating the intrinsic
value and result of a lifetime spent pursuing a passion. Miele is a master of jazz, a crowd pleaser
who has never wanted to do anything but make music. He speaks and plays with great enthusiasm as
if his life in jazz is just beginning, but the world has been hearing the music
of his horns for decades.
Sparkie
Miele was born and raised in East Cambridge, one of eight children. At the age of 10, Sparkie told his father of
his desire to play the clarinet. Young
Sparkie was a lover of jazz from the beginning listening to Benny Goodman and
Artie Shaw among others. His father, an
Italian immigrant who played the guitar and mandolin, promised to help him buy
a clarinet if he agreed to learn solfeggio first. “Solfeggio is the art of reading music
without an instrument,” says Sparkie.
“My father gave me a book to accompany my studies that had come from
LaScala DeMilan Opera House in Italy.
After ten months of solfeggio, my father declared the time appropriate
to purchase a clarinet. It was a private
party deal and the guy that sold us the clarinet also had a saxophone. We bought them together.”
By the
age of 15, Sparkie was playing high school dances, block parties, and
neighborhood functions. At 16, he was
learning the profession at clubs in Scollay Square, to the relative disapproval
of his parents. “I got caught playing
there a few times,” Miele says. “ ‘Get home right now’, I was warned on more
than one occasion. But Scollay Square
was where I really developed my skills as a musician.” Playing the Bowdoin Café (now the Red Hat
Lounge), Rainbow Grill, and Imperial Hotel, Miele learned the jazz trade that
would carry him his entire life. “Doing
these shows I needed to know how to play more than one horn. You had to be able to double on instruments
because changes in songs demanded different players. It was a big plus that I was able to switch
horns and play different parts of songs.
As a result, my ability to double on instruments made me more versatile. It was my ticket for getting more gigs.”
Sparkie
finished high school at 18 and went on the road soon after. “I toured the Midwest with a territory
band. The experience was great! I learned a lot more about music because
touring gave me a chance to read more music.”
In
January 1951, Miele was drafted as a U.S. Army machine gunner. “I was called and I went. I let them know that I was a musician, but
they put me in a machine gun unit anyway.
I went through five months of training, but I was also playing service clubs
at the same time.”
When
Sparkie traveled to Japan en route to Korea, his luck changed for the
better. Twelve of us were ordered to
step out in front with the others.
Because we were musicians, we were going to be sent to Tokyo to audition
for General MacArthur’s band. Only six of
us would make it. The others would
continue on to Korea. Of course, I had
no horn with me. How was I going to
audition without a horn? Luckily, the
army supplied me with a clarinet and I was sent into a private room to warm
up. When I deemed myself ready, a man
took his place behind a piano. With the
piano accompaniment, I was told to play a melodic minor scale, and so
forth. He asked me if I played jazz, to
which I replied, ‘Sure do!’ Not long
after, I was told that I would be staying.”
While
in Japan, Miele played functions for dignitaries, but also toured the country
playing clubs with the Johnny Watson Kampai Kings. “Watson was a 1st Sergeant. He was a brilliant composer and
arranger. We had a seven piece orchestra
and toured Japan. One of Watson’s
earlier tunes, 720 in the Books, was very popular. It was recorded by RCA.”
Before
long, Sparkie’s time in Japan was up.
“Johnny wanted me to stay. He
told me that he could help me get gigs all over Japan. I thought that the clubs there were a ball,
but I opted to come home to the United States.”
When he
returned to Boston, Miele decided to further his musical studies. “I came upon a very talented composer and
arranger named Frank Cangliuso. He was
also a great clarinet and saxophone player.
He taught me the art of re-harmonization and composition. To this day, I still use this method.”
After
working stints at the Country Club in New York (where he became friends with
comedian Norm Crosby) and the strip on Miami Beach, Miele agreed to head off on
a tour of Europe and Africa that was to last for six months. “It was a U.S.O. tour. Went went to Turkey, France, Scotland, England,
Germany, and Africa which was very beautiful.
It was on this tour that I met the girl I was going to marry.” Marjorie, now his wife of almost 42 years,
was a singer on the tour.
Upon
his return from Europe, Sparkie found work on a jazz cruise touring the West
Indies. He found himself missing
Marjorie. He called her at home in
Whittier, California and told her that he wanted to marry her. “I had to go to California and ask her
father, which I did. We were married,
moved back to the east coast, and raised a family of three boys and one
girl. All have studied music. Christopher plays the reeds, Lisa the flute,
Stanley the trombone, and Daniel is the drummer. Christopher is currently playing in the
orchestra of Miss Saigon. We performed together as a family at a
nursing homes when the kids were young.”
Sparkie
and Marjorie moved to the slower life of Scituate to raise Christopher, Lisa,
Stanley, and Daniel. “I played behind
some big acts at the South Shore Music Tent,” says Sparkie. “I played with Melissa Manchester, the Fifth
Dimension, and Liberace just to name a few.
I can’t even remember all the acts that I backed up.”
The
kids were growing and Sparkie was still doing what he to do most, play
music. He decided to refocus his
concentration on jazz specifically, going to clubs with tapes of his music
trying to land jobs. “Before long I was
playing the Regatta Bar, Ryles, and Scullers regularly.”
As it
stands today, Sparkie has been a regular at the Marriott Copley’s Terrance
Lounge for five years, has been performing two nights a week at the Tosca
Restaurant in Hingham for six years, and has been a regular player at the Mill
Wharf Restaurant’s Jazz Brunch at Scituate Harbor on Sundays. Sparkie also plays at The Mall at Chestnut
Hill during Jazz Weekend festivities where he recently recorded his sixth
CD. “The ability to read music still
gets me a lot of work,” says Miele. “My
father’s influence was beneficial in that he forced me to learn solfeggio when
I was a kid.”
With a
storied past behind him, Sparkie speaks of his current musical endeavors with
energetic vitality. “I love playing live
jazz because what you see is what you get.
As a musician, you have to be on top of a lot of things. Live music is spontaneous and jazz should be
spontaneous.”
Does
Sparkie Miele think that music has changed over the years? “I think music has changed. Mine was the era of Swing with Dexter Gordon,
Zoot Sims, and Lester Young. The change
is good although music has gone in a different direction. I like contemporary musicians like Dave
Valentin, Frank West, and Michael Brecker who is more of an avante-garde
player. I appreciate their stuff, but I
don’t play like they do. I really dig
Branford Marsalis! I like his tenor and
he plays great soprano. He is extremely
talented.”
The
Spartacus Silvio Giovanni (Sparkie) Miele Quartet is made up of a number of
interchangeable players. “I like to
employ younger players because they know where they’re going and where they are
at. I have been very fortunate to have
had the musicians working for me that I have had, and I think that they enjoy
working for me. Piano players like Ron
Zack and Ferdinando Argenti are just great.
Dick DiCenso is a wonderful drummer and teacher. Drummer Gary Johnson has got great time. He is very consistent, subtle, and fiery at
the same time.”
You
would be hard pressed these days to find a man luckier, happier, or more
accomplished than Sparkie Miele. Accompanied by his wonderful wife and family
and able to do what he loves the most, Sparkie presses onward entertaining
crowds with his internationally influenced, but locally flavored brand of jazz. “I’m just loving doing everything that I’m
doing,” says Sparkie. “I’m enjoying it
more than I ever did. My wife has been a
saint and I love her deeply. It will be
42 years in October! I love my kids and
my grand kids. Music has been very
rewarding for me, and I recommend it for anyone as a career or an avocation.”
- Jay Gillespie
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