Big band jazz fills Ulmer’s tank
Ross Ulmer had the drive to become a full-time professional musician, but he shifted gears and has no regrets.
Even so, the Lloydminster car dealer is still a serious jazz trombone player.
The Ulmer Auto group owns 14 car dealerships in Saskatchewan and Alberta. The empire started when Ross’s father bought the General Motors dealership in North Battleford in the early 1970s.
By then, Ross was at the University of Saskatchewan, where he survived one term in engineering before switching over to music. He’d played trombone since childhood.
“I was the fourth kid. The girls played piano, the boys went into band. My brother played trumpet, my other brother played sax, so it was pretty well left over that I’d play trombone.”
He caught on fast, got the big band jazz bug and followed his passion into post-grad studies at North Texas State University.
“There’s just a thrill about playing with 15 other people and really tightly together,” Ulmer said. “It’ll put a smile on people’s faces.”
Becoming a working musician wasn’t easy, though. He joined the RCMP Band for two years, but the regimented lifestyle wasn’t for him. He would have liked to teach music at the university level, but no spots were open.
“I realized at that point as a trombone player that the signs were already on the wall. You had to be a keyboard player or a bass player or drummer to go professional,” Ulmer said.
Around the same time, his brother Doug invited him to get into the car business. And 34 years later, he’s still doing it.
There are parallels to be drawn between bands and business, Ulmer says. For spending money during school, he’d put bands together and book gigs.
“It’s very similar in business. You’ve got to know where you’re going. You’ve got to pull people from different backgrounds together.”
All along the way, Ulmer continued to play trombone. The Jamey Aebersold playalong recordings were key.
“I played pretty near every morning with a rhythm section on record. That’s what really kept me going.”
He tried quitting once, when the business expanded to Lloydminster, but that lasted only eight months.
“I couldn’t stand not having some kind of music at that level of excellence in my life.”
Over the years, Ulmer maintained contacts with the jazz world, including the Saskatoon Jazz Orchestra, which he’s played with several times.
The band’s next concert, Friends Remembered, was his inspiration, a chance to honour some influential musicians such as Frank Mantooth and Maynard Ferguson.
Ulmer’s mentor Phil Wilson, who teaches at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, came through with the music for Colonel Corn, which Ulmer remembers teaching at jazz camps in the 1970s and ’80s.
Ferguson’s MacArthur Park is another song Ulmer can’t wait to play.
“I’m excited just because it’s a classic. I’ve liked every version that’s out there whether it’s Donna Summer’s or the original.”
Ulmer says he got his work ethic from being an orchestral player because you practice 99 hours for every hour you perform. In the car business, he put in 60-hour work weeks for 30 years.
“There’s no shortcut. You see this dot.com thing when people become millionaires after four years, but more people get struck by lightning than that happens to.
“I’m just beginning to back off. I spend between 35 and 40 hours a week now. And it feels like a holiday,” he laughs. OF FURTHER NOTE: The Saskatoon Jazz Orchestra has spared no expense bringing in top-notch guest players from across the country.
Joining the group are Jim Brenan (sax), Ray Vasquez (trumpet), Brad Shigeta (trombone), Paul Read (piano, sax) and Jon McCaslin (drums).
The core group features Sheldon Corbett (alto sax), Adam Gillespie (alto sax), Nathan Degenhart (tenor sax), Doug Gillmour (bari sax), Dean McNeill (trumpet), Barrie Redford (trumpet), Dave Morgan (trumpet), Don Schmidt (trombone), Dawn McLean Belyk (bass trombone) and Gent Laird (bass).
In addition to the Saskatoon concert, the band performs Feb. 21 at 7:30 p.m. in Lloydminster’s Vic Juba Theatre and Feb. 22 at 2:30 p.m. in North Battleford at the Dekker Centre.
“I PLAYED PRETTY NEAR EVERY MORNING WITH A RHYTHM SECTION ON RECORD. THAT’S WHAT REALLY KEPT ME GOING.”
ROSS ULMER