Mel Stewart Jazzes it up in Munich, West Germany
Title: Mel Stewart Jazzes it up in Munich, West Germany
Source: CBS Press Release
Author: CBS
Date: August 28, 1984
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Mel Stewart, who is featured in the role of Billy Melrose in “Scarecrow and Mrs. King,” which starts its second season this fall for broadcast on Mondays (8:00-9:00 PM, PT) on the CBS Television Network, recently found that he had failed to pack one of his most important possessions when he went on location to West Germany for the adventure-drama series.
“Scarecrow and Mrs. King,” which stars Kate Jackson and Bruce Boxleitner, is filming five episodes abroad for the fall season. Stewart’s presence was needed for scenes to be shot in Munich. The city impressed him with its vital, contemporary energy, but one thing seemed to him to be missing — jazz.
“I simply cannot subsist without jazz,” said Stewart, who was a full-time professional musician when he was still a teen-ager. He also played tenor sax in an Army band.
“When I asked a guy in a Munich restaurant if he had any jazz records and he pulled out an old Frank Sinatra album, well…”
Soon, however, Stewart discovered Schwabing, a student-oriented district that has been called the Greenwich Village of Munich. There, he encountered an embarrasment of riches — young German jazz players whose talents amazed him. Indeed, he became so enthusiastic that he regretted having left his saxophone at home.
A phone call remedied the situation, and his sax soon arrived by jet. Quickly, Stewart’s nightly jam sessions with young German musicians became an after-work draw for all the actors and crew members of “Scarecrow and Mrs. King.”