With his father, Cullum established the San Antonio jazz club The Landing in 1963. He had broadcast performances from the club on the Public Radio International series Riverwalk Jazz since 1989. Cullum performed at Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, and Austin City Limits. He recorded for Jazzology, Columbia, Audiophile, Stomp Off, and his label, Riverwalk.
From 1993 until 2005, Cullum and his band were on the faculty of the Stanford Jazz Workshop at Stanford University in California. In 2011, Stanford University Libraries acquired Cullum's "Riverwalk Jazz" archives, comprising over 400 radio show programs. In January 2013, Stanford's Archive of Recorded Sound made the recordings available to listen to on its web site.
The Jim Cullum Jazz Band is an acoustic seven-piece traditional jazz ensemble. Since 1989, the band has been featured nationally on their weekly public radio series, Riverwalk Jazz. The band performed live at the Landing Jazz Club on the San Antonio River Walk from 1981 to 2011.
The Jim Cullum Jazz Band is the successor to the Happy Jazz Band, which was formed in 1962 by Cullum and his father, Jim. The next year, a group of San Antonio investors founded the Landing Jazz Club in the basement of the Nix Hospital building on the San Antonio River Walk. The Landing was the second business established on the Riverwalk after the Casa Rio Mexican restaurant. Cullum took over leadership of the band after his father died in 1973 and changed the name to the Jim Cullum Jazz Band.
The Mission City Hot Rhythm Cats, a six-piece traditional jazz band, is composed of several former members of the Jim Cullum Jazz Band.
JIM CULLUM, JR., Bandleader, cornet
In the 1950s when everyone else his age was listening to Elvis Presley and Connie Francis, Jim Cullum locked onto the sounds of early jazz greats Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, King Oliver and Jelly Roll Morton. At first he thought he might want to play trombone, but one day while helping his dad in the grocery business, Jim caught sight of an antique cornet in a store window and fell in love.
While attending Trinity University in San Antonio, Jim formed a seven-piece traditional jazz group, the Happy Jazz Band, with his father the late Jim Cullum, Sr., who had played professionally with Jack Teagarden and others in the 1940s. In 1963, a group of San Antonio business leaders established The Landing, a jazz club on the San Antonio River Walk, as a showcase for the Happy Jazz Band. Under Jim, Jr.'s direction the band evolved into a nationally-acclaimed professional company known as The Jim Cullum Jazz Band. Jim Cullum’s lifelong passion has been researching, preserving and presenting jazz and popular song from the turn of the 20th century to the mid-1940s.
DAVID HOLT
David Holt is a four-time Grammy Award-winning musician and storyteller, the host of shows on public radio and television, and an historian devoted to traditional American music and storytelling. A native of Garland, Texas, Holt recalls growing up in a family of informal storytellers for whom storytelling was a natural part of family life. As co-host of Riverwalk Jazz, David tells the story of jazz in America, interviews jazz pioneers and today’s leading figures of classic jazz. He is also host of public television's Folkways and can also be seen in the popular film, O Brother Where Art Thou.
RON HOCKETT, clarinet
Growing up in Evanston, Illinois, Ron Hockett began playing professionally with George Brunies, the Salty Dogs, Bobby Gordon and Eddie Davis while still in high school. Also a member of the popular youth group, the Windjammers, Hockett took part in rehearsals that turned into jam sessions with visiting greats Bobby Hackett, Bud Freeman, and Jimmy McPartland. While attending Princeton, Ron toured the Orient with the Dukes of Dixieland. From 1970 to 1999, he was the lead saxophonist and clarinet soloist in the "President's Own" U.S. Marine Band in Washington, D.C., performing throughout the U.S. and Europe, and making regular appearances at the White House. Ron Hockett took over clarinet duties in The Jim Cullum Jazz Band in May, 1999.
KENNY RUPP, trombone
Kenny Rupp’s trombone style is reminiscent of Jack Teagarden, whom he acknowledges as a major influence. Rupp holds Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the Manhattan School of Music in New York. He had a long career in New York playing in symphony orchestras, chamber ensembles, Broadway pit bands; and behind vocalists Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, Sarah Vaughn, and others. He also worked in the bands of Maynard Ferguson, Woody Herman, Thad Jones/Mel Lewis, Clark Terry and Vince Giordano's Nighthawks. Kenny Rupp took over trombone duties with The Jim Cullum Jazz Band in 2000.
JIM TURNER, piano
Born and raised in Los Angeles where he studied music with his father, the noted classical pianist and teacher Robert E. Turner, Jim Turner later studied jazz piano with Johnny Guarnieri and Dick Cary. Turner has also enjoyed a career as an award-winning producer of piano recordings. His producing credits include Teddy Wilson, George Shearing, Chick Corea, Oscar Peterson, Dick Hyman, Floyd Cramer and Steve Allen.
HOWARD ELKINS, banjo, guitar and vocals.
Jim Cullum first heard Howard Elkins playing in El Paso, Texas in 1978. Howard joined the band the next day and he has been holding down the guitar/banjo chair in the group ever since. Howard proved to be a rhythm guitarist par excellence and provides rock-solid time to the band's rhythm section. He is the composer of the Riverwalk Jazz theme, “Nightspell.” Elkins plays a 1920s-vintage Epiphone archtop, four-string tenor guitar and a 1930s Gibson tenor banjo. When he's not working with the band, Howard enjoys tending his ten-acre pecan grove southwest of San Antonio.
DON MOPSICK, bass
A native of New Jersey, educated at Rutgers, Berklee and the Manhattan School of Music, Don Mopsick had a thirteen-year, free-lance career in Florida, playing concert dates with Al Cohn, Buddy DeFranco, Clark Terry, Mose Allison, Warren Vache, Jr., Scott Hamilton, Flip Phillips, Kenny Davern and others before joining The Jim Cullum Jazz Band in 1991. Mopsick plays an antique German double bass set-up with gut strings and high action in the manner of the pre-amplified era. Don’s approach to bass playing is completely acoustic, and one hears echoes of Bill Johnson, Pops Foster, and Milt Hinton in his work. Don also serves as Webmaster.
MICHAEL WASKIEWICZ, drums
Michael Waskiewicz is a youthful protégé of longtime Cullum band drummer Ed Torres. He uses drumming techniques and equipment found in the earlier drumming styles of Zutty Singleton, Ray Bauduc, and Baby Dodds. Michael joined the band in January 2000, and has been on the stand ever since except for a hiatus in New Orleans where he worked with Banu Gibson, Duke Heitger, and led his own band, featuring Evan Christopher, at Fritzel's on Bourbon Street.
I Only Have Eyes For You
Jim Cullum Jazz Band Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I can't see anyone but you
Sha bop sha bop
Are the stars out tonight
I don't know if it's cloudy or bright
I only have eyes for you dear
But I can't see a thing in the sky
I only have eyes for you
I don't know if we're in a garden
Or on a crowded avenue
You are here and so am I
Maybe millions of people go by
But they all disappear from view
And I only have eyes for you
The lyrics of Jim Cullum Jazz Band's song "I Only Have Eyes for You" speak of a love that is all-consuming and consuming. The singer's love is so strong that it has blinded him to anything and anyone but his love interest. The song is about how nothing else matters, not the stars or the moon, not even where they are physically located. All that matters is the presence of the loved one. The lyrics "Maybe millions of people go by, But they all disappear from view, And I only have eyes for you" captures the intensity of the singer's feelings. The love is not simply a preference, it is an obsession that robs the singer of the ability to see anything else.
The lyrics of "I Only Have Eyes for You" paint a vivid picture of a love that is all-consuming and all-encompassing. The singer's love is so complete that it has blinded him to everything else in the world. The song speaks to the idea that love can be both beautiful and dangerous, and that it can take over a person's entire world. The lyrics are simple yet powerful, and the music complements them perfectly. Together, they create a love song that truly stands the test of time.
Line by Line Meaning
My love must be a kind of blind love
I am so deeply in love with you that it feels like I can't see anything else but you. In other words, my love for you is so strong and potent that I am almost totally blinded to other things around me.
I can't see anyone but you
Despite being surrounded by numerous people, I am focused solely on you. My love for you is so intense that it feels like you are the only one that matters to me at the moment.
Are the stars out tonight
I am so enthralled by you that I am unaware of what is happening around me, such as whether or not the stars are visible in the sky.
I don't know if it's cloudy or bright
My focus is solely on you, such that I am unconcerned about the weather or any other environmental factors around me, as they do not matter as much as you do to me.
I only have eyes for you dear
Out of everyone around me, you are the only one that I am interested in, to the point of having extreme tunnel vision. I am solely focused on you.
The moon may be high
It is possible that the moon is high in the sky, but that does not register with me as my focus is only on you.
But I can't see a thing in the sky
My unwavering attention is solely on you, so even if there were other celestial bodies in the sky, I am not aware of or interested in them since the only thing that matters to me is you.
I don't know if we're in a garden
I am so focused on you that I don't care about my surroundings to the point where I can't even tell if we're in a soothing garden or a busy street. In either case, none of it matters as long as I am with you.
Or on a crowded avenue
I am so engrossed in you that I have no idea if we are in a noisy avenue or a lightless alley. As long as you are around, the environment and other people don't matter to me.
You are here and so am I
You are in my vicinity, and I am happy and content being near you. I want to savor and enjoy every moment spent near you.
Maybe millions of people go by
Although there may be thousands of other people near us, none of them matter because you are the only one that is significant to me. None of them stands out like you do.
But they all disappear from view
Although other people are close by, they are of no significance to me since you are the only one that registers in my vision. Therefore, they are all invisible to me.
And I only have eyes for you
You have my full and undivided attention, and I am intent on making the most out of our time together. All of my focus is solely on you.
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: AL DUBIN, HARRY WARREN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind