Celebration of a native son: Musicians banding together to honor the late Ron Altbach

Jun. 3—Everything always seemed to come back to Olcott for King Harvest.

It was the place the band called home after their hit song "Dancing in the Moonlight" climbed the charts in 1973.

Ron Altbach, the Olcott native who played the unmistakable piano introduction to the song, was the one to suggest the band go there in the first place.

"After we signed the contract with Perception Records, we had to figure out where we're going to live," Rod Novak, Altbach's King Harvest bandmate, recalled. "That was when Ronnie said, 'Let's go to Olcott.'"

Nearly 40 years later, the band returned home for what turned out to be its final performances with its four founding members, drawing a crowd of about 3,000 people.

On Feb. 21, Altbach died unexpectedly from complications of pneumonia in New York City.

The remaining members of King Harvest will return to Olcott for the first time in a decade for a concert celebrating Altbach's life, music and legacy July 29 at the Historic Krull Park Amphitheater.

This will be the first time Novak and the band's founding guitarist Ed Tuleja have been in Olcott since the King Harvest reunion show in 2012 and a subsequent 2013 show paying tribute to singer Dave "Doc" Robinson, who died shortly after the 2012 performance.

Among the musicians joining Novak and Tuleja will be guitarist Dave Stoll, drummer Dan Stoll, bassist Tom Wright and pianist Krista Seddon.

They will perform several songs from King Harvest's catalog that provided the foundation of Altbach's career.

That long career started had humble beginnings in Newfane where Altbach played piano and trombone in bands both inside and outside of school.

George Bridgeman, an Altbach family friend, played with him in his earliest rock 'n' roll band, The Newfies, in the late 1950s and early '60s. He recalls being impressed by 13-year-old Ron's musicianship.

"I discovered that he was a jewel, right off the bat," Bridgeman said. "He obviously had much capability musically as a young fella and right out of the box he just could play."

After graduating from Newfane High School, Altbach split his time between playing with various bands, while attending Cornell University, and studying with classical pianist Nadia Boulanger in France.

By 1969, Altbach had moved to Paris and urged his bandmates to join him.

"The sense of urgency was so intense that I got on a plane and landed in London the day after Christmas 1969," Tuleja recalled. "The skies were leaden gray, the meat was gray, the vegetables were gray and I couldn't understand a word they said."

It was during this time that the band that would become King Harvest started to take shape, but they needed a consistent name.

"We started getting gigs and we've been using different names. We just decided that we'd better have a real name because it was getting too confusing," Novak said.

They ultimately decided on the group's name from the song "King Harvest (Has Surely Come)" by The Band.

"We did not have much American music (in Paris). The one thing we did have was The Band's brown album," Tuleja said.

It was at this time the band recorded "Dancing in the Moonlight," a song that then-drummer Wells Kelly introduced to the band. Kelly brought over a copy of the song recorded by the band Buffolongo.

"We listened to it and said, 'Wow, that's a great song.' Everybody thought it should be a hit," Novak said.

After recording their version and releasing it in 1972, the single was not initially as successful as the band had hoped.

"We recorded "Dancing in the Moonlight" thinking, 'Boy, this is gonna be it,' because everybody loves it, and it just flopped in Europe," Novak said.

The band would then go on hiatus and its members scattered around the world. Altbach made his way to Los Angeles where he met and worked with members of The Beach Boys.

The song's producer, Jack Robinson, shopped the single to a small American label called Perception Records. In early 1973, the song began to take off in different U.S. markets and reached a peak position of 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart.

When King Harvest reconvened to capitalize on the song's success, Altbach convinced the band to call Olcott home.

Throughout 1973, the band would rehearse in the basement of the local Methodist Church and a warehouse somewhere on Route 18, Novak recalled. They would perform in bars and clubs in the area including Black Stallion and Owl's Nest.

However, it wasn't long until the band had to retool once again.

Perception Records went bankrupt shortly after the album "Dancing in the Moonlight" was released and King Harvest was without a recording contract, again.

"We were in the hands of a lawyer who was the receiver for the company and that lawyer wasn't going to let us do anything," Novak said.

Despite the struggles, Altbach worked his connections with members of The Beach Boys and his experience in Los Angeles to get King Harvest a new record deal with A&M Records.

"This was our second chance," Novak said.

The result was a self-titled album released in 1975. However, a lack of promotion by A&M doomed that album as well.

"We just about had it at that time. Ronnie was just he was ready to climb a wall," Novak recalled.

Then Altbach suggested the band back up The Beach Boys as they were looking to expand their live band. The members of King Harvest ended up playing with The Beach Boys into the late 1970s and this led to several collaborations with its members.

Altbach and Robinson joined Mike Love's band Celebration and Altbach co-wrote multiple songs that ended up on The Beach Boys' albums including "Lady Lynda" with guitarist Al Jardine.

As the 1980s wore on, Altbach began to get involved in the film and entertainment industry with Mediacom Filmworks. It was through this that he met his wife, Elka, in 1987.

While she was not aware of "Dancing in the Moonlight" or King Harvest when they first met, she said they formed a natural bond over their love of classical music. They married in Los Angeles later that year, and Altbach adopted her two children from a previous relationship. Ultimately the family split their time between homes in New York City, France and, of course, Olcott.

In addition to his love of rock music, Altbach was an avid sailor since childhood and often gave classical piano recitals. No matter where they went, Elka said, Ron always knew somebody and was very personable.

"He was like a walking Rolodex of people," she said. "He knew people in every kind of world of business, politics, music."

Elka and Altbach's bandmates agree that considering all the places he had been in his life, Olcott is the most fitting one to celebrate his life and legacy with family, friends and fans.

Admission to the concert at the Krull Park Amphitheater is free. Donations will be accepted to put toward the purchase of a piano that will be dedicated in Altbach's memory at Newfane High School.