Bill Fulton on keys or piano with Accent

Accent at Cheers featuring Bill Fulton brought Accent to the stage at Cheers in Simi Valley, with Fulton on keys and a lineup featuring saxophonist Ronnie Crumbly, drummer Scott Mundy, bassist Adam Cohen and vocalist Curtis Traylor. Cheers occupied 1308 E. Los Angeles Ave., an address that would later take on a very different identity.

Accent’s personnel for the date reads like a snapshot of a working Southern California band: voice, saxophone, keyboards, bass and drums. With Curtis Traylor singing and Ronnie Crumbly on sax, the group had two featured voices in front of a rhythm section completed by Fulton, Adam Cohen and Scott Mundy. The surviving listing does not preserve a set list, so the musicians themselves provide the clearest picture of the evening.

Accent at Cheers in Simi Valley

The venue has since disappeared from Simi Valley nightlife. Today, The Hat operates at the same 1308 E. Los Angeles Ave. address. That makes the location easy to place on a current map even though the club itself is no longer there. For anyone who knew Cheers, the address connects two very different chapters of the property’s history.

The old listing also carries a reminder that club histories can end abruptly. Fulton’s original note links to newspaper coverage concerning the circumstances surrounding Cheers’ demise. For this page, the more immediate story is the band that worked there: Accent with a named five-piece lineup, playing a Simi Valley room whose address is still recognizable even though the venue name has vanished.

Bill Fulton with Accent

The engagement belongs to the Los Angeles chapter of Fulton’s performing career. His All About Jazz profile describes his move to Los Angeles in 1987, where live keyboard work continued alongside his studies at the Dick Grove School of Music and the composing and arranging work that followed. Fulton’s own site collects additional appearances in his keyboardist and pianist credits, while his arranging, composition and orchestration credits cover the writing side of his career. His present-day offerings are summarized under music services.

Artist: Accent
Date/Time: November 18, 1987 12:00 am
Venue: Cheers - CLOSED
Address: 1308 E Los Angeles Ave Simi Valley, CA 93065