Cruising with Smiley Trefethen
As Told by Charlie Jennison
Tommy Gallant and Smiley Trefethen, his bass player friend from Rye, used to play for the dinner cruise to the Isles of Shoals on a regular basis. They developed quite a reputation in the Seacoast area as being one of the hippest musical ensembles on the Seacoast and would also appear regularly at the now defunct Pilot House and Saunders’ Restaurant a few miles down the coast.

Smiley was known for his dry sense of humor. One particularly good night on the boat, they had just finished a swinging version of the standard tune, “I Left My Heart In San Francisco,” when a dining customer approached the bandstand and said to Tommy, “Hey, do you guys know a tune called, ‘I Left My Heart In San Francisco?’” Smiley turned to Tommy, leaned over his bass, and answered, “Apparently not.”