tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21273870478676337302024-02-08T00:04:38.865-05:00Jazz BackstoryAdventures in the Jazz ArchiveMonk Rowehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02578795540044530298noreply@blogger.comBlogger165125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2127387047867633730.post-1104923560447188752022-09-05T11:37:00.001-04:002022-09-05T11:41:28.399-04:00The Jazz Backstory Podcast Debut!<p style="text-align: center;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDvrjgIaj_vu8A97IhEFQzC34FNQ7u8t_S7s8UJleEixNnRCyxLUu4HkJHlj6D-OpfduIxrU8Tr5355QU2pKldK5W9astTXh9rvKMHfzzXb4JhLDbcCqKbAa6TRK2f9xmuXNZZwjXiBpTVBsCx8uKOHU5_c21RBDbIGoAqoBuUTBUts0H945LgRPpQhQ/s600/microphone.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDvrjgIaj_vu8A97IhEFQzC34FNQ7u8t_S7s8UJleEixNnRCyxLUu4HkJHlj6D-OpfduIxrU8Tr5355QU2pKldK5W9astTXh9rvKMHfzzXb4JhLDbcCqKbAa6TRK2f9xmuXNZZwjXiBpTVBsCx8uKOHU5_c21RBDbIGoAqoBuUTBUts0H945LgRPpQhQ/w188-h189/microphone.jpg" width="188" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">We are pleased to announce the debut of our Jazz Backstory podcast. The eight episodes of Season 1 will be released weekly on Tuesdays, beginning with this episode. Use this link to listen: </span></div><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.Hamilton.edu/JazzBackstory" target="_blank">https://www.Hamilton.edu/JazzBackstory</a></span><br /></p>Monk Rowehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02578795540044530298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2127387047867633730.post-3423266613145066462021-01-19T12:22:00.000-05:002021-01-19T12:22:08.019-05:00Junior Mance 1928-2021<p style="text-align: center;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-xtUPQLs0W2f4Je0pkaYoV1uHsK9c9JouxmvFfHd5RQUF0ml3Aw-wttxe-ryUPAWNBKFY4ulKoGUMSfbXmca23A_6hPO4N1zZMggEvqP_sc2p_QxZIKavM36Ic1OUEoljFRdRdp9DJeoq/s439/JuniorMance.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="439" data-original-width="434" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-xtUPQLs0W2f4Je0pkaYoV1uHsK9c9JouxmvFfHd5RQUF0ml3Aw-wttxe-ryUPAWNBKFY4ulKoGUMSfbXmca23A_6hPO4N1zZMggEvqP_sc2p_QxZIKavM36Ic1OUEoljFRdRdp9DJeoq/s320/JuniorMance.jpg" /></a></div><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It has been
my privilege to meet and converse with a long list of notable jazz
personalities, and I thought of pianist Junior Mance as one of my favorite
guys. His wife, Gloria Clayborne Mance, announced his passing at home yesterday
after a long illness. My first reaction to hearing this news was to fetch my
autographed copy of the 1960s era “Harlem Lullaby” LP and play the title track.
It took me back to my junior high days when I listened to an all-night jazz
station and first heard this evocative Junior Mance composition.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We
interviewed Junior twice for the Fillius Jazz Archive and he shared fascinating
stories about his learning process, career path, and notable collaborations. Junior
worked as a sideman with none other than Cannonball Adderley, Joe Williams, and
many others, but spent most of his career as a leader of his own trio. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In a
fortuitous aligning of the stars, we were able to facilitate a CD of a
previously unreleased live date from 1964 with Joe Williams and the Junior
Mance Trio with Ben Webster as special guest. “Havin’ A Good Time” was produced
by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybjyxLuB2L4" target="_blank"><u>Joel Dorn</u></a> who also supervised Junior’s “Harlem Lullaby” LP. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In 2015 I
was able to bring The Junior Mance Trio to Hamilton for what turned out to be
his last road trip. He showed early signs of poor health, but his distinctive
brand of blues-drenched bop won over students and faculty alike.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">From the
Fillius archive, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaDRsBvZ6zw" target="_blank"><u>here is a link to the first YouTube interview</u></a> conducted
with Junior on July 27, 1995. The second interview, conducted on January 18,
1999, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZnqFw_m4yE" target="_blank"><u>can be found here</u></a>.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The archive
sends its deepest sympathy to Gloria, as we mourn the passing of yet another
jazz luminary.</span></p>
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{page:Section1;}</style> <br /></p>Monk Rowehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02578795540044530298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2127387047867633730.post-52645753608578766182020-10-29T16:03:00.000-04:002020-10-29T16:03:16.485-04:00Playlists!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9IY_7HfYE9VIv-5WoYzDJAK1YUYbHqil_vtRigJRHLQK8tYrgELuyPdSACE9Xx7nP_Io0kBu4Z4Y0VG8BkltGBMzcAAZQtrR9wL0wazkUm0ZIg4Kpz6nFMEHp54RDAA7SsgxcEyVswP2I/s215/PlaylistScreenshot.jpg.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="189" data-original-width="215" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9IY_7HfYE9VIv-5WoYzDJAK1YUYbHqil_vtRigJRHLQK8tYrgELuyPdSACE9Xx7nP_Io0kBu4Z4Y0VG8BkltGBMzcAAZQtrR9wL0wazkUm0ZIg4Kpz6nFMEHp54RDAA7SsgxcEyVswP2I/w320-h281/PlaylistScreenshot.jpg.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"> In January of 2017 we began uploading our video interviews to YouTube. The Fillius Jazz YouTube channel now contains 400 interview sessions with a diverse list of jazz personalities. We have now created 20 playlists by categories which enables an alphabetical search through players of the same instrument or specialty. Our categories include the following sections:</span><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Banjo Player Interviews<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Bassist Interviews<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Clarinetist Interviews<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Composer/Arranger Interviews</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Covid Interviews<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Drummer Interviews<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Filmmaker Interviews</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Flute Player Interviews <br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Guitarist Interviews <br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Jazz Historian Interviews</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Pianist Interviews </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Producer Interviews<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Saxophone/Woodwind Player Interviews <br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Trombonist Interviews</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Trumpet Player Interviews</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Tuba Player Interviews</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Vibraphonist Interviews <br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Violinist Interviews </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Vocalist Interviews<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Writer Interviews </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">To choose, or just browse through the interview playlists, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAs4ozKxI7GVTWsV789yMgw/playlists" rel="nofollow"><u>click here</u></a>.</span><br /></p><p><br /></p>Monk Rowehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02578795540044530298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2127387047867633730.post-65675863972853078282020-08-29T10:47:00.001-04:002020-08-29T10:47:46.043-04:00100 Years of Bird<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPtI16lrw5Xyw52pAy4pIHD77RZuZWgLArA_fbt8h-8Nx40aVGURDaUx6h8TMbPG6R4QdATG8HcR8MJcdgiOj-m8hVnUCUFbjLEO1LhmbJizlVzIceRZWwgP0M7DZzBI9-RRbg0fQ-1Q0w/s600/CharlieParker.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="394" data-original-width="600" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPtI16lrw5Xyw52pAy4pIHD77RZuZWgLArA_fbt8h-8Nx40aVGURDaUx6h8TMbPG6R4QdATG8HcR8MJcdgiOj-m8hVnUCUFbjLEO1LhmbJizlVzIceRZWwgP0M7DZzBI9-RRbg0fQ-1Q0w/s400/CharlieParker.jpg" width="400" /> </a></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This
morning I visited five internet sites professing to rank the greatest
saxophonists of all-time. Four of the five bestowed the honor on Charlie
Parker, and the fifth put him at number two behind John Coltrane. This
accurately represents Bird’s foremost position in jazz hierarchy.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">My first
exposure to Bird was not a recording, but an arrangement of the bebop classic
“Groovin’ High.” When Bird recorded this uptempo tune with Dizzy Gillespie, his
16-bar solo represented perfect balance of improvisation and composition. The
arranger transcribed the solo note for note and cleverly added four supporting
saxophone parts. The result was an exquisite blend of melodic and harmonic
elements. It was as difficult as any classical etude.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Today marks
Charlie Parker’s 100<sup>th</sup> birthday, and his influence has not diminished
since his death in 1955 at age 34. Bird and a small number of like-minded
instrumentalists changed the course of jazz and brought an enthusiastic cadre
of young musicians along for the ride.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Charles
McPherson offered a typical story of the effect of hearing Bird for the first
time, in our 1998 interview:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_d3O1C_TWfm5teajX-KCg6qosYx0HwQL4QF3jQMTqXPgbC3zAmVK1cgtV93spbxIXA9WdQd7ZRZ-UfTBTfnq2u_DC92jc6dQcEd6wHMB2LDAIkSvZpqyr_jPN6aUOyZtvajm8E8TiGdRH/s1600/CharlesMcPherson.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_d3O1C_TWfm5teajX-KCg6qosYx0HwQL4QF3jQMTqXPgbC3zAmVK1cgtV93spbxIXA9WdQd7ZRZ-UfTBTfnq2u_DC92jc6dQcEd6wHMB2LDAIkSvZpqyr_jPN6aUOyZtvajm8E8TiGdRH/s320/CharlesMcPherson.jpg" width="213" /></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">CM: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I grew up in Joplin, Missouri, which is a
little town south of St. Louis. I was there up until about nine years of age
then I moved to Detroit. But during the time that I was there, I did have
occasion to see various bands, coming from Kansas City, territorial bands. This
is when I was<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>maybe six. Every
year in the summertime these bands would come to this park in Joplin and play
for a week. I was quite impressed with the bands, with the music and with the
way the horns look, just the physicalities of the nice, gold, shiny horn.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">During the 50s, you didn’t have jazz in the schools.
We just played the regular school type things. We played marches and for
football games, morning auditorium and all that. It was fun playing and I
really liked it, This is what I wanted to do. There were some jazz records
around my house, but not a lot. And I did get interested in jazz and a student
at school told me about Charlie Parker. I’d never heard of him. And he said,
“You should really check this Charlie Parker out.” So I did. I went to a little
candy shop in my neighborhood and on the juke box there was a Charlie Parker
record, a little 45rpm. I think he was playing “Tico Tico,” which is a
Brazilian samba song. And it just blew me away. I knew immediately that this is
what I wanted to do. It made perfect sense to me. I didn’t need to be nurtured
or taught how to listen to this music. I was about 14, when I heard that, I had
no history of hearing a lot of jazz records, I had no concept of what’s
considered bebop and modern jazz or any of that. It was like this is the way
music should go. This is the way an instrumentalist should approach this. I
felt that. I immediately said okay, I’ve got to get these records. Then I was
told that this guy was a member of a group of musicians that play a certain
genre of jazz, and it’s called bebop. There was like a school of them. So I
said oh? That’s what that is. I had no idea that Charlie Parker represented
anything but a jazz musician. I knew nothing about schools and styles. Then I
just zeroed in on that. He was definitely my main influence</span></i><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">View
Charles’ YouTube video <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azwEZI7Gtyg"><u>here</u></a>.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The draw of
Parker’s innovations compelled numerous aspiring jazz artists to New York City.
Phil Woods offered his own variation on Bird’s magnetism:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsVpvFdbtvHmZ3dEPm-Y_zfkFXEYnIg6NlFFHKt8Ft8dlZQ6JpLtyE10BSG1NI3gSNUSuozBkkuWQn5M60gfZU7OumdTMhZzR0nrNPHjWiOFk3tGA0hDsW56_0eELX3RsQKd05SOCe9llZ/s1600/PhilWoods.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="430" data-original-width="447" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsVpvFdbtvHmZ3dEPm-Y_zfkFXEYnIg6NlFFHKt8Ft8dlZQ6JpLtyE10BSG1NI3gSNUSuozBkkuWQn5M60gfZU7OumdTMhZzR0nrNPHjWiOFk3tGA0hDsW56_0eELX3RsQKd05SOCe9llZ/s200/PhilWoods.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">PW: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I graduated high school at the age of 16 and
I wanted to go on with my music education. I went to the Manhattan School of
Music for a summer course. I wanted to be in New York, that’s where Charlie
Parker was.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">MR:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">You had to major on the clarinet, didn’t
you?</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">PW:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yeah. But clarinet, I think it served me
well. I could work on my Mozart and with the keyboard stuff work on Bach, and I
went to composers workshops. I sort of minored in composition. But at night I
would study bebop, Charlie Parker, I’d have the radio on and listen to
broadcasts from Birdland.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">MR:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">When was the first time you saw Charlie
Parker play live, and what kind of effect did it have on you?</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">PW:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The first music I ever played of jazz, my
teacher gave me transcribed Benny Carter solos. And then within that month,
Ellington came to town and I saw Johnny Hodges. And then I picked up the latest
record of this guy called Charlie Parker and it was “KoKo.” And that was it. I
mean between Benny Carter, Hodges and Parker all in one dose, I said yeah, man,
let me at it, my course was very clear, especially after hearing Bird. The first
time I saw Bird would be on 52<sup>nd</sup> Street when I was studying with
Lenny Tristano, I was still in high school. That’s where I first heard Charlie
Parker. I think he was sitting in with Milt Jackson and Howard McGhee.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">MR:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">What kind of person was he to you?</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">PW:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sweet. I remember one day he asked me, “Did
you eat today, young man?” I mean he didn’t know me from a hole in the wall, I
was just another alto player looking at his heels, and he said, “did you eat
today.” The misconception is that Charlie Parker was stealing everybody’s money
and using it to buy drugs, but he was very nice to young musicians. That’s
often overlooked. This is my only real Charlie Parker story up close — I was
working in a place called the Nut Club in the Village, Sheridan Square. Playing
for strippers, “Harlem Nocturne” ten times a night. This joint had so much
class they would hand you like little wooden hammers as you walked in the door,
so you could beat the shit out of the table for your favorite strippers. So
somebody said, “Bird’s across the street jamming.” And he was over at Arthur’s
Bar, which is still there to this day, it’s a little dinky joint. I walked in
and there was Bird and he was playing on the baritone sax. Now let me preface
this, at this period I didn’t know if my mouthpiece was right, I didn’t like
the reed, I don’t like this horn, it’s not happening, I need new stuff, you
know. So I got up my nerve and said, “Mr. Parker, perhaps you’d like to play my
alto?” And he said, “That would be very nice, son.” Man I ran across Seventh
Avenue and I got my horn, and I’m sitting — Bird was there and I was sitting
there and the piano was there, just a drummer — a snare drum and a piano and
Bird. And I’m sitting there. I hand him the horn. He played “Long Ago and Far
Away,” Jerome Kern. And I’m listening to this guy and it seems there’s nothing
wrong with my saxophone. The saxophone sounds pretty darn good, you know what I
mean? And he says, “Now you play.” And I says oh Jesus. When kids talk about
being awestruck, I know about awestruck. I did my feeble imitation of the
master. He said, “Sounds real good, son.” Oh man, this time I flew over Seventh
Avenue, and I played the Bejesus out of “Harlem Nocturne” that night. But I
mean just those few words were so important.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14nSSq1zQMk"><u><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Here’s</span></u></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> a link to
the full Phil Woods interview.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The lore of
Parker’s talent and life are legion, most prominent among them is the story
behind his nickname. Legend has it that a yard bird (chicken) crossing the road
fell victim to the band’s car, and Charlie insisted on bringing it to their
destination for dinner. Buddy Collette offered an competing tale in his
interview in Los Angeles:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkZ7-N8Yp3L_xm3ubZV3KpMIfiq9a-4bnEgfkE8pqB0GPc0O8LC7pEqGADvr4-XReDVgUoWI97qhi523jz5yYBEKLeEHbtMHu_iA1viiXCCK7reau7WcWjQ2XgNMHlOzxa6mXg1tvIf0An/s1600/BuddyCollette.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="543" data-original-width="718" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkZ7-N8Yp3L_xm3ubZV3KpMIfiq9a-4bnEgfkE8pqB0GPc0O8LC7pEqGADvr4-XReDVgUoWI97qhi523jz5yYBEKLeEHbtMHu_iA1viiXCCK7reau7WcWjQ2XgNMHlOzxa6mXg1tvIf0An/s200/BuddyCollette.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">BC:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bird
had this meeting with Jimmy Cheatham. He said that all those stories are phony,
that’s not what happened. He said when he was 14 years old he used to go out to
the park with a couple of his buddies, a drummer or a guitar or bass player.
Before school, at 6, 7 in the morning, so they could get a little practice in
because at home they couldn’t get it in. They’d get home from school and they’d
have to do work, so they’d get this hour or two early to play, just jam and do
tunes and things. And he said that the neighbors could hear them. They were
about a half a mile from the residential area. The cops would come by and
they’d wave to them. They were just friendly neighborhood kids and they’d be
jamming. So they said the neighbors called him the Bird. “Oh that’s just the
Bird out there practicing in the morning.” So it was a kind of a cute story.
They wanted to play so much that they would go out there, but that horn would
always be going.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN0v8j6Kha8WXZPylKbWs0toQnV1_GxIk65nrsiChI2oGF5B8axG4AHgp4vGQxC7-vspjhrfoeJGE4yBw5QfAnJZVcHJpgImaouSCoSSTh9ubBteYetAmH8zXSFDxf9pHDyYZwAzF-iWQU/s1600/CharlieParkerCartoon.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="597" data-original-width="600" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN0v8j6Kha8WXZPylKbWs0toQnV1_GxIk65nrsiChI2oGF5B8axG4AHgp4vGQxC7-vspjhrfoeJGE4yBw5QfAnJZVcHJpgImaouSCoSSTh9ubBteYetAmH8zXSFDxf9pHDyYZwAzF-iWQU/s320/CharlieParkerCartoon.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Buddy’s
YouTube is located <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_m_8VTlrIIU"><u>here</u></a>.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In the 90s
I recall a Fed Ex television commercial featuring the world’s fastest talker.
His supersonic, perfectly articulated verbal delivery came to mind when I
recently listened to some classic Charlie Parker recordings. His rapid-fire
ideas matched with peerless technique remains a wonder to behold, even 66 years
after his death.</span></div>
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Monk Rowehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02578795540044530298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2127387047867633730.post-72688813952128009032020-04-02T10:57:00.001-04:002020-04-02T10:57:25.941-04:00Bucky Pizzarelli, 1926-2020
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNYvTIrFNxQrmV7rZNjfBjbGJdQBmO_9aiSVfRRGe7W0RiNhJxhPP-I1udGVjx_EOTiW94O3mtarKOHb77LbcnqV_o0kKvwMbJQVQPuQut6FsIjMnt1tep3WQGbfsMEs1hlsh3gps7gzsi/s1600/Bucky+solo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="530" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNYvTIrFNxQrmV7rZNjfBjbGJdQBmO_9aiSVfRRGe7W0RiNhJxhPP-I1udGVjx_EOTiW94O3mtarKOHb77LbcnqV_o0kKvwMbJQVQPuQut6FsIjMnt1tep3WQGbfsMEs1hlsh3gps7gzsi/s320/Bucky+solo.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">This is a
really hard one. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Part of
being involved in an oral history project that has lasted 25 years is watching
people pass on who you’ve come to know and feel strongly about. It’s the nature
of the business, and one of the prime reasons that such projects exist, so that
the words, images and stories of these people will stay with us after they’re
gone.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Bucky
Pizzarelli was a musician’s musician; an overused phrase but highly appropriate
in this case. Well-known in the world of guitar players, Bucky was never a
household name because he was the ultimate team player, the impeccable
guitarist behind the scenes who knew what was required for every gig. His
career spanned over seven decades and every conceivable situation, ranging from
playing Tiny Tim’s wedding on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Tonight
Show</i>, (which included tuning Tiny Tim’s ukulele) to performing at the White
House with Frank Sinatra.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Bucky’s
attitude about music was, “What is required here? I can do it and feel good
about it.” He was one of the many jazz players who moved into the active studio
recording scene in New York City in the 50s, 60s and 70s.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Bucky is
the only interviewee who has had three sessions with the Fillius Jazz Archive,
in 1997, 2003, and in 2014, when my wife and I traveled to his home to
interview Bucky along with his lovely and gracious wife, Ruth.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">In our
first interview, I asked Bucky about playing what was referred to as
“three-chord” rock & roll as part of a studio gig:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">MR:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">How did you guys feel about this music?</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">BP:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Well we were making money you know, and we
could play gigs at night, but we got so busy we had no time to play gigs, no
time. But I used to do, on Fridays and Saturdays, I played over in Jersey with
a trio — piano, bass and guitar — all the time. I always had a little thing
like that going on the side.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">MR:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">To keep your jazz chops?</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">BP:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Well not to keep them but I just did it
automatically because I felt that this is what I like to do so I’ll make some
money and support the family and everything doing the recordings, and go play
for — I don’t know it was $35 or $40 a night to play that kind of music.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Like most
musicians of his generation, Bucky learned from mentors, relatives, and by
listening to recordings. He had a strong attitude about extensive formal jazz
education.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">MR:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">You were talking about music education. You
seemed to say that the musicians were over-educated these days.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">BP:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yes. Over trained. Everybody goes in school
and they want to be a soloist today. So they go and they learn how to read and
they do ensemble playing and they learn to read so well that when they get with
a band, a commercial band, it’s boring. They could play it, like I said before,
without even thinking about it. So when boredom sets in on any musician, you better
quit the business. You’ve got to like what you’re doing.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Bucky
received an Honorary Doctorate from Hamilton in 2003 and Ruth and his children
traveled to the college to partake in the ceremony. He was also part of a team
of musicians who performed annually at Hamilton College’s Fallcoming event.
This annual gathering of jazz luminaries is in its 26<sup>th</sup> year, and
Bucky played at 12 of these events. One of our favorite memories is the year we
brought his son John’s trio with John’s brother Martin on bass and Bucky as
special guest. When John introduced Bucky to the stage, he referred to his
father as “The Pope.” We previously blogged about this event, which occurred in
2004, and you can read it here, entitled <a href="http://jazzbackstory.blogspot.com/2013/"><u>Family Matters</u></a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">I was in
attendance when John’s trio was playing at a swank supper club in New York City.
After one virtuosic number, when the applause died down, a voice came out of
the audience directed at John, saying, “That’s not so hard.” John said, “What
do you mean?” The voice repeated sarcastically, “That’s not so hard.” John
replied (acting annoyed), “Well would you like to come up here and try it?” The
voice said, “All right I will,” and guess who strode up to the stage? Bucky. He
was a plant, a set-up that was artfully executed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">After a
number of years booking the Fallcoming jazz group, I was invited to play an
entire set and, pretending to be reluctant, I knew I would be striding into a
musical heaven. I remember Bucky sitting next to me playing Dick Hyman charts
and there is a particular photograph which graces the home page of my website,
where Bucky seems to be beaming approval at my soloing efforts. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Bucky’s job
was doing what he loved. He played in every possible situation with every
conceivable musician both here in America and abroad. He and his gracious wife
Ruth had a wonderful family with four beautiful and caring children: Mary,
Martin, John, and Ann. What more can you ask for?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The
Hamilton community sends its deepest sympathies to the entire Pizzarelli
family, for we will always carry loving remembrances of him in our hearts.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">To watch
our Bucky interviews, Part 1, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtwdk8VTyx4&t=14s">conducted 10/11/1997 can be found here</a>. Part 2,
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnguTzUnnLs&t=18s">conducted 5/23/2003 can be found here</a>. And the third interview, which was
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAaRn_WafvI">conducted at his home with his wife Ruth on 1/19/2015, can be found here.</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_QoxLTrfZ6geOJS4H1SGcqA1HuJ4JztiqRHMCqNFxKQzv-eE5rqLdBNKB5E74qEXEyAG2FPXIMOaeoICyQPuTKHcQOdZc2WTdKPbqClLgVfGWXJWuJIOVUp4ZFJDNrbjy-GlJyYu7cuPw/s1600/Monk%2526Bucky.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="376" data-original-width="564" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_QoxLTrfZ6geOJS4H1SGcqA1HuJ4JztiqRHMCqNFxKQzv-eE5rqLdBNKB5E74qEXEyAG2FPXIMOaeoICyQPuTKHcQOdZc2WTdKPbqClLgVfGWXJWuJIOVUp4ZFJDNrbjy-GlJyYu7cuPw/s320/Monk%2526Bucky.JPG" width="320" /></a></span> </span></div>
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div.Section1
{page:Section1;}</style>Monk Rowehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02578795540044530298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2127387047867633730.post-74935824996159057162019-05-24T11:23:00.000-04:002019-05-24T11:23:10.452-04:00Advice for Jazz Graduates<br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It’s May.
Thousands of young people across the country move on from their college
education into the real world. Some of them entered college not knowing what
their career path might be, and some of them graduate from college still not
totally clear on where they are headed. It’s been my experience that music
students are among of the most focused of all young people. Music students know
exactly why they’re going to college. They may be headed on a performance path
or a music teaching career, but there is no doubt of their planned trajectory
from day one of their freshman semester. Four, six or eight years later their
hoped-for destination may have shifted, particularly in the field of jazz. Jazz
is one of the most creative, exciting and challenging career paths a musician
can pursue, and equally fraught with competition. In this blog we’d like to
offer three opinions about a jazz career and how to prepare for it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In a most
recent interview, I spoke with Denis DiBlasio, saxophonist and educator at
Rowan University. His take on careers in jazz is highly relevant for the times.</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrHIcmoSN__4A0_DXxZCZo_UBhyRZ5Dl2oP3sKR_qsRFYhapSRZRMgMRiAeYj0o6PQ2-n17gw13dy_8F1jg9QU4nWyULhHGzQ70Y0RhgOFVkgxZAVXZZHAh4WBunXsEvL6wsO3Bq_e8Gi2/s1600/DenisDiBlasio.jpg.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="296" data-original-width="486" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrHIcmoSN__4A0_DXxZCZo_UBhyRZ5Dl2oP3sKR_qsRFYhapSRZRMgMRiAeYj0o6PQ2-n17gw13dy_8F1jg9QU4nWyULhHGzQ70Y0RhgOFVkgxZAVXZZHAh4WBunXsEvL6wsO3Bq_e8Gi2/s400/DenisDiBlasio.jpg.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Denis DiBlasio, in 2019</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">MR<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So
are you able to give</i> [jazz majors]<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">
advice on what their possibilities are after they graduate?</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">DD<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well the ones that are serious we usually have a talk right around the
sophomore, junior year. And it’s different for these — the age that we’re
teaching now than it was for us. They can’t do what I did, because what I did
doesn’t exist anymore. You know you go out in the big band, maybe get a name. I
mean almost everything that happened to me happened because I was on Maynard’s
band and I maybe took advantage of it afterwards, doing these clinics and all
this business you know. It all came because people saw me with that band and
you know then you’re able to keep it going. Most of us that have been on the
bands, a lot of them, like when I think about the people I know who are doing
things now, they either were with Count’s band or Duke’s or Woody’s or Stan’s
or Maynard’s or Buddy’s, you know? And when these guys leave they either go to
Chicago, New York or LA for the most part, and there’s pockets of guys, and
they’ve all had that kind of experience, so — but now that whole band thing
doesn’t exist. And I don’t want to say it shouldn’t, it just doesn’t. But when
a student starts talking now about you know what am I going to do when I get
out, I get them in my office and we look at YouTube. And I talk to them about
how certain people have to — well you have to kind of design your own life.
There’s nothing that you’re going to go to and join and that’s going to be your
life in jazz. However, you look up — look at some of the people who are
creating their own thing, and I’ll pull up you know Leo Pellegrino? Too Many Zooz?
He’s a baritone sax player. He’s playing. And so I’ll pull that up. And I said,
“Look at what he did.” Now no one would think you’re going to make a living
doing this. But he put this up. Social media is a big part of it. You develop
your own audience so your audience comes and sees you, where before you would
play a gig to sell your CDs. Now you’re giving away CDs to hope they come to
your gig kind of, because you have to have, how do you develop your audience?
You’ve got to have an online presence. It’s all the stuff that didn’t exist
before. Have a website. People start to follow you. People ask you questions, you
answer them back, and I have a couple of students that have gone out and been
successful but part of the work is this online activity that is very much a
part of it all. We have a Music Industry major at our school. And these guys
that teach it like they’re all about this thing. And I asked one of the guys, I
said, “How do you get a record deal these days?” Because the record deal thing
the way it used to work was different. You have a name like Sal Nistico. Played
with Woody Herman, great tenor player. Sal gets off the band, Sal’s got
recordings, ooh let’s follow Sal. That’s over. How do we do this. And I said,
“What would the record companies even do?” He says, if you came to a record
company one of the guys told me that the record company is going to look at
your social media to see how many followers you have. And if you have enough
followers then I’ll just create a real nice slick video for you and we’re just
going to post it on the followers that you’ve already made and there’s your
audience. So if you have enough followers you’re apt to get a record deal, not
that the music isn’t that important but it’s almost not as important as how
many followers you have. Nobody’s going to listen to it to say man that’s great
tenor playing. They’re going to say who’s going to follow you? Nobody. Well
then we’re not interested. So I think wow, that’s a whole change. But they need
to know that. And as a teacher teaching something that is like an art form, and
the society around it is changing so quickly you can’t look at it like the way
it used to work. But it’s do-able and there are some kids doing it. So some of
my students they get on it, it’s not that foreign for a lot of them, and they
have a big presence. Because now it used to be the club would advertise it and
you would go and play and you know you get paid and hopefully somebody would
show up. But now they want a guarantee that you’re going to bring your peeps to
the gig, right? So you have to guarantee like 35 people before you get — but
for some kids it’s not a problem because they’re active on the social media.
And that’s a thing that never happened — that didn’t even exist before. And
when I had to learn that, I won’t say it was a bitter pill but it was so
opposite of how I came up. But we talk about it and we look and Colin Stetson,
this guy that plays bass saxophone and he sets up a loop, he does these
concerts — it’s great playing. It’s unbelievable playing. I never heard it. I
have about five different people that I show my students look at what they’re
doing. This is what you have to do if you want to have a future in it. Because
what I did is gone. It’s not a bad thing, it’s just what it is.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Denis
mostly works with instrumentalists who hope to carve their own niche in the
world of jazz. </span></div>
<br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Ametria
Dock is a valued vocal and theatrical coach and has worked with numerous
successful artists during her own career. She is adamant that setting goals is
essential. In our 2019 interview, she offered advice.</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOBtNIJlalAoDiP1vKdO4mL5cYDjOARstdZqLo21pfuBKPqlEXiOgGGZlGTxA8CyVd0zp3RD8s9J4NjyRA0Xjg9dM87bfccG7ZK_TpcmljageWNpuxbm1eDNHITxNf4B6dW8AYn2PS9JHF/s1600/AmetriaDock.jpg.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="367" data-original-width="554" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOBtNIJlalAoDiP1vKdO4mL5cYDjOARstdZqLo21pfuBKPqlEXiOgGGZlGTxA8CyVd0zp3RD8s9J4NjyRA0Xjg9dM87bfccG7ZK_TpcmljageWNpuxbm1eDNHITxNf4B6dW8AYn2PS9JHF/s400/AmetriaDock.jpg.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ametria Dock, in 2019</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">MR<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>If
you get a student that comes to you about the age of when you entered the
business and they say, “I really want to make it in the music business.” This
idea of making it — do you address that?</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">AD<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Absolutely.
So I have a lot of young artists, up-and-coming I call them, artists, creatives.
Now I have some that are really successful in movies and television right now
that are transitioning over to doing more musical things. And we sit down and
we talk about what is your idea of making it. What does that mean for you? What
does that look like for you? Who does that look like for you? Who are some of
the people that you think made it you know? Because sometimes what you think
making it is not necessarily — I mean is it making a lot of money? Is it doing
what you love everyday? So we sit down and we have conversations about that.
And I have some really, really intelligent kids that are way ahead of their
time. So I’m blessed to be able to mentor and sit down and have real
conversations about what that looks like. What does the next five years look
like for you in terms of working on this music and working toward whatever
goals you have. We sit down and we create plans and things like that. I think
that’s important — whether they’re kids or college aged, 20, 21 years old and
coming up with a plan of action.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">MR<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
wonder how the technology and the way music is delivered these days affects
their vision?</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">AD<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yeah.
100%. I think it does. I think that social media, I mean it has its value, but
it also makes the creative, the artist see something so fast. It’s here today
and it’s gone tomorrow. And so music that artists that I loved growing up, you
know, they had albums upon albums upon albums. And now we have singles. And
they’re here for a couple of weeks and then it’s on to the next thing. And it’s
scary because you never really get to — I feel like a lot of artists got to
really dig deep and develop and evolve and become. Artists today, that
opportunity is, I mean you get a window and then you’re gone.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">MR<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There
used to be an art to creating an album concept, and which song should follow
which and the keys and all that kind of thing.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">AD<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yeah.
There was a lot of thought put into making an album or creating a body of work,
and then introducing it to the world you know. I think now there’s more
emphasis on introducing it to the world than the body of work, in my opinion.</i>
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">It’s like you’re pushing to put something
out instead of taking the time to really master and create, and so yeah that’s
my opinion.</i></span></div>
<br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And last,
but certainly not least, the late iconic saxophonist Phil Woods suggests that
the path to a jazz career has to start before you enter your freshman college
dorm. As a successful jazz man who paid many dues, I feel he is qualified to
offer the following advice:</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ4_4qTirbIrZVtHAAzjVSw6G1XOlRk3Cf-3RXNXITIbGLTyAnpaPwVo8kZSSPpjMPabYaphUkUQDHVhGdgk1Ma9GLMn8CpzqcM1i4N8u-5n4Pr9HCuBH7Bw-x6s7IdIwQ83ivnnO8zOZs/s1600/PhilWoods.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="430" data-original-width="447" height="383" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ4_4qTirbIrZVtHAAzjVSw6G1XOlRk3Cf-3RXNXITIbGLTyAnpaPwVo8kZSSPpjMPabYaphUkUQDHVhGdgk1Ma9GLMn8CpzqcM1i4N8u-5n4Pr9HCuBH7Bw-x6s7IdIwQ83ivnnO8zOZs/s400/PhilWoods.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Phil Woods, in 1999</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">MR<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Do
you have advice for aspiring jazz musicians that might help them in their
careers?</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">PW<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Advice
for young jazz men. No. I figure that if they’re going to do it, no matter what
I say they’re going to do it. It’s for those ones in between, those ones that
aren’t really sure, those are the ones I worry about. I mean I think jazz is
only for those that have no choice. I think if you’re a young man and you’re
entertaining thoughts of becoming a brain surgeon or a jazz tenor man, I’d go
with the brain surgery, you know what I mean? If you have a choice. If you’ve
got two burning desires, don’t pick jazz. I mean keep playing it, I mean
sometimes I envy the amateur, like all those dentists and doctors who play for
kicks. They don’t have to worry about making bread at it. They really enjoy
making music. And that’s really what it’s about. Never forget that joy, that
first time you made a note and it made you feel good. Musicians kind of forget
that stuff, you know, they’re sitting in the pit and reading </i>The Wall
Street Journal<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> and grumpy, grumpy,
grumpy. They forgot that feeling, that burn of the belly the first time they
sounded decent. And it’s easy to get kind of trapped into just making some
bread and trying to exist when the bloom is off the rose. But a young man
should consider — you only have one life. When you make a choice, a career
decision, it should be well thought out. Not too carefully structured mind you,
but I wouldn’t rush into anything. I wouldn’t rush to go to a jazz school or
any university. I always recommend take a year off man. Hitchhike around the
world. Take your horn and see if you can play for your supper around the world.
See what life is about while you can, before you have a family, before you need
bread. Get a couple of thou and just do it. Just do it, man. Take a chance.
Because you might never have a chance to do it, and that’s when you can really
kind of get inside your head. It’s hard to do it when you’re surrounded by your
peers or family or the pressures of society that you know — go somewhere where
it’s all fresh and pursue your — find out who you are. And then when you
decide, you’re going to be a much better player for this experience.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">MR<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well
I think you just gave some good advice in spite of yourself.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">PW<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Darn.
There goes my image as the curmudgeon.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Jazz has evolved
at a rapid rate, as have the social and economic conditions in which it lives.
Opportunities for musicians that once existed have disappeared, but others have
presented themselves. The music graduate must be open to career opportunities
they create for themselves, which may not have existed thus far. Making a
living in any genre of music has never been easy. People who have the requisite
passion must also have parental support and enthusiasm behind them. Conversely,
convincing a creative and determined young person that a musical path would be
too difficult is unhelpful in the long run. Evaluating with an eagle eye the
current musical milieu should be undertaken by all music majors before they arrive
at music school.</span></div>
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</style>Monk Rowehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02578795540044530298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2127387047867633730.post-24705695440231804862018-12-14T09:55:00.001-05:002018-12-14T09:55:12.784-05:00Nancy Wilson 1937-2018<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10pt; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd__1GTmoPcOUbDH-JP5EOcWf4h_BEWe9t0I9-zUgw_bbe6x965WAxcp6NJDiiVpcsoy05KVNAVCi7irvZ6cav4dRjN1k6RkjKIW9iymsBuD3SOc86Y1spvnVQz7Mw2OzIrNdoT0u83k1G/s1600/Nancy+Wilson.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="428" data-original-width="500" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd__1GTmoPcOUbDH-JP5EOcWf4h_BEWe9t0I9-zUgw_bbe6x965WAxcp6NJDiiVpcsoy05KVNAVCi7irvZ6cav4dRjN1k6RkjKIW9iymsBuD3SOc86Y1spvnVQz7Mw2OzIrNdoT0u83k1G/s320/Nancy+Wilson.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">On the
heels of our tribute to Joe Williams, we now learn of the passing of vocalist
Nancy Wilson at the age of 81. Nancy and Joe shared a number of parallel lines
throughout their singing careers. They had a common manager in John Levy; they
both recorded albums with Cannonball Adderley, George Shearing, and Count
Basie; and both objected to being typecast as a certain style of vocalist. I
was fortunate to sit with Nancy Wilson in November of 1995 for an interview,
and she addressed the issue of stereotypes:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">NW:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I have to say about jazz critics, they
really gave me the pits for a while. They felt that the Cannonball Adderley
album was a compromise for Cannon. Because I was a pop artist.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">MR:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">No kidding?</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">NW:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Oh, yes. You don’t know the stuff they did
to us. But my point that I’ve always tried to stress is I came into this
business with a gift, the voice is a given. It was a gift from God. I didn’t
put any labels on it. I also decided to leave my home to do this, to be
commercial. I mean the object of the game for me was why would I want to, why
would anybody in their right mind want to give up their security, their home,
all the things that mean happiness to me, to go out to only want to fulfill
somebody else’s idea of who and what I am. I figured that I was going to do
this on a major scale or I didn’t want to do it. Because I could go home, go to
Carnegie Tech as opposed to Central State, and be a doctor or be something in
medicine, and I’d have been fine. But the voice was always out front. But I
have never apologized for being a commercial artist. That is why I do what I
do, is to sell. I want to be heard, I want to reach as many people as I can. I
believe in that mass thing. You know I want everybody to know who I am if I’m
going to do it.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I recall
being surprised to hear this recollection, as the Cannonball Adderley-Nancy
Wilson LP is one of my absolute favorite recordings.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10pt; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGyrhfxkfkgF-5aiBd0s1cqn_os8Iw5ABN5MlEr-GaDwLnVfjtzE5D9XN9S2ADmdnOn17WVPwvQfBOmIYCyBlxcxXSFtPNP0E-gn8ptHF2jVWCji0QYdvoX_MncXCZWPBkEenov26KXg6D/s1600/Nancy_Wilson_%2526_Cannonball_Adderley.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="220" data-original-width="220" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGyrhfxkfkgF-5aiBd0s1cqn_os8Iw5ABN5MlEr-GaDwLnVfjtzE5D9XN9S2ADmdnOn17WVPwvQfBOmIYCyBlxcxXSFtPNP0E-gn8ptHF2jVWCji0QYdvoX_MncXCZWPBkEenov26KXg6D/s320/Nancy_Wilson_%2526_Cannonball_Adderley.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">One thing
Nancy did not have to deal with was performance anxiety. Again from her
interview:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">MR:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Can you recall as a child, were you always
pretty comfortable in front of an audience?</i> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">NW:<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> It never occurred to me that you should be nervous. When I found out I
was so grown that it didn’t make any difference. Then I found out people
actually get nauseous and tremble and shake. Well I don’t want to do this if I
have to be sick before I go on.</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">But
some people do. Some people just feel that that’s a part of it. I like being
relaxed. I like taking it in stride. I love it. I keep it in its proper
perspective, and it allows me to continue to do it. As long as I do it this way
I can do it.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Nancy was
awarded three Grammys and was an NPR host for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jazz Profiles</i>. She considered herself a storyteller, and she chose
the songs in her repertoire based on their strong narrative element.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This
interview was conducted early on in our oral history project, when I was still
developing an interviewing style. I will always remember the dignity and class
that was part of Nancy’s persona. <u><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_wVqLxyWLQ">You can view the complete video here</a>.</u></span></div>
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</style> Monk Rowehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02578795540044530298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2127387047867633730.post-11557325398548850842018-12-11T21:01:00.003-05:002018-12-11T21:02:18.138-05:00Joe Williams Centennial<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjycYuSNQc6xKb7uEPFB9crtCbCG-g5ombz2eq939gRpqa_X6SyIoRU5STOTYs8Rt9cZeqBaKeId7yZMYLPApojWUKYeOWX_XTwTJF6rALJhJif2nUHCj-rsHtnwuzKr1KfMe9gDc0WTSQN/s1600/Joe+Williams-2+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1369" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjycYuSNQc6xKb7uEPFB9crtCbCG-g5ombz2eq939gRpqa_X6SyIoRU5STOTYs8Rt9cZeqBaKeId7yZMYLPApojWUKYeOWX_XTwTJF6rALJhJif2nUHCj-rsHtnwuzKr1KfMe9gDc0WTSQN/s400/Joe+Williams-2+%25281%2529.jpg" width="341" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Joe Williams, in 1998</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Today we
celebrate singer Joe Williams’ one hundredth birthday. Joe was born Joseph
Goreed on December 12, 1918 in Cordele, Georgia. He grew up in Chicago, paid
his musical dues with a number of area swing bands, and joined the Count Basie
Orchestra in 1954. Joe started a solo career in 1961 which lasted four plus
decades. Along the way he became close friends with Milt Fillius Jr., an avid
jazz fan and a 1944 graduate of Hamilton College. Together Joe and Milt
launched an oral history project, an effort to gather extemporaneous life
stories of jazz musicians, their spouses, writers, producers, and jazz aficionados.
This collaboration resulted in what is now called the Fillius Jazz Archive, and
I am proud to be called the Joe Williams Director. Our 350+ video interviews
are now posted on the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAs4ozKxI7GVTWsV789yMgw"><u>Fillius Jazz YouTube Channel</u></a>.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">To
celebrate Joe’s one-hundredth birthday we are posting a compilation of
interview excerpts which were previously unpublished. Joe’s commentary is
intertwined with anecdotes from his accompanist Norman Simmons, his manager
John Levy, and Basie band members Bill Hughes and John Williams. These excerpts
and outtakes were originally captured for the 1996 concert documentary called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Joe Williams: A Portrait in Song</i>, a film
commissioned by Hamilton College and produced by Burrill Crohn. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=wgvaeioej0Q"><u><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We invite you to view this compilation here</span></u></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">, and hope you enjoy the magic of
Joe Williams all over again.</span></div>
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-->Monk Rowehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02578795540044530298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2127387047867633730.post-76328597617867385942018-08-17T08:01:00.000-04:002018-08-17T08:01:18.851-04:00The Queen of Soul, 1942-2018
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Today I
feel the same way as when I heard Ray Charles died. Aretha Franklin and Ray
Charles embodied the best of the musical styles developed by African-American
musicians, singers and songwriters. These include jazz, blues, Gospel, rhythm
& blues, and soul, of which Aretha was the absolute Queen. A colleague at
Hamilton College today said, “She changed us,” and I believe she meant that
Aretha raised the bar of what a singer could do to and for you. Aretha’s music touched
your head, your heart, and your hips. There was something to think about, there
was something to feel, and there was something to make you move.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I had my
own unforgettable Aretha Franklin experience. In 2008, as part of the Great
Names series at Hamilton College, Aretha performed in the field house on the
Hamilton College campus. Typical of many artists of her stature, she brought
her own rhythm section, but a local horn section was required. I was asked to
contract local musicians to fill the saxophone, brass and percussion chairs.
Conveniently, I hired myself as an alto saxophonist.</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVZnRHWxWk6BavlwT0DLGZBfk9jitO6jZ5ARQe-i4TCj_HmXzwFuRjwS2_YriQnLVSShl0xgksrC2OR07riX2p_PTFAcToPvW1l413mfV5Bf0aRjuuA2s8To6XWEZSICkeQTkSTxF0HAaT/s1600/Aretha.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1065" data-original-width="1600" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVZnRHWxWk6BavlwT0DLGZBfk9jitO6jZ5ARQe-i4TCj_HmXzwFuRjwS2_YriQnLVSShl0xgksrC2OR07riX2p_PTFAcToPvW1l413mfV5Bf0aRjuuA2s8To6XWEZSICkeQTkSTxF0HAaT/s400/Aretha.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Aretha Franklin at Hamilton College, 1988</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What made
the day so memorable, beyond the fact that the Queen of Soul was coming to
town, was the heightened abilities required of the contracted musicians. We convened
in the late afternoon the day of the concert. I would not describe it as a
rehearsal, it was more of a run-through and a not-so-subtle message to be on
your game: to pay attention and keep focused on the task at hand. The lengthy
song list required that the tunes were not even run all the way through. Intros
and endings were played, the music director said, “The rest will be okay, just
watch me,” and boy did he mean watch. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The hardest
part of the evening was to basically tune out Aretha. How do you not pay
attention to Aretha Franklin? No one commanded the stage as she did. But as
soon as we horn players looked up to soak in the talent in front of us, we
invariably would miss our cue and lose our place in the music. By the way, that
was music we had not seen until that afternoon.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Later when
people asked me what was it like or how was she, I had to turn the question
around and ask them. How was she? I’m not complaining mind you. I shared the
stage with Aretha Franklin. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Aretha’s
career spanned six decades and, like all iconic artists, the styles of music
she performed moved from one genre to another. I will suggest two recordings to
listen to, one being rather obscure. In 1973 Aretha was still experimenting
with jazz and she chose to record Leonard Bernstein’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btOP3URYQfA">Somewhere from “West Side Story.</a>” The first time I heard it I was very puzzled. How could she
sing so far behind the beat? She was so far behind the beat she was in the
wrong measure. This does not indicate that she was making a mistake. Aretha was
taking her time. She was letting the music speak for itself, and inserting the
lyric where her innate musicality told her to do so. A jazz section follows
with Aretha on piano and a fine alto saxophonist. This was not a hit for
Aretha, but it brings home to me that her musicianship matched her incredible
voice.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The second
recording comes from 2015 at the Kennedy Center honors. This was the year that
songwriter Carole King was among the group of artists to receive the award. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cF0tf35Mbo"><u>This clip doesn’t need much explaining</u></a> but you might want to have a tissue close
at hand. No one commanded the stage like Aretha Franklin.</span></div>
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</style>Monk Rowehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02578795540044530298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2127387047867633730.post-87438887848568185582018-07-04T10:39:00.000-04:002018-07-04T10:39:04.084-04:00Bill Watrous, 1939-2018<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVXcOnpkn7q8oZnp6ylAszuxj-CEjnZdKpsAsB7veEeNuIllm6M71iTSDgEjaVXTktTncLORpfJI43ANACNadYqPu373tT9kPC5bv1mstsqmHNYyNrHi_iQwQ5pfVz5atPphHsR_7vaphQ/s1600/JazzLifegroup+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="312" data-original-width="450" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVXcOnpkn7q8oZnp6ylAszuxj-CEjnZdKpsAsB7veEeNuIllm6M71iTSDgEjaVXTktTncLORpfJI43ANACNadYqPu373tT9kPC5bv1mstsqmHNYyNrHi_iQwQ5pfVz5atPphHsR_7vaphQ/s400/JazzLifegroup+%25281%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">From the left: Wendell Brunious, Dennis Mackrel, Jerome Richardson, Keter Betts, Monk Rowe, Bill Watrous, Rick Montalbano</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Readers may
have noticed my absence from writing this blog. All my spare time has been
spent preparing uploads for the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAs4ozKxI7GVTWsV789yMgw"><u>Fillius Jazz YouTube channel</u>,</a> where
complete interviews have been posted for more than half of our oral history
sessions. The death of Bill Watrous, however, has returned me to the blog. My
interview with Bill, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83jfh9qTkd8"><u>viewable here</u></a>, was comprehensive and congenial, but
there is more backstory to be shared about my association with him.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In the
spring of 1999, in true cosmic fashion, Bill’s promo kit arrived unexpectedly
on my desk just as I was seeking a trombone player to participate on my
upcoming recording of “Jazz Life.” This album of original compositions would
eventually include myself plus six members, three of whom are now deceased:
bassist Keter Betts, saxophonist Jerome Richardson, and now trombonist Bill
Watrous. Rounding out the ensemble were Rick Montalbano, Dennis Mackrel and
Wendell Brunious. Before I started the archive project I had always assumed
that artists of the stature of Bill Watrous would be unavailable to me.
However, every artist I contacted happily agreed to the engagement. I learned
along the way that jazz musicians always have dates in their calendars to fill,
and a gig is a gig. Bill proved to be full of positive energy as well as the
consummate musician. He entertained the group with his personal cache of jazz
stories, while treating the music as if he was in an L.A. recording studio. One
of my favorite moments on the recording is during the improvisation section of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x29PxLmdu4"><u>BeyondCategory</u></a> at the 2:34 mark where Bill seamlessly extends Wendell’s last
improvised phrase, then launches into his own striking solo. As trumpeter Joe
Wilder said of improvisation, you always want to make a smooth transition, as perfectly
exemplified in this moment.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Our paths
crossed again at jazz conventions, and over the years we exchanged phone calls
where our lengthy conversations extended beyond music and into the ups and
downs of everyday life. Oddly enough, Bill’s wife Maryanne occasionally
referred to Bill as “Monk.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Bill’s
passing caught me off-guard. He always struck me as younger than his years,
probably due to his distinctive Price Valiant haircut, penchant for jean
jackets, and his poignant observations on current events. Adios Mr. Watrous,
and thank you for our friendship.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
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Monk Rowehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02578795540044530298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2127387047867633730.post-58375150956803622372017-12-13T10:58:00.002-05:002017-12-13T10:58:53.472-05:00Otis Redding's Music Theory
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdoaN0UEoIMrUOMCFXZeQIGnUkNN-gn09dROgbGCj6O-j0Lyk7diSARUIL7oPyHU05iJfra4O9EBl6JStYb7ID7UDhFMss93OcpAgWfOXP3VE-knkdttsktsji1tsyDWs29DXlYrzZwC_i/s1600/Dockotis-redding.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdoaN0UEoIMrUOMCFXZeQIGnUkNN-gn09dROgbGCj6O-j0Lyk7diSARUIL7oPyHU05iJfra4O9EBl6JStYb7ID7UDhFMss93OcpAgWfOXP3VE-knkdttsktsji1tsyDWs29DXlYrzZwC_i/s320/Dockotis-redding.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10pt; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Fifty years
ago, on December 10, 1967, pop star Otis Redding along with his band perished
in a plane crash on a lake in Wisconsin. Otis was at the height of his career.
His song “(Sittin</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">’</span> on) The Dock of the Bay,” written with Steve Cropper, was
released shortly after his death and became the first posthumous number one
record. I have played this song countless times as a solo pianist and as a
member of various bands. To me it’s a perfect example of hip chord changes,
optimized structure, and interesting story line.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Fifty years
ago in December I had decided on a career in music. As a high school senior I
was doing my best to prepare myself for music college taking lessons on
saxophone, piano, and music theory. One of the first things we learned was
chord types — mostly major or minor. A three-note chord built on each tone of
the major scale looks like this:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10pt; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyBI-RM-RoW_bFHKoD5yXfQ7mtocYG4NYeA856KKrI_JDKtztzFd5XaC8_H3HPOxlEE-ogBZYLpgVIJTDvJNAkUzobyMJ0IDHICjKyxiEAGE49LQbUtxQH9ByJoOXlgndv95RYpIvNbo-6/s1600/DockTriads.jpg.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="748" data-original-width="630" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyBI-RM-RoW_bFHKoD5yXfQ7mtocYG4NYeA856KKrI_JDKtztzFd5XaC8_H3HPOxlEE-ogBZYLpgVIJTDvJNAkUzobyMJ0IDHICjKyxiEAGE49LQbUtxQH9ByJoOXlgndv95RYpIvNbo-6/s320/DockTriads.jpg.jpg" width="269" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">When using
chord symbols, the minor triads are indicated with a lower case m, as in Bm (for
B minor). This arrangement is the same for every key, and has provided a basic
compositional language for hundreds of years.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">For the
verse of “Dock of the Bay” Otis and Steve chose the I, the iii, the IV and the ii
chord, in that order. If you look at this transcription of the first eight
measures of the song you will notice that their three and two chord are not minor
at all. This very slight change makes all the difference in the sound of the
song. I have tried playing the song returning those two chords to their normal
state and it is amusingly terrible. It works in an odd way because of the
nature of the melody, which will be discussed momentarily. But Otis and Steve’s
progression is where it’s at.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10pt; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC328KbDkY76cTzcaxZks1ArwsjaN6alfr4s97pOXbR21QthcpkIx6GegJbLhH_0t-Oxf7wyIRDNDqhnsjzyMkhLrIwnkfyHh-YDNX4-l6M4aqBKEZaXRHlbl6BdDTzp4jFBfNCHgftgkZ/s1600/Dock1.jpg.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="284" data-original-width="1112" height="101" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC328KbDkY76cTzcaxZks1ArwsjaN6alfr4s97pOXbR21QthcpkIx6GegJbLhH_0t-Oxf7wyIRDNDqhnsjzyMkhLrIwnkfyHh-YDNX4-l6M4aqBKEZaXRHlbl6BdDTzp4jFBfNCHgftgkZ/s400/Dock1.jpg.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In the
chorus of the song, the chord choice is the I chord, followed by the vi chord.
If we refer to our triad chart we notice that the vi chord is normally minor.
But once again, our two songwriters change this chord to major, offering a
distinctive progression that schooled musicians would rarely be inclined to
employ.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">When I did
get to music school, I was placed in Music Theory 101, and quickly learned about
four part contrapuntal composition. Among the myriad rules is a dictum to
“avoid parallel fifths and octaves.” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Harvard Dictionary of Music</i> defines this in musical legalese as: “…[T]he
duplication of the melodic progression of one part by another at the distance
of a fifth or an octave. Such voice leading is considered faulty and strictly
prohibited in classical tonal counterpoint.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Fortunately
for us, Otis Redding was not confined by such archaic directives. If we look at
his notated melody and the accompanying chords, we will find that this whole
four-bar repeated phrase contains exactly the parallel octaves that classical
composers were forbidden to employ. Even when it hits the chorus, Otis still
lands on the root of the chord with his melody. I never noticed it until I sat
at the piano and, instead of singing the melody, actually played it and
compared the treble and bass. “A classicized version of the first four bars of
“Dock of the Bay” would look like this:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10pt; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfJygFqFkWbKvvGzGqZtVR5UZVZq_VEHpwfoyXdsQjgQPxjdxJI7OqNkbMGmZ7L3eEd8lMmv4dI_A1ovHi-1IoGycqO8N_AO1_nMIchaOF_3teziqoaSVoHhG74sGdj8QzQduBDt9p-OON/s1600/DockClassical.jpg.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="242" data-original-width="1132" height="85" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfJygFqFkWbKvvGzGqZtVR5UZVZq_VEHpwfoyXdsQjgQPxjdxJI7OqNkbMGmZ7L3eEd8lMmv4dI_A1ovHi-1IoGycqO8N_AO1_nMIchaOF_3teziqoaSVoHhG74sGdj8QzQduBDt9p-OON/s400/DockClassical.jpg.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">If I had handed
in this melodic invention in my Theory 101 class, red ink would have flowed.
The professor would have been puzzled by both the chord progression and the
insistence on parallel octaves. It’s a definite breach of classical etiquette. Including
an F major chord in the key of G as Otis did later in the bridge would have
earned a “see me in my office” from the professor.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What’s the
conclusion? For me, I am continually fascinated and envious of the musical
inventions of self-taught songwriters. Lennon and McCartney, Cat Stevens, and
Joni Mitchell all fall under this category, and I like to describe it as “if it
sounds good, use it.” Referring to music theory, trombonist Dan Barrett stated
in his interview, “Any knowledge is good.” But there is a downside if adhering
to music theory norms inhibits the use of ears and musical intuition.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">If you
haven’t found it by now, here’s a YouTube link to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uquPMriccM" target="_blank"><u>“Dock of the Bay”</u></a> for
your listening edification.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Monk Rowehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02578795540044530298noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2127387047867633730.post-81025529580291907652017-11-24T10:55:00.003-05:002017-11-24T10:55:58.970-05:00George Avakian, 1919-2017<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqNKhSlwRA2Wf6FiHoaeHeFURU_-PC0nTcE90DRGe6BOjugX-XLaX5nbI-vND35k6cYXNi0hoIz6-_a4hMnN3ICqK2iuzLv0pPnDR7rdZ2pZ9MlevkrbA5XRxdVeGnyeDJl44qyG0ySxeK/s1600/GeorgeAvakian.jpg.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="188" data-original-width="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqNKhSlwRA2Wf6FiHoaeHeFURU_-PC0nTcE90DRGe6BOjugX-XLaX5nbI-vND35k6cYXNi0hoIz6-_a4hMnN3ICqK2iuzLv0pPnDR7rdZ2pZ9MlevkrbA5XRxdVeGnyeDJl44qyG0ySxeK/s1600/GeorgeAvakian.jpg.png" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Artists in
all disciplines depend on a variety of behind-the-scenes personalities who
bring their visions to life. George Avakian, who passed away on November 22, was
an integral part of the presentation and marketing of jazz for six decades. In
addition to his role as a producer, George was a jazz historian, a talent
scout, and a prolific writer of LP liner notes. Early in his career he made a
significant contribution to the jazz canon by compiling and re-issuing
historically important recordings by Louis Armstrong and other jazz pioneers.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There is
some debate about when jazz changed from entertainment to an art form. George
addressed this question during our interview:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">MR:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yesterday I had asked you a question about
if the early jazz musicians thought of their music as an art form. And you said
probably not.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">GA:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">No not really. They were just playing happy
music that they had developed within their lives, and they were happy making a
living at it as best they could in many cases of course. Because a jazz
musician’s life has never been easy unless you happen to hit it big. But I
don’t think musicians ever took it seriously as an art form until they were
told it was an art form, and that probably started, I think it would have to be
during the World War II years. Because before there weren’t any articles being
written in magazines, God knows no books to speak of, but once that started,
quite a bit of pretension did begin to creep in. And some of it spurred I feel
the bop movement because that was something new and hard to understand compared
to the relative ease of listening to the earlier music because that was, among
other things, dance music, social music, good time music, popular songs were
involved. Bop became something which for the most part did not depend on
familiar standard selections, even though a lot of the earlier compositions
were simply variations on the harmonies which were themselves altered along the
way, of standard tunes by Gershwin and Cole Porter and so forth. So it became a
kind of an inside arty thing. And this was encouraged by the people who wrote
about jazz because more and more writing about jazz took place in magazines.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">George’s expertise
in production and marketing played an important role in moving jazz not only
into the retail marketplace but also into the greater culture. His range of
projects included work with Louis Armstrong and other innovators such as Dave
Brubeck, Miles Davis, and Gil Evans. Notable LP productions included Benny
Goodman “Live at Carnegie Hall,” “Ellington at Newport,” and “Miles Ahead.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">George was
the co-founder of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, and
was named a National Endowment of the Arts Jazz Master in 2011.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">From the
Fillius archive, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI5XKcirT60" target="_blank"><u>here is a link to the full YouTube interview</u></a> I
conducted with George on April 21, 1998.</span></div>
Monk Rowehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02578795540044530298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2127387047867633730.post-36937503380843660072017-10-10T12:13:00.002-04:002017-10-10T12:13:37.376-04:00Happy Birthday(s)
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">October
10<sup>th</sup> marks the birthdays of two prominent jazz pianists. Thelonious
Sphere Monk was born 100 years ago today in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. His
piano style was unique among his peers and his original compositions have
become celebrated standards, studied and performed by all aspiring jazz
musicians. Thelonious appears on any jazz historian’s list of the top ten most
influential jazz artists.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 10.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Among
his many admirers is pianist Junior Mance, born in 1928 on this same day,
October 10<sup>th</sup>, in Evanston, Illinois. Junior enjoyed a successful
career as an accompanist to jazz singers, including Joe Williams and Dinah
Washington, and as a leader of his own piano trio. He often included Monk
compositions in his recordings and a perfect way to acknowledge this October 10<sup>th</sup>
is provided<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a> at this link.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 10.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 10.0pt;">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgFhneBTFAo" target="_blank"><u><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Junior Mance performs “Blue Monk”</span></u></a><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> [Thelonious
Monk]</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 10.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Just
this week the Fillius Jazz Archive published two videos with Junior Mance. You
can view <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaDRsBvZ6zw" target="_blank"><u>Part 1 here</u></a>, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZnqFw_m4yE" target="_blank"><u>Part 2 here</u></a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Happy viewing.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 10.0pt;">
<br /></div>
Monk Rowehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02578795540044530298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2127387047867633730.post-71637110190002623362017-10-06T11:34:00.000-04:002017-10-06T11:34:26.120-04:00Make Your Own Luck<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinLxacSl7h6wrJIKD-l32ntOyqBeah9XxnNY3LxM9oApBvYJ_B0J6Et2KFoyxyNNWglSEBlLyhsdvnZ-TWrBEOoPtgfEoDL06EVIdba9chsdOMNvPOm-HEgIL-_dBsYLYR9uc1SNAklkwG/s1600/JimmyOwens.jpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="404" data-original-width="606" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinLxacSl7h6wrJIKD-l32ntOyqBeah9XxnNY3LxM9oApBvYJ_B0J6Et2KFoyxyNNWglSEBlLyhsdvnZ-TWrBEOoPtgfEoDL06EVIdba9chsdOMNvPOm-HEgIL-_dBsYLYR9uc1SNAklkwG/s320/JimmyOwens.jpg.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Some people
believe in luck. Some people dismiss the very idea of something occurring
without a specific reason. A number of celebrities have addressed the role of
luck in their careers, including Oprah Winfrey who stated, “Luck is a matter of
preparation meeting opportunity”; and Loretta Lynn who said, “In the long run
you make your own luck—good, bad or indifferent.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Jimmy Owens
is a highly accomplished jazz trumpeter, an advocate for jazz education, and a
2012 National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master recipient. I was recently
drawn to a story he told during our interview in 2001, and in a sense it has to
do with luck. Jimmy was fortunate to come from a household that appreciated
music and his supportive father took him to see the Miles Davis Quintet in a
club when Jimmy was 15 years old. This event occurred in 1958, a period where
Miles Davis was becoming a household name and leading one of his most
celebrated combos who in less than a year would record the iconic “Kind of
Blue” LP. Jimmy tells the tale:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE789O6WRrMdo4A99ikv3whPkbH_yX584xaHS8Lp8tsiU57YXVMbYDNfNLcC1s5kB_GxW69jFcKDLEpNGOGuvyIHez61CkvrprkiTqyyyViAxmKQbKLD48D2nTvXiXdMlFqe6NOI9J4-KA/s1600/Miles.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE789O6WRrMdo4A99ikv3whPkbH_yX584xaHS8Lp8tsiU57YXVMbYDNfNLcC1s5kB_GxW69jFcKDLEpNGOGuvyIHez61CkvrprkiTqyyyViAxmKQbKLD48D2nTvXiXdMlFqe6NOI9J4-KA/s1600/Miles.jpg" /></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">JO:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">What
happened was my father took me to see Miles Davis. I am fifteen years old. And
Miles was working at a club called Small’s Paradise doing a matinee, and my
father took me to see Miles, and when we got there, the band was off. They were
on a break. So my father is at the bar and I’m next to him, and I walked over
to the bandstand, which was this high off the ground you know, and I’m standing
there, I’ve heard all of these stories about Miles Davis being a nasty person.
I’m standing there with my hands behind<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>my back looking at the trumpet and the piano. I’d never seen a blue
trumpet before. And he had this horn that was tinted blue. And all of a sudden
someone slides down at the piano, and I see it’s Miles. And he looks up at me
and he’s playing some chords, and he says, “You play trumpet, kid?” I said,
“Yeah.” He played a little while, and he says, “Play me a tune.” And he gave me
his horn. So I took the horn and I was going to take the mouthpiece out and I
said, “Take your mouthpiece.” “What you going to do, play without a
mouthpiece?” I said, “No, I’ve got my own.” I put my mouthpiece in the horn,
and I played “Walkin’.” Okay? At which point the musicians were coming back on
the stage. And the last person on the stage — Miles took the horn back you know
— the last person on the stage was Bill Evans. And Miles said, “Hey, Bill, you
hear this kid play?” “No,” he says. Miles gave me the horn and said, “Go ahead,
play it again.” So I started to play “Walkin’” and the whole band joined in.
And when I say the whole band, that’s Cannonball Adderley, John Coltrane, Bill
Evans, Paul Chambers, and Jimmy Cobb. And I played “Walkin’,” and take a solo,
you take it out and Miles says, “Go play another one.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I play “Bags’ Groove.” And Trane takes
a solo you know, Cannonball takes a solo. Oh it was unbelievable. </i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There are a
number of things that struck me about this story. First, the idea that Miles
Davis would offer young Jimmy Owens his trumpet, mouthpiece in place. Sharing
mouthpieces may have been common back then, but it certainly is not something
you do today. And this is the Miles Davis who had built a reputation as the
“Dark Prince,” with an aloof and sometimes irascible reputation amplified by
his half-whispered, raspy voice. Perhaps Miles was tired and welcomed the
opportunity for a guest to fill some time.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The other
thing I recognized in this story is that the young Jimmy Owens was making his
own luck. The fact that his trumpet mouthpiece was in his pocket was not “luck.”
The fact that Jimmy had been working on the Miles Davis composition “Walkin’” and
that he knew the tune “Bags’ Groove” was in the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>band’s repertoire was also not simply lucky. Jimmy Owens was
prepared. He probably thought that even speaking with Miles Davis was a pipe
dream. Nonetheless, he prepared for any eventuality. So there’s a lesson to be
learned.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I
constantly tell my college students who pursue jazz that they have to be ready
when opportunity strikes. If they’re asked to sit in they need to be ready by
knowing (without music) a number of songs they can play and improvise on. I
elaborated more on this on this in our blog entitled <a href="http://jazzbackstory.blogspot.com/2013/03/jazz-etiquette-art-of-sitting-in.html" target="_blank"><u>Jazz Etiquette: The Art of Sitting in</u></a>, from March 19, 2013.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It would
have been a wonderful, fairy tale ending if after the gig Miles had suggested
that Jimmy call a fellow band leader who was looking for a trumpet player, or
arranged for a recording session for the 15-year-old phenomena. That did not
happen, but the confidence that Jimmy gained that night is an experience money
can’t buy.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There is a
noteworthy addendum to Jimmy’s story:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">JO: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I mentioned specifically Jimmy Cobb, because
we played together many, many times. And he was teaching at the New School
where I was teaching. And one day in the office I bumped into him. And I said,
“Hey, Cobb, I want to ask you something. You remember working at Small’s Paradise
with Miles?” He says, “I remember working there.” I said, “You remember a
matinee that a kid sat in with the band and played with them?” He said, “You
know I do recall that.” I said, “Man, that was me.” He said, “What!” I said,
“You remember that for sure?” He says, “I really remember that night, because
that was my first week working with the band and I look up and at the bar there
is Philly Joe Jones and I got so nervous. Well when he told me that story, I
just broke up. And he really remembered that night, me sitting in with the
band, or a kid, a young kid sitting in with the band.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">From the
Fillius archive, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD1djDOPvns" target="_blank"><u>here is a link to the full YouTube interview</u></a> I
conducted with Jimmy Owens on January 12, 2001.</span></div>
Monk Rowehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02578795540044530298noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2127387047867633730.post-5416547890851417422017-09-14T12:40:00.002-04:002017-09-14T12:40:38.930-04:00Frank Capp, 1931-2017<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1zNkLuZ8DrSQ9TCXKKWBb6-py_9SyR9CTwgnahgtZgmt926XRsMoxr1_uiDF-MovMfr0BybFfRJrng9d5taKgEYCewBGiC55cqiPwbT9YQ-On5gKQsif4hMzeo7AqPoessdpxhW_Xpam_/s1600/FrankCapp.jpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="153" data-original-width="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1zNkLuZ8DrSQ9TCXKKWBb6-py_9SyR9CTwgnahgtZgmt926XRsMoxr1_uiDF-MovMfr0BybFfRJrng9d5taKgEYCewBGiC55cqiPwbT9YQ-On5gKQsif4hMzeo7AqPoessdpxhW_Xpam_/s1600/FrankCapp.jpg.jpg" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Drummer
Frank Capp passed away after a long and successful career on September 12.
Frank had an arc to his career that was similar to many interviewees from the
Fillius Jazz Archive collection. Musicians like guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli,
pianist Dick Hyman, and saxophonist Ernie Watts began their career playing jazz
and swing with big bands and small combos. When the big bands faded from the
scene in the 1950s many of these musicians found lucrative work in the
recording studios on both the east and west coasts. Their versatility enabled
them to play on every kind of recording imaginable. The drums you hear on Sonny
& Cher’s “The Beat Goes On” and “I Got You Babe” were played by Frank Capp.
He could go from a rock & roll date to a movie soundtrack stage, and in our
interview he described such a session:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">MR:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Give us a little idea of what a typical
studio date would be like. </i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">FC:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Well let me example something like a motion
picture session. You’d be given a call by a contractor to be at Warner Brothers
Studio or Universal or MGM, whatever, and you’d go to the studio at 9 o’clock
in the morning, and there would be 60, 70 musicians, depending. It could be a
small group too, but a lot of pictures used at that time, large orchestras. And
you walk in, and the librarian hands out the music. You open it to page one and
play. Here it is: one-two-three play. And you have to play that music like you
wrote it, or like you’ve been playing it for — rarely in those days did you get
a chance to play it more than twice. Maybe three times. You’d run it down for
notes, to make sure there was no copying errors. And then you begin recording.
And if it was a tight budget picture, which is the case now, you don’t get a
second chance. You’re on the edge of your seat at all times.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Around 1976
Frank left the 9-5 recording studio life and returned to his first love, which
was big band jazz. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His passion was
shared by his friend, pianist Nat Pierce. The well known big band named Juggernaut
came about serendipitously as many musical ventures do.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">FC:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Our first album was just called Juggernaut.
And the reason it was called Juggernaut is because Nat and I put the band
together for a one-night situation to help a guy who was running big bands at a
club called King Arthur’s in the San Fernando Valley. And he had hired Neal
Hefti’s band and Neal disbanded before the engagement came up. And I was
contracting for Neal, so the club owner asked me to put a big band together. I
did. I got Nat, we went out, and we called it “A Tribute to Count Basie.” And
we worked that first night, and that was all it was going to be. And the crowd
liked it so much, and the club owner liked it so much, he said, “You’ve got to
come back next week.” Well we did and we came back subsequent weeks for a
couple of months, and Leonard Feather, the jazz critic for the L.A. Times at
that point, came out to review the band. And the next day in his article it
said, “A juggernaut on Basie Street.” That was the title of the review. So at
that particular time, everybody had a name to the band. Buddy Rich had the Big
Band Machine, and Louie Bellson had Big Band Explosion, and everybody, they
were putting a tag on all of it. So I said, “Nat, let’s use the name
‘Juggernaut.’” So we subsequently recorded that first album, and Carl Jefferson
from Concord said, “Let’s call the album ‘Juggernaut.’” I kind of wish that we
never used the word quite frankly, because people don’t know how to spell it.
They are forever asking me what is a Juggernaut, and a lot of people call it
“Juggernauts” and it’s not a plural.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The Webster
dictionary defines Juggernaut as “an irresistible force” and the Capp-Pierce
big band was certainly that. Their second album, “Live at the Century Plaza,” featured
our favorite singer, Joe Williams, in an spontaneously-created 11-minute tune
called “Joe’s Blues.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Frank was a
man of strong opinions, especially about the role of music, and jazz in
particular:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">FC:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">This country’s got its values all screwed up.
Musicians who spend and devote their life to become really facile on their
instruments and help create pleasure for people, make nothing. And some
athletic dummy, you know, goes out and bangs his head against somebody else’s
helmet and they make millions and millions. But that’s another story.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">MR:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Well we feel that this music is such a big
part of this country.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">FC:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">It is, it is. Thank God — I could kiss you
for saying that. I mean it’s America’s heritage, you know?</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">From the
Fillius archive, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=3_qXaSPZp6w" target="_blank"><u>here is a link to the full YouTube interview</u></a> I
conducted with Frank on September 3, 1995.</span></div>
Monk Rowehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02578795540044530298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2127387047867633730.post-43300376586201399832017-09-06T16:03:00.000-04:002017-09-06T16:03:36.666-04:00Musician, Know Thy Gig<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1xbAg5tinb-5BOjGqH-69RPxd7PS3gcZRWYGAHyZWh5iyZjKt-trltr-bxPVSL3mU16d3xWzIr_Ixy-_PtO2ZstB4tYFK_UoxExSYYYcu_ddhUW_4Y85ahaCypq7s3wfTU4Ou9pxpivNC/s1600/three-musicians-picasso.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="896" data-original-width="1000" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1xbAg5tinb-5BOjGqH-69RPxd7PS3gcZRWYGAHyZWh5iyZjKt-trltr-bxPVSL3mU16d3xWzIr_Ixy-_PtO2ZstB4tYFK_UoxExSYYYcu_ddhUW_4Y85ahaCypq7s3wfTU4Ou9pxpivNC/s320/three-musicians-picasso.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The first
gig I can remember being paid for dates back to 1968, my senior year in high
school. I played with fellow classmates in a sax-keyboard-drums trio. The gig
was a Spanish Club banquet, and the faculty coordinator of the club gave us $12
to split between us. It was my first experience getting paid to play, and I
liked it! Since that time I’ve played every imaginable kind of gig, in various
ensembles, at assorted settings. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">One type of
engagement I play regularly is for alumni functions at local colleges. Most of
these gatherings are sponsored by the development office; the most recent one
celebrated the grand opening of a remodeled campus building while simultaneously
honoring major donors. Though the atmosphere and setting were casual, the
college staff were highly motivated to stage a flawless event.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">After all
these years I still was playing with two other musical partners. This
particular trio consisted of keyboard, guitar and drums. Our contract
stipulated that we be ready to play at 5:45, and to expect a 20-minute break
while speeches were made at the podium. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As we were
setting up, a good half hour before the beginning of the event, our contact
came up to the band and in good humor deliberately looked at us and counted, “One,
two, three,” pointing to each member in succession. It was a way of saying, “I
see you are all here, you’re dressed appropriately, and that you will be ready
to play at the appointed time.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Three songs
into our set the contact again approached the band and I could tell a comment
was forthcoming. Musicians have a short list of complimentary audience
observations they like to hear, including, “Nice tunes, terrific guitar solo,”
etc. What we heard was, “The volume is perfect.” At that moment I was reminded
that the most important thing on this engagement was that people could
congregate and have a conversation without shouting over the music.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I am lucky
to play with two guys who already know this. Our drummer wisely played with
brushes, and our guitarist brought his smallest amp. Some rooms are difficult
to gauge, but a glance around the room will make it clear. If people are
leaning into each other to talk, it’s time to turn down. Curiously, some of our
best musical moments occur in these intimate situations.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Some
musicians might be mildly offended by the volume remark, as if that was all
that mattered. But you can take pride in yourself and in your fellow musicians
that you are capably filling your role, and likely to get called again for
another event.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Musicians
should take note of the non-musical aspects of performing professionally. This
does not mean that what you play does not matter. The very next day I received
feedback from this same person remarking on the positive comments he received
about the trio. If you want to work more than one time in the same location,
keep in mind what’s important to the individual with the checkbook.</span></div>
Monk Rowehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02578795540044530298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2127387047867633730.post-87825465113114937172017-08-24T13:36:00.000-04:002017-08-24T13:36:24.563-04:00John Abercrombie, 1944-2017
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiekuT3mzcZOAxhPxQB6AGwIsNs_2GGHYBzJb4CJ7Yk7SgrynxkHZxYXbhnwFv1wvt_VIxceUsTbxo64AIyGlgQz3EBh60QWQlvSleZecylN3hD3dz9xhuzle0B9stkswS5dSeAy9-sCOW/s1600/JohnAbercrombie.jpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="161" data-original-width="266" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiekuT3mzcZOAxhPxQB6AGwIsNs_2GGHYBzJb4CJ7Yk7SgrynxkHZxYXbhnwFv1wvt_VIxceUsTbxo64AIyGlgQz3EBh60QWQlvSleZecylN3hD3dz9xhuzle0B9stkswS5dSeAy9-sCOW/s400/JohnAbercrombie.jpg.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Abercrombie, in 2001</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">One of the
finest guitarists in jazz, John Abercrombie, passed away this past Tuesday,
August 22, 2017. John’s recording career was as varied as his early guitar
influences, which included Chuck Berry and Barney Kessel. His work ranged from
heavy fusion with the band called Dreams, to introspective recordings on the
ECM label. John explored the possibilities that electronics offered, employing
the guitar-synthesizer combination, but eventually found that his guitar and
one amplifier was all the resources he needed. In our interview conducted
before a concert at Hamilton, he took note of the proliferating number of young
musicians entering the market, and offered sage advice for newly minted music
school graduates:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">MR:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">If you had the opportunity to address those
thousand plus guitar students at Berklee, what would you say to them about how
to prepare for the future of where this music is at?</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">JA:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Oh man, I mean you could just tell them
don’t quit your day job, you could say, I mean the hardest thing is with a lot
of players, and what I always tell the ones, I mean and I can’t address a
thousand of them at a time, but even with the students I have, if they
play really good I just tell them look, I hope you really like this
music, because if you don’t I mean there’s a lot of you guys around right now.
I mean there’s a lot of good young players. I have a couple of students at the
New England Conservatory where I teach now about eight times a year. I mean they
can really play. I’ve had a few that you kind of go wow, this guy can
play. Really play. And when he gets out in the real world and he’s more of a —
he’s really going to be able to play. But where are all these guys going to
work? And I always try to tell them, I always try to say look, keep yourself
open to all the aspects of music, whether it’s being a jazz player or maybe
it’s writing songs, maybe it’s as a producer. I mean there could be a place in
music for a lot of people but there’s only so many places that people who are
going to be quote unquote performers, especially jazz performers, are going to
be able to play. I mean the amount of venues haven’t changed dramatically since
when I was starting to play and there’s like a hundred times more players out
there. I’m lucky I have a record label and a reputation. To be a young musician
coming now, it has to be tough from that point of view, because there’s so many
guys and there’s just not enough places to play. So I just tell them make sure
you really love this stuff because you’re going to have to be doing it for that
reason if you want to be a jazz player because there’s not going to be, and
don’t even worry about anything else. Just only do it for that. As long as you
can get by and then if you’re really true to what you do things will come your
way probably, you’ll make a living and you’ll be able to
play your music and hopefully maybe you’ll get very successful.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Fresh from
the Fillius archive, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRqb9BfaYCE" target="_blank"><u>here is a link to the full YouTube interview</u></a> I
conducted with John on April 19, 2001.</span></div>
Monk Rowehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02578795540044530298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2127387047867633730.post-17288513286929195012017-08-08T11:35:00.001-04:002017-08-08T11:35:10.011-04:00Jazz Centennial<div style="text-align: center;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlc0yBgTYqtNC5rrQBj-bmRgMdfaPtDs-6rC-v585c4ReZqDNP5WpL-s9KKMR-MUrtabueVgHgLySB8G1UCVfL3nfMEAqMTALAQDrFi27D6tLpps5iy-lAseKmHJVd7h5jAEe44g2288RP/s1600/music-birthday-cake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlc0yBgTYqtNC5rrQBj-bmRgMdfaPtDs-6rC-v585c4ReZqDNP5WpL-s9KKMR-MUrtabueVgHgLySB8G1UCVfL3nfMEAqMTALAQDrFi27D6tLpps5iy-lAseKmHJVd7h5jAEe44g2288RP/s320/music-birthday-cake.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
centennial of the first jazz recording by the Original Dixieland Jass Band
titled “Livery Stable Blues” is observed this year (<a href="http://jazzbackstory.blogspot.com/2017/02/" target="_blank"><u>see our blog dated 2/26/17</u></a>) . If an extraterrestrial had heard their rendition they could
never have imagined the diversity and the artistic heights that jazz would
accomplish in the hundred years that followed. A significant portion of that
history began coincidentally in 1917 with the birth of an impressive number of
future jazz stars. Most significant were the innovators of bebop, Thelonious
Monk, born on October 10, and John “Dizzy” Gillespie, born in the same month on
the 21<sup>st</sup>. Two other notable artists whose technical skills have
never been surpassed are Buddy Rich, born on September 30, and Ella Fitzgerald,
born on April 25 (<a href="http://jazzbackstory.blogspot.com/2017/04/" target="_blank"><u>see our blog dated 4/25/17</u></a>). Those four musicians
alone qualify 1917 as an important year in jazz history.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Other
notable musicians who were born in 1917 include vocalists Lena Horne (October
4), Jo Stafford (November 12), and Dave Lambert (June 19); pianist Tadd Dameron
(February 21); bassist Curly Russell (March 19); and Latin percussionist Mongo
Santamaria (April 7). Perhaps a future jazz artist has already been born in
2017 and will contribute to the ever-evolving story of this music.</span></div>
Monk Rowehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02578795540044530298noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2127387047867633730.post-91297877050419992002017-06-28T08:33:00.000-04:002017-08-25T09:26:35.454-04:00Jon Hendricks, An Appreciation<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzNQNwm0Yi0ru0kNgrw4gOaaM99wa0SgyWvx-ZyKPjidZ3m5YE_seUOte97cQtR9px0_W8j_rvjwsLfDvnnwdwvXU_s2d7AowK35ZcJAZWOj_b6_VSnXozWSFZS7G-fpPmBCTsOHyv36C0/s1600/JonHendricks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="430" data-original-width="381" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzNQNwm0Yi0ru0kNgrw4gOaaM99wa0SgyWvx-ZyKPjidZ3m5YE_seUOte97cQtR9px0_W8j_rvjwsLfDvnnwdwvXU_s2d7AowK35ZcJAZWOj_b6_VSnXozWSFZS7G-fpPmBCTsOHyv36C0/s320/JonHendricks.jpg" width="283" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jon Hendricks, in 2000</td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Too often
we wait until a person has passed before we reflect on their accomplishments.
If I had to pick ten of my favorite interviews from the 340 we have gathered
for the Fillius Jazz Archive, both of our sessions with Jon Hendricks would
make the cut.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Jon
Hendricks is now 95, retired from performing and unfortunately is beset with
health issues. He is a man who enjoyed a remarkably creative career and could
speak intelligently about seemingly any subject. Jon was a fascinating
storyteller. During our initial interview in 1995, he related this tale about
Count Basie:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">MR:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">You had quite a wonderful association with
Count Basie</i>.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">JH:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Oh, yeah. It was gorgeous. He was a great
man. I mean he was great in such a quiet way. There wasn’t any flamboyance
about him. What it was about him, I think was his magnetism. He just set still
and was quiet. But nothing happened until he moved. I mean the band would be on
the bandstand, and everybody would be sitting there and he’d come and make that
introduction, and the whole band would come to life. You know he was such an
honest man that it was funny, I mean it was joke the way he would just let the
truth come out of his mouth. Like one time we went to London with him. And he
asked me to come by his hotel you know, because he was going to do an interview
with the London Times. And he was kind of worried about it, and wanted to make
sure that everything went well. So he wanted me there in case I had to
translate for him for the reporter. So this man sits down and he says, [with a
British accent] “Tell me, Mr. Bahsie” he says, “you have a style of playing the
piano” he says, “you don’t seem to play too many notes. You’re sort of
economical in your style of playing.” He says, “How did you arrive at such a
style?” And Basie said, “I just can’t play no more piano.” And I was sitting
there and I went into the bathroom and cracked up. Because it was so true but
totally unexpected. And then when we saw the article the next day, the guy
remarked on how Mr. Basie was so — what did he call it — so modest. He said he
was so modest. He wasn’t modest, he was telling the truth. </i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Jon is
often cited as an influence on current vocal groups due to his participation in
the iconic jazz vocal trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross. His fortuitous
meeting with cab driver Tim Hauser helped jump start Manhattan Transfer, a jazz
vocal ensemble that is still performing after forty years. From Part 2 in 2000:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">JH:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I tell the story of the formation of the
Manhattan Transfer. Their idea was to be a group like Lambert, Hendricks &
Ross. That’s why I helped them. That was their aim. I met Tim Hauser in a taxi.
He was a taxi driver. And I got in his cab with my brother. And he says, “I
know you, you’re Jon Hendricks.” I said, “How do you know me?” He says, “I know
you. My name is Tim Hauser and my girlfriend Janis Siegel and I live in
Brooklyn and we’re going to start a Lambert, Hendricks & Ross type group
called Manhattan Transfer.” I gave him my card, and I said, “Any time I can
help you, let me know.” And that was how they started. I said so that’s what
vocalese is. It’s the setting of lyrics to established American jazz
instrumentals in a form so that it tells a story with a beginning, a middle, an
end, a plot, a cast of characters, the horns become the characters, and they
make a commentary on the subject matter which is determined by the title. </i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Janis
Siegel, an original member of the Manhattan Transfer, speaks of Jon Hendricks
with reverence and respect:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCALVikL1imTHY0uHNGew2YL7KIZqvnhcc-mf_2cn_WCqak7_JIqgh6LC-7LZWPH_idWmJwHIUY6056L0MafjI255FySuGsWI6Y7ZLjJZxJ7XDGALs1gERKQs0c2B0m_eNukxUyh2e-3pb/s1600/JanisSiegel.jpg.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="179" data-original-width="297" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCALVikL1imTHY0uHNGew2YL7KIZqvnhcc-mf_2cn_WCqak7_JIqgh6LC-7LZWPH_idWmJwHIUY6056L0MafjI255FySuGsWI6Y7ZLjJZxJ7XDGALs1gERKQs0c2B0m_eNukxUyh2e-3pb/s200/JanisSiegel.jpg.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">MR:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">How did you get connected?</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">JS:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Well we’ve been doing his stuff from the
very beginning honestly. And certainly we were aware of vocalese. For the first
album Tim and I wrote a vocalese to “You Can Depend on Me” in the style — I
mean influenced certainly by Lambert, Hendricks & Ross and Jon in
particular.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think “Vocalese” is
something that we’re very proud of, continuing the tradition of. And we did a
whole record of vocalese with Jon and tackled some very meaty things. And Jon
was able to tackle some meaty subjects in his lyrics, particularly “Joy
Spring,” “Airegin” really amazing lyrics. And he was in the video of “Rock
House” and he was in the video of “Night in Tunisia.” And whenever we could
perform with Jon it’s always a blessing.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Individual
singers have also been influenced by Jon’s singing and his remarkable skill
with the practice of vocalese. In our interview in 2015 Giacomo Gates commented
on Jon’s skill:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgst8eHeJBnlWVMTQ23pF0gnwfsVOK4TaZEiVvDm2H57jI1ZxjWt5zH50u2byhFnTOXccMKQNvlGTVUyurhTLBzAql1s1vStDvit_MbIIAz8rZwTkpfbx1X-v44vGgKmyR4HIRryLC_dY9W/s1600/Gates.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="386" data-original-width="728" height="105" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgst8eHeJBnlWVMTQ23pF0gnwfsVOK4TaZEiVvDm2H57jI1ZxjWt5zH50u2byhFnTOXccMKQNvlGTVUyurhTLBzAql1s1vStDvit_MbIIAz8rZwTkpfbx1X-v44vGgKmyR4HIRryLC_dY9W/s200/Gates.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">GG:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jon Hendricks is amazing. And every time I
would get something of his I’d say, “Wow, this is the better than the last
one.” And then “Freddie Freeloader,” did you ever hear that? It’s amazing what
he wrote, and that he sings a John Coltrane solo. I mean who could sing a John
Coltrane solo? Jon Hendricks.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><u><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uskIr7e8X5E" target="_blank">Click here to see the full interview with Giacomo Gates</a>.</u> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The thing I
will remember best about our sessions with Jon is his eloquence and passion
when speaking about humans, humanity and human nature. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">JH:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i>T</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">he philosophy that we had as my father’s
children, you know. Like he was a very spiritual man and he taught us that we
were children of the living God. And every man, woman and child on this planet
were our brothers and sisters. And never mind that they didn’t feel that way,
that was their problem. It was our job to remember that we are brothers and
sisters to every human being. So I find it solved all the racial problems I
might have had. Because I’ve never really had any. You know, anybody comes to
me, I give them the love I would give a brother. So if they have animosity
toward me, first it’s got to get through that. And that’s pretty hard. That’s
pretty hard to get through. So I find I have no problems you know. I don’t
accept anything but God’s children. And I read Paul, God is no respecter of
person. So who is man to cause problems, and to have all this racial — all
these politicians talking about the problems between black and white, already
are expressing gross ungodliness. And lack of belief in any real God you know.
And thus I’ve had no part of that.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">MR:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">We can all learn from some of those
comments. That’s wonderful.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">JH:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I just will not have anything to do with
that. Mankind? That’s me. I’m there. If you want something for mankind? Okay.
But I will not compartmentalize it you know.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<u><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX7sGSgjNXo" target="_blank">Click here to read the full Part 1 interview, conducted in 1995</a>.</span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aM89KH1mYao" target="_blank"><u>Click here to read the full Part 2 interview, conducted in 2000</u></a>.</span></div>
Monk Rowehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02578795540044530298noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2127387047867633730.post-54216107797456819202017-05-25T08:59:00.000-04:002017-05-25T08:59:41.624-04:00Dave Pell, 1925-2017<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqcgMh7BAz8PWmnCt0h8wy-Kca7RGwnd7yzGiLvASinQQUT6J_thIvFgPD5WxFstT7vMoobVFV9Y3XSUfykIHgxvHzBc6JIgYVmB9k9NuEvEFODQ3iputtAVulKKddot1_v4eLB-K4BGCu/s1600/Pell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="382" data-original-width="640" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqcgMh7BAz8PWmnCt0h8wy-Kca7RGwnd7yzGiLvASinQQUT6J_thIvFgPD5WxFstT7vMoobVFV9Y3XSUfykIHgxvHzBc6JIgYVmB9k9NuEvEFODQ3iputtAVulKKddot1_v4eLB-K4BGCu/s320/Pell.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Dave Pell
passed away on May 8 at the age of 92. He was not a familiar name to the casual
listener, but he carved himself multiple niches in the West Coast music scene.
While Dave was mainly known as a tenor saxophonist, he was a man of many hats,
and applied his talents to producing records, taking photographs for album
covers, arranging music for large and small ensembles, including the Dave Pell
Octet, and organizing the Lester Young based group called The Prez Conference.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I’m sure
those who knew Dave would comment on his high energy and healthy sense of
humor. While he was born in New York, he never returned after leaving on a trip
to the West Coast with the Tony Pastor Orchestra. He did not suffer mediocre
musicians gladly, and had a unique way of getting solo space, even as a young
man.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">DP:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I was with Tony Pastor getting there. And
the story about Tony Pastor, I get to California and I say, “Gee Tony, this is
great. Good-bye. I’m quitting.” He says, ‘you can’t leave me in L.A., this is
wilderness. There’s no guys. I can’t get a guy that’ll leave California, they
don’t want to come here.” I said, “good-bye.” And so he says, “well stay with
me until we leave California and then you can quit. So six weeks later I left
the band. But I had fun with Tony because I’d run out to the microphone to beat
him to his own solos. Because he didn’t really like to play. But the only way I
could get to play was to be a cocky kid and run up to the mic when he’s ready
to play and I’m up there playing already. “Sorry, Tony.”</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">MR:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sounds like you didn’t lack for self
confidence.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">DP:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Oh, no, I was a smart ass, it was terrible.
I was just terrible. But that’s kind of a thing that you have to do. It’s
almost like the sidemen on the band, they keep watching the leader. And
watching all the mistakes he makes. And all the wrong things he does. Because
in the back of his mind, I’m going to be a leader some day and I ain’t never
gonna put myself — I mean Les Brown, I had a great time with Lester’s band and
played on every tune, you know I had a great, great book to play, and we had
[Don] Fagerquist and all the good players. And I remember as I went out every
time to play a solo out front, we’d just didn’t stand up, we’d go out front —
show biz. And I remember kicking over Lester’s horn at least once a night. “Oh,
I tripped, ohhh, I’m so sorry, Oh, Les I’ll fix it later.” Well he didn’t play
too well. And we didn’t like him playing in the band with us, because the saxes
sounded so good. But when he played he played awful. And so if his horn didn’t
work, he wouldn’t play. And Les after years and years he finally figured out I
was doing it on purpose. You know, “I’m so clumsy, Les, I’m sorry.” But I was
kicking over his horn so he wouldn’t play. Terrible, terrible. </i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Like other
Los Angeles-based musicians, Dave was a passionate golfer. He decided there was
a niche market for custom-made golf clubs, and he was the man to fill it. In
his own words, he stated: “I found out that if I hit the ball and missed the
shot that couldn’t be me, it must be the equipment.” This gave birth to yet one
more project for the always active Mr. Pell. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I have the
feeling that Dave did not enjoy what we call “down time.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">DP:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I loved it. I think I would have been
happier just playing. But it wasn’t enough for me. It wasn’t enough of a
challenge. I figured it’s like sitting there in the band and watching the
leader and then realizing all the things he did wrong, and saying I’m going to
be the leader now. All right I’m the leader, now what? Well I got 30 albums.
Well now what? You know? You keep on wanting to spread out. It’s like
improvising. Exactly like improvising. It’s making something happen.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">You can
watch the entire interview I did with Dave in April of 1996, fresh off the
presses on the Fillius Jazz Archive Channel. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgKVTq_yYuc" target="_blank"><u>Click here</u></a>.</span></div>
Monk Rowehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02578795540044530298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2127387047867633730.post-55134348473294537932017-04-25T15:51:00.000-04:002017-04-25T15:51:45.088-04:00She Could Sing the Telephone Book<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha3mSfvw5cF-H0MNBMjQwtBJjVnYwuPhwUqq77y1Cs8atSa2onsyQu4_I7wZLNZGdnWTsqysVHzUxOL3AEj_qqTcM-_is2SntUU8Fs81KIM4Tyotyehvke_M97T1BFSMzZEdbdEL68R-24/s1600/fitzgeraldella31.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha3mSfvw5cF-H0MNBMjQwtBJjVnYwuPhwUqq77y1Cs8atSa2onsyQu4_I7wZLNZGdnWTsqysVHzUxOL3AEj_qqTcM-_is2SntUU8Fs81KIM4Tyotyehvke_M97T1BFSMzZEdbdEL68R-24/s1600/fitzgeraldella31.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Today is
the one hundredth birthday of vocalist Ella Fitzgerald. When jazz critics
debate the superlative jazz singers, they start with Ella Fitzgerald and Billie
Holiday, then move on to everyone else. Ella has always been number one on my
personal list. She offered what I wanted in a jazz singer: an impeccable sense
of swing, respect for the composer’s melody, and emotion tempered in measured
amounts.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In 1999 I
had the good fortune to interview pianist Paul Smith in Los Angeles. He cited
his time as Ella Fitgzerald’s accompanist as a career highlight:</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi65FGeCtOiECPwRTR6ni494LoCy-nWl5sd6yvDpNSUFHTmhKNKi21IcWPhASmMmAGdD6MLI8_3vtOw1D56vttGIu35mSp5swAUEtq2fwpUxXNno0mejfw3SMEBpKq-uX4zV6DlTck4ePV6/s1600/PaulSmith.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="128" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi65FGeCtOiECPwRTR6ni494LoCy-nWl5sd6yvDpNSUFHTmhKNKi21IcWPhASmMmAGdD6MLI8_3vtOw1D56vttGIu35mSp5swAUEtq2fwpUxXNno0mejfw3SMEBpKq-uX4zV6DlTck4ePV6/s200/PaulSmith.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Paul Smith, in 1999</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">MR:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Tell
me about working with Ella if you don’t mind.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">PS:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That
was a total delight. Musically you can’t beat it. I mean it spoiled you for
most other singers. She was such an easy person to play for. I mean that was a
case, I mean when she’s scatting, you play one-fifteenth of what you’re capable
of playing. We did one album together, which I bought three or four copies of
for posterity for my family and everything, and it’s called “The Intimate
Ella,” and it’s just piano and her.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqkCikeOdPPbDUyJS85fSVtvCrD9y70r7ARR_3GlV7Co1xTIDU7vPK5ibqJ7lnarox1oxA6KkSD18vFnBGRUnvDLCI3UECxnqUZuszzyIylOv4pu0lHqskXFfEanKwst3qrE-sOXWl3a8E/s1600/IntimateElla.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqkCikeOdPPbDUyJS85fSVtvCrD9y70r7ARR_3GlV7Co1xTIDU7vPK5ibqJ7lnarox1oxA6KkSD18vFnBGRUnvDLCI3UECxnqUZuszzyIylOv4pu0lHqskXFfEanKwst3qrE-sOXWl3a8E/s1600/IntimateElla.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And it’s the one album where nobody plays
choruses. I mean most, I’d say 99% of her albums, she was the band singer. The
band played 16 bars, or if it was done with Oscar or Joe Pass or whoever, I mean
they played choruses and they played behind her, and it was kind of like a
coordinated thing between them but it wasn’t really her album. And this one,
she loved to sing ballads. And I don’t think she had ever done a complete
ballad album, she always ended up having to scat or having to do swinging
things. So we did like 15 tunes, all ballads. And she was at the height of her
career at that time. And I said, “I’m going to play four bars, and you sing.
There’s no piano choruses, nobody else, this is just you, you just do what you
want to do.” And it turned out to be — I mean it’s a singer’s tour de force.
Every singer should listen to that whole album. That’s where the statement came
from she could sing the telephone book and make it sound good. Because she did
all the tunes that people have trouble with — “Melancholy Baby,” “Who’s Sorry
Now,” and the “Black Coffee,” “One for the Road.” It’s just a beautiful album,
not because I’m on it but just from the singing standpoint she was exquisite
and singing just what she wanted to sing. She didn’t want to do any scat,
didn’t want any tunes where she had to ad lib. She did her little ad libs,
which she does on ballads, but generally it’s straight melody pretty much. And
it’s a great album for her.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">You can
view the full<u> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwrcn7TZvls" target="_blank">interview with Paul Smith</a></u> on the Fillius Jazz Archive
YouTube Channel.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Here’s a
link to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agN7oQYxD3Q" target="_blank"><u>“Angel Eyes,”</u></a> one of the cuts from “The Intimate Ella.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As a
contrast, you may also enjoy this classic performance of Ella scatting on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djZCe7ou3kY" target="_blank"><u>“How High the Moon.”</u></a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Happy Birthday,
Ella!</span></div>
Monk Rowehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02578795540044530298noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2127387047867633730.post-88408284153922642652017-04-17T08:49:00.000-04:002017-04-17T08:49:01.908-04:00Junior's Last Gig<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpuKog7XfRK2dxv8UMW4iP31vKNDNTKQ6240N1fjWZA7x20Quc4R3Erjzvt2AB17wIDqOuecIK0O9oNDkVvbtSDk-LukI0QmZIydyel1oOyyeTyHmGrH-cgc9Bh7qkNJr48DbWpwjAhb1V/s1600/Mance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpuKog7XfRK2dxv8UMW4iP31vKNDNTKQ6240N1fjWZA7x20Quc4R3Erjzvt2AB17wIDqOuecIK0O9oNDkVvbtSDk-LukI0QmZIydyel1oOyyeTyHmGrH-cgc9Bh7qkNJr48DbWpwjAhb1V/s320/Mance.jpg" width="316" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">When I was
a teenager I didn’t know what the word “epiphany” meant, but I experienced a
few. One came courtesy of a late night radio station in Rochester, and a
recording of Junior Mance’s “Harlem Lullaby.” I wrote about this song and my conversation
with Junior in an <a href="http://jazzbackstory.blogspot.com/2015/12/harlem-lullaby.html" target="_blank"><u>earlier blog entry here</u></a>. Junior has remained a
personal favorite of mine, and I have had the pleasure of booking him and his
trio on a number of occasions.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It saddens
me to relate that Junior’s health is in decline as he suffers from dementia.
Now at age 88, Junior is cared for by his wife, soul-mate and manager, Gloria
Clayborne Mance. Gloria’s tireless efforts on Junior’s behalf have been noticed
by documentary filmmakers Jyllian Gunther and Adam Khan, and they are
undertaking a project to record Junior and Gloria’s story. It is entitled <a href="https://vimeo.com/208891679" target="_blank"><u>Sunset and the Mockingbird</u></a>, and you can click the title to see its
trailer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their story is reflective
of thousands of other narratives across the country as the misfortune of
dementia and Alzheimer’s become more prevalent in our aging population.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Documentary
films by their very nature are not financed by corporations or movie studios,
thus a Kickstarter campaign is underway to raise the necessary funding to
complete this worthwhile project. Their goal is to raise $38,000 by the end of
April, and they have passed the halfway point. Please consider donating to this
worthy cause, both large and small amounts are welcome. <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sunsetmockingbird/sunset-and-the-mockingbird?ref=discovery" target="_blank"><u>You can access the Kickstarter fund drive here</u></a>.</span></div>
Monk Rowehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02578795540044530298noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2127387047867633730.post-43506501278190464802017-03-11T12:32:00.000-05:002017-03-11T12:32:51.356-05:00Dave Valentin, 1952-2017<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyujlxwMrlM3l7Pmh4AxbGcgXqOMGuD4P5bTXyjxS-eHZXPD8nvKc9dF0p-8mB7o6a_MiilZtUKsAKe2Cc7o88D8AItyGQ0J8l1hGJo-DJ3-OLXL9xXUaHCvyZkp7WHY1mYJri0fNwc6t6/s1600/Valentin.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyujlxwMrlM3l7Pmh4AxbGcgXqOMGuD4P5bTXyjxS-eHZXPD8nvKc9dF0p-8mB7o6a_MiilZtUKsAKe2Cc7o88D8AItyGQ0J8l1hGJo-DJ3-OLXL9xXUaHCvyZkp7WHY1mYJri0fNwc6t6/s320/Valentin.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The flute
has been an add-on for most of jazz history. Typically saxophone players
learned it as a “double,” especially when big band arrangers started writing
flute parts to be played by someone in the sax section. The most notable
example of this is tenor saxophonist Frank Wess, who made the flute an integral
part of the Count Basie sound in the 1950s and ‘60s. A short list of jazz
flautists include Mr. Wess as well as Sam Most, Hubert Laws, Herbie Mann, and
the late Dave Valentin. Dave passed away at the early age of 64 on Wednesday,
March 8.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As a young
percussionist influenced by his Puerto Rican parents, Dave found himself in the
company of celebrated Latin band leaders. He loved to tell the story of being
attracted to the flute because of a striking female flute player. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">After
teaching junior high school music for three years, Dave was the first artist
signed to the GRP record label, led by musicians Dave Grusin and Larry Rosen.
Along the way he earned a Grammy award and adulation for his combination of
jazz and authentic Latin music. He was serious about the music he produced, and
had strong opinions regarding jazz for lazy listeners:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">DV:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I think this quiet storm crap, I think it
really damaged the music in a lot of ways. Where people think that this easy
listening, like really easy listening is good music.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">MR:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">You said “quiet storm?” Is that your own
phrase?</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">DV:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Oh no they use that on the radio, quiet
storm format.</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Or cool jazz.</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">And not to mention any names, but there’s
just some music where people think that’s what a saxophone should sound like.
And it’s a no-brainer. There’s no challenge in it. And I think that’s damaged
the music. I mean if you play good music, people will listen. It’s very simple.
</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">MR:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I was curious if you’ve ever had producers
who wanted you to like include something because they thought it would help
your sales.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">DV:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Well with the disco thing, there was one
album called “Flute Juice” and I think a review came in called “it should be
called ‘Prune Juice.’” That’s the last time I did that. And I told Larry I’m
not going to make another record like this. The next record was “Kalahari,” and
that was one of the best records I’ve done. I said please — because it was
actually his suggestion because he thought — the sales — he thought that might
be a good idea to do some discoish kind of thing. But it didn’t work out. But
at least he learned quickly. I said just let me produce, Larry, you just sit
behind the desk.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The care he
took with his own music was reflected in the care he took in his life, and he
credited some words of wisdom from his father. “Listen, if you’re going to
clean your room, do the best you can. If you’re going to be a brother, father,
do the best you can. If you’re going to do the dishes, do the best you can. If
you’re going to be a musician, do the best you can. And whatever you decide,
then be the best you can.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Percussionist
Mario Bauza also offered words of wisdom Dave lived by: “If you think it’s that
bad, it’s really not. And if you have faith, intelligence and a sense of humor
you can overcome anything.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Good
advice, for everyone.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">For your
Latin jazz edification, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6WvDMI6axc" target="_blank"><u>here’s a live YouTube of Dave playing “Obsession.”</u></a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">You can
watch the entire interview I did with Dave in April of 2000 on the Fillius Jazz
Archive Channel. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQCd9qmIOhI" target="_blank"><u>Click here</u></a>.</span></div>
Monk Rowehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02578795540044530298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2127387047867633730.post-3020255941546922062017-02-26T07:28:00.002-05:002017-02-26T07:28:56.144-05:00A Hundred Years Ago Today<style>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgJi6qOhtST6cS12UtGAewuWGFjqjwa6p2cuvbWU1fO3N9gJ9T0QlLpobXlRRSwFN_nxuaH3ASFX6A8nIZSs7P_dDRYvdjqXE-IVDcDG-9k7ZP5JFXwPFQxCkZKEK1pwoShUl3XTPeh_f6/s1600/Livery-stable.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgJi6qOhtST6cS12UtGAewuWGFjqjwa6p2cuvbWU1fO3N9gJ9T0QlLpobXlRRSwFN_nxuaH3ASFX6A8nIZSs7P_dDRYvdjqXE-IVDcDG-9k7ZP5JFXwPFQxCkZKEK1pwoShUl3XTPeh_f6/s1600/Livery-stable.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">On February
26, 1917, a less-than-famous five piece band recorded what was called the first
jazz record. The Original Dixieland “Jass” band was comprised of five musicians
from New Orleans who formed their band in Chicago in 1916. Their recording
consisted of a semi-improvised conversation between trumpet, clarinet and
trombone, with rhythm provided by piano and drums. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In a now familiar
occurrence regarding innovators and imitators, the Original Dixieland Jass Band,
an all-white quintet, was afforded the now historic opportunity to make the
first jazz record. Their music was a re-creation of the style they had heard in
New Orleans, provided by black musicians such as King Oliver, Buddy Bolden and
Freddie Keppard. According to jazz lore, trumpeter Keppard was offered a chance
to be the first jazz musician to record but he declined, believing that his
personal style would be stolen easily by way of this new medium of re-created
music on wax. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjvE73miFvg" target="_blank"><u>Livery Stable Blues</u></a>” is a pale imitation of the real thing. The New
Orleans style had been around for a number of years, an offshoot of the
joyous<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>music provided by marching
bands in New Orleans. It was the first incarnation of swing, and set the stage
for many jazz superstars to come, including Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman and
Bix Beiderbecke. The Victor Talking Machine Company released this record
complete with the indication of “Fox Trot,” a popular dance style at the time.
The Original Dixieland Jass Band enjoyed modest success both here and abroad,
but eventually faded away, like all bands, partly due to the racist and
exaggerated statements by their leader and trumpeter, Nick LaRocca, who
insisted that he was a key player in the invention of jazz.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Have a
listen to “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjvE73miFvg" target="_blank"><u>Livery Stable Blues</u></a>” — you’ll find it quaint and hopelessly
dated both in sound and style. Reflecting the title, the instrumentalists
imitate barnyard sounds and barely manage to achieve a swinging rhythm.
Whatever we think of it, it was a milestone. Victor Talking Machine Company, whose
mind was always on profits, felt it worthy of exposure to the public. In the
early part of the twentieth century music was mostly spread through live
performances. A 78 RPM disc brought home to be played on the family Victrola
was always an event. I can picture the adults in the room wondering what is
this “jass music” I’m hearing? — and thinking this can’t possibly last. A few
decades later they said the same thing about rock & roll.</span></div>
Monk Rowehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02578795540044530298noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2127387047867633730.post-12085854108521252352017-02-20T13:31:00.001-05:002017-02-20T13:31:53.236-05:00Fillius YouTube Channel Opens<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-dIgaSK-h_XXbFqoCJjh-ZHnMyGycN_zN6ycGGVdWHigWbB-UqDIqBKzdjDGSPDg03DUm69eUn_OCzh9N9X_gx1t4LMtIgGX-OQDhPf9RmRUIWrW1-p6cLo5KK3jNPiRi2xB7d7AMoIER/s1600/YTAvatar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-dIgaSK-h_XXbFqoCJjh-ZHnMyGycN_zN6ycGGVdWHigWbB-UqDIqBKzdjDGSPDg03DUm69eUn_OCzh9N9X_gx1t4LMtIgGX-OQDhPf9RmRUIWrW1-p6cLo5KK3jNPiRi2xB7d7AMoIER/s1600/YTAvatar.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I am
pleased to announce the launch of the Fillius Jazz Archive at Hamilton College
YouTube channel which is now up and running. On it we are uploading complete
video interviews we have recorded from our body of over 330 sessions with jazz
luminaries here and abroad. Syncing the closed captioning transcripts with the
video takes some time, so as of now there are twelve interviews uploaded. We
will be adding more weekly, so be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss the fun.</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAs4ozKxI7GVTWsV789yMgw" target="_blank"><u><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Click this link to get you to the channel</span></u></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">.</span></div>
Monk Rowehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02578795540044530298noreply@blogger.com0