Teddy Edwards and Me…

That was like a dream. When I was small, I always used to listen to (Benny) Goodman's program on the radio, "Camel Caravan." At home, we did not have a radio, so every Wednesday night, I went to the ice cream parlor around the corner, just to stand outside and listen.. For Goodman, everything was business. He turned every penny around twice before spending it. During a rehearsal that did not work out as planned, he once said to me "How can you be so calm? I am a nervous wreck." To which I replied, 'Benny, you have to accept that things do not always go as planned.' Meanwhile, I was thinking about all those millions he had in his bank account. Goodman had a big fear that people would not accept him, especially before a concert. He would get on stage and once the audience started clapping, he knew he was all right. Without the applause, he probably would have dropped dead on the spot.

Teddy Edwards on his stint with Benny Goodman

Well, you would be off to the side. You wouldn't be hid behind the screen, but off the scene completely. But I learned a lot by playing in those burlesque places. In the first place, I always felt that you make every experience pay off for you, regardless of what it is. Now, when I played for those burlesque dancers, I studied playing the melody, I had to play the melody real well... You could build up your strength in your playing, because you usually didn't have a bass. You'd have drums and a piano in those places, and sometimes you'd play two of you at a time, maybe just you and the drums playing fifteen minutes, and you and the piano player playing fifteen minutes, then you'd play fifteen minutes all together. All those things make you strong.

Teddy Edwards, early woodshedding

Teddy’s Ready! (1960) signed by Teddy, Billy Higgins

Teddy’s Ready! (1960) signed by Teddy, Billy Higgins

That was the scene in America, Everybody was thinking about 52nd Street, but Central Avenue was the scene. When I arrived in Los Angeles, we got to LA around three o’clock in the morning and there were people all over the street everywhere. They had after hours clubs going, everything was happening... 52nd Street was about three blocks. They had music from about 118th Street in Los Angeles all the way to First Street with clubs. On Central Avenue, they had the Alabam.

Teddy Edwards, jazz and club scene in Los Angeles

Together Again!!! (1961) signed by Teddy, Ray Brown

Together Again!!! (1961) signed by Teddy, Ray Brown

We were the first ones playing bebop in California, even before Dizzy and Charlie Parker came. We were the first bebop players in California. I had first met Roy Porter, the drummer, who played "Ornithology" with Charlie Parker. He was the drummer. We had a pianist and a guitar and Howard (McGhee) and I were the frontline. We had another tenor and when he joined the band, it became three horns in the group. It was a really good sextet. Once Charlie Parker finished his engagement at Billy Berg's, he wanted to stay out here for a while and so Howard and I decided to have four saxophones. That is where he made his classic solo on the "Gypsy," during his nervous breakdown, just before he had his nervous breakdown. We were in front of the bandstand at the Finale Club and a couple came over to Howard and asked him if he would play the "Gypsy." So Howard turned around to the band and asked, "Does anybody know the 'Gypsy?'" And Bird said, "Yeah, I know the 'Gypsy,'" and played his classic solo. When they were recording, he was in the middle of his nervous breakdown. I see all the alto players around the world playing the "Gypsy," and I think, "Wow, if they only knew why they are playing the 'Gypsy.'" He introduced it to the jazz world even though he was sick. His nervous breakdown was not a mental thing. It was a case where he was trying to kick his drug habit without any medical attention. He lost control of his nerves, just nervous. It was like his arm might fly out and his head turn around and he might run two steps and walk one. He just had no control. I would ask him, "How do you feel Bird?" And he would say, "I'm OK. I'm OK."


Teddy Edwards on his onetime roommate, Charlie Parker

Heart & Soul (1962) signed by Teddy

Heart & Soul (1962) signed by Teddy

I used to take him down to the theater, to the movies. That was the only way he could rest. The movie soundtrack would let him go to sleep. He managed to go to sleep when the music would turn on. The last night of the Finale Club, we took him to the hotel, which was only a half a block away. We told the manager if he had any problems to call us. About ten o'clock the next morning, he called and said that Charlie Parker was in the lobby nude and to come down there right away. We got up and went straight down there and when we got there, they said that they had taken him to the General Hospital. I know in Ross Russell's book (Bird Lives!), he says that he was the first one to the General Hospital, but that is not right. Howard, he and I were the first ones on the scene in the hospital. They had him strapped down on this couch and he was very clear. He used to call me Teddy Bear. He said, "Teddy Bear, go to the hotel and get my horn and my clothes." Howard went to go with us and that is how clear he (Parker) was in his mind. We had many wonderful, wonderful times. I heard him (Parker) play some of his greatest solos. I was sitting beside him.

Teddy Edwards on his friend Charlie Parker

Good Gravy! (1961) signed by Teddy

Good Gravy! (1961) signed by Teddy

I was blessed to see Teddy Edwards several times in the late 1990s at the Jazz Standard in New York City. These were rare occurrences as Teddy seldom ventured east of the Mississippi from his home base in Los Angeles. Unheralded and vastly underrated, Teddy was a gifted composer, lyricist and a groundbreaking jazz saxophonist. There aren’t many who were friends with Charlie Parker, toured and recorded with Benny Goodman, Tom Waits and Gerald Wilson, wrote songs for singers Ernie Andrews, Nancy Wilson and Jimmy Witherspoon, and appeared in Blazing Saddles with Count Basie’s orchestra. Indeed, Teddy Edwards was a rare and exceptional talent.

Born in Jackson, Mississippi in 1924, Teddy was surrounded by music, "Well, my father was a musician and my grandfather was one of the early acoustic bass players during that time. Sometimes, the band would rehearse at our house and my mother and my grandmother would get my little chair and sit me right next to the saxophones. They would have been very disappointed if I hadn't turned out to be a saxophonist! Someone that lived at our house played saxophone and his aptitude for playing was very low, but he taught me what he knew. He was honest, he said, 'I don't know anything else to teach you.' I started studying with him when I was eleven years old and at twelve years old, I was playing with one of the local bands at home. I was around music all the time, music in our house in Jackson, Mississippi. That was my home. I went to Detroit in 1940."

Feelin’s (1974) signed by Teddy

Feelin’s (1974) signed by Teddy

In Detroit, Teddy concentrated on the alto saxophone, although a big change happened when Teddy went to Los Angeles in 1945 and hooked up with an old Detroit friend, trumpeter Howard McGhee, "Howard McGhee decided to stay (in Los Angeles) after he finished an engagement with Coleman Hawkins at Billy Berg's. He was searching around, trying to find a tenor saxophone player that he liked, and he couldn't find anybody. So he asked me to switch and hook up with him, and I thought it was a good idea. I was able to transfer my knowledge of how to get through the chords. I always had my own sound on both instruments."

Teddy and Howard participated on some jazz sessions in 1945 and 1946, recording for Dial and Spotlite. In fact, there are musicologists who consider Teddy’s solo on “Up In Dodo’s Room” one of the first examples of bebop, a hard driving, furious fury of notes signifying something. The great trumpeter Fats Navarro agreed, as Teddy recounted years later, "I didn't realize that the solo had any significance until I met Fats Navarro in 1948. 'Look, he said, do you realize that you changed the course of history? That solo was the first solo by any tenor saxophone player that didn't come from the Lester Young or the Coleman Hawkins school.' If I remember correctly, the solo had all the half-steps, it had the major-seventh, which was just beginning to get popular, and it had the flat nine. I played all the hip stuff that they call hip today in 1945." The evolution from swing to bebop on tenor saxophone had begun, helped along by an unencumbered Teddy employing the techniques on tenor which he had mastered on the alto.

Young At Heart (1979) signed by Teddy, Art Hillery, Billy Higgins

Young At Heart (1979) signed by Teddy, Art Hillery, Billy Higgins

In those days, Los Angeles was a very fertile and rich music scene with Benny Carter, Sonny Criss, Dexter Gordon, Wardell Gray, Hampton Hawes and Gerald Wilson among others. In 1948, Teddy went into the studio with Dexter Gordon to record The Duel, a followup to The Chase, Dexter's blowing session with Wardell Gray released the previous year. Teddy remembered, "Dexter and I were also supposed to do two pieces without the other - two ballads. His recording took so much time that there was only five minutes left for me. The producer suggested that I play a simple blues. The only preparation I did was to tell the rhythm section that I was going to play an introduction with a break in the second chorus." "Blues In Teddy's Flat" became a million dollar seller for Dial Records, selling more than the entire Dial catalog, not a bad return for a throwaway five minute session! However, in a longstanding and unfortunate record company practice, Teddy received only $41.25, a paltry remittance.

No one was more surprised than Teddy, "Anyway, this 'Blues In Teddy's Flat,' I thought Dexter had the contract on it and he thought I had it, and neither one of us had the contract on it. It was about three years later that this guy... he came to me and said that I should be in good shape by now. I said, 'What are you talking about?' And he said that 'Blues In Teddy's Flat' was in a jukebox and it was a standard order because everybody plays it automatically... He said that I should have an apartment building or big car and everything else and a big bank account. I went down to a big music store at the time and, sure enough, they told me it sold all day. There were two elderly ladies buying records and they told me just to stand there. So when they get ready to check out, then he put the needle down on "Blues In Teddy's Flat," and before it got through the first twelve bars, they said, "We'll take it." You would think that given the remarkable success of this record, Teddy would have been in demand as a recording artist. You would be wrong. Inexplicably, Teddy did not record for the next ten years. While he did participate In an odd session or two and played clubs on the west coast, it was a lost decade for sure. Finally, Teddy restarted his solo career in 1960 when he released Sunset Eyes on Pacific Jazz and, later, recorded several critically acclaimed albums on Contemporary Records, and reunited with his old friend Howard McGhee on Together Again!!! in 1962.

Ain’t Misbehavin’ (1979) signed by Teddy, Hank Jones, Kenny Burrell, Roy Haynes, Richard Davis

Ain’t Misbehavin’ (1979) signed by Teddy, Hank Jones, Kenny Burrell, Roy Haynes, Richard Davis

Teddy was nonplussed about his lack of relative renown, “My problem has not been with the audience. If I have a problem, it’s been with the negotiators, the agents and the managers. They’ve never taken a liking to me, but people have always responded to me, as far as I can remember. When I was twelve years old, I could always satisfy an audience. I never lost that. I got that. I was born with that, nobody can ever take that away.” His career also probably suffered because he stayed out west and did not succumb to the temptation to move to New York City like his friend Dexter Gordon. There was an East Coast bias versus the West Coast, decades before Biggie and Tupac!

In Los Angeles, Teddy was able to nurture a valuable relationship with Tom Waits, first touring with him in the early 1980s and then performing on the 1982 movie soundtrack for Francis Ford Coppola’s epic failure One From The Heart, which Waits served as the musical director. The movie nearly bankrupted Coppola’s Zoetrope Studios, but the music written by Waits and featuring country pop chanteuse Crystal Gayle, an unlikely duet alliance, holds up surprisingly well. It helps that Teddy’s burnished tenor saxophone imbues the songs with such warmth and resonance. Teddy explained the musical process, “There was something magical about those recordings. Tom did not like to use a ‘click track’ to assure synchronicity with the film. Before the recording, I knew nothing about the story line and played on a soundtrack behind the singer Crystal Gayle. When we later put the result under the scene in the film, it turned out that what we played was completely supportive of the action.”

Just The Way It Had To Be (1973) signed by Teddy, Monty Alexander, Ray Brown, Milt Jackson

Just The Way It Had To Be (1973) signed by Teddy, Monty Alexander, Ray Brown, Milt Jackson

In turn, Waits became a big fan, “I don’t know that Teddy’s ever gotten the kind of recognition he’s due for all the contributions he’s made, but I sure love him and enjoy working with him.” For his part, Teddy was equally smitten, “Tom Waits is the one who got me my contract with Polygram (in 1991). He’s wonderful, he’s America’s best lyricist since Johnny Mercer. He came down to the studio on the Mississippi Lad album, that’s the first one I did for Polygram, and he sang two of my songs, wouldn’t accept any money, just trying to give me the best boost that he could.”

Memphis Jackson (1970) signed by Teddy, Harold Land, Milt Jackson, Harry Sweets Edison, Ray Brown, Ernie Watts

Memphis Jackson (1970) signed by Teddy, Harold Land, Milt Jackson, Harry Sweets Edison, Ray Brown, Ernie Watts

I was thrilled to see Teddy perform at the Jazz Standard in New York City. Although he had had some health issues, he looked fabulous, resplendent in his suit, more Wall Street banker than downtown bebop denizen. His sound on tenor was warm and redolent and he played standards, “Oh Lady Be Good,” “Tenderly,” “Almost Like Being In Love,” originals “Midnight Creeper,” “Sensitive,” and his best known composition “Sunset Eyes.” After the show, I visited with Teddy as he graciously signed some vinyl. I mentioned my love and devotion for all things Waits, “Oh, I love Tom. We had so much fun touring and playing together. He really is a remarkable songwriter and so generous.” When he signed the Howard McGhee record, Teddy said, “You know, we had a lot of great times together. He really helped me get started.” Teddy loved his recordings with Milt Jackson, “Bags was always fun to play with, always surrounded by great musicians, Ray (Brown), Monty (Alexander) and Sweets (Edison). Those were great sessions.” I thanked Teddy again for his time and especially his music.

Teddy Edwards, a consummate jazz talent, underrated, perhaps, but no less talented and beloved.

That’s The Way It Is (1969) signed by Teddy, Ray Brown, Milt Jackson (1969)

That’s The Way It Is (1969) signed by Teddy, Ray Brown, Milt Jackson (1969)

Choice Teddy Edwards Cuts (per BKs request)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-sFqmwEtkTs

“Up In Dodo’s Room” with Jimmy Rowles (1946)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opyz3a_eRKs

“Sunset Eyes” 1960

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCfgcAwx3Yk

Live in Montreal 1981 with the incomparable Tom Waits

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmynfAv780g

“The Blue Sombrero” 1974

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbwise5tbAE

“The Duel” with Dexter Gordon 1947

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkFswx13Wm8

“Blues In The Closet” with Howard McGhee, Billy Higgins 1979

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OgNA3agPFI

“Is There Any Way Out Of This Dream?” Teddy with Tom Waits, Crystal Gayle 1982

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8lNm8fO204

“Good Gravy” 1961

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzJdBfhNHqw

“Georgia On My Mind” 1974

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-GJ2YsNSpg

“Take The A Train” 1960

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v280GN4icDY

“I’m Not Your Fool Anymore” with Tom Waits 1991

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwFejEAhA1U

“Little Man” with Tom Waits 1991

Bonus Pick:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzKUVsHL7ac

Blazing Saddles cameo with Count Basie’s big band

Jackie McLean and Me…

I wanted to play alto like a tenor, because Lester Young was the person who really moved me, he and Ben Webster. Of course, now I can appreciate the alto saxophonists from the era, people like Johnny Hodges, but at that time, I couldn't use it too much. And then I heard Charlie Parker. There was no thought after that about how I wanted to play.

Jackie McLean

McLean’s Scene (1957) signed by Jackie

McLean’s Scene (1957) signed by Jackie

As far back as 1957, i’ve had moments on the bandstand when Charlie (Mingus) has roused me into going out into things I didn't know about. I turned to Charlie one night when he taught me a new tune and asked, 'What are the chord changes?' He said, "There are no chord changes." I asked, 'What key am I in?' He said, "You're not in any key." This left me in a hung-up situation, but when I got out there and played, I felt something different. But I was too hip at the time to admit it...I was too set on playing up and down chord changes. Now I can understand why musicians are taking different roads out, because personally, I get tired of playing the same keys, chord changes, and tunes over and over again. I find that when you wander away from the basic melody or the basic structure of a tune, and go out into something which has been termed "freedom", it gives you a wide span on what to play. because actually, you're creating upon your own creation. Like you may stumble on something by accident and create something from that.

               Jackie McLean on playing with Mingus, Downbeat 1963

4, 5 and 6 (1956) signed by Jackie, Donald Byrd, Mal Waldron

4, 5 and 6 (1956) signed by Jackie, Donald Byrd, Mal Waldron

Jackie, just for me and for so many others, just turned our whole world around...he used to call it “Man and Music,” and now he got politically correct — it’s called “People and Music” or something. He goes back to Africa and makes you realize… he gets into the origins of Man, and things that we take for granted and that you don’t get educated about in public schools generally. Maybe nowadays you do, more so than 1985. Then he takes you through the whole music of slavery and field hollers, and how that evolved into the blues and brass bands and all that kind of stuff. So by the time you get to the second semester, to Charlie Parker and what he can really first-hand tell you about him, it’s pretty exciting. It really gives you a tremendous concept for the history.

Trombonist and former student Steve Davis on Professor Jackie McLean at the Hartt School of Music

Malkin’ The Changes (1957) signed by Jackie

Malkin’ The Changes (1957) signed by Jackie

As far as my sound is concerned, I think that the person that influenced me the most about how to use my sound was Miles (Davis).... I used to listen to Miles on all the sideman things that he was on, even with Bird, and he would always emerge with something of his very own. You know, that haunting, kind of sitting alone in Alaska, kind of sound that Miles gets. It's a very lonely and mournful sound that he gets. And even though I can't emulate that on the alto, I can certainly parallel it in some ways. And my years that I worked with Miles, well he had a great influence on me. 

               Jackie McLean

A Long Drink Of The Blues (1957) signed by Jackie, Curtis Fuller, Louis Hayes

A Long Drink Of The Blues (1957) signed by Jackie, Curtis Fuller, Louis Hayes

They're doing what they feel, and if they're doing what they feel, they're doing what they should do. Because if they don't do what you feel, then you're telling a lie. You can do downtown and hear some good Dixieland. And you can listen to Cecil Taylor if you want, and you can go listen to Miles, Charlie Mingus, Lennie Tristano... Everyone should realize his station, and everybody should man their stations. That's all.

               Jackie McLean, Downbeat 1963

Jackie McLean & Co. (1957) signed by Jackie, Mal Waldron

Jackie McLean & Co. (1957) signed by Jackie, Mal Waldron

Activist, alto saxophonist, arranger, band leader, composer, educator, and ex-junkie, Jackie McLean lived a rich and full musical life. Born in New York City and raised in the famed Sugar Hill section of Harlem - the home of Cab Calloway, Nat King Cole, Duke Ellington, and Thurgood Marshall - Jackie grew up surrounded by music. His father, John, played guitar in Tiny Bradshaw's orchestra, though he died when Jackie was only eight years old, and Jackie's step father, Johnny Briggs, was a record store owner where Jackie worked as a kid. So Jackie Mac was probably digging in crates long before it became my personal obsession and a YouTube series phenomenon! 

Strange Blues (1957) signed by Jackie

Strange Blues (1957) signed by Jackie

From his 1951 recording debut on Miles Davis' Dig to the more than fifty records he released as a leader and the hundreds he participated on as a session sideman, Jackie McLean was an immense jazz figure and influence. Jackie's early tutoring was also enhanced by his Sugar Hill neighbors, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, and especially Bud Powell. Jackie recalled visiting with Bud in his apartment, after being introduced by his brother Richie whom he met in the record store, "Bud was the most significant person in terms of my development in my early years. The time I spent hanging around his house between fifteen and seventeen were very important, formative years for me. I think my growth and development happened because I was in his presence. A lot of people have the idea he was giving me theory lessons. That wasn’t it at all. I heard him practice a lot, play a lot. He also let me take my horn out and play along with him. He taught me some things he was writing, kind of coached me along."      

Bird Feathers (1957) signed by Jackie, Phil Woods

Bird Feathers (1957) signed by Jackie, Phil Woods

Such kindness and generosity was instrumental in developing Jackie's growth as a player and composer. It is even more remarkable, considering Jackie didn't pick up a saxophone until he was fourteen years old and a scant five years later, Miles Davis and Sonny Rollins recorded "Dig" with Jackie contributing a hard blowing alto saxophone. Jackie later remembered the circumstances of only the second composition he ever wrote, " And then I wrote “Dig” when I was about 17 and a half or 18. That’s when I went down to the Birdland and sat in with Miles, and then went to his house the next day. And he had asked me if I had any tunes and I told him yes, and I played “Dig” for him, and right away he said, 'Oh, show me that.' ...and I played it for him, and we played it together. And then I started working with him, and I started learning his repertoire.”Heady stuff for a teenager, Jackie's renown and acclaim was just beginning, "One night , Miles told me to come down when he was working with Coleman Hawkins in Birdland. Miles said, 'Come on down tonight, I want you to check out something.' I went down, and I looked up, and when Miles saw me come in and sit at a table, he whispered something to Coleman Hawkins. And he counted off, and I saw Coleman Hawkins play “Dig” with Miles."

2 Trumpets (1958) signed by Jackie, Barry Harris, Donald Byrd, Art Farmer

2 Trumpets (1958) signed by Jackie, Barry Harris, Donald Byrd, Art Farmer

Such promise was almost completely derailed by his rapacious addiction to heroin. Like many jazz artists enraptured by the wizardry of Charlie Parker, Jackie fell prey to following his insidious pursuit of drugs. As Jackie recalled, "A lot of guys in my community that idolized and worshipped Charlie Parker began to experiment." As the drugs began to exact their unrelenting toll, Charlie counseled Jackie, "You know, Jackie, man you should try to be like Horace Silver and some of the younger musicians that's coming along today, and get yourself together...I feel responsible for what you're doing, and you need to come on and kick me in the behind for this, you know?"

One Step Beyond (1963) signed by Jackie

One Step Beyond (1963) signed by Jackie

Unfortunately, Charlie's advice went unheeded, Jackie's addiction was in full bloom, "When I was strung out on dope, my horn was in the pawn shop most of the time, and I was a most confused and troublesome young man. I was constantly on the street, in jail, or in a hospital kicking a habit…. The New York police had snatched my cabaret card and I couldn’t work the clubs any more except with [Charles] Mingus who used to hire me under an assumed name." Fortunately, the recording studios did not require a cabaret card, so Jackie was able to record, and he was quite prolific during the 1950s, notwithstanding his perilous afflictions. 

The Connection (1960) signed by Jackie

The Connection (1960) signed by Jackie

Looking at new avenues for artistic expression, Jackie performed in The Connection in 1959, an Off Broadway play by Jack Gelber (later a record and a movie) which was breaking new ground in the theater. The premise was four or five musicians sitting around their apartment, waiting for their dealer to come. Actors were placed in the theater (including an uncredited nineteen year old Martin Sheen!) to serve as a catalyst to audience participation, and the jazz musicians could really lay out and improvise freely on the music, written by jazz pianist Freddie Redd, also a cast member. Not the standard theater fare circa 1959, to be sure. The Living Theater play, had an almost four year run, starting in New York City, then performances in London in 1960, Los Angeles in 1961, and a European tour in 1962. It had a lasting effect on Jackie, "It made me watch actors go through their creative thing every night. I compared it to playing jazz... I fell in love with theater then and there. Even my saxophone playing became a lot more theatrical after that." Jackie described the final performance, "The show went five hours because the tunes were so long. And I took the regular tunes we played - "A Night In Tunisia", "Tune Up" - and instead of playing chorus after chorus of straight changes, when I felt it, I went 'out to lunch.' The audience felt it too, I believe they did." Yes, the nascent influence of 'free jazz', the complex and challenging music of Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy and Cecil Taylor, was being absorbed by Jackie. As Jackie noted in his 1963 liner notes to Let Freedom Ring, "Ornette Coleman has made me stop and think. He has stood up under much criticism, yet he never gives up his cause, freedom of expression. The search is on."

Perhaps, the greatest achievement of the play was Jackie's ability to break his nearly eighteen year heroin addiction in 1964, a year or so after the play closed. I'm sure four years of living and breathing the play had an effect, subliminal or otherwise. Almost immediately, Jackie began to give back, going to prisons and helping as a drug counselor. There is nothing more credible or effective than one recovering addict talking with another. They speak the same language, they live the same life, they tell the same lies. 

Destination… (1963) signed by Jackie, Roy Haynes

Destination… (1963) signed by Jackie, Roy Haynes

As rock music began to eclipse jazz in the mid to late 1960s, Jackie took a gig in 1968 at the Hartt School of Music in Hartford, Connecticut as an instructor. "When I arrived at the Hartt School of Music to teach a history course, I said 'Look, I don’t know anything about anything except what I experienced.' And I talked to other musicians, they said 'Well, that’s what they’re hiring you for, man. They don’t expect you to talk about ragtime and all that.. go with what you know. Build a course around your experiences.' So that’s what I did in the beginning." From those modest beginnings, Jackie would build a curriculum that focused on African American Jazz Studies, probably the first of its kind at any university in the United States. Nearly fifty years later, The Jackie McLean Institute Of Jazz (renamed in tribute to Jackie in 2000 - so long African American Music Department, hello Jackie Mac!) is a thriving program and one of the nation's preeminent, offering a Bachelor of Music Degree in Jazz Studies.

Hard Cookin’ (1965) signed by Jackie, Ray Bryant, Frank Foster

Hard Cookin’ (1965) signed by Jackie, Ray Bryant, Frank Foster

I saw Jackie perform in jazz clubs in New York City over the years, and his tone was so distinct, a searing and mournful pierce that made me sit up straight in my seat. His playing was fast and brilliant when needed, and drenched in soulful blues which he knew only too well. Jacckie usually had his students perform with him, many of whom have gone on to release acclaimed jazz records, like trombonist Steve Davis and saxophonist Jimmy Greene. Jackie once explained why he enjoyed playing with his students, " It would be much easier for me to get five experienced musicians: Billy Higgins, Cedar Walton...go out and play. Then I wouldn't have any worries about what might go right or what could happen. But I like young musicians because they make mistakes and they cause things to happen on the stage. And then we straighten it out and we keep moving forward, and at the same time, little new things slip in here and there through these encounters."

The Source Vol. 2 (1974) signed by Jackie

The Source Vol. 2 (1974) signed by Jackie

Off stage, Jackie was generous and surrounded by well wishers who were thrilled to be in the presence of Jazz royalty. Since he had so many responsibilities at school, Jackie toured infrequently in the 1990s. So when Professor McLean took the stage, hard bop was in session and the audience was gripped in rapt attention. When signing the vinyl after the shows, Jackie enjoyed looking at the covers, reminiscing of a young man finding his art, despite his early struggles. Jackie's warmth and humility radiated.

It’s About Time (1985) signed by Jackie, McCoy Tyner, Al Foster

In a 2000 interview, Jackie revealed, "I'm always hearing music. It's like you have a turntable or a CD player in your head. So when you ask, who is the real Jackie McLean? I have to say I'm a struggling saxophone player - a player who's struggling to play the instrument to the highest level that I think I was meant to play."

Jackie McLean overcame his struggles mightily, and the world of education and jazz is far richer.

Shout out to my great friend Larry Y. who attended classes with Professor Jackie Mac in the mid-80s. I only wish he had the tapes!

New York Calling (1975) signed by Jackie

New York Calling (1975) signed by Jackie

Choice Jackie Mac Cuts (per BKs request)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JelFK12ACGg
“Dig"  Jackie, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins  1951

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mwEwzvXTPs
"Bluesnik"   Bluesnik  with Freddie Hubbard  1961

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ia7fxLqJKjY
“When I Fall In Love"   4, 5, and 6   1956

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_soxsh3zwMQ
"Cool Struttin' "   Jackie McLean Quintet  Live 1986

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2fry_Axh_Y&list=RDZ2fry_Axh_Y&t=24
"Little Melonae"   The New Tradition   1955

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RY6mtjvNti4
"Soul"   Soul  1968

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5lXtN5_Jqc&list=RDZ2fry_Axh_Y&index=3

“Dr. Jackle"   Miles Davis & Milt Jackson  with Jackie Mac   1955

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qUhlm7uNSY

"Dr. Jackyll and Mister Funk"  Who says hard bop can't hard funk?  Jackie Mac and friends 1979

Bonus track:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UP10CYIdEE&list=RD9UP10CYIdEE&t=216

"Crate Diggers with DJ Jazzy Jeff"

Action (1964) signed by Cecil McBee, Charles Tolliver

Art Blakey and Me…

Art was an original. He's the only drummer whose time I recognize immediately, and his signature style was amazing. We used to call him “Thunder." When I first met him on 52nd Street in 1944, he already had the polyrhythmic thing down. Art was perhaps the best at maintaining independence with all four limbs. He was doing it before anyone else.

Max Roach

No other drummer came as close to the African and Latin root as Blakey. I did a couple of records with him, with Sabu on bongos, Pagani on timbales, and some other people. Art talked a lot about his Latin and African influences. They became more and more a part of him. Every time he played 'fours' and 'eights,' something African or Latinesque inevitably would flavor his comments. He was really empathetic with all that rhythm.

conga master Ray Barretto


The idea of playing jazz is to be professional enough to make a mistake, make the same mistake again, and then make something out of that. That's jazz! And if you aren't professional enough to do that, then you ain't a professional jazz musician. I'm not saying you're not a good musician, but if you don't know your instrument enough to go back and make that mistake twice, and do something creative with it, forget it, because that's how jazz was born. Somebody goofed.

Art Blakey

Art Blakey And The Jazz Messengers (1960) signed by Art “Keep Swinging”

Art Blakey And The Jazz Messengers (1960) signed by Art “Keep Swinging”

Some guys, who may be good musicians and able to read, don't know nothing about rhythm. Thinking about the rhythm, this is what brings out good soloists. That's what makes Dizzy and what made Charlie Parker great musicians, they're rhythm experts. Guys like that understand drummers, and they can turn round and explain things. The others figure, 'Well, I can blow a horn, I got a sound,' and it's like you're pulling a ton of bricks. They're going one way, the rhythm's going the another...

Then there are the musicians, if they've had a fight with their old lady, they bring it to the band stand. I don't allow that in a combo. Whatever you had - I don't care if your mother just died - you come to the bandstand, that's it. 'Cause you don't know if you're gonna get back there again. Tomorrow's not promised to you. If you're playing music, you're one of the chosen few, a lucky guy. So, if you get up there, play! If you ain't gonna play, forget it, this is not your thing... This is not a job. It's not a right, it's a privilege to be able to play music. A privilege from the almighty.

Art Blakey

I don’t think musicians ever said (Thelonious) Monk was difficult to play with. I think people were saying that, not musicians, because musicians are the ones who make musicians. And anybody who knew anything about music knew, revered and feared Monk, as far as music is concerned. It was just that the musicians couldn’t get a chance to play with him. Thelonious was very selective, and I was just fortunate he selected me. He’d take me and Bud Powell around, and he’d stop all the band and let Bud play, and let me play... He was very outspoken and they respected him for it. This man was so fantastic, he knew what he wanted to do and he did it. He just had that personality, that aura about him. I was so happy to play with him. I tried the best I could and, anyway, I was experimenting. He let you experiment all you wanted, and that was good. I learned a lot with him, that helped to develop me quite a bit at that time.

Art Blakey on his mentor Thelonious Monk

Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers With Thelonious Monk (1958)

Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers With Thelonious Monk (1958)

It would be easier to list those who did not play in Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers for the thirty-five+ years that they were a jazz juggernaut rather than those who did. It is a staggering number of talented musicians - Terrence Blanchard, Curtis Fuller, Benny Golson, Johnny Griffin, Donald Harrison, Freddie Hubbard, Javon Jackson, Branford and Wynton Marsalis, Jackie McLean, Hank Mobley, Lee Morgan, Wayne Shorter, Cedar Walton and Reggie Workman were among the chosen who shared the stage through the years. And the leader, driving the bus with force and precision was the indomitable and indestructible Art Blakey. His nickname wasn’t “Thunder” for no reason.

Born in Pittsburgh in 1919, Art grew up in a family of devout Seventh Day Adventists where he studied the bible and piano with equal devotion and fervor. His piano playing career ended abruptly one night when a bar owner brandished a pistol and demanded Art get off the stage so that another pianist could take his place. Art complied with the owner's request of the Democratic Club (yes, that's where the gig was!) and allowed Erroll Garner to play the keys. Notwithstanding the bar owner’s brutish approach, it was a prescient call. Erroll Garner went on to a storied jazz career as a pianist and composer, writing the jazz standard "Misty," while selling millions of records. For his artistry, Erroll was also awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. It worked out for Art Blakey too.

Concentrating on drums, Art found gigs in and around Pittsburgh and, for a time, served as a valet for drummer and noted band leader Chick Webb. Then, Art toured for three years with Fletcher Henderson's band which took him all over the United States. Unfortunately, while on tour with Henderson in the early 1940s, Art was needlessly assaulted by a local policeman in Albany, Georgia and required surgery and a steel plate which was inserted into his head. The beating was unprovoked and unwarranted, but such were the risks of traveling in those days, and it didn’t happen only in the South. Pianist Bud Powell suffered a similar attack in Philadelphia as did Miles Davis who was beaten during a break outside a club in New York City where he was performing. Evidently, the police officer didn’t notice or care that Miles‘ name was emblazoned on the marquee. Art, however, fully recovered, landed a gig in Boston for a year and soon joined the great Billy Eckstine band in 1944 with Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, Charlie Parker and singer Sarah Vaughan among other luminous members. Art stayed with the Eckstine band for three years until they disbanded.

Ugetsu (1963) signed by Freddie Hubbard, Curtis Fuller, Cedar Walton, Reggie Workman

Ugetsu (1963) signed by Freddie Hubbard, Curtis Fuller, Cedar Walton, Reggie Workman

Restless because of the somewhat restrictive nature of a big band, Art traveled to Africa. He explained, “In 1947, after the Eckstine band broke up, I took a trip to Africa. I was supposed to stay there three months and I stayed two years... I didn’t go to Africa to study drums - somebody wrote that - I went to Africa because there wasn’t anything else for me to do. I couldn’t get any gigs, and I had to work my way over on a boat. I went over there to study religion and philosophy. I didn’t bother with the drums, I wasn’t after that. I went over there to see what I could do about religion. When I was growing up, I had no choice. I was just thrown into a church and told this is what I was going to be. I didn’t want to be their Christian, I didn’t like it. You could study politics in this country, but I didn’t have access to the religions of the world...” While in Africa, Art converted to Islam taking the name, Abdullah Ibn Buhaina, which led to his nickname Bu.

When he returned to the United States, Art reconnected with his old friends and started a big band, “So I came back and started playing again. We formed the Seventeen Messengers, but that broke up, because big bands were going out anyway. No, it hadn’t been my idea. The guys put the band together, just picked me out and said, “You’re the leader.” I never had any hopes of ever being a band leader, never thought about it. But I always had a “motor mouth,” I had a way of talking to guys, I could organize and people liked me for that... So when that didn’t work, Horace Silver, Kenny Dorham, Doug Watkins, Hank Mobley and I got together, and Horace suggested we call this the Jazz Messengers, which was beautiful. Again, they made me the leader. It started out as a corporation, but that didn’t last long. They went and formed their groups leaving me out there to carry on. That’s how I became mostly a leader since 1955.” Indeed, they found the right man for the job, as Art helmed the Jazz Messengers for the ensuing thirty-five years and created some of the most acclaimed and enduring music in jazz history.

The Big Beat (1960)

The Big Beat (1960)

Regrettably, I only saw Art Blakey once with his last version of the Jazz Messengers in 1989 at Sweet Basil, a small jazz club in Greenwich Village in New York City, just down the road from the hallowed Village Vanguard. I was lucky to see a bunch of shows there before it shuttered in 2001, and I was very excited to see this legendary musician in such an intimate venue. Before the show, I noticed Art was standing alone in the hallway that led from backstage to the band stand, so I availed myself of the opportunity for a visit. I approached Art and told him I was a big fan and would he mind signing an album. Before he said yes, he looked at me, seemingly right through me, his eyes watery and red, “Do you play drums?” His stare strengthened, as though rhythm and drums coursed through every vein in his body. ‘No, I don’t,’ I replied hesitantly. I felt like I had disappointed a master. His disenchantment was palpable. I could see it in his eyes and body language. He grabbed the album, signed it to Erin and I with the admonition, “Keep swinging,” and handed it back to me. I thanked him and told him I was really looking forward to the show and returned to my table, trying not to feel as deflated as I was.

The show was phenomenal. Art was the leader in every sense. His drums were loud and propulsive, his rim shots cracked with precision and force, and all the while, he sat behind his kit, smiling beneficently like a Cheshire Cat, confident in his fulsome powers. As was his wont, Art surrounded himself with young musicians. His strategy was to groom them for a couple years, then they would leave to start their own careers, and he would replace them. It was a constant churn of extraordinary talent. So in the 1980s Branford and Wynton Marsalis begat Terrence Blanchard and Donald Harrison who begat Javon Jackson and Brian Lynch, a long line of Jazz Messenger protégés who became leaders of their own bands. In his way, Art was always pushing and playing it forward.

Sadly, Art died in 1990 after a battle with lung cancer, but what an amazing legacy he left. As he once explained, “People don’t care how many paradiddles you can play, people only know what they feel. You can take a drum and transport people. I was taught by Chick Webb that, if you’re playing before an audience, you’re supposed to take them away from everyday life - wash away the dust of everyday life. And that’s all music is supposed to do.”

Thanks Bu for the music, the feels, the transport, and, especially, washing away the dust of everyday life. I’ll keep swinging!

Kyoto (1964)

Kyoto (1964)

Choice Art Blakey Cuts (per BKs request)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3kEnoXaYYo

“Blue Monk” Jazz Messengers with Thelonious Monk (1958)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKOoxgI_xfQ

“Moanin’ “ Jazz Messengers live: Bobby Timmons, Lee Morgan, Benny Golson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TWdx7yRXV4

“Dat Dere” The Big Beat (1958) with Lee Morgan, Wayne Shorter, Bobby Timmons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hwyGcEzlkc

“Bu’s Delight” Buhaina’s Delight (1961)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADWODreyby0

“A Night In Tunisia” Jazz Messengers live: Lee Morgan, Benny Golson, Bobby Timmons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTzRHq_cH5E

“Along Came Betty” Moanin’ (1958)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_wkmYK40S0

“Caravan” Jazz Messengers live: Freddie Hubbard, Wayne Shorter, Curtis Fuller (1963)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8BpBLYyDKs

“Moon River” Buhaina’s Delight (1961)

Abbey Lincoln and Me…

I met her when I was about twenty-three in Honolulu and she came to the bar where I was working. It was probably to get away from where she was working because the place was jammed with people. Anyway, she came to see me a couple of times and I'd run to catch her and I saw her magic on the stage. This beautiful woman would stand perfectly still with her hands like she was a doll, and her eyes would slide from one side of the room to the other. And the room was perfectly still, and I fell further in love with her... Billie Holiday was always honest. She didn't bend a note to make her voice sound good. It was in conversation that she sang and she was sincere and honest, and she never made a record for the money. And to me, she's the greatest singer of her era.

Abbey Lincoln meeting Billie Holiday

I started writing songs and I found songs that would express what was in my heart. Because, you know, Billie Holiday was like this, she didn't sing inane things. She sang about the life that she lived. She may have been masochistic and all these things, but she sang "Strange Fruit" and "God Bless The Child." It's the same reason they remember Bessie Smith because these were social singers. They weren't just - it wasn't self-aggrandizement - standing in front of people saying how great I am, but they were singing songs about people's lives.

Abbey Lincoln

That’s Him (1957) signed by Abbey

That’s Him (1957) signed by Abbey

t's the way of the music. Thelonious Monk would be drenched in perspiration and absolutely possessed. Nina Simone, Billie Holiday and Charlie Parker, even though I didn't see him, but I hear it in his music, it's the possession. It's the muse. They talk about the muse, I'm possessed of a muse, and I belong to her and she belongs to me. And as long as I sing and I am real and I do nothing to betray this trust, this is what I do. And it's a wonderful experience to come to the stage and to know that everything is alright.

Abbey Lincoln

The men don't do badly, Sidney Poitier, Billy Dee Williams, Denzel Washington, they team up with white actors and do shoot 'em ups and everything. It's the black woman who's at the bottom of the barrel here. Nobody is interested in producing her. She's expendable somehow. It's too bad because it would increase the black man's holdings if he would remember who he was and where he got all his stuff. He should be trying to do some things with a woman and tell something about the world we live in. But that's not the way it is. I watched Dorothy Dandridge die waiting for a movie. I watched Cicely Tyson struggle to maintain a standard as an actress. So I didn't go that way because I don't care. Really, I don't. I never dreamed of being in a movie. I never dreamed of any of this, so all this is a bonus. I just do what I want to do. I may not do everything I want to do, but what I do do, I want to do. And if nobody is around, I can paint and maintain that same spirit that gives me a feeling of security and increases my understanding of what and who I am. Because that's what the arts are for: to help us understand better what the human being is. For me, it's a holy experience, an experience that makes me whole.

Abbey Lincoln reflecting on leaving Hollywood

It’s Magic (1959) signed by Abbey, Benny Golson

It’s Magic (1959) signed by Abbey, Benny Golson

Abbey Lincoln lived a remarkable life. She was the rare jazz singer who wrote her own lyrics and compositions, and also sang standards. She appeared with the great Max Roach (her husband from 1962-1970) on the civil rights classic We Insist! Freedom Now Suite in 1960, and she graced the silver screen in The Girl Can’t Help It opposite Jayne Mansfield (wearing the same red dress that Marilyn Monroe immortalized in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes three years earlier!) and For Love Of Ivy with Sidney Poitier. An incredible, uncompromising artist, this barely scratches the surface of Abbey's vast talents and contributions.

Born Anna Marie Wooldridge in Chicago in 1930, Abbey grew up on a farm in rural Michigan with eleven siblings. She recalled her early piano stylings, "There was an old piano in the house that my father furnished for us, and I was the only one, seemingly, who was interested in the piano. I found solace there and companionship, just sitting and picking out a melody on the piano, because it didn't get on my mother's nerves, thank goodness."

Abbey sang in the church choir and in local bands, and by the early 1950s, she departed to Los Angeles which led to a gig in Honolulu where she stayed for a year developing her craft. When she returned to Los Angeles, she met Bob Russell who became her agent and manager, and performed as Gaby Lee at the Moulin Rouge, an elegant supper club for swells and the LA cognoscenti. Russell, an accomplished lyricist who penned "Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me" and "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" to Duke Ellington's incomparable melodies, suggested "Abbey Lincoln" as a new sobriquet: Abbey, a nod to Westminster Abbey, and Lincoln, a reference to Abraham Lincoln. As Abbey later disclosed , "He gave me the name because he knew I was concerned about my people."

Russell also introduced her, in her words, "to the svelte, chic world of the supper club.” Eventually, Abbey found the vamp role tiresome and limiting, "I never really felt it. You know, they talked about my being sexy and they talked - they said all these things - because I had a press agent... and they decided that was the image that they were going to put forth, of this wonderful looking woman who didn't have much talent though. I mean, she couldn't sing much. This is what I got...But in the process of all this, I learned to not trust myself because I wasn't studying to be truly an artist. By the time I met Roach, I had made the cover of Ebony magazine and I had made a movie with Jayne Mansfield called 'The Girl Can't Help It," and I had a career that I hadn't planned. But still, I was there. And so I left that and went with (Max) Roach. He told me that I didn't have to do things like that, and I believed him because I knew he was a great artist. I had a chance to watch him perform in California. I didn't know anything about Max Roach or Charlie Parker, because I wasn't approaching the music from that standpoint. I knew the people who were popular, who I'd hear on the radio, and I happened to like Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald and Peggy Lee."

We Insist! Freedom Now Suite (1960) signed by Abbey, Julian Priester, Max Roach

We Insist! Freedom Now Suite (1960) signed by Abbey, Julian Priester, Max Roach

Abbey was so much more than just a beautiful woman (which she was!) and her transformation from ingenue and femme fatale was by her own design and artistic choices, "I played that role... so, I radically went from there to this warrior woman and that befuddled everybody too. So when I discovered that there was the world of the artist, it saved my life because I could strive to be individual and as best as I could be. I didn't have to have money. I didn't have to have anything except my life, and I went for that and I'm glad I did."

With Max Roach’s encouragement, Abbey focused her considerable abilities as a jazz singer. This represented a sea change in her development as an artist and, eventually as a songwriter. For her second album,That's Him, released in 1957 on Riverside Records, Max enlisted his friends, an ensemble of bebop stars as her accompaniment - Kenny Dorham on trumpet, Sonny Rollins on tenor saxophone, Wynton Kelly on piano, and Paul Chambers on bass. The songs were mostly standards written by the Gershwins, Gordon Jenkins, Johnny Mercer, as well as a superb take on Billie Holiday’s sublime “Don’t Explain.” On Straight Ahead, her fifth album, Thelonious Monk contributed to the liner notes, "Thelonious was quoted as saying that I was not only a great singer and actress, but a great composer. I had never written a thing. I knew that he knew something that I didn't know, because Thelonious was not a flatterer, nor a liar. And it freed me up, so when I heard "People In Me," I used it. I mean, I believed it. It's like a child's song, and the compositions get better and better for me, I think."

With the impetus from Thelonious and her humble beginning writing one song - the simple blues "Let Up" on Abbey Is Blue - Abbey wrote hundreds of songs, even releasing Abbey Sings Abbey in 2007, a recording of twelve of her original compositions, a fitting capstone to her extraordinary career. Although her earlier music was critically acclaimed, even more so today, there was not a wide nor warm embrace in the early 1960s. As Abbey noted, “After I made Straight Ahead and Freedom Now Suite, I never got any offer from the Americans. They figured I was dangerous or something.” Not an uncommon refrain but, undaunted, Abbey soldiered on.

Abbey Is Blue (1961) signed by Abbey, Julian Priester

Abbey Is Blue (1961) signed by Abbey, Julian Priester

Along the way, she also received invaluable advice, "Thelonious Monk said to me after listening to the words I had written to his song 'Blue Monk,' he came to where I was and whispered in my ear, 'Don't be so perfect.' And I said to Max Roach, 'You know what Thelonious said to me? He said, don't be so perfect, What does he mean? And Roach said, 'He means make a mistake.' And I didn't know what either one of them were talking about... It means that you must reach for something, you have to reach for the sky. If you don't make it, at least you reached for it. So your voice cracked, but you reached for it. You don't play safe...you take a chance on making a mistake. That's what they meant, and I do. I've learned to sing like that." While Abbey did not share the vocal pyrotechnics or the technical facility of Ella Fitzgerald or Sarah Vaughan - she did not scat - she was no less influential or amazing, and she never played it safe.

I was fortunate to see Abbey several times over the years in some intimate venues, including Blues Alley in Washington DC and Yoshi’s in Oakland, California. She always had young talent supporting her, mentoring and developing emerging artists like her great friend, fellow jazz singer extraordinaire Betty Carter. In performance, Abbey sang an engaging mix of standards, original songs and interesting covers like a reimagined “Mr. Tambourine Man” from the songbook of Bob Dylan. She was gracious when she signed her albums. When I handed her That’s Him, I mentioned that I loved her version of “Don’t Explain,” “Oh yes, thank you. That’s a beautiful Billie (Holiday) song, I love her.” She seemed, though, more interested in looking forward, rather than reminiscing about her past. I thanked her again for her time and, especially, her artistry.

Max Roach said shortly before his death in 2007, "I cannot say that Abbey sounds like Billie Holiday, but she is original like Billie Holiday. Abbey deals with the real world. Singers like Abbey, Billie Holiday, Bessie Smith... go beyond being jazz singers because they are storytellers." A gifted artist, composer, lyricist and storyteller, Abbey Lincoln never sang anything inane nor ever played it safe. Her amazing legacy endures.

Talking To The Sun (1987) signed by Abbey

Talking To The Sun (1987) signed by Abbey

Choice Abbey Lincoln Cuts (per BKs request)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF6q6XKKrik

“Driva Man” live with Max Roach 1964

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbrtwRZ9O2Q

“Don’t Explain” That’s Him Abbey sings Billie! 1957

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zj6jfKQzsLo

“Blue Monk” music by Thelonious, lyrics by Abbey 1961

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtXSpyvceBs

“People In Me” People In Me 1973

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc7OEI4WYnU

“Mr. Tambourine Man” Abbey sings Dylan! 1997

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNEjkgDiSXc

“Down Here Below” Abbey Sings Abbey 2007

Probably the best song I've written so far, if I was going to have to choose one.

Abbey Lincoln

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceH8hws5FSw

“Nature Boy” A Turtle’s Dream 1994

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsPwQcWqxw8

“The Windmills Of Your Mind” with Joe Lovano Over The Years 2000

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFsiGaRhIQY

“Lucky To Be Me” Abbey sings Bernstein 2000

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Apfw6jKYoxI

“Bird Alone” with Stan Getz You Gotta Pay The Band 1991

Randy Weston and Me…

All music began in Africa. The ancient Egyptians had schools of music. They were the first ones to write music. They were master instrument makers of harps and flutes and horns. So the whole concept of music was created in Africa and then spread to Europe and spread to other parts of the world. Most people don't understand or realize that...They say that jazz began in New Orleans. That is ridiculous. This music began thousands of years ago. It was just carried on to European instruments, European languages. We have just not had the true history of Mother Africa, which has enriched the whole planet.

Randy Weston

When Randy Weston plays
a combination of strength and gentleness
virility and velvet emerges from the keys in an ebb and flow of sound
seemingly as natural as the waves of the sea.

author/poet Langston Hughes

Cole Porter In A Modern Mood (1954) signed by Randy

Cole Porter In A Modern Mood (1954) signed by Randy

I just can't play the notes, I have to tell a story. I'll never forget, I met (tenor saxophonist) Lester Young in the '60s. He had some young musicians and they were playing a lot of notes, you know. He said, 'Excuse me sir, what's our story?' So when I approach the piano, I always have to tell a story.

Randy Weston

Whether you call it hip-hop or jazz or blues or bossa nova or samba or the black church, it all has that African pulse, that African spirituality. It’s the African pulse that’s in all of our music, wherever we were taken, whatever we came in contact with — whether it was a piece of wood, or a washboard, or a rubber band, or making music with our feet and our hands.

Randy Weston

Jazz a la Bohemia (1956) signed by Randy

Jazz a la Bohemia (1956) signed by Randy

Long before iTunes created a "World Music" category, there was Randy Weston. Randy's father instilled in him an insatiable curiosity and appreciation for African music, and this led to State Department sponsored trips in the early 1960s, which culminated in Uhuru Afrika (with lyrics by poet Langston Hughes) and Highlife: Music From The New African Nations. These recordings featured syncopated African rhythms with arrangements by Melba Liston, fueled by the brass of Clark Terry, Slide Hampton, and the rhythm of Kenny Burrell, Candido and Max Roach. Of course, Uhuru Afrika (Freedom Afrika) was immediately banned in South Africa along with other seditious titles like Lena Horne's Here's Lena Now! and Max Roach's Freedom Now! I guess I can understand that any vinyl extolling freedom might engender an alarmist and protectionist response from 1960s Apartheid-ridden South Africa, but who knew that Miss Lena Horne was such a dangerous subversive!

The Modern Art Of Jazz (1956) signed by Randy

The Modern Art Of Jazz (1956) signed by Randy

Straight outta Brooklyn, Randy Weston is a formidable presence at the piano. There simply aren't that many six foot-eight inch practitioners resplendent in flowing African tribal garb. Classically trained and schooled at Boy's High in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Randy was influenced by two central figures: his father, Frank, and piano legend Thelonious Monk. Frank Weston, of Panamanian and Jamaican descent, was a staunch follower and adherent to the Pan-Africanist views espoused by Marcus Garvey. A Jamaican by birth, Marcus Garvey had come to prominence in the United States in the 1920s and formed the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) as well as the Black Star Line, a shipping and passenger line. Garvey sought to "redeem" the nations of Africa, to have Africa restored to the Africans and to get the European colonial powers to leave the continent. Though Garvey was controversial at the time, no less a hallowed figure than Dr. Martin Luther King understood his significance. When Dr. King visited Jamaica in 1965, he laid a wreath at Garvey's grave and said in tribute that Garvey "was the first man of color to lead and develop a mass movement. He was the first man on a mass scale and level to give millions of Negroes a sense of dignity and destiny. And make the Negro feel he was somebody." These views were imparted by Frank to Randy at an early age, "My son, you are an African born in America. Therefore, you have to study the history of Africa, when Africa had its great civilizations, before colonialism, before slavery."

Blues O Africa (1974) signed by Randy

Blues O Africa (1974) signed by Randy

The influence of Thelonious Monk loomed equally large in Randy's musical development. There was no one quite like Monk with his deconstructed melodies and dissonant phrasings. Many critics assailed him as a charlatan misplaying notes to which Monk famously replied, "The piano ain't got no wrong notes." Randy remembered their friendship, "I hung out with him. In the beginning, I didn’t understand what Monk was doing, but then I heard something. I met him and we hung out for about three years. I’d pick him up at his house in Manhattan and bring him back to Brooklyn, we’d go to places. He never said much, but his music…. For me, you can’t call this music jazz. This music is in touch with the ancient civilizations, the galaxies, the planets. By hanging out with him, I understood better (stride pianist) James P. Johnson, Ellington, all the people that preceded him, the history of piano. So the further you go back, you realize how humble you have to be today. And how they did what they did. It’s a miracle."

Throughout his impressive sixty-five year career, Randy has released more than fifty albums which meld the music of Monk, Ellington and Tatum with the poly-rhythms of African beats. Some of these rhythms Randy attributes to his nearly seven year stint living in Morocco, when he opened a night club, the African Rhythms Club: "In 1967, I was asked to do a tour by the State Department, and Morocco was the last stop. I felt a special bond with that country, because they also had experienced slavery. Our slavery came from over the Atlantic, theirs came from over the Sahara desert. I had a club in Tangiers for three years. We would bring over blues bands from Chicago, singers from the Congo, from Brazil, from Niger. I wanted to reflect the fact that African culture has become a global culture." It is not surprising that Harvard University sought out Randy and set up The Weston Archive in 2016. This repository houses Randy's extensive collection which includes three-hundred scores, and thousand of hours of audio tapes, films and photographs. It is a sweeping expanse that covers the breadth of Randy's life experiences, from Monk to Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie to Nina Simone, Langston Hughes to Dr. Martin Luther King, and everyone in between. More importantly, it is open to the public.

Blue Moses (1972) signed by Randy

Blue Moses (1972) signed by Randy

I saw Randy Weston perform again at his recent ninety-first birthday celebration at the Jazz Standard in New York City on April 6, 2017. It was a festive and joyous occasion. When Randy took to the stage accompanied by his regular sextet, he said, "It is not many who cross ninety-one, but it appears that I have. I'm thinking tonight of my friend Jimmy Heath, who once told me, 'I'm Low Fly, you'll be Hi Fly.' " The reference to the diminutive Jimmy Heath (maybe five-foot four inches to Randy's imposing six-foot eight) got a chuckle, and then Randy launched into a beautiful piano solo on perhaps his best known composition, "Hi Fly", before the band kicked into gear. As a coda, Alex Blake scatted while slapping and thumping his upright bass in a way that only Bootsy Collins or Larry Graham could approximate. When Alex finished, Randy noted, " We have never done a version like that before. That's our April 6th version. Never before, never again." Another highlight was "The Call", with a bluesy, soulful alto saxophone solo by TK Blue amid the percolating and undulating African drum rhythms by percussionist Neil Clarke.

Live At The Five Spot (1959) signed by Randy, Roy Haynes

Live At The Five Spot (1959) signed by Randy, Roy Haynes

Then, Randy summoned a special guest to the stage, the ninety-six year old indefatigable conga extraordinaire, Candido. Randy and Candido share a rich history, going back to 1960 when they recorded Uhuru Afrika. Randy introduced Candido, "A man whose music to me has great healing qualities. He is a healer and a great friend." Two assistants helped Candido ascend the small stage, and Candido sat down, looked tentative and unsure as he began tapping on his conga. About five minutes in, the band stopped playing, and Candido began a call and response with the audience and started riffing on "Manteca", the Dizzy Gillespie/Chano Poza song that birthed Afro-Cuban jazz in 1947. Of course, Candido performed with Dizzy on the revelatory 1953 Afro recording, and his playing became crisp and taut as he laid out rhythms with his ninety-six year old hands over a ten minute (or more) drum solo. The crowd, including Randy, watched in awe with rapt attention. When he finished, Candido said, "You know, I'd like to thank my two assistants who help me. I couldn't walk down the block without them. I have such bad arthritis that, you know, when I walk on stage I feel like I'm one-hundred. But then when I sit behind my drums and play, I feel like I'm twenty! It's beautiful, just beautiful!" A huge smile lit up Candido's face. It was beautiful, and the music of Candido (and Randy) is certainly healing. They finished the set with the hypnotic groove of "Blue Moses", a mesmerizing end to a memorable show.

Trio And Solo (1956) signed by Randy

Trio And Solo (1956) signed by Randy

Afterwards, I visited with Randy. He is a gentle, kind and thoughtful soul. I mentioned that I saw him several times with former Count Basie trombonist, Benny Powell. He turned pensive, reflecting on their eighteen year association, "He was a beautiful man and we created some beautiful music. I miss him." He laughed when he saw the Trio And Solo vinyl. I asked, did you keep the car? what happened? "No, I don't know what happened to the car. I saw it once and never saw it again." Of Destry Rides Again, he laughed at the cowpokes saddled up to the bar, "This is not country and western music." Hardly, not with the trombones of Slide Hampton, Benny Green, Melba Liston and the drums of Elvin Jones and Willie Bobo. I thanked him for all the great tunes through the years, and wished him blessings on his birthday.

Destry Rides Again (1959) signed by Randy

Destry Rides Again (1959) signed by Randy

In a recent interview, Randy reflected on his gratitude for his parents: ""That's my dad. That's my mom. I talk to them every day. Because they know that they gave us a certain spiritual discipline. So...you can't play this music and have hate in your heart. You can't be negative in your spirit when you're playing this music. Because they say music is the voice of the creator. So if the creator's given you this gift, what are you doing to do with it?"

Words, respect and truth. We are so blessed to share the gifts of Randy Weston and his music.

Atlantic Jazz Piano (1986) signed by Kenny Barron, Hank Jones, Barry Harris, Sir Roland Hanna, Chucho Valdes, McCoy Tyner, Billy Taylor, Junior Mance, Dwike Mitchell, Ray Bryant, Andre Previn, Horace Silver, Tommy Flanagan, Dave Brubeck

Atlantic Jazz Piano (1986) signed by Kenny Barron, Hank Jones, Barry Harris, Sir Roland Hanna, Chucho Valdes, McCoy Tyner, Billy Taylor, Junior Mance, Dwike Mitchell, Ray Bryant, Andre Previn, Horace Silver, Tommy Flanagan, Dave Brubeck

Atlantic Jazz Piano (1986) back cover signed by Monty Alexander, Harold Mabern, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Randy Weston

Choice Randy Weston Cuts (per BKs request)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47vdxkLj4nU

"Hi-Fly" Randy Weston Live At The Five Spot 1959


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVcmwfkza08
"Ganawa (Blue Moses)" Blue Moses 1972

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yA7b17sdcXY
"Berkshire Blues" solo live 2014

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovk5OSa8PrU
"Little Niles" With These Hands 1956 written for his new born son

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_bFWCByTHA
"How High The Moon" The Modern Art Of Jazz 1956

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmqRiQyeNkU
"The Call" The Spirits Of Our Ancestors 1992

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olot4dOPIts
"Caravan" Afro Dizzy and Candido swing Duke Ellington! 1953

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBqCsgYf-z8
"Niger Mambo" Uhuru Afrika 1964

Bonus Track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5Text6rBhs
"Marcus Garvey" Burning Spear live in studio

Raul Malo, The Mavericks and Me…


I call it a beautiful mess, that's kind of what it is. Obviously, I'm tied to it in a personal way. My parents are Cuban, and so I grew up in Miami with Cuban family. I'm a first-generation Cuban American and going back there is hard. It's hard to see suffering and going without, knowing the history of the place, you just want to do something. Politics are what they are, and we can affect only what we can affect. I figured with music, it's that sort of grand equalizer, and if we can affect some musicians' lives, get their music out into the world, that's a positive thing. That's really the whole mission statement with Mono Mundo and what we're doing with all these Cuban musicians.

Raul Malo on his record label, Mono Mundo Recordings

I think it's important to be open. You can have your rituals, have your comfort zone, but I think it's also important to be open to the fact that it could happen at any time. I like that, I like that about music. I like that about what we do. I keep it open that way. Yeah, there's a certain guitar I like to write with but, honestly, if that guitar is not around, you've got to get the job done and find something else... You could be at the most luxurious spa with a hot tub and serenity, and you think 'Oh man, it's going to be great for writing, and nothing gets done. You can be in the most chaotic downtown pub and the napkin and the waitress' pen might be the best options at that point. You take it as it comes, I think. At least I do. I'm disciplined enough to write every day or create every day, so when it happens, it happens.

Raul Malo

Hey! Merry Christmas! (2018) signed by Raul Malo, Eddie Perez, Paul Deakin, Jerry Dale McFadden

Hey! Merry Christmas! (2018) signed by Raul Malo, Eddie Perez, Paul Deakin, Jerry Dale McFadden

Sure, and in many ways Nashville has shown me what not to do as well. We’re not part of the country music mainstream here. We were maybe admitted on the playground for about five minutes, but Nashville is a great place to be. I know that mainstream country leaves creativity by the side, but there’s still a lot of great music that gets made here, and there’s certainly not a shortage of great musicians and studios. I’m sure it has affected me. I love being here, I think it’s a great city and my kids have been born and raised here. Musically speaking, I don’t draw a lot of inspiration from it, but that’s okay, it’s still a wonderful town to be in.

Raul Malo

As musicians, you are always listening to other songs and you find inspiration and you talk about, ‘Oh man, one day we’re going to record this.’ But other things get in the way. You hear every reason in the world as to why not do a covers record, but now we’re in charge, so if we’re not going to do it now, when the hell are we going to? You see those in truck stops, ‘So and So of Yesteryear Plays The Hits,’ and it’s some awful recording they were forced to do, and they’re selling for $3.99. This is basically our version of that record, but, hopefully, with a little more care, and certainly more thought put into it.

Raul Malo

The Mavericks Play The Hits (2019) signed by Raul, Eddie, Paul, Jerry Dale

The Mavericks Play The Hits (2019) signed by Raul, Eddie, Paul, Jerry Dale

Raul Malo is best known as the lead singer and principal songwriter of The Mavericks who have sold millions of records since their founding in Miami in 1989. Their music defies categorization: blues, country, rock, soul and even Tex Me mixed in a swirling cauldron, both invigorating and intoxicating. As Raul recently observed, “ The hardest question always is ‘What kind of music do The Mavericks play?’ We always kid about that with fans. We know we haven’t always made it easy on them. I told somebody this the other day, we’ll never be in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame, we’ll never be in the Country Music Hall of Fame, or any other sort of hall of fame. At some point along the line, we betrayed both of these ethos. We didn’t stay true to any one of them, we did what we wanted. In a way, I guess that’s the rock ‘n’ roll approach. That’s what rock and roll always was, just a blend of R&B, gospel, jazz, swing. To me, that’s not too far-fetched from how we approach things. We don’t care where it comes from, if it sounds good in our song, we’re going to use those elements . It’s a beautiful gumbo.” Indeed, Raul and his Mavericks appear to be fervent believers in Duke Ellington’s famous dictum: “There are just two kinds of music: good and the other kind.”

What A Crying Shame (1995) signed by Raul

What A Crying Shame (1995) signed by Raul

Surrounded by music, Raul Malo grew up in Miami, "There was always music. My mother still plays beautiful piano, and there was always a piano around. My granddad sang, and my aunt sang and played guitar. Nobody played professionally but there was always music around. If someone wasn't physically playing it, there was always the stereo and records." These were the diverse sounds which Raul absorbed, from the country music that his father preferred to his mother's passion for opera to the punk rock sounds of his teen years. As he revealed, "Both my parents, I would say, they had good taste in music. But my dad liked country... I don't think people realize how much. I remember a lot of Cuban friends of his that actually listened to the country radio station. And not only what was on the radio, but the old stuff like Johnny Cash and Ray Price. My mom liked Patsy Cline. It was a lot of discovery, too. Discovery, honestly through Elvis. Elvis was a great cementer of all these genres, he made it all possible to connect them all together. That was my gateway. He recorded Hank Williams songs and Kris Kristofferson songs. He would record a lot of the country hits and do it his way."

When he heard Elvis sing “It’s Now Or Never” the first time, it was a formative experience. Raul recalled, “That’s right, when I first heard that record as a kid, it really set the tone for me. To me, it was rock ‘n’ roll personified. I know that most people think of rock ‘n’ roll as the early 50s Elvis, and that was cool and earth shattering, but when I heard “It’s Now Or Never” it brought so much together. I remember listening to it and my mum going, “You know that’s an old Italian song, “O Sole Mio,” and that just really blew my mind. Here’s opera, here’s rock ‘n’ roll, here’s country and it’s all brought together by Elvis and his voice. What a glorious combination. I’ve been trying to emulate it ever since!” So Elvis was the gateway drug and, subsequently, we have all been blessed by the extraordinary gifts and talents of Raul Malo.

Music For All Occasions (1995) signed by Raul

Music For All Occasions (1995) signed by Raul

The Mavericks released their eponymous debut in 1990 on Cross Three, an independent label, which didn't fully capture their combustible live shows. Their live performances were not the music of your father's Grand Ol' Opry, they were loud, had plenty of guitars and twang, and featured the incredible vocal range of Raul Malo who had the soaring timbre of Roy Orbison infused with the grit and soul of Elvis. Soon, the major label MCA signed The Mavericks and they released five highly acclaimed albums in the ensuing decade, playing ever bigger venues.

Around 2003, Raul and his band mates were restless for change, "Everybody went their separate ways... I call it my musical quest years where I went on a journey. I learned a lot. I threw myself into situations like Los Super Seven that was a Latin supergroup with members of Los Lobos and Calexico. I threw myself into that situation, which led me to playing with all these great Cuban musicians. Today, my solo record, all these musical collaborations opened up my world musically and creatively. I think all that and everything the guys did in that time off - that wealth of knowledge - it all informed this new version of The Mavericks. I think that the reason we've been around is because we like to keep it interesting for ourselves. When we got back together in 2012, I told the guys I didn't want to get back together and play the old stuff and collect a paycheck. That wasn't what interested me, what interested me was making new music. I think if you have that attitude, that's going to carry on to your fans, your live performances and into what you're doing now. Always looking for the muse for that different combination, always listening to music and finding a way to do stuff differently, or to find something that inspires you. It's that quest, that thirst. That's what's kept us going.”

En Espanol (2020) signed by Raul, Eddie, Paul, Jerry Dale

En Espanol (2020) signed by Raul, Eddie, Paul, Jerry Dale

Since 2012 when they regrouped, The Mavericks have been very busy attempting to slake that insatiable thirst, releasing six albums including their most recent En Espanol, an all Spanish language record which debuted at Number 1 on the Latin Billboard charts, an awfully impressive achievement for their first non-English effort. They added a very talented new guitarist, Eddie Perez, who added a whole ‘nother shredding component to their sound. As Eddie commented, “I was twelve years old and my father took me to see ZZ Top and it blew my mind. I was never the same after that... You wouldn’t think that an influence of Jimmy Page or Angus Young of AC/DC would fit into The Mavericks, but somehow it does.” Raul also started Mono Mundo Recordings in 2017 to distribute The Mavericks releases as well as champion the Sweet Lizzy Project, a Cuban rock band which has benefited from his tireless promotion and sponsorship.

While Raul was on hiatus from The Mavericks, he released five solo albums, including Today which featured Cuban musicians, and a Christmas album Marshmallow World & Other Holiday Favorites. He did a small thirteen city tour in support, and Erin and I went to see the show billed as Raul Malo's Christmas Party on November 28, 2007 at the Ridgefield Playhouse, an intimate theater with five-hundred seats.

The stage was decorated with holiday trimmings, accented with pink flamingos and palm trees to give it the proper Florida kitsch. Raul’s band was tight and featured a horn section. They started playing holiday songs,the usual holiday fare, “I’ll Be Home For Christmas,” Jingle Bells,” “Santa Claus Is Back In Town,” and a swank version of “Marshmallow World” which even Dean Martin would have died (again) for. The audience was not impressed. Restlessness turned into a smattering of boos which caught Raul completely unaware. Evidently, the crowd was expecting the onslaught of a full throttle Mavericks show, not a holiday special. I guess no one read the ticket - Raul Malo’s Christmas Party - what else were they expecting?! Raul and his band soldiered on for a few more holiday songs, then switched over to some of his best known Mavericks songs, and a cover of Rodney Crowell’s “Till I Gain Control Again,” J.D. Souther’s Orbisonesque “You’re Only Lonely” and the Marty Robbins tearjerker “You Gave Me A Mountain,” a beautiful melody telling us terrible things. Though the crowd was happier with the secular music, Erin and I were no less embarrassed with their initial response.

The Nashville Acoustic Sessions (2004) signed by Raul

The Nashville Acoustic Sessions (2004) signed by Raul

After the show, Raul emerged from his dressing room and came out to the lobby to see his fans and sign autographs. He couldn’t have been nicer or more affable. I heard a fan ask him if he had ever taken singing lessons as his pitch and diction was so precise. “Nah, I never have, I just like singing.” When Erin and I met him, we apologized for the fan’s initial boorish behavior. Raul shrugged it off, “Thank you, you know I was wondering if they read the ticket, maybe they were at the wrong show?!” I mentioned that I loved his version of “You Gave Me A Mountain,” that his soaring vocals were the perfect balance for the sad, though life affirming, content. “Thank you, that is a beautiful song, I have always loved Elvis’ version. I’m just trying to do it justice.” When he signed The Nashville Acoustic Sessions, I told him that I loved his take on the Louvin Brothers’ classic “When I Stop Dreaming.” He said, “You know, that’s just a great song, it was fun, we had a great band.” Erin and I thanked him again for his brilliant artistry and we were especially delighted that he signed a Raul Malo ornament which has adorned our Christmas tree ever since.

The Mavericks are so talented and so much fun, we can’t wait to see them again when this dreaded, cloistered Covid-19 existence abates. Their music is so much more than a beautiful gumbo.

Raul Malo’s Christmas Party November 28, 2007 ticket

Raul Malo’s Christmas Party November 28, 2007 ticket

Merry Christmas from Raul Malo, nestled on Jacob Miller’s Natty Christmas

Merry Christmas from Raul Malo, nestled on Jacob Miller’s Natty Christmas

Raul Malo Christmas ornament 2007

Raul Malo Christmas ornament 2007

Choice Raul Malo/Mavericks Cuts (per BKs request)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfzcKpknSY4

“All That Heaven Will Allow” Raul Sings Bruce!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYyg21lRAs8

“All You Ever Do Is Bring Me Down” live with Flaco Jimenez 1996

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSoSuGZzePE

“Gentle On My Mind” Raul and The Mavericks Sing Glen Campbell 2012

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RROhyculCZA

“La Bamba > Dance In The Moonlight” Eddie shreds, Raul sings, Gruene Hall, TX 2014

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_clnwmuMYNg

“Till I Gain Control Again” Raul Sings Rodney Crowell 2010

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0UsWObeajQ

“Harvest Moon” Raul Sings Neil Young 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1ycA4IOR1U

“You’re Only Lonely” Raul Sings JD Souther 2006

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSZuMouUnlE

“Crying” Raul Sings Roy Orbison

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcUVTjGzwsU

“Guantanamera > Twist And Shout” live 2014

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQAqoaYBSps

“A Change Is Gonna Come” Raul Sing the immortal Sam Cooke 2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrjryjhF9t8

“Me Olvide de Vivir” Raul Sings Julio Iglesias. En Espanol 2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlwgOYnQGdw

“Marshmallow World” Raul Sings Dean Martin 2007

Marshmallow World (2007) front cover

Marshmallow World (2007) front cover

Marshmallow World (2007) inside CD booklet, signed by Raul

Marshmallow World (2007) inside CD booklet, signed by Raul

Marshmallow World (2007) signed by Raul

Marshmallow World (2007) signed by Raul

Dr. John, Mac Rebennack and Me…

I know my family is supposed to be from the Bas region of France. They arrived in New Orleans in 1813 or 1830. They had a place on Bayou Road which is now Governor Nicholas Street. My great, great, great aunt Pauline Rebennack was involved with a guy who had my name, Dr. John. He was a Banbera cat and they had a whorehouse out by what they call Little Woods in New Orleans. Bayou Road was an historical street in
what they call the Treme area of New Orleans today. Jelly Roll Morton grew up on that street. The one thing the Third Ward was famous for was that Louis Armstrong was born there. Unfortunately, the politicians in New Orleans decided not to keep his pad a tourista spot and tore it down. It's a movie equipment store now, that's typical political stuff.
Mac Rebennack aka Dr. John

I was really young, but I didn't really get to know him. My father was going to fix a PA at the Caledonia Club, and I was standing by the car. I remember meeting him. Later, I met him outside of a joint called The Cephapod in Parda, Louisiana, and I really got to rap with him. He was sittin' on a stump and rubbin' his rump, disgusted. He and his vibe were so hip that I was just magnetized to the cat, you know? I asked him, 'Wow, what are you doin' when you're doin' all the stuff like that?' And he said, "That's double note crossovers." And I said, Well, what is that stuff when I see your hands going all over?' And he says, "Over and unders." He had names for everything. He'd say things to his band guys, like, this oola-mala-walla stuff, and I thought, Wow, this guy's speakin' in tongues. I was also fascinated that he was sitting out there in a turtleneck shirt with a beautiful gold chain with a watch hangin' on it, and an Army fatigue cp on his head. And I thought, Wow, I never seen nobody dressed like this guy. Just everything about the man was totally hip, and he had gloves on him too, beautiful silk gloves. I'll never forget this.
Dr. John meeting Professor Longhair

Dr. John Plays Mac Rebennack (1981) signed by Dr. John

Dr. John Plays Mac Rebennack (1981) signed by Dr. John

Well, I tell you what: he taught us all something. He would play a bit more fonky but the thing that 'Fess always said was to "frollock." He wanted the whole band to "frollock" behind the guy's solo. That was his word. He had a million words that he used how he used them and meant what he meant by them. Once you got that, he was wonderful to
work for, he was special. There was a million things he had names for on the piano like "oh that's double note crossover" or "Over and unders." That's not musical terminology, so I love that. I wish I was him.
Dr. John on his idol Professor Longhair

I watched a lot of people doin' it all the time, throwin' their lives away. I didn't respect them, but somewhere along the line I decided to try it. I don't know what happened between one and the other or how it transpired, but I looked at guys who did something stupid and ignorant and then, all of a sudden, I'm doing the very same thing they did. I
was a pretty young man, you know? I'm grateful for the twenty years I've been away from it all. I'm blessed. I survived a lot of things. Gettin' shot in my finger was one thing, gettin' shot in my ass was another thing, so was gettin' shanked in my back. You get stabbed enough times, that's not healthy either.
Mac Rebennack 2010, gratitude for his twenty years of sobriety

Desitively Bonnaroo (1974) signed by Dr. John The Nite Tripper

Desitively Bonnaroo (1974) signed by Dr. John The Nite Tripper

Malcolm John Michael Rebennack Jr., aka Dr. John, is one of the most celebrated and recorded artists in the rich history of New Orleans music. Winner of six Grammys and an inductee into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame, Dr. John led a remarkable life. From his early recordings in the late 1950s to countless sessions with Gregg Allman, The Band, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Beth Orton, The Rolling Stones, Sonny and Cher, and Frank Zappa, to his more than thirty-five solo albums, Dr. John sprinkled and spread his love and talent with his singularly mesmerizing piano and gruff vocals. As Aaron Neville once said, "He wasn't just New Orleans, he was worldwide. He brought New Orleans everywhere." He was truly one of a kind, and his music and songs still resound and resonate.

Born in New Orleans, Mac grew up in the Third Ward where his father ran an appliance store. Mac remembered, "He fixed radios, televisions, PA systems. I guess that's how I first met a lot of musicians. He would sometimes take me and sister around with him when he'd be going in these clubs to fix something, and bein' a nosy little kid, I'd go check it all out. But he also sold records, and this was my favorite part of him, because he used to supply all these hotels on South Rampart Street with 'race records." This was before they called 'em rhythm and blues and rock 'n' roll and blues and stuff, and I would get all the used ones when the hotels' got a little too scratchy. I had this hellfire collection." Nothing beats crate digging from your dad's business and personal collection, but Mac was just getting started with his musical exposures and experiences.

Surrounded by a musical family, his aunts, uncles and cousins were all musicians of varying skill and success, Mac started playing guitar and piano, and gigging around the fertile New Orleans music scene, "Well, we used to play gigs in the Rue Dominguez, but it wasn't just a gig in a whorehouse. It was for a party they were having for clients and girls, and some of 'em was pretty swanky deals. I was about thirteen or fourteen when I first started playing gigs around New Orleans. This guy Leonard James, he would take me to work gigs - strip joints, shake dances, whorehouses, grocery stores, department stores - anywhere - most places you wouldn't never think nobody would want to have music, but this guy was a great hustler." Within this decadent and expansive milieu, Mac flourished, not a surprising result, given his colorful lineage and bloodline. After all, nothing screams New Orleans nobility louder than a fourth-generation (removed) whorehouse operator and musician.

In A Sentimental Mood (1989) signed by Dr. John

In A Sentimental Mood (1989) signed by Dr. John

As his skills improved, Mac reached a turning point when he met the redoubtable piano legend Professor Longhair. Mac recalled, "I was working a gig at Lincoln Beach with Roy Brown, and Longhair came by one night and said he needed a band. And we all quit, we didn't even give Roy Brown extra notice, we just went along with the local hero. So we was leavin' like a six night a week gig and goin' to work maybe one night a week. Maybe. And that's what it was. Maybe we rehearsed a lot. He'd sit down and tell us, I don't want you guys to play this the same way. I'm gonna show you how it goes, but I want you to take that and run with it. I wish I had listened to him more. He used to tell me what you were doin', includin' messing with that other shit, so you wouldn't be a disaster, 'One thing you gotta learn is, if you smoke weed, it ain't so bad. But if you shoot dope, it's gonna fuck everything.' He was real aware of where some differences came that people wasn't in those days. He was aware if you played music for the money, you wasn't gonna be a good musician. But if you played music for lovin' the music, at least you cared about that. It was a major thing, because it connected with my livelihood..."

Soon, Mac was spending all his time at clubs and the Jesuits at his high school gave him an ultimatum: school or music. Fortunately, Mac picked music and we are all the richer for his prescient choice. Mac continued playing and recorded with Art Neville, Allen Toussaint and Joe Tex, then signed on with Ace Records as an A&R (Artist & Repertoire) man. Mac had a minor hit in 1959 with “Storm Warning," a tribute to Bo Diddley, and he produced other artists and mixed with other legendary New Orleans fixtures like James Booker and Earl King. Mac was not quite eighteen years old, working primarily as a guitarist while lying about his age so he could be admitted into clubs.

Mac's career as a guitarist came to an abrupt end when he got into a fight with a motel owner while on tour in Jacksonville, Florida. Mac was shot and his ring finger was nearly severed which made his guitar playing and subsequent recovery difficult. Mac recalled his rough and rowdy ways with his unique and inimitable diction, "I look at it like I probably wouldn't have got shot in my finger had I not been so nervous about (bandmate and pianist) Ronnie Barron getting beat to death with a guy's gun. Ronnie's mother said she would chop my cojones off with a butcher knife if anything happened to him, and he was strung when he was a kid, probably too young to be on the road. But the point was, we played a lot of dangerous joints, I'm surprised it didn't happen before that. I never thought I would get shot in my finger... I just thought I'd get killed or somethin' in one of them fights because there was a lot of shootin'." As he began his slow and painful convalescence from his gunshot injury, Mac began to concentrate on his piano skills.

Indigo Blue (1983) signed by Dr. John, Hank Crawford, Howard Johnson, David Fathead Newman, Bernard Pretty Purdie, Melvin Sparks

Indigo Blue (1983) signed by Dr. John, Hank Crawford, Howard Johnson, David Fathead Newman, Bernard Pretty Purdie, Melvin Sparks

I'm sure the unprescribed drugs which he took helped Mac recover from his injury to a degree, but, unfortunately, he got enmeshed in the seedy drug underworld and got busted for heroin possession and served a two year sentence in federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas. When he was released in 1965, Mac headed west to Los Angeles and became an important session musician for many, including Phil Spector and his "Wall Of Sound" which graced the recordings of The Righteous Brothers, The Ronettes, and so many others.

Soon, Mac would introduce the Dr. John character to the world, a transformation that would endure for decades, "Well there was a guy, the name of Dr. John, a hoodoo guy in New Orleans. He was competition to Marie Laveau, he was like her opposite... I actually got a clipping from the Times Picayune newspaper about how my great-great-great-grandpa Wayne was busted with this guy for runnin' a voodoo operation in a whorehouse in 1860. I decided I would produce the record with this as a concept. I was gonna produce Ronnie Barron, I had no intention of bein' Dr. John. That was an album concept I had for somebody else, but it turned out we was doin' some session work for Sonny and Cher and Ronnie Barron's manager said it was a bad career move for Ronnie. He saw him doin' stuff like Curtis Mayfield and The Impressions or Staple Singers. He was probably right. I only did it out of bein' pissed off, and I had never thought of being a front man for anybody. The idea of that was always kind of repulsive to me, 'cause I hated front men. I liked doin' a gig, dry up and do another one." Undoubtedly, a bad career move for Ronnie Barron, but a home run for Mac Rebennack!

So the character of Dr. John was introduced to the world in 1968 on Gris-Gris, to which Atlantic Records founder and head Ahmet Ertegun said to Mac, "What is this record you gave me? Why didn't you give me a record we could sell?" Undaunted, Dr. John toured in full N'Awlins bacchanalia regalia, replete with feathers, elaborate headdresses, witch doctor robes and a walking stick festooned with skulls and other voodoo ephemera. His stage show, at one time, even featured Prince Klyama who bit the heads off of live chickens on stage, much to the horror of PETA advocates, who didn't even exist then! Certainly, there was nothing quite like a Dr. John concert, circa 1969!

The Brightest Smile In Town (1983) signed by Dr. John

The Brightest Smile In Town (1983) signed by Dr. John

I was blessed to see Dr. John many times over the years and he always put on a remarkable show. Beyond the spectacle of his towering stage presence, Mac had incredible piano chops, his musical brilliance always outshone his sometime outlandish wardrobe. A couple of shows standout.

In the mid 1980s, I saw the good Doctor perform a solo piano show at Blues Alley in Washington, DC, a small, intimate club in an old carriage house with seats for one hundred-twenty-five guests. Erin couldn't make it, so I went with my great friend Danny Callahan, a fellow music lover and fervent believer in "Laissez Les Bontemps Rouler!" Dr. John came out and sat down at the grand Steinway which was in the middle of the stage and played songs off his solo piano releases Dr. John Plays Mac Rebennack and The Brightest Smile In Town. After playing for thirty minutes or so, he took off his top hat, placed it on top of the piano, and said, "I don't got a set list or nothin' so if ya have any requests, just write 'em down, put 'em in the hat and I'll try and play 'em." That led to some folks dutifully filling out requests on scraps of paper and placing them in the hat, all the while Dr. John continued to play flawlessly. Despite Danny's exhortations, I did not place anything into the Doctor's magical hat. I've always believed that the artist should play whatever they want, and I'll save my grousing on what they did or didn't play for the drive home. After the show, I ambled upstairs to his dressing room, and Mac signed Dr John Plays Mac Rebennack which he inscribed with a piano and musical notes, possibly my favorite inscription of the thousands of records we have procured.

Doug Sahm And Band (1973) signed by Dr. John, David Fathead Newman, David Bromberg

Doug Sahm And Band (1973) signed by Dr. John, David Fathead Newman, David Bromberg

Many years later, I saw him again at the Blue Note in New York City with a full band. After the show, I went for a visit in his dressing room. Mac loved seeing Doug Sahm and Band which had an illustrated cover of Bob Dylan, David Bromberg, David Newman and many others who participated on this fabled session, "Look, ya got Fathead on here, he's one of my main men. Yeah, I gotta sign this, and Hank Crawford on this album too! Yeah these some serious cats." Dr. John was as voluble signing these albums as he was singing songs onstage previously.

Midnight Ramble (1983) signed by Dr. John, Hank Crawford, Howard Johnson, David Fathead Newman, Bernard Pretty Purdie

Midnight Ramble (1983) signed by Dr. John, Hank Crawford, Howard Johnson, David Fathead Newman, Bernard Pretty Purdie

The last time I saw him, Mac was performing at a tribute to his great friend, the producer and former DJ Joel Dorn {"The Masked Announcer") at Lincoln Center in New York in August 2008. Dorn, who had died suddenly in December 2007, was a gifted producer who had worked with Mose Allison, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Bette Midler, Max Roach and so many others. The concert was curated by the late Hal Willner and there was a tremendous outpouring of love and support from artists whom Joel had nurtured. Roberta Flack, Les McCann and Bette Midler were just a few of the performers who sang their biggest hits. Mac, however, gave the best performance by far, an earnest and heartfelt unaccompanied piano version of "April Showers." Though this song had been around since 1921 when Al Jolson recorded it, along with Judy Garland, Bing Crosby and so many others, Mac made it his own. As he said in his intro, "This is a song that Jo-el, he wanted me to record this song, and I didn't think I ever wanted to play this song again too much. But I'm gonna do it tonight in Jo-el's memory." Mac captured the pathos and world weary resignation that only he could conjure in this stunning performance. It was extraordinary. I only wish Mac had recorded it as Joel Dorn, always a man of exquisite taste, had suggested.

Dr. John was a genre unto himself, an intoxicating amalgam of blues, boogie woogie, gospel, jazz, rock, soul and voodoo. He was an original who left an incredible legacy, of this, there should be no "confusement," as Mac would say in his uniquely fractured English. As he once said, "I think it's the proper thing for a musician to keep playing until the last song is sung and you fall over and die. That way, the band don't have to play an encore and they will get paid for the gig. That's the correct thing... because they have no retirement plans for musicians anyway."
Thanks Mac, you were always in the right place at the right time with the right songs.

Joel Dorn program, August 13, 2008

Joel Dorn program, August 13, 2008

Choice Dr. John Cuts (per BKs request):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkR4civGzLM

April Showers” live August 13, 2008, “for Jo-el”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCRrXZP8b0I

“Such A Night” live The Last Waltz, 1976 with The Band

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDUAk1dWWiE

“Iko Iko” live with Dave Sanborn 1989

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KRcyduODa8

“When The Saints Go Marching In” live solo piano

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PbqwZ8J4Ng

“Tipitina” live with Johnny Winter 1983

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wK0ywnGfVww

“Right Place, Wrong Time” live 1974

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdn2mt-Ctgo&list=RDrdn2mt-Ctgo&start_radio=1

“Didn’t He Ramble>Closer Walk With Thee” Dr. John Plays Mac Rebennack

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXJP1xp5FH8

“There Must Be A Better World Somewhere” live 1997

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id1iPAzoSMc

“Storm Warning” Mac on guitar channeling Bo Diddley 1959

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWvdO3l4_P8

“I Walk On Gilded Splinters” Gris-Gris 1968

https://www.youtube.com/watch v=oJevvtWggwI&list=RDoJevvtWggwI&start_radio=1

“Call The Doctor” live 1974

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fluNM__tqOg

“Season Of The Witch”

Lonely Avenue (2007)

Lonely Avenue (2007)

Lonely Avenue signed by Dr. John, Alex Halberstadt 2007

Lonely Avenue signed by Dr. John, Alex Halberstadt 2007

Lonely Avenue book page signed by Joel Dorn, Ben E. King, Raoul Felder (Doc Pomus’ brother) 2007

Lonely Avenue book page signed by Joel Dorn, Ben E. King, Raoul Felder (Doc Pomus’ brother) 2007

Blue Jeans Bash program signed by Dr. John January 17, 1993

Blue Jeans Bash program signed by Dr. John January 17, 1993

Blue Jeans Bash special guests included Bob Dylan, Dickey Betts

Blue Jeans Bash special guests included Bob Dylan, Dickey Betts

Candido and Me…


I was honest with Dizzy (Gillespie). I told him no (that I could not read music) but that I knew I could do it if he gave me a chance. At that time, my English was very limited. He told me to come down to the Downbeat club on West 52nd Street to sit in with pianist Billy Taylor’s house trio, to play a set and see if I could swing the tumbao to fit in a jazz setting. I did, and he told me to meet him manana. So I came back the next night to the club and played another set, thinking he would be there. What I didn’t know was that he meant for me to meet him tomorrow at the train station - they were going on tour with his big band. The club owner at the Downbeat offered me a one-year contract to play with Billy’s trio as a featured performer, and I accepted. We accompanied everyone that was anyone, including Charlie Parker, who used to call me ‘Dido.’ That was my entrance into the jazz world.

Candido

The Volcanic (1957) signed by Candido, Hank Jones

The Volcanic (1957) signed by Candido, Hank Jones

The first cabaret I worked at was the Cabaret Kursal. I was 22 years old and my salary was one dollar a night. I was playing bongó with the house band and quinto for the rumba floor show for whatever dance team would be featured. Mongo (Santamaria) was playing bongó with Bienvenido León Y Sus Leónes at the Cabaret Eden Concert when he got offered a job to go to Mexico with the dance team of Pablito and Lilón. He gave me the job with Bienvenido, and that’s how I got more involved in the cabaret and hotel scene.

Candido

Candido (1956) signed by Candido

Candido (1956) signed by Candido

The purpose of this album is to present a great new jazz artist. His name is Candido, and we think that he is the most exciting jazz conga and bongo player in the business. There are, of course, many Latin American drummers who play well with jazz groups but I have not heard anyone who even approaches the wonderful balance between the jazz and Cuban rhythmic elements that Candido so vividly demonstrates, and his technical facility is, to say the least, astounding... Though he has appeared with Duke Ellington, Stan Kenton, Charlie Parker, and Dizzy Gillespie, and has recorded with Woody Herman, Ella Fitzgerald, Joe Loco, George Shearing, Stan Getz, Bennie Green, and the wonderful Machito band, this is his first recording as a jazz soloist. We added Candido to the trio in the same manner in which we would add a guitar, as another solo voice as well as an extension of the rhythm section. We made no attempt to make the melodies conform to the clave. We merely wanted to have some fun swinging off of two rhythms instead of one.

Billy Taylor, liner notes The Billy Taylor Trio With Candido 1956

The Billy Taylor Trio With Candido (1954) signed by Candido, Billy Taylor

The Billy Taylor Trio With Candido (1954) signed by Candido, Billy Taylor

I first met Candido when Dizzy Gillespie came into the Downbeat, the legendary jazz club of a few years ago, and said to me, “Billy, this is the world’s greatest conga drummer.” Having worked with Dizzy for some time, and respecting his opinion, especially in percussionists, I was prepared to hear something unusual - I didn’t know how unusual. Candido sat in with my trio on a borrowed conga drum and excited both the musicians, who regularly frequented the club, and the club owners. He was hired on the spot and stayed there for one and a half years.

Billy Taylor, liner notes Thousand Finger Man 1969

Thousand Finger Man (1969) signed by Candido

Thousand Finger Man (1969) signed by Candido

Candido Camero passed away on November 7, 2020. He was ninety-nine years old and lived a wonderful life as a master percussionist, performing professionally for over eighty years. Equally stunning for his longevity and creativity, Candido appeared on hundreds of albums with Count Basie, Art Blakey, Tony Bennett, Ray Charles, Stan Getz, Elvin Jones, Quincy Jones, Charles Mingus and so many others. The last time I saw him in April 2017, he was sitting in with fellow nonagenarian pianist Randy Weston. Though he needed a walker to get to the stage, once seated behind his three-conga kit, his extraordinary rthymic skills shone as though he had sipped a secret elixir from a fountain.

MSA Sabroso (1962) signed by Candido

MSA Sabroso (1962) signed by Candido

Growing up in a barrio of Havana, Cuba called “El Cerro,” Candido remembered, “My barrio in La Habana, El Cerro, has its own saying, El Cerro tiene la llave, ‘El Cerro has the key.’ Cerro means ‘hill,’ but in this case it’s also short for ‘cerrejo,’ which means a latch. So people from there say we have the key to the latch.” Candido was surrounded by music in his youth, particularly from his six uncles, many of whom were professional musicians, “We had a huge house. It had a living room, a separate dining room and about five bedrooms with a large open air patio in the back. My uncles lived there, and as each one would get married, they began leaving. My grandmother always celebrated their birthdays by hiring a charanga orchestra and they would play in the living room. I remember them well, it was called Orquesta Cartaya, named after the leader who was a violinist. During their breaks, everyone would move to the patio, where the rumba would start. It was non-stop music all day into the evening.”

Calypso Dance Party (1957) signed by Candido

Calypso Dance Party (1957) signed by Candido

One of Candido’s uncles was especially inspiring, “My uncle Andrés asked me if I wanted to learn how to play el bongó, and of course I said yes. He went and took two cans of condensed milk, put skins on them, and put them together. That was my first instrument. He began teaching me by having me sit in front of him with my tin can bongós while he had his set. He would play a short phrase and ask me to repeat it. That’s how I began learning how to play.” From that humble beginning on makeshift, primitive percussion, a remarkable performing career was launched that would endure for decades and grace hundreds of recordings.

Candido also learned other instruments, including bass and tres, a distinctly Cuban six string guitar made famous by the blind Cuban composer and master guitarist Arsenio Rodriguez. Soon, Candido was performing in Havana’s burgeoning music scene playing bass and tres. However, that changed when he saw Arsenio Rodriguez’s band, “I saw Arsenio’s group and saw the writing on the wall. I didn’t read music and I knew that the groups would all start to convert from septeto to the conjunto format. In the conjuntos, they started to use arrangements, and I couldn’t read music. I figured I wouldn’t be able to keep up as a tresero or bassist. I had played congas ever since I was a kid, when I would participate at the rumbas in my home. I decided that I would begin to concentrate on playing congas professionally.”

Latin Fire (1959) signed by Candido

Latin Fire (1959) signed by Candido

A return and dedication to the conga helped Candido secure a gig at the Tropicana, Havana’s premier club, when it opened. There, Candido met his great friend, the renowned pianist and composer Bebo Valdes, “At the Tropicana, we did a big show which featured Chano Pozo, called ‘Conga Pantera.’ I knew Chano from playing in his group Conjunto Azulejo, where I played tres and Mongo (Santamaria) played bongo. At the Faraon, I met and worked with Chucho Valdes’ father, Bebo. We’ve been friends ever since, and later in the mid 50s, we recorded a tune he wrote called ‘Batanga.’ That was important because it was the first popular piece to use the bata drums in a dance band context.” Candido stayed at the Tropicana for six years developing and showcasing his talents.

In Indigo (1958) signed by Candido

In Indigo (1958) signed by Candido

In 1946, he moved to New York City and began to sit in with jazz musicians, including a recording session with Machito. It was an eye opening experience, “But what impressed me was Machito’s band. There was really nothing that you could compare to it in Cuba. They were so far ahead of everyone, very progressive.” Candido was also innovative in advancing percussion techniques. He began to play the tumbao (steady rhythm) with his left hand, while soloing with his right and, at the Apollo Theater in 1950, he was the first to tune his three congas to a specific pitch, which he later described: “I had seen the New York Philharmonic, and paid attention to the timpanist. I thought to myself, ‘I can do the same thing with the congas.’ I began to tune them to a dominant chord so I could play melodies in my tumbaos and solos.” In addition, Candido also invented a foot-operated cowbell to the delight (and possible eventual dismay!) of Christopher Walken. “I had a gentleman at a hardware store make the apparatus to my specifications back in 1950,” he recounted. Most of these inventions and techniques still resonate with modern day percussionists.

IMG_5702.png

The first time I saw Candido, he was performing with the Conga Kings at BB Kings club in New York City on September 5, 2001, days before the horrific events of September 11. Candido appeared shirtless, as was his wont, and he performed with other conga masters, Carlos “Patato” Valdes and Giovanni Hidalgo. They featured songs from their then new release Jazz Descargas: highlights were Tito Puente’s “Oye Como Va”, Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo’s “Manteca” and “El Manisero (The Peanut Vendor),”, a revered Cuban folk song which sold over one million copies of sheet music in the 1940s and became the first million selling Cuban 78 rpm single. The Conga Kings were great, but there aren’t many seventy-nine year olds who could pull off a shirtless performance. Then again, there aren’t many Candidos, rock ribbed and ripped at seventy-nine years old. In fact, there is exactly one. After the show, he stood on stage, drenched in the sweaty exuberance and exultant joy of his performance. Candido looked down beneficently on his charges from his regal, on stage perch, and happily signed a few albums.

Dancin’ And Prancin’ (1979) signed by Candido

Dancin’ And Prancin’ (1979) signed by Candido

I saw Candido several more times over the years, usually sitting in with the great jazz pianist Randy Weston at the Jazz Standard in New York City. Though he had by then donned a shirt, Candido’s performances were still electric when he sat at his congas, and he was always kind and generous when signing, though his English had shown little improvement over the years. One of the secrets to his longevity was his clean and sober ways, as he acknowledged in a 2005 interview, “I’ve been on the road with everybody, I saw what drugs did to Charlie Parker. I saw what they did to Billie Holiday, a woman with so much talent but with so many insecurities. I’ve been on buses with musicians smoking dope and drinking. False inspiration, I always called it.”

God bless Candido, he more than lived up to his name which means “purity of soul.” What an incredible musical and spiritual legacy he leaves.

Vaya Con Dios!

Candido Conga, Jazz Standard, NYC 04.06.17

Candido Conga, Jazz Standard, NYC 04.06.17

Choice Candido Cuts (per BKs request)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bD5X_6xvLto

“Batanga Cha Cha Cha” with Bebo Valdes 1956

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtKBCil6qTk

“Mambo Inn” live with Billy Taylor 1995

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0E2KsHJYsdk

“Oye Como Va” Candido Does Tito Puente! 2000

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUi47Qs6WEY

“El Manisero (The Peanut Vendor)” Jazz Descargas 2000

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDNsKBh_s8w

“Thousand Finger Man” Candido Does Disco 1979

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2ZSZqJkmqw

“Hey Western Union Man” Candido Does Jerry Butler! 1970

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Dmab8Akw8U

“Soul Limbo” Candido Does Booker T.!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5TTFMPJbdM

“I’m On My Way” Beautiful 1971

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7IiX3XUsF8

“Tumbao de Tamborito” Conga Kings Jazz Descargas 2000

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8q3zi24scE

“Conga Descarga” The Master

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSbocyHPA6A

“Jingo” Candido Does Santana! Dancin’ And Prancin’ 1979

Candi’s Funk (1979) signed by Candido

Candi’s Funk (1979) signed by Candido

Les McCann and Erin…

I got out (of US Navy) in '56, went to music school and LA City College and started working around town and everything just flowed. It took me time to play ballrooms and I must've worked every coffeehouse in Southern California, and people began to fill up the place and word spread. I thank God every day for that.

                         Les McCann

In jazz, it's not one thing. You know it when you hear it. It's about the heart and the feeling. When you hear something great, or you have a producer or partner that you trust, you listen to them.

                         Les McCann

Les McCann Ltd. Plays The Truth (1960) signed by Les

Les McCann Ltd. Plays The Truth (1960) signed by Les

You don't have to be anything. You just live, enjoy your life, and all these things will come to you. It's when we start thinking in our head, trying to figure it out, trying to make it what we want it to be, we stumble. We go down side roads, we don't mess it up, we just put it on hold... There's no difference between jazz and photography, or any art form. It's all about creativity.                         

The zen of Les McCann

I’m a people person. I was born to be a people person, and I thank God because I am able to do what I really love doing. When I go to the market, I'm talking to everybody in the store. The light I see in my eyes is the same light I get from other people who I know are happy in their life, or if I need to give someone a song, I'll do that too. That's just what I am... You know, the Beastie Boys call me out on one of their records: "And I talk to the people like Les McCann..." ("Alright Hear This"  Ill Communication 1994)                         

Les McCann

Swiss Movement (1969) signed by Les, Eddie Harris

Swiss Movement (1969) signed by Les, Eddie Harris

A wonderful jazz pianist, composer and (occasional) singer, Les McCann helped to blur genres, combining blues, gospel, jazz and soul in an intoxicating blend in his sixty-plus years career. He is probably best known for his recording of Gene McDaniels' "Compared To What", an impromptu jam session and last second addition to the third Montreux Jazz Festival in 1969 with his Atlantic Records label mate, Eddie Harris. Though they knew each other, they were an unlikely and odd couple: Eddie was meticulous and planned everything in advance, Les not so much. He was as freewheeling and open to possibilities as Eddie was disciplined and structured.

Les remembered the performance, "Sometimes, like when we made Swiss Movement, I was so angry after we finished playing. I went right back to the hotel and told the man. 'Don't take no calls from anybody, I don't care who it comes from.' And they were trying to call me from the moment I left the building, 'Get your butt back over there. You're not going to believe how great this is.' I thought it was the worst thing we ever did, because we were making a lot of mistakes. When I heard it, I couldn't believe it, which taught me another great lesson. Let it happen, let it be. You don't have to be hovering over every little note. You do it, and let it happen, and you'll know it. My heart and my body is loaded with creativity, and when I step on that stage, I acknowledge it and allow it to come forth. I love my life."

Second Movement (1971) signed by Les, Eddie Harris

Second Movement (1971) signed by Les, Eddie Harris

Les wasn't the only one who loved his life or his music, the celebratory throng that night in Montreux, Switzerland was only a beginning. Swiss Movement went on to sell more than one million copies and became one of the finest examples of Soul Jazz when it was released in 1969. It also helped cement the reputation of Montreux which was then a fledgling and unproven jazz festival, not the international showcase that it is now more than fifty years later.

Even more remarkable about this performance and recording, Les, Eddie and the band had only rehearsed for ten minutes before they 'let it happen.’ "Compared To What,” the hit single which propelled the record sales, had been around for several years and was written by Eugene McDaniels in 1966. First recorded by Les as a ballad on Les Plays The Hits, the lyrics were quite controversial at the time, and even included (gasp!) a swear (“goddamnit”). Early copies of the record bleeped out the blasphemy and WFMU, a Washington, DC radio station, was actually fined $10,000 for playing the song years earlier because the lyric contained the word "abortion." 

The President, he's got his war
Folks don't know just what it's for
Nobody gives us rhyme or reason
Have one doubt, they call it treason
We're chicken-feathers, all without one nut. God damn it!
Tryin' to make it real, compared to what? (Sock it to me) 

Church on Sunday, sleep and nod
Tryin' to duck the wrath of God
Preacher's fillin' us with fright
They all tryin' to teach us what they think is right
They really got to be some kind of nut (I can't use it!)
Tryin' to make it real, compared to what?

Where's that bee and where's that honey?
Where's my God and where's my money?
Unreal values, crass distortion
Unwed mothers need abortion
Kind of brings to mind ol' young King Tut (He did it now)
Tried to make it real, compared to what?!

Second Movement (1971) back cover signed by Les

Second Movement (1971) back cover signed by Les

At Montreux, the song was transformed into a rollicking soul burner, and it has since become a cultural touchstone with recordings by Brian Auger, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ray Charles, Roberta Flack, and John Legend among hundreds of others. And it is embedded in cinema as well: Roberta Flack's version appears in Boogie Nights while Les and Eddie perform uncensored in Scorcese's Casino  as tastes have expanded and FCC mores have loosened in the ensuing decades. Indeed, George Carlin’s “Seven Words You Can’t Say On Television” is probably down to three on broadcast TV and none on cable, in comedy clubs or movies, and the influence of Les in hip hop artists is equally broad and startling. More than two hundred-fifty artists have sampled Les' songs and beats including, A Tribe Called Quest, Biggie Smalls, Dr Dre, Nas, Puff Daddy, and Snoop Dogg to name a few.

Much Les (1969) signed by Les

Much Les (1969) signed by Les

Erin and I were fortunate to see Les perform in 1988 at Blues Alley in Washington DC, an intimate jazz club with seats for one hundred-twenty five patrons. Though he had health issues, Les’ spirit was indomitable and his music was joyous and life affirming. After the show, we found him sitting at the bar, having an adult beverage. Les was particularly effusive in greeting Erin as she handed him an album, "Oh my, aren't you beautiful! Please come over here and give me a big hug," he gushed. Before he inscribed the records, a tight, full frontal embrace ensued. When he released Erin, he had a follow up, "Are they real?" "Yes, they most assuredly are," Erin responded, unfortunately accustomed to boorish behavior. When he suggested that she should sit on his lap, that was a bridge too far and his invitation was soundly rejected by Erin. I interceded, had Les sign a couple more albums and we departed. Though his behavior was certainly inappropriate through a #metoo prism or any perspective, in the late 1980s, sadly, it seemed an all too familiar refrain and was merely dismissed as a “rascal being rascally.” At that time, for me, it was always about the music and, despite his behavioral shortcomings, Les' music and artistry deeply resonated. 

As Les once said, "That's the way it is for all of us. We often forget that we're just here for a few moments. This ain't the real shit. This is like taking a little nap."

Lou Rawls Sings, Les McCann Plays (1962) signed by Les, Lou Rawls

Lou Rawls Sings, Les McCann Plays (1962) signed by Les, Lou Rawls

Choice Les McCann Cuts (per BKs request)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCDMQqDUtv4

“Compared To What”  live with Eddie Harris, Montreux 1969

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jLBGHvz4-8

“Compared To What” (studio version)  Les Sings The Hits  1966

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd0XjftNEMc&t=239s

“With These Hands”  Much Les  1970

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTIsnAWStRc

“Goin’ Out Of My Head”  Live At The Bohemian Gardens 1967

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bi_rfTpwR4

“The Truth”  Plays The Truth   1960

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFnfkLtFgSA

“Stormy Monday” live with Lou Rawls, Stanley Turrentine 1989

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95N6Grt8G4g

“Little Girl Blue”  Pretty Lady  1961

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYQV0v3-Fes

“BurnIn’ Coal”  Much Les  1970

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bbvNAzS5rU

“I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free”  Live with Billy Taylor 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=214ZPqrkmSo

“How Many Broken Wings (with Roberta Flack)”  Comment  1970

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgLhgyQhRIQ

“Restin’ In Jail”  McCann/Wilson   1964

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uBE0aiGqTg

“C Jam Blues”  Plays The Shout  1961

Big John Patton and Me…

Man, listen, it's so sensitive and it will reveal its secrets if you try to get up in there and learn it...and learn the sound and contact. You can't play it like a piano 'cause that's another thing altogether. The notes are the same but, see, that electricity puts another 'jammie' on you, you know what I mean? You must deal with touch and so many other things...and I was very frustrated at first. 

               John Patton on the Hammond B3

Let ‘Em Roll (1966) signed by John

Let ‘Em Roll (1966) signed by John

I want to go on studying. A musician cannot stand still. The mechanical power of the organ can delude you into projecting strength as opposed to blending it with other instruments. Control is very important and so is direction.

               John Patton, liner notes Oh Baby 1965

Ben Dixon was my mentor…he was a hell of a reader and did a lot of writing. He liked Max (Roach) for his technical ability and melodic playing, but Philly Joe Jones, who was his idol, for the flair. Ben was always trying to create different beats, he could really swing and was so uninhibited about 2 and 4; he was like the drummers now, he would utilize the sock cymbal and turn the cymbal beat around…just create his stuff. Very few of the musicians I have played with are as great musically and rhythmically.

               John Patton on drummer Ben Dixon 

Signifyin’ (1963) signed by John, Ben Dixon, Lou Donaldson

Signifyin’ (1963) signed by John, Ben Dixon, Lou Donaldson

The Hammond B3 organ has an intoxicating and sultry sound, with a warmth and sensuousness that is as alluring as it is seductive. Featuring a Leslie woofer (usually housed in a beautiful wood cabinet), the Hammond B3 makes a distinctive whooshing flutter, and most practitioners use the foot pedals to supply the bass lines, so an electric Fender bass, or acoustic upright bass is unneeded and unnecessary. There is no thicker, greasier, soulful music than a Hammond B3 cranked up, Leslie woofer whirring away in the hands of a master like Jimmy Smith or Jimmy McGriff. No finer sound in Jazz, Soul, Blues or Rock exists. Witness Al Kooper's opening on Bob Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone", Otis Redding's transcendent "Try A Little Tenderness" with Isaac Hayes on Hammond (yes, John Muthaf#ckin' Shaft hisself!), the Spencer Davis Group's "Gimme Some Lovin' " with an eighteen year old Stevie Winwood laying out on keys and vocals, or Booker T. Jones' funkified filth on "Green Onions." It's hard to imagine these songs without a Hammond B3, and under its spell, in the immortal words of Parliament-Funkadelic maestro George Clinton, it is "one nation under a groove."

For all intents and purposes, the history of the Hammond B3 in Jazz is defined by two eras: BJS (Before Jimmy Smith, pre-1956) and AJS (After Jimmy Smith, post-1956). It is no exaggeration the influence Jimmy Smith wields: his impact and lineage is as impressive as it is wide and deep. As guitarist and Ellington scholar Kenny Burrell said of Jimmy: "He had a real genius. If you think about the jazz greats on instruments - Miles (Davis), Charlie Parker, and (John) Coltrane - Jimmy was in that league. There were jazz organists before him, but he put it on a level with those jazz greats." Virtually every Jazz organist who followed Jimmy Smith owes him a debt of gratitude including Jimmy McGriff, Richard "Groove" Holmes, Charles Earland, Jack McDuff, Shirley Scott, and rock and roll players like Gregg Allman, Brian Auger, Keith Emerson and Jon Lord. Even hip hop artists Beastie Boys, Jay-Z, Thievery Corporation, Travis Scott and The Weeknd have sampled Jimmy Smith's grooves in their recent recordings.

Understanding (1968) signed by John

Understanding (1968) signed by John

"Big" John Patton is no exception to the pervasive influence of Jimmy Smith. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, John studied piano and after high school, joined his older brother in Washington, DC in 1954 while his brother attended Howard University. Instead of college, John picked up a gig playing piano for the house band at the Howard Theater where he met Lloyd Price, a popular R&B artist, who had recorded "Lawdy Miss Clawdy", a number one hit in 1952 with New Orleans legends Dave Bartholomew as arranger and Fats Domino sitting in on piano. John recalled, "I met Lloyd Price who was looking for a piano player. Someone told him I was in town and I had an audition. He asked me to play the introduction to 'Lawdy Miss Clawdy.' I played that and I had the gig."  For the next five years, John played piano in Lloyd's band and enjoyed chart success with "Personality" (which he helped write, uncredited) , "Where Were You (On Our Wedding Day)" (a co-writing credit) and "Stagger Lee", all massive hits in jukeboxes, juke joints, and theaters. John reflected, "I learned everything with Lloyd. I was his 'strawboss' and the leader, and he dumped all this on me and that was an experience. I was dealing with musicians that thought I was 'tommin' or doing whatever Lloyd told me to do...Well, you're damn right I did, 'cause he was paying the money and I wanted the experience." 

Good Gracious! (1963) signed by John, Ben Dixon, Lou Donaldson

Good Gracious! (1963) signed by John, Ben Dixon, Lou Donaldson

All the while, the lure of the Hammond B3 organ was calling, "I liked the sound, it was something that just got into my ears. I kept hearing the sort of things a cat like Jimmy Smith could do with it, and I listened hard." So John began woodshedding on organ with drummer Ben Dixon, whom he had recruited to join Lloyd Price's band, and guitarist Grant Green. Dixon supplied him with Jimmy Smith vinyl and became a staunch ally and music advocate. Chops sufficiently strengthened, Patton, Green and Dixon joined "Sweet Poppa" Lou Donaldson and entered a New York City studio in 1962 to record Good Gracious!, one of my favorite albums (and covers!). This marked John's recording debut on organ and he remembered the Lou Donaldson experience fondly, "Hey, I played three and a half years with Lou. What can I say, he says 'Play the BLUES'...you don't mess with Lou 'cause Lou knows how to play Be Bop and Blues and Rhythm and Blues ... I am very fortunate that I got a chance to spend that much time with him and I can't thank him enough." At the initial session, they also recorded one of John's compositions, "Funky Mama", which became a soul jazz classic. Of the (then) controversial song title, Ben Dixon said, "John's tune, 'Funky Mama,' that was a big hit. But at that time, they wouldn't say 'Funky Mama' on the radio. They'd say 'Funny Woman.' It was a moral thing, you know.. It's not like today. I mean today, if you say 'Funky Mama,' everybody will say, 'yeah,' You know, at that time, even that kind of innuendo was not accepted...on the air."

Ben Dixon was no slouch as a musician and composer either. Dixon's most enduring composition, "Cantaloupe Woman", a percolating, soulful groover with great percussion and, of course, great Hammond B3 organ, was written as a response to Herbie Hancock's equally sublime "Watermelon Man." Grant Green, an extraordinary guitarist, left a treasure trove of recordings in his brief though prolific recording career. When they weren't in the studio recording or touring with Lou Donaldson, they often played together as a trio, an organ-guitar-drums juggernaut. Ben Dixon reminisced, "I know one thing. I know wherever we went, we burnt the place up. We burned it up. Oh man, we had some arrangements...we were really, really tight. We were like three in one... One arrangement I really remember was, we used to play (The Beatles) 'I Want To Hold Your Hand.' Shoot, the club would get quiet when we would play that, because dynamically we would bring it way down. It was a real, real, quiet, slick, bossa nova." Though a Grant Green recording of "I Want To Hold Your Hand" was released in 1966 featuring Larry Young on organ, Elvin Jones on drums, and Hank Mobley on tenor saxophone, it does not reflect the potent organ-guitar-drums assault that was Patton-Green-Dixon. Sadly, no recordings of this song by this formidable trio are available, but Grant's influence loomed large, as John noted, "Musically, he was really there for me. The woodshedding that we did together, man, was great. We just clicked...clicked very, very well. I don't know what else to say, except thank God for Grant. He's one of my mentors for sure. Grant's hearing was so developed and he was such a natural. His prior learning, wherever it came from, God's gift that he had...it was just in place."

Accent On The Blues (1970) signed by John, Leroy Williams

Accent On The Blues (1970) signed by John, Leroy Williams

I saw "Big" John and Ben Dixon perform at the Jazz Standard In New York City in the late 1990s  near the end of John's life. Though a big sound emanated from his Hammond B3, physically, John was not particularly tall nor wide, maybe 5' 11', one hundred-ninety pounds. In an earlier interview, he explained the origin of his moniker, "Remember the (1961 Jimmy Dean) tune, 'Big Bad John'? ... yeah, well, that's what they started calling me, and at first, I didn't understand it, but I love it now. It's just a name. If it's going to help you, then boogie on up in there!" The band was tight and they played a mix of standards and originals, filling the room with their infectious swirl of grooves. The syncopation between Dixon's drums, the bass lines of Patton's pedals and his lyrical organ fills was impeccable and precise, sharpened by their forty-five years of playing together. Two highlights were Patton's "Funky Mama", full of joy and percolating rhythms, and Dixon's "Cantaloupe Woman", a simmering soul burner. After the show, near the bandstand, John and Ben were quiet and reflective as they signed the vinyl. They both commented on how much they enjoyed their time with "Sweet Poppa" Lou Donaldson and were grateful for the experience. I thanked them for their time, and especially their music.

My torrid love affair with the Hammond B3 continues. Now, put on some "Big" John Patton vinyl and, like he says, "then boogie on up in there!" Good gracious, it will definitely put a "jammie" on you.

Memphis To New York Spirit (1970) signed by John, Leroy Williams

Memphis To New York Spirit (1970) signed by John, Leroy Williams

Choice John Patton Cuts (per BK's request)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zhp2r4QwBS8

"Personality"  Blues For Lou  Green-Dixon-Patton  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7L-Jlp94PRw

"Cissy Strut"  Memphis To New York Spirit  1970  Big John swings The Meters!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOvY93zKhiI

"The Silver Meter"  Along Came John  1963

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hp2m8vzghMM

"Ain't That Peculiar"  Got A Good Thing Goin'  1966  Big John swings Marvin Gaye!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E84Ey2Qdgz8

"Don't Let Me Lose This Dream"  Accent On The Blues  1970  John swings Aretha!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_odMI0T2zA

"Let "Em Roll"  Let 'Em Roll  1966

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5blM1YmFnNI

"Funky Mama"  The Natural Soul  1962  Lou Donaldson, Grant Green, Ben Dixon smolder on John's composition! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ouw-YFeLks

"Cantaloupe Woman"  Visions  Grant Green 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tonexlw6tOo

"I Want To Hold Your Need"  Grant Green-Hank Mobley-Larry Young-Elvin Jones  1965

Bonus Hammond B3 Cuts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwOfCgkyEj0

"Like A Rolling Stone"  Highway 61 Revisited   1965  Al Kooper on Hammond B3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVAFjvRBswY

"Green Onions"  Booker T. Jones  Live from Daryl Hall's House  2013

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojnDaqaEg3E

"Try A Little Tenderness"  Otis Redding  1966

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lzq0Man_9vY

"It's Your Thing"  Straight Up  1998  Jimmy McGriff grooves the Isley Brothers!

Bonus Lloyd Price Cuts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYO263wui1w

"Lawdy Miss Clawdy"  Lloyd Price with Fats Domino on piano  1952

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvPU-cvaKCM

"Personality"  Lloyd Price with John Patton on piano  1959

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCPutYaGFlE

"Stagger Lee"  Lloyd Price with John Patton on piano  1959

Billy Joe Shaver and Me…

Well, the devil made me do it the first time

The second time I done it on my own

Lord, put a handle on a simple headed man

And help me leave that black rose alone 

Well the devil made that woman

Lord, she threw that pattern away

She was built for speed with the tools you need

To make a new fool every day 

“Black Rose”   Billy Joe Shaver

I’m listening to Billy Joe Shaver

And I’m reading James Joyce 

Some people they tell me 

I’ve got the blood of the land in my voice

“I Feel A Change Coming On”  

Bob Dylan/Robert Hunter 2009 

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Honky Tonk Heroes (1973) signed by Billy Joe Shaver

Them neon light nights, couldn’t stay out of fights

Keep a-haunting me in memories 

Well there’s one in every crowd for crying out loud

Why was it always turning out to be me?

Where does it go? The good Lord only knows

Seems like it was just the other day

I was down at Green Gables, hawking them tables 

And generally blowing all my hard earned pay 

Piano rolled blues, danced holes in my shoes 

There weren’t another other way to be 

For lovable losers and no account boozers 

And honky tonk heroes like me

“Honky Tonk Heroes”   Billy Joe Shaver

From those first songs, like “I’m Just An Old Chunk Of Coal,” I was totally enamored. I understood. This is a poet. This is someone with a vision... He could be a pretty rough, blustery character at first, but later, I got to know the sweetheart.

                         Rodney Crowell 

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I’m Just An Old Chunk Of Coal… (1977) signed by Billy Joe

A songwriter’s songwriter, a roughneck’s roughneck and a hillbilly’s hillbilly, Billy Joe Shaver lived a remarkable life. Johnny Cash may have sung about shooting a man in Reno, but Billy Joe actually shot a man in the face in Waco in 2007. Billy Joe didn’t watch him die, and he didn’t go to jail either. The aggrieved recovered from his non-life threatening injuries, and Billy Joe was acquitted of all charges in 2010 in an astonishing display of Texas jurisprudence. His lawyers argued self-defense, and it probably didn't hurt that Willie Nelson and Robert Duvall showed up in court as character witnesses. Willie even wrote a song about it, "I Want My Bullet Back." Yes, even though Billy Joe wrote “Ride Me Down Easy,” his life was anything but...

Born in Corsicana, Texas in 1939, Billy Joe's father left before he was born. To make ends meet, his mother ran a rough and tumble Waco honky tonk called the Green Gables. Waylon Jennings recalled Billy's mom, "She was a good looking woman, red headed and tough, and it was a classic dive, a dance hall with sawdust on the floor, spittoons, and a piano in the corner." A young Billy Joe dutifully tagged along, learning life's lessons, the ones not readily available in books or taught in etiquette classes. Billy Joe would distill these lessons later when he wrote almost an entire album (nine of the ten songs!) on Waylon Jennings‘ 1973 masterpiece Honky Tonk Heroes. But it took awhile to get there, a circuitous route, appropriate for a gifted if grizzled songwriter.

Dropping out of school in eighth grade, Billy Joe picked cotton and had other menial jobs, then joined the US Navy at seventeen where he served without distinction. Upon discharge, he married Brenda Joyce Tindall (they would divorce twice and marry three times) and in 1962, his son John Edwin (aka Eddy) was born. Billy Joe's dreams of being a rodeo cowboy went nowhere, so he took a job at a sawmill. Unfortunately, his right hand was caught in some machinery and he almost lost four fingers while battling a serious infection. Undaunted and undeterred, Billy Joe recovered and taught himself guitar with his remaining digits and began to write songs.

He set out to find his fame and fortune in Los Angeles, however, after a couple of hours hitchhiking on a dusty interstate with no takers heading west, Billy Joe crossed the median, stuck out his mangled paw, and caught a ride east, all the way to Memphis. From there, it was a short hop to Nashville where Billy Joe hawked his songs. Waylon Jennings heard "Ride Me Down Easy" and "Willy The Wandering Gypsy And Me" and promised Billy Joe they would get together and record, but Waylon didn't share the same urgency as, perhaps, Billy Joe did.

Billy Joe and Waylon Jennings, photo by Burton Wilson

Billy Joe and Waylon Jennings, photo by Burton Wilson

Waylon recalled, "I was always in a meeting, or on another call, or not in. This went on for months. He caught me one night at RCA recording. 'I got these songs,' he said, ' and if you don't listen to them, I'm going to kick your ass right in front of everybody.' He could have been killed there and then by some of my friends lining the walls, but I took Billy Joe in a back room and said, 'Hoss, you don't do things like that. I'm going to listen to one song, and if it ain't no good, I'm telling you goodbye. We ain't never talking again.' Billy played me "Old Five And Dimers," and then kept going. He had a whole sackful of songs, and by the time he ran out of breath, I wanted to record all of them."

Though Waylon's album Honky Tonk Heroes garnered critical and commercial acclaim, ushering in Outlaw Country (whatever that is!), Billy Joe's solo career never had the trajectory that it might have. Certainly, Billy Joe's rich songs resonated and were recorded by Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, Emmylou Harris, Waylon and Willie, and so many others, but Billy Joe never had the renown that others enjoyed. That all began to change in the early 1990s when Billy Joe started touring and recording with his son Eddy. As talented as Billy Joe was as a songwriter, Eddy was mindblowing on guitar. He was a guitar slinger's guitar slinger, more Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan than Chet Atkins or Don Rich, and their first album recorded together as Shaver in 1993, Tramp On Your Street, is brilliant. Billy Joe reworked some of his old songs, brought Ol' Waylon in to duet on a few, and Eddy provided all the pyrotechnics necessary with his scorching guitar leads. Eddy's old beat up Fender Stratocaster was always turned up to eleven, a fitting nod to the man who tutored Eddy and gave him his first guitar, Allman Brother (now in exile) Dickey Betts. Tellingly, the Fender Strat which Eddy received from Dickey had originally belonged to Duane Allman, a fitting and appropriate peaceful transfer of power and virtuosity!

Shaver: Tramp On Your Street (1993) signed by Billy Joe

Shaver: Tramp On Your Street (1993) signed by Billy Joe

In 1994, I saw Shaver perform at The Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia. They were touring in support of their recently released Tramp On Your Street and the show was revelatory. The Birchmere hadn't moved to their newer, plusher digs yet - they were still in an old converted used furniture store, and it retained a similar, decaying ambience. Picnic tables with naugahyde chairs stuck to a filthy linoleum floor, the aroma of stale beer, cheap wine and unfiltered cigarettes hung heavy in the still, acrid air. It was the perfect setting for an immersive Shaver experience and they did not disappoint. They played every song off Tramp On Your Street, and while Billy Joe sang with fervor, Eddy played with reckless abandon. Because of Billy Joe's handicap, he strummed his guitar and used it more or less as a prop. Eddy, not so much. He was as florid and as fluent as any guitarist I have ever seen. His electric guitar was beyond electric, and it was a most remarkable performance from an equally remarkable father and son.

After the show, Billy Joe came out to visit with some fans and sign some autographs. I was waiting. I was excited to meet him, said hello and shook his hand. "I heard you're a friend of Bill,” I stammered. A blank and vacant stare was returned. I knew he didn't drink, as he had said on stage earlier, "You know, Bill Wilson? I’m a friend of Bill Wilson,” I persisted, determined that my AA secret code would unlock some magical mysteries. A deep pause. "Oh yeah, I know him," he said, "but I haven't seen him around lately." Sensing my failure, I quickly switched gears, thanked him profusely for his show and songs, and asked whether Eddy was coming out to say hello. "Yeah, Eddy's backstage right now, he's not gonna be coming out, it's not really his thing," Billy Joe shrugged and smiled, as he signed some records.

They made several more albums together as Shaver and then, tragically, Eddy died on December 31, 2000 of a heroin overdose. He was only thirty-eight years old, a most unwelcome end to an artist filled with limitless promise who was also working at the time on a solo album. Billy Joe soldiered on and released ten more albums until his very recent passing. He was ornery and tough, so Texas tough that he even survived a heart attack on stage at Gruene Hall in New Braunfels, Texas seven months after Eddy passed. Billy Joe fully recovered and kept writing and recording his songs until his passing.

Billy Joe cradling a King in his mangled mitt

Billy Joe cradling a King in his mangled mitt

His lyrics speak far more eloquent than I:

I’m gonna live forever

I’m gonna cross that river

I’m gonna catch tomorrow now

You’re gonna wanna hold me

Just like I always told you 

You’re gonna miss me when I’m gone

But I will always be around

Just like the songs I leave behind me

I’m gonna live forever now

“Live Forever”

Thanks for the songs, Billy Joe. They will live forever.

Choice Billy Joe Shaver Cuts (per BKs request)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdYzVFClHyg

“Georgia On Fast Train” live with Eddy shredding

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YFIlEpv8CI

“Honky Tonk Heroes”  live with Eddy 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wqu0Xf3EihU

“Sweet Mama”  Billy sings, Eddy shreds!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQL0BKQrKoU&list=RDcQL0BKQrKoU&start_radio=1

“Willy The Wandering Gypsy And Me”  live Austin City Limits 1984

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLcff55xqek

“Live Forever”  live at FarmAid 1994

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0V0PDOF7fik

“Old Five And Dimers Like Me”  1973

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0pmKysZyDY&list=PLOaI0PoP7kMbmsyjj4Jq0Dkjt6DNnAYO7&index=4

“I’ll Be Here”  Electric Shaver

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B-JCvBe39Q

“I’m Just An Old Chunk Of Coal”  live at FarmAid 1994

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xqV_GkD7Gk

“Oklahoma Wind”  live

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psvV10pohMw

“You Can’t Beat Jesus Christ” live with Eddy, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings unplugged 

Bonus Picks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj3PG3FSgfY

“Little Sister”  live Johnny Carson, Eddy with Dwight Yoakam 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU_CKQMLy74

“Old Five And Dimers Like Me”  Waylon Jennings 1973

Gerald Wilson and Me…

Nobody can say they have taught me how to write or orchestrate - I haven't studied with or under anyone - but that is not to say I haven't studied long and hard on my own. I don't feel that my lack of formal training means that I am in any way limited in my approach to the job.

                        Gerald Wilson

There's no way you can sit in Gerald's band and sit on the back of your chair. He handles the orchestra in a very wise and experienced craftsman sort of way. The combination of the heart and the craft is in perfect balance.

                        John Clayton, fellow bandleader

Live and Swinging (1967) signed by Gerald, Charles Tolliver

Live and Swinging (1967) signed by Gerald, Charles Tolliver

I got away from the piano when I was about ten. My mother got me a trumpet. I wanted a trumpet. I wanted to be a trumpet player because I wanted to play in the school marching bands at the schools I attended. I wanted to be there with a horn.

                        Gerald Wilson

I’ve been to Mexico, of course, you can’t get it all. They got a lot of music, they’re very musical people and I learned to hear the sounds. When I wrote my first numbers for them, you wonder whether they’re going to accept this music. Like I wrote a number for Carlos Arruza, who was the greatest matador in the world at one time, and you wonder if they’re going to say, “Why should you write a number for me?” But you find afterward they like it and so it makes me know that I’m on the right track...

                         Gerald Wilson 

Gerald Wilson is one of the greatest arrangers, bandleaders and composers in jazz and pop music. While lending his considerable arranging skills to Ray Charles, Bobby Darin, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Julie London and Nancy Wilson, Gerald also nurtured, in his own band, the talents of future jazz stars Roy Ayers, Teddy Edwards, Richard "Groove" Holmes, Harold Land, Joe Pass, Charles Tolliver and so many others. But it didn't stop there. Even the great maestro, classical conductor Zubin Mehta, commissioned him to write a piece for the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1972. By all accounts, in his well-lived ninety-six years, Gerald Wilson was an influential musician who lived an exemplary and prolific life.

Born in Shelby, Mississippi in 1918, Gerald was surrounded by music, "My mother is a musician. She's a pianist and she's also a schoolteacher and she played piano for the school - the small school that I attended in a small town in Mississippi... She started me out around four on the piano and I learned little pieces and got to some other things pretty good, but later on I wanted to go to the trumpet." The youngest child, Gerald also benefited from his older siblings' interests in music, "My brother loved jazz. He was a piano player too, and he would tell me about all the things happening in jazz. During those years, I would get a chance to see many of the great jazz musicians coming from New Orleans..."

Unfortunately, school in Shelby ended after eighth grade so Gerald attended high school in Memphis, Tennessee, "My home was only eighty some miles from Memphis and, there, I was able to go to high school and I had a great trumpet teacher there that taught our band. I actually went to the same school where Jimmie Lunceford had been a teacher, and I had heard all about their band because they were very popular. They started in Memphis, the Jimmie Lunceford band, so it was just a good thing for me there." Hard to believe that a scant five or six years later, when he was just twenty years old, Gerald would join Lunceford's band and compose and arrange two of their biggest and enduring hits, "Hi Spook" and "Yard Dog Mazurka."

You Better Believe It! (1961) unsigned

You Better Believe It! (1961) unsigned

But first came a move to Detroit where Gerald enrolled at Cass Technical, a key in the continuation of his music education. Gerald remembered his experiences fondly, "When I went to Detroit, I was sixteen years old. The people that I stayed with, they were friends of my mother. They had lived in my hometown where I was born, so they were not relatives but they were people who knew me, and so I stayed with them and I was able to go to Cass Tech in Detroit, which is one of the greatest schools in the world for music. It's like Juilliard, it's music all day long, just a couple of academics each year, and the rest is all music. I stayed there five years. I had to take piano again. I had to take one string instrument for a year, had to take orchestration, harmony. So they really prepared me for the time to get out into the world..."

And that call came quickly when Gerald joined the Jimmie Lunceford band and his career was off to the races. The Lunceford band had a national presence and Gerald loved the theatrics, "We threw the trumpets high in the air, we twirled them high up there. We had all kinds of moves and put on a big show, but we played great music. Listen to it. We were the avant-garde then, and we would have two or three hits going on the jukebox at the same time." In 1942, Gerald left Lunceford, went to Los Angeles and toured for a bit with Benny Carter before he was inducted into the US Navy. When he was discharged, Gerald returned to a thriving jazz scene in Los Angeles, forming his own big band in 1944. The twenty-piece band was gaining renown and traction on tour but Gerald grew disenchanted and abruptly disbanded his orchestra, "We had over $100,000 worth of contracts, but I realized I had just started and that this was not what I was looking for musically. I had to study some more... so what I did was I studied very hard and things began to develop in my mind. That was '46, '47, '48.

After studying for nearly three years on his own, Gerald finally succumbed to the entreaties of Count Basie and joined his orchestra in 1948, learning from Count and his masterful musicians. Gerald recounted, "They needed a trumpeter, and I wanted to sit in that band and play and learn. This was the All American rhythm section - Walter Page (bass), Jo Jones (drums), Freddie Green (guitar) and Count (piano). What school could have been better than to sit right there and watch them and listen?"

Feel in’ Kinda Blues (1965) signed by Gerald

Feel in’ Kinda Blues (1965) signed by Gerald

In the 1950s and early 1960s, Gerald worked with acclaimed singers, arranging songs for Ray Charles, Bobby Darin, Billie Holiday, Nancy Wilson and Jimmy Witherspoon to name a few, as well as recording and arranging with Count Basie and Duke Ellington, most notably on  Duke's Grammy winning soundtrack for Anatomy Of A Murder. In 1960, he reconstituted his orchestra and released ten acclaimed albums in the ensuing decade with some of the best talent in jazz. In this regard, Gerald was, perhaps, the West Coast answer to Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. The talent that Gerald helped discover and nurture was certainly equal to Art's prodigious finds. Roy Ayers, Richard "Groove" Holmes, Bobby Hutcherson, Carmell Jones, Les McCann, Joe Pass and Charles Tolliver are a few of the Wilson Orchestra alumni who went on to very successful careers as jazz artists.

Some of Gerald's best known compositions derive from an unlikely source: his love of bullfighting. As he said in 2004, "My wife is Mexican and she's exposed me to her culture. We've been married fifty-three years and that's my other family now and I've been into that culture. I've been into... the bullfights. I've written twelve or thirteen numbers for bullfighters." Indeed, his best known song "Viva Tirado" was written as a tribute to Jose Ramon Tirado, a young and accomplished matador.

Gerald observed the art and grace of the matador while watching Tirado in the ring, "Well, he was a young matador that I saw during one of my first bullfights... He was still in his teens and I was just amazed at how he went about it. He was very brave and he did beautiful passes, which I didn't know all about the passes like I know now. I used to know the names of all of them, but he did them well, and so I wanted to write some music that would represent him. So a lot of the music represents the passes that he made. The rhythm that I will have in the notes that I'm playing is trying to catch these passes, to catch what they're doing..." With or without this context, "Viva Tirado" is a powerful song with Latin rhythms which highlights the singular talents of Carmell Jones on trumpet, Teddy Edwards, Harold Land and Bud Shank on saxophone, Jack Wilson on piano, Joe Pass on guitar, and Mel Lewis on drums. Captivating, dense and hypnotic when it was originally released in 1962, it remains a sonic tour de force which retains and reveals the drama, machismo and swagger of a bullfight. The song was later covered by El Chicano in 1970 and became a Top 40 hit.

The Golden Sword (1966) signed by Gerald, Roy Ayers

The Golden Sword (1966) signed by Gerald, Roy Ayers

I saw Gerald perform with his orchestra at Birdland in New York City in 2004. Though he was eighty-five years old, he was lithe, expressive and energetic, especially when he was conducting his ferocious big band. Though he had given up the trumpet due to dental problems in the 1970s, there was no question who was in charge on the bandstand. A mesmerizing and magnetic figure, his long white hair flowing, Gerald coaxed and cajoled his orchestra to play the pieces he was feeling. He appeared to be conducting a ballet with his graceful gestures, precise instructions and disciplined movements. As he said, "Everything I do, if you are there to watch me, I choreograph it because I do the dancing up on the stage, although I'm not a dancer... but when the music comes. I choreograph it. That's just one of those things, I want to feel it."

To be sure, we were feeling it with the great trumpeter Jimmy Owens sitting in as well as pianist Rene Rosnes and Gerald's son, Anthony Wilson, an equally gifted guitarist. Before the show, I met Gerald near the bar, having a drink with some friends. He was so gracious when he signed the vinyl, "Wow, I love this record," he said when I handed him The Golden Sword, "This was done for my wife and her family. I love her culture and we had some wonderful musicians." Yes, but it was your amazing arrangements and charts which made your music, I suggested. "Well, you're very kind to say that, but, really, the musicians play the music," he replied modestly. In that way, he was like his friend and mentor Duke Ellington, the orchestra was the primary instrument and conduit for their respective genius.

Bandleader, composer, arranger extraordinaire, what a rich and robust legacy Gerald Wilson left us. His charts live on in their infinite groove and swagger.

Choice Gerald Wilson cuts (per BKs request)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMtlbJ05K74

“Viva Tirado” 1962 release, 2000 remaster

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpiNzWHTSUI

“Viva Tirado”  New York New Sound  2003

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o-gcqpb6Ao

“Milestones” live in Los Angeles, 1965


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgzepsWGSns

“Blues For Yna Yna” live in Los Angeles, early 1960s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9bqXmtX4mY

“Carlos”  1966 release, 2000 remaster

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NhEcQntCIw&list=RD7NhEcQntCIw&start_radio=1

“The Golden Sword”  1966

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3vD3Vl_C6k

“Before Motown”  live in studio, 2009

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir20M4Z5DvU

“Sunshine Of Your Love”  Gerald Does Cream  1968

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTXO-ZIeUQ4

“Light My Fire”  Gerald Does Doors  1968

Bonus round:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osH3d_XJrHU

“Hey Good Lookin’ “  Ray Charles  Modern Sounds In Country Music 1962

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwCI6v1l3Gw

“Careless Love”   Ray Charles  Modern Sounds In Country Music  1962

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysFizlv1Ums

“Rain Is Such A Lonesome Sound”  Jimmy Witherspoon  arranged by Gerald 1961

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3GrkQuUnHw

“Cherry Red”  Roots  Jimmy Witherspoon  arranged by Gerald 1961

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mt4aqhkn54k

“Girl Talk”  Julie London  arranged by Gerald 1965

Cachao, The Mambo and Erin…

For example, somebody takes a train, a train has a rhythm, too... If you stand between the two wagons on the train, you hear that rhythm. If you listen, you hear what the engine is doing and what the wheels are doing, and when you least expect it, there's a great rumba happening there!
                        Israel "Cachoa" Lopez

In 1948, I just came to visit. I remember this really funny thing. I went to the White House. At that time, Truman was President, and Truman was a pianist. He had a great piano in there. At that time, they let the tourists and excursions go into the White House, because there wasn't terrorism. Then I went and they let me in with the excursion, with the tourists, and they heard me playing Truman's piano. They let the people play.
                        Cachao 

Descargas Vol.2 (1957 recordings, 2004 reissue) signed by Cachao’

Descargas Vol.2 (1957 recordings, 2004 reissue) signed by Cachao’

When I’m playing a serious concert, I handle the bass in the classic form, but when I play my own music, anything goes - a hand here, another there. I’ll play one way and then another, however the whim hits me. It’s just another of my creations. I like people to see something they’ve never seen before. 

                         Cachao 

There was serious music: Brahms, Hayden, all that, and also opera, Puccini and what have you. Then there was my music. If for example, I were playing an opera - any opera - I’d finish up and go to the dance hall. Generally, concerts ended around 11:00 at night. By 11:30, I’d be playing at the dance hall. It was another universe! I’d do both and feel good in either atmosphere. But I liked classical music, I still do.

                         Cachao

Descargas..con el ritmo de Cachao (1961)

Descargas..con el ritmo de Cachao (1961)


Israel "Cachao" Lopez is one of the most important musicians of the 20th century. Born in Havana, Cuba in 1918 to an extraordinary family of musicians (there are forty or more bass players in his extended family, including his mother and father), Israel was seemingly destined for greatness. A prodigy on bass, Israel joined the Havana Philharmonic when he was only twelve years old, standing on a crate so that he could see the conductor's admonitions and directions. He would remain associated with the Havana Philharmonic for the next thirty years, performing with and supporting visiting conductors Igor Stravinsky, Herbert von Karajan and Heitor Villa-Lobos, and others.

Israel was nicknamed "Cachao" by his grandfather, a reference to 'cachondeo,' or jokester, which befits Israel's exuberant and irreverent persona on and offstage. Along with his supremely talented brother Orestes, a multi-instrumentalist, composer and pianist, Israel helped change music forever when he joined Arcano y sus Maravillas and they co-wrote "Mambo." Cachao remembered, "The origins of mambo happened in 1937. My brother and I were trying to add something new to our music and came up with a section that we called danzon mambo. It made an impact and stirred up people. At that time, our music needed that type of enrichment." Heretofore, the danzon was a very traditional and staid Cuban dance form, which was not reflective of the fire and passion which Cachao and his brother Orestes unleashed with their composition and music.  Subsequently, the Mambo craze swept Cuba and the United States through the stylings of Perez Prado, Tito Rodriguez, Tito Puente et al., and it remains a potent force in all Salsa and Latin rhythms today.

Israel and his brother were also prolific composers. While working with the Maravillas, a thief stole their music composition book and sheets of music. This served as a catalyst for Orestes and Cachao as they wrote more than one-thousand compositions together in the ensuing years, including "Chanchullo" which bears a striking similarity to Tito Puente's biggest hit, "Oye Como Va."  Of course, Cachao was much too humble to cast aspersions on Puente's authorship and they worked together in New York when Cachao left Cuba and remained in exile.

If that wasn't enough, Cachao also popularized Descargas in the 1950s. Descarga was a Spanish verb which meant "to discharge electricity" and "to speak one's mind." Cachao recalled, “Musicians would come together from all the clubs - The Tropicana, The Hotel Nacional - at four in the morning to descagar, to let it all out. We made a first recording out of these improvisational jam sessions, and it wasn’t taken seriously in Cuba. ‘This guy must be crazy,’ people thought. Yet in the States, because of the jazz scene, it was taken seriously.” The improvised jams and late night blowing sessions featured Cuban legends Alfredo "Chocolate" Armenteros on trumpet, Generoso Jimenez on trombone, Candido Camero on conga, and, of course, brother Oreste on piano among many others. The leader, holding the bottom and driving the bus, was Cachao, effervescent and ever present.

Master Sessions Volume 1 (1994)

Master Sessions Volume 1 (1994)

The rest of Cachao's life unfolds like a bad VH1: Behind The Music episode. In 1962, Cachao left the oppressive Castro regime, toured Spain for eighteen months, then arrived unheralded  in New York City in 1964. He found itinerant jobs playing bass in the orchestras of Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri, and Tito Rodriguez, but he was not leading his own band, nor was he recording his own vast and potent songbook. Next came an ill advised move to Las Vegas in the 1970s where he had a residency playing casinos. A bad idea for a compulsive gambler with an acute gambling addiction, Las Vegas proved to be an unwelcome and inhospitable host. He squandered everything he owned, including his instruments and all his money. Finally, his wife forced him in the 1980s to move to Miami where there was a burgeoning Latin scene with many Cuban expats. Initially, Cachao struggled mightily there as well and he found gigs playing bar mitzvahs, quinceaneras, and weddings, a pitiful, unholy trifecta for a man of his renown, skill and talent. 

Fortunately, Cachao found an unlikely and sustaining patron - Cuban born, American bred actor Andy Garcia. Andy grew up with Cachao's music and was determined to make him relevant again. A film, "The Mambo Kings", had recently been released and here was, perhaps, the ultimate King toiling in obscurity and irrelevance. First came a tribute concert in Miami in 1992, then Garcia financed a documentary - Cachao: Como Su Ritmo No Hays Dos - along with Emilio Estefan, Mr. Gloria Estefan of Miami Sound Machine fame. Finally, Cachao finally the recognition that he deserved and he won three Grammys in the twilight of his career, a fitting coda to his extraordinary talent.

Erin and I went to see Cachao perform at the Blue Note in New York City in 2006. He was eighty-eight years old and so full of life. A diminutive man, the bass looked to overwhelm him, and he had his fingers taped at the tips like a prizefighter. When the music started and his ten-piece band kicked in with full fury, he thumped and thwacked his bass and created such an infectious swirl and groove that it captivated all. His bow remained in his hand while he thrummed even though he seldom used it, a very unusual practice and technique. That bass never had a chance, it was beaten into submission. Cachao was, and is, the undisputed heavyweight champ! The songs were classic descargas, highlights from his recent Grammy winner, !Ahora Si!, also co-produced by Andy Garcia. It was a delicious night of unforgettable and joyous, life-affirming music.

After the show, Erin took the vinyl and went to visit with Cachao in his dressing room. There were quite a few fans paying their respects to the maestro and he was conversing with them in Spanish. When Erin approached him, she, too, spoke in Spanish and thanked him for his time and, especially his glorious music. Cachao brightened, thanked her, signed the album and she left, goods securely stowed.


Andy Garcia is an accomplished actor, nominated for an Academy Award for The Godfather III, and memorable as "Terry Benedict" in the Ocean Twelve trilogy, but his best and most enduring role by far, was resuscitating the career of the brilliant maestro Cachao, and rescuing him from the ignominy of hotel weddings. Mucho, mucho gracias! As Cachao’s documentary title translates, “Like His Rhythm, There’s None Other.”

Choice Cachao Cuts (per BKs request)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLQPFeGk2JA

“Descarga Mambo”  Descarga y su Ritmo Caliente

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcOIpRqRQ-w

“Chanchullo”  Arcano y sus Maravillas 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHWzfbBxuZA

“Mambo”   Master Sessions  1994

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSbPXjqy4hM

“Mambo Cambio de Swing”  with Andy Garcia, Jimmy Bosch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPUhfMnf_KY

Descarga live with Paquito D’Rivera

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eewrHI2dFfs

Live with Tito Puente  1990

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XN_W061DFs

Live with Bebo Valdes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdA10w2MM3Y

“Obsesion” live rehearsal 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yryr4y3T4cs

“A Gozar Con Mi Combo” 

Julian Priester and Me…

On the west side of Chicago, all the clubs there featured blues. In high school, I had enough music in me that I wanted to join the jazz band as a pianist, because that was my instrument at the beginning. The routine for the concert band at DuSable High School in Chicago, was that everyone had to play in the concert orchestra. The concert orchestra also had the responsibility for playing at the sports games, mainly football. There was an event in the summer where they would dress the orchestra up in military uniforms, ROTC uniforms, and we would participate in the parade. This is where the change happened, because as a pianist, I was given a glockenspiel. Oh boy, I hated it. I just had to get away from the glockenspiel. So I asked for the trumpet, but there were several other students waiting to play trumpet, and so my instructor gave me a baritone horn. Same fingering as a trumpet, so at one point I could make a conversion over to  the trumpet, after the baritone horn. As it turned out, the mouthpiece used to play the baritone horn, is the exact same mouthpiece used to play the trombone... So now I have the trombone in my hand, I moved into the jazz band. There was no looking back after that.

                       Julian Priester's transition to the trombone

Keep Swingin’ (1960) signed by Julian, Jimmy Heath

Keep Swingin’ (1960) signed by Julian, Jimmy Heath

Music for me is an emotional language. It stimulates the emotions, and that's what gives it value. It can be peaceful, it can be angry, it could be comical. I think that those players who come up in music like I did, that had a piano in the home, siblings who play music, and a brother who was a jazz fan, I was fortunate to be raised in that environment.

                          Julian Priester

One thing I have to give Sun Ra credit for is to put me in a position where he wouldn't give me much information about the technical aspects about the music he wanted us to play, he would just give it to us and say, "Ok, play." There was no written music there, no charts, but he would have maybe an idea or two. A phrase, and he would build it off that phrase. Then, the rest of the band, John Gilmore, Pat Patrick, Robert Barry, put me in a position where I had to use my ear, and I developed that ability which served me throughout my career.

                        Julian Priester

Spiritsville (1960) signed by Julian

Spiritsville (1960) signed by Julian

When you get into a band and improvise, in the beginning, you plan the little stuff that you practice, things we learn in the practice room, and we get onstage and play those licks for one or two choruses, and after you're out of ideas... your ear comes into play. You listen to what the general sound is and you identify it as far as the harmonics are concerned, and you react on the spot to the sounds that you are hearing. That's what I got from Sun Ra. That's what served me. It didn't dawn on me when it was happening, but later on, I realized that Sun Ra really left me with a wonderful gift. I already had an ear, but in terms of the proper use of that ear in a performance is different from going to the piano and picking out one phrase that you've heard. You have to create a song.

                         Julian Priester

I think that the trauma of having your mom die when you're nine years old, sends you into a spiral. Emotionally, it changes you. I have so much pain from that experience that I still carry around with me. I think I express it through music. The intensity of the music that I produce, especially in a jazz setting where I can get up in front of the microphone and just play what comes out. I try not to control what is coming out. I just want to play what I feel. I have my ear open and I'm listening to sound, and I adapt to that sound. This served me as a successful model., it is what is so natural to me. All the ingredients are ingrained. The pain is there, the religious fervor is there. I've had to cope with the physical properties, the trombone is not a flute.

Julian Priester

The Little Giant (1959) signed by Julian, Johnny Griffin

The Little Giant (1959) signed by Julian, Johnny Griffin

Born in Chicago in 1935, the youngest of six siblings in a very musical family, Julian Priester became an influential jazz trombonist and composer. His career is extraordinary, starting when he was eighteen years old and visited the interstellar space with the legendary Sun Ra Arkestra, to his three year tenure with Max Roach, during which they recorded the civil rights classic We Insist!, to his work with John Coltrane on Africa/Brass, and his stint with Duke Ellington's band including work on the New Orleans Suite in 1971. Julian was also an important part of the Herbie Hancock recordings Mwandishi ("composer" in Swahili), The Crossing, and Sextant, three albums which combined elements of funk, jazz, rock and soul in an intoxicating stew which helped usher in the jazz fusion genre. In the history of jazz, there is really no one comparable to how versatile and prolific Julian Priester has been, and, yet, he has remained relatively unknown. The slings and arrows, the joys and perils, the anonymity of a sideman! Julian has lived it.

Hub Cap (1961) signed by Julian, Freddie Hubbard, Jimmy Heath

Hub Cap (1961) signed by Julian, Freddie Hubbard, Jimmy Heath

His journey began in his hometown, Chicago, a cauldron of blues in the 1940s and 1950s. As Julian remembered, "I loved music so much that I didn't care about making money, I just wanted to play. I'd play for free. I would invade somebody else's gig, to get a chance to play some! That's when I came into contact with Muddy Waters and Bo Diddley, just going from club to club, walking in with my horn." Such fearlessness would prove to be a great strength in the development of Julian's burgeoning talents.

Rich versus Roach (1959) signed by Julian, Max Roach, Stanley Turrentine, Phil Woods

Rich versus Roach (1959) signed by Julian, Max Roach, Stanley Turrentine, Phil Woods

Likewise, his short tenure on baritone saxophone in high school afforded Julian an invaluable insight, "Once I graduated from high school, I was ready for the big time in my mind. Without being afraid, I had a chip on my shoulder, especially towards saxophone players. Saxophone players get to the microphone and play a hundred choruses, and I'm standing there waiting. So I developed a technique where I would beat them to the microphone. I kind of carried that attitude with me for my whole career, just the aggressiveness. It really worked in my favor." It takes a savvy and sturdy musician to beat a sly saxophonist at his own game, but Julian had not only the acumen, he had the outstanding chops as well.

Going on the road and recording with Sun Ra in 1953 led to other opportunities, and Julian moved to New York City in 1959, working with Philly Joe Jones and Max Roach, vastly talented drummers with impeccable musicianship and flawless pedigrees. Julian recalled, "When I arrived in New York, I went to the Five Spot where Thelonious Monk was performing, and in his band, Johnny Griffin was playing saxophone. Johnny is from Chicago. Johnny introduced me to Orrin Keepnews of Riverside Records where he was recording for the label at that time. Things just mushroomed from there." This led to Julian's first two albums as a leader in 1960.

Julian recalled, “Orrin Keepnews was a gem. He helped introduce me to the musical community and gave me the opportunity to record. I credit him with giving me my start. I was the youngest working there and I was just in awe of Philly Joe Jones, Chet Baker, and Kenny Dorham... my ego was blown in the presence of those players, they were on another level. I was young and clean, not exposed to the other side of “the jazz life” that involves alcohol and drugs, whereas everyone of those gentlemen were. They were veterans. There was one incident that occurred there that stands out. Philly Joe Jones and Chet Baker were observed on the corner of 125th and 7th Avenue, selling Riverside records out of boxes taken from the shipping department. I’m chuckling because as serious as that incident is, because of the nature of the individuals, they were brilliant artists, they weren’t punished. The police were not brought in on the theft, which is what it was. They sold the albums in Harlem to get drugs. That was the jazz life. A lot of the younger musicians, those of my age, felt that using drugs was a requirement in order to play the brilliant music that was being played by those older musician addicts whose music was beyond the ordinary. The thought was to be as great as our heroes, that we had to use drugs. That was a decision that I had to always deal with, as far as how I wanted to live my life.” Fortunately, though Julian dabbled, he was able to remain disciplined and, for the next decade plus, he was an important contributor and sideman to recordings by Art Blakey, John Coltrane, Johnny Griffin, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Blue Mitchell, Stanley Turrentine, McCoy Tyner and so many other artists.   

The Big Soul Band (1960) signed by Julian, Johnny Griffin, Bob Cranshaw, Harold Mabern, Norman Simmons, Clark Terry

The Big Soul Band (1960) signed by Julian, Johnny Griffin, Bob Cranshaw, Harold Mabern, Norman Simmons, Clark Terry

In 1979, Julian accepted an offer to teach at the Cornish College Of The Arts in Seattle where he taught jazz composition and history until his retirement in 2011. Julian expressed some reservations about his time in the Pacific Northwest, "I've discovered that Seattle has a lot going on for it, a great place for families, the education system, everything is good to raise a family here. But once you've done that, it's very lonely. It's very little." Nonetheless, Julian continues to record and tour (albeit infrequently) and I was fortunate to see Julian Priester headline a show at the Hotel Kitano in New York City in October 2018.

An intimate room with less than seventy-five seats, the Hotel Kitano has been hosting jazz shows for many years. For this gig, Julian was showcasing the music of Herbie Nichols, a wonderfully inventive pianist and composer who died far too young from leukemia in 1963, and has seen a well deserved rekindling of interest and sponsorship in his jazz compositions. Although Herbie only recorded twenty-four songs prior to his untimely passing, he wrote over two-hundred compositions, most famously "Serenade" which Billie Holiday retitled "Lady Sings The Blues" to which she added the biting, forlorn autobiographical lyrics.

We Insist! (1960) signed by Julian, Max Roach, Abbey Lincoln

We Insist! (1960) signed by Julian, Max Roach, Abbey Lincoln

At the Kitano, Julian was a spry eighty-four year old who commanded the stage, and was joined by his cohorts, pianist David Haney, bassist Adam Lane and drummer extraordinaire Andrew Cyrille. Highlights from the Herbie Nichols songbook included "Ina" which was done as a waltz, "Twelve Bars" with pianist David Haney tossing off discordant Monk-like blues fills, and "Jamaica", which started as a spoken word letter written by bassist Steve Swallow that David Haney recited which recounted a trip to Jamaica where they were hired to play traditional Dixieland jazz, probably the most parochial of all jazz forms. Instead, Julian and his friends decided to play an avant-garde deconstruction of Dixieland which caused the patrons to flee the venue. Every single patron. Indeed, it was a desecration supreme! I only wish that tapes exist of that performance. The song "Jamaica" lived up to its name with loping rhythms and syncopated beats supplied by the crisp interplay between Andrew Cyrille and bassist Adam Lane, an island "no pressure" vibe for sure!

Showcase (1959) signed by Julian

Showcase (1959) signed by Julian

After the show, it was time for a visit with Julian. He was very kind, if a bit taciturn, as he signed the vinyl. When he saw The Big Soul Band, he brightened, "Oh, that's the Chicgo skyline, that's where I'm from. And you got Norman Simmons? He's an old friend from Chicago, too." As he cradled Showcase, "I love this album, it's one of my favorites. Philly Joe was just great." Indeed, it is a showcase for the broad talents of Philly Joe, Pepper Adams, Blue Mitchell and Sonny Clark, all accomplished jazz men. Interestingly, Julian contributed two compositions to the album, including the first track, "Battery Blues", a soulful bluesy, up tempo shuffle, an impressive contribution for a (then) twenty-four year old sideman. When he signed Little Giant, he mentioned, "You know, Johnny really helped me get started, another great Chicago friend." I thanked Julian for his time, his Chicago friends, and especially his music.

A monstrously talented musician, though unknown, Julian Priester has graced so many important recordings across many genres. What a legacy, Long may he play!

Blues For Dracula (1958) signed by Julian, Tommy Flanagan, Johnny Griffin

Blues For Dracula (1958) signed by Julian, Tommy Flanagan, Johnny Griffin

Choice Julian Priester cuts (per BKs request)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUA2JF738xU

Live in France, 1960 with Max Roach, Tommy and Stanley Turrentine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67a9VODYdtc

“Blue Stride” Spiritsville 1960

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8gNe5hHLS4

“Julian’s Tune” Keep Swingin’ 1960

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEtCOGTKFSY

“Battery Blues” Showcase (1959) with Philly Joe Jones

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqklI4Kgues

“Tune Up” Blues For Dracula (1958) with Philly Joe Jones

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqbJCFvZP2Y

“Just Friends “

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lTimyz9T7k

Mwandishi live in 1971, Julian, Herbie Hancock, Buster Williams, Billy Hart, etc