Hank Crawford and Me…

I asked to be recorded with strings, and I was surprised when I got a yes on it from Neshui Ertegun at Atlantic Records. He agreed, to my surprise, and asked me who did I want to do the arrangements, and I said Marty Paich. I had heard Marty Paich’s small band arrangements when he was writing for Shorty Rogers and Stan Kenton, the West Coast scene, and I liked the way he voiced the strings. I found out the secret; he used french horns with strings to get that real melancholy sound. So Neshui agreed, and we went to California to record the record. I selected all the tunes except one, which really turned out to be sort of a signature tune for me, which was “Whispering Grass.”  Marty Paich suggested that.

Hank Crawford, recording Soul Of The Ballad

After Hours (1966) signed by Hank

And I like all music, man. I’m not trying to put down anybody. I have respect for anybody who gets involved in the business because it’s so competitive. But when I hear a guy that can cross all bridges, and comfortable playing in each setting, that’s what I admire — and don’t feel guilty playing it. I don’t feel guilty playing “Steel Guitar Rag” if I’m called to play it, you know what I mean? I heard that when I was coming up as a kid, man, at 6 o’clock in the morning. Down South, that’s the first thing you’d hear on your radio, is Country & Western and Gospel music...I spent many days listening to Eddy Arnold and Hank Snow and all of those people. And we all liked it! Even jazz musicians, they can’t say they didn’t grow up listening to these people. So I played it as a youngster, and I don’t feel offended by it. I just do my best in it. So it’s music to me. I don’t mind being square because I play this tune. In fact, it’s a blessing to be able to play in all the styles. That’s when your phone keeps ringing!

               Hank Crawford

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

If musicians had to pay royalties for using someone else's sound the way they have to for recording someone else's songs, David (Newman) and Hank would be billionaires.

               producer Joel Dorn

More Soul (1960) signed by Hank

Listening to him, listening to the sound come out of his horn - that's like an education. That's a year of college right there, I'm telling you.

               saxophonist David Sanborn

Soul Survivors (1986) signed by Jimmy McGriff, Hank “Mr. Frim Fram”

I get asked lots of questions about my record collection, What's the most valuable? Nicest artist? Most disagreeable? No easy answers. The worst place I ever solicited a signature? That's easy, Hank Crawford in the men's room of a now defunct jazz club in lower Manhattan in 1986. Admittedly shameless pandering, here's how it happened...

I went to see Hank perform his alto saxophone wizardry with Hammond B3 maestro Jimmy McGriff, guitarist Wayne Boyd and drummer Don Williams. I was relatively new to stalking artists to sign vinyl and I was determined to get my quarry. Hank and Jimmy had just released Soul Survivors and they were playing their incendiary stew of soul-jazz-funk. After a long solo, Hank left the bandstand mid-song and went to the men's room. I followed. While Hank was finishing his business, I pretended to go as well. After Hank washed his hands, I whipped out The Soul Of The Ballad, a beautiful 1963 album featuring Hank's stirring alto with string arrangements by Marty Paich. "Hank, would you mind signing this? It's one of my favorite albums." He looked at me quizzically, "Alright, but we gotta do this quick, I need to get back on the bandstand." He signed the album and handed it back to me and left to rejoin Jimmy and the band in full flight. Clearly, not my most shining moment but effective nonetheless.

Soul Survivors (1986) signed by Hank, Jimmy McGriff, Bernard Pretty Purdie

To me (and probably only me!), it was reminiscent of the Keith Richards-Johnny Cash encounter at Johnny's Rock 'n' Roll Hall Of Fame induction dinner in 1996. According to Keef's autobiography Life, Keith went to the bathroom and saw Johnny in the next stall. Keefer started singing "Loading Coal", a Johnny Cash obscurity. Keith said, "I'm pissing with Johnny Cash. We need a picture of this!" "No Keith, we do not need a picture of this," Johnny replied resolutely. Johnny Cash explained his perspective, "I was standing at the urinal in the rest room before the dinner and I heard this voice behind me singing 'Loading Coal,' which is probably one of the most obscure songs I ever recorded. I wondered who in the world could be singing that song and when I looked around I saw Keith and he had this big smile on his face. So I turned around and we sang the chorus together. That's when I guess I knew everything was going to be OK."

Now, I didn't sing any songs with Hank Crawford that night in the men's room, fortunately he plays instrumentals, but I did get one of my favorite albums signed by a favorite jazz saxophone star.

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

Born in Memphis, Hank Crawford grew up surrounded by the sounds of the church, rhythm and blues, soul, and especially the blues. Hank was trained on piano and then switched to alto saxophone. When he attended Manassas High School in Memphis, some of his peers and classmates were future jazz legends George Coleman, Booker Little, Harold Mabern, Phineas Newborn, Jr. and his brother Calvin. As Hank later observed, "We had a pretty good education just by being around each other."

Mr. Blues (1967) signed by Hank

While still in high school, Hank sat in on some sessions in 1950 with B.B. King, a rising bluesman under the direction of master producer Sam Phillips, who later founded Sun Records and produced the early recordings of Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Ike Turner, and Howlin' Wolf. Sam Phillips essentially invented rock and roll at his humble, renovated store front studio at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee. In fact, some musicologists cite pianist Ike Turner's 1951 hit "Rocket 88" with Jackie Brenston on vocals as the birth of rock and roll.

Dig These Blues (1965) signed by Hank

After playing locally, Hank joined the Ray Charles big band in 1958 and he became its music director in 1960, serving with distinction until he left for a successful solo career in 1963. As he said about his time with Ray, "He was strict about his music and how he wanted to run his organization, but if you adjusted to how he wanted things done, you could make it very easily. I watched how he liked his voicings, the horns and everything, so I made it like a classroom. Being around him augmented what I was thinking about...my direction."

Down On The Deuce (1984) signed by Hank, David Fathead Newman, Howard Johnson, Cedar Walton

Hank released more than forty albums in his career and he was featured on studio sessions with Etta James, Grant Green, Eric Clapton and many others. His warm, expressive alto was imbued with the sacred and profane which swirled around Memphis in the 1940s and 1950s, and Hank's influence extends far beyond soul jazz aficionados. Hip hop artists like Kanye West, Tupac, Drake and more than twenty other artists have sampled his righteous soul grease on their recent tracks. Hank was also a phenomenal arranger who wrote inspired charts for Ray Charles and he released five albums with Jimmy McGriff, the pre-eminent Hammond B3 soul-blues-jazz master. I was lucky to see Hank and Jimmy perform many times through the years and Jimmy McGriff ended up playing my wedding, but that's another story for another time!

Outside Looking In (1978) signed by Hank, Jimmy McGriff

Hank' s own words best encapsulate his music and approach:

"I found out as a young musician growing up in Memphis that if you weren't reaching people, and having them tap their foot, then there was nothing happening."

Mr. Chips (1986) signed by Hank

Thanks for all the grooves, Hank. There was always toes tappin' and something happenin', especially with Jimmy McGriff.

Steppin’ Up (1987) signed by Hank, Jimmy McGriff

Choice Hank Crawford Cuts (per BK's request)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSHMRyY5Drk
"Whispering Grass" The Soul Of The Ballad 1963

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJFMAZT4gcw
"Bill For Bennie" written by Hank, performed with Ray Charles on piano, David "Fathead" Newman on tenor, Hank on baritone, Swing Baby Swing!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC88dJ4KuFw
"Wildflower" 1973 sampled by Kanye's "Drive Slow", Tupac's "Shorty Wanna Be A Thug"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THK5FVuptp0
"Every Day I Have The Blues" Hank and Jimmy Live 1989

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nbouwehaMY
"You Send Me" Hank and Jimmy Live 1989

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0Cx8Tk4Miw
"The Peeper" Hank and David Sanborn Live 1990

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6jgvlbzy-I
"Frim Fram Sauce" Hank and Jimmy Soul Survivors 1986

Bonus tracks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__3wWqMKg4I
"Loading Coal" Johnny Cash without Keith!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gbfnh1oVTk0"Rocket 88" Ike Turner with Jackie Brenston 1951 - The birth of rock'n'roll

On The Blue Side (1990) signed by Hank, Jimmy McGriff

Still Hard Times (1982) signed by Hank, David Fathead Newman, Jimmy Cobb, Howard Johnson, Larry Willis

Fire! Live At The Village Vanguard (1989) signed by Hank, David Fathead Newman, Stanley Turrentine, David Williams

The Best Of Hank Crawford (1970) signed by Hank

Help Me Make It Through The Night (1972) signed by Hank

Brad Mehldau and Me…

Improvisation is one of the big things I use in my own definition of jazz. You have the ability to make a pretty intricate narrative, to play around with time itself, like a novel does, and your memory, and your expectation of what's taking place. Monk is doing that, Wayne Shorter, Coltrane. Most of my jazz heroes have that narrative aspect. Improvisation usually implies something very non-intellectual at its core, because when it's really working it has a real flow, it's in the moment. But if I listen to Coltrane, he's in the white heat of the moment, but there's also intricacy and complexity; you can enjoy it as a piece of art the same way you enjoy the compositional rigor of a Beethoven symphony or a Bach fugue. And then (you remember) it's being improvised. I think that's what appealed to me as a kid. Why you respond to something like a great Coltrane solo; to what extent you can map that is an interesting question. And particularly for jazz - it's a little less mapped, a little less written about than classical music, which has been a canon for such a long time. It's a little more open.

Brad Mehldau

Ballads And Blues (2014) signed by Brad

The challenge and the thrill are one and the same - there is no net; there is absolute freedom. When jazz musicians improvise in a group setting, they are often following some sort of schema - often it’s variations on the initial theme of whatever they are playing. When you are playing solo, you don’t have to correspond to what someone else is doing. So you might take that approach, but you might decide to chuck it out at a certain point and go off on a tangent that doesn’t formally adhere to what you’ve just been doing. That can be exciting and rewarding. The challenge there though is to make something with integrity - something that has a story to tell.

Brad Mehldau on the art of playing solo

The Art Of The Trio Volume Two (1997) signed by Brad

I was not really sure what I wanted to do because there is always so many different options for a recording. The way it went down was playing at The Vanguard once before with my own trio, I felt a special affinity for that place and a real inspiration that came from playing that room, because of the audiences that are there and the kind of intensity that they have when they’re listening. The room itself, for the kind of music we play, and most people feel that way, acoustically, it is so wonderful because you can hear everything perfectly. So there’s all sorts of subtleties that get lost a lot when you play in other venues, like a festival or whatever. Of course, playing live is a totally different thing than trying to create something in the studio. I asked Matt Pierson, the producer, if I could record the whole week and put it out and he said yes. Then, I just knew I wanted to do it, just because I had the opportunity to. Because, for me, if I had the option in a perfect world, I would make every album live and just put five or six songs on there. Those are my favorite albums, Miles Davis At The Plugged Nickel or Blackhawk or Coltrane At Birdland, where you hear them getting into that place they get when they’re allowed to stretch out and there’s no constraints. The music gets transcendental for me.

Brad Mehldau - recording at the Village Vanguard

The Art Of The Trio Volume Three (1998) signed by Brad

I have several ideas before I go out on the stage, and I usually stick to around half of them. Some things that I thought I would play I don’t when I get on stage because of what takes place when I get out there. For instance, if I play something that goes much longer than I originally intended, I will skip something else. I try for variety and often think of a multi-movement symphonic work or sonata as a model - you’ve usually got one movement that’s more intellectual, one that’s more simple direct, one that’s fast, one that’s slow, one that’s in 3/4 time maybe, etc. - in other words, a variety of mood and texture. In all that, as I’m going along, there is some sort of abstract narrative that presents itself in a concert - I don’t know how else to put it. Sometimes it will come in the form of themes that reappear in the different tunes I’m playing, or harmonic devices, or rhythmic motifs. That presents itself in the act of playing; it’s not something that is planned out.

Brad Mehldau

Suite: April 2020 (2020) signed by Brad

The piano itself is endlessly expressive as an instrument, but it's also rewarding to think more as an orchestrator---to think about ways of organizing sound. Many of the musicians or composers I am influenced by are great orchestrators as well, and I suppose their influence rubs off on me. Brahms seems to be one that I myself notice at least—I always see his music peeking out in what I write. It’s what one of his biographers described as “smiling through tears.” I like a bleeding heart that holds itself in check a bit—that kind of German Romanticism, not all in your face.

Brad Mehldau

Finding Gabriel (2018) signed by Brad

New York City is the greatest city in the world and it's not even close. Notwithstanding the politics, the peril, the naysayers, the nattering nabobs of negativity, no matter the turmoil and sturm und drang which the city endures, it always prevails. It simply does. Exhibit A in my ongoing love affair with all things New York was a recent visit to Mezzrow, a piano listening room on West 10th Street in Greenwich Village, just a couple of blocks from the hallowed and sacred Village Vanguard. On a summery, wind swept Monday night in August, the virtuoso jazz pianist Brad Mehldau performed a solo recital for fifty lucky souls. It was an extraordinary experience.

Seymour Reads The Constitution! (2018) signed by Brad

When I initially stumbled across the announcement for the concert online, I thought it was a mistake. Perhaps it was a streaming only concert, not an actual live performance. After all, Brad was more accustomed to playing concert halls, like the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Symphony Hall in Boston, or Carnegie Hall in New York City, not a creaky, dimly lit basement room in Greenwich Village. With skepticism, I bought a ticket and hoped that it wouldn't get canceled, checking almost daily to see if my hopes would be dashed. They weren't.

When I got to the club, a small line of patrons gathered outside the venue and soon I was ushered to my seat, maybe five feet from the grand piano which filled almost the entirety of the stage. A brick wall served as the backdrop and there didn't seem to be much amplification, nor was any needed. Mezzrow is the genius of pianist Spike Wilner, who founded the club in September 2014, a piano room offshoot of Smalls, a well known jazz club since its resurgence in 2004. The club was named after a very colorful character in jazz - Mezz Mezzrow.

Largo (2002) signed by Brad

Mezz Mezzrow, born in Chicago in 1899, was in and out of reform schools and prison while developing a passion for jazz and playing clarinet, especially influenced by the music of his hero Louis Armstrong who was based in Chicago at the time with his fabled Hot Five. In 1933, Mezz's orchestra recorded with jazz luminaries Benny Carter, Teddy Wilson and Willie "The Lion" Smith, the first of approximately one hundred-fifty sides which Mezz helmed with other jazz legends including Art Hodes and Sidney Bechet. While his clarinet skills were pedestrian and lackluster, Mezz was probably best known as a prolific marijuana dealer, with Louis Armstrong his best and most devoted customer. His business exploits were so ubiquitous that ‘Mezz' became slang for marijuana, an important and essential addition to the 1930s hipsters’ lexicon. Thus, the club Mezzrow is a fitting tribute to its namesake who devoted his life to jazz and pleasing others. Still, it was a remarkable and unlikely venue for a Brad Mehldau performance, certainly one of the preeminent and influential pianists extant.

Born in Jacksonville, Florida in 1970, Brad was ten when the Mehldaus moved to West Hartford, Connecticut. Brad’s father was an ophthalmologist, his mother a homemaker, and a piano was a constant presence in their home. He was soon smitten with Jazz, “I started out as a kid playing classical piano and listening to rock. When I first heard jazz when I was eleven or so, it seemed to have something from both of those types of music, but something even more - a deep feeling of dance rhythm and the blues, and also the kind of virtuoso display that I associated with classical piano players that I admired."

Round Again (2019) signed by Brad

The proximity to New York City. proved an inescapable and powerful lure, "I knew that I wanted to come here because it was everything that the suburbs wasn't. I was a white, upper-middle-class kid who lived in a pretty homogenized environment. Yet I was with a couple of other people, like Joel Frahm, the tenor saxophonist, who went to the same high school as me. A group of us were trying to expose ourselves to jazz. So New York for us was sort of the Other, yet it wasn't too far away, a two hour-and fifteen minute car or bus ride. What really cemented me wanting to go to New York was when I came here with my folks during my senior year of high school, and we went one night to Bradley's, and heard the Hank Jones-Red Mitchell duo. That blew me away, seeing someone play jazz like that, about six feet from you. The next night I heard Cedar Walton...with Bobby Hutcherson, Billy Higgins, Ron Carter and Harold Land, small ensemble jazz. The immediacy of hearing Billy Higgins' ride cymbal and seeing Cedar Walton comping, after hearing it for three years on all those great Blue Note records I had. That was it. I knew I had to come here, just from an actual visceral need to get more of THAT as a listener."

Alone Together (1996) signed by Brad

When he graduated from high school, Brad enrolled at The New School in New York City and he had the great fortune to study with some jazz piano masters. Brad remembered, "I had some very good lessons at The New School with Kenny Werner and Fred Hersch, and Junior Mance was my first teacher there. He was a little different than Fred and Kenny. Fred concentrated on getting a good sound out of the piano and playing solo piano a lot, which was great, because I hadn't got there yet. Perfect timing. Kenny showed me ways to construct lines and develop my solo vocabulary specific harmonic stuff. With Junior, it was more that thing I described of soaking it up by being around him. We would play on one piano, or if we had a room with two pianos, we'd play on two. I said, 'I want to learn how to comp better. I listened to you on these Dizzy Gillespie records and your comping is perfect. How do you do that?' He said, "Well, let's do it." So we sat down and he would comp for me, and then I would comp for him and try to mimic him. Yeah, soak up what he was doing. Junior is a beautiful person. A lot of those guys to me still are models as people, for their generosity as human beings, and Junior is certainly one in that sense." Brad was able to soak up those invaluable lessons and, after playing with fellow rising star saxophonist Joshua Redman for eighteen months, Brad formed a trio and was signed by Warner Brothers releasing Introducing Brad Mehldau in 1995. Since then, more than thirty albums have followed including collaborations with revered jazz artists Charlie Haden, Charles Lloyd, Lee Konitz and Wayne Shorter as well as sessions with Daniel Lanois, Willie Nelson, Chris Thile and Allen Toussaint.

Your Mother Should Know (2023) signed by Brad

As eclectic and diverse as that list may be, Brad's real genius is broadening the Great American Songbook to include not only Duke Ellington, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Thelonious Monk and Richard Rodgers but also The Beatles, Kurt Cobain, Nick Drake, Bob Dylan and Radiohead. In Brad's deft hands, these melodies become virtuosic explorations and unparalleled sonic excursions. As Brad once said, "I don't make a distinction between genres, I just write and play what I'm feeling. Music in itself doesn't have genres. It's just twelve different tones and how you arrange them in a given point of time."

Long Gone (2022) signed by Brad

Erin and I have been blessed to see Brad many times over the years, as a solo artist, with his trio, and as a sideman supporting his great friend, guitarist Peter Bernstein. The shows were always inspiring, especially with his jaw dropping talent. The gig at Mezzrow was just as rewarding, probably more so given the intimacy of the venue. At the start of the show, Brad sat down at the piano and said, “it’s really great to be back in New York. I’m not going to say a lot about what’s happened, we’ve all experienced the loss. All I can say is, I’m really happy to be here playing for you.” He wasn’t the only one exultant!

Chris Thile & Brad Mehldau (2017) signed by Brad

Brad opened with a melodic “Here, There, Everywhere” from the Lennon/McCartney songbook which segued seamlessly into Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright.” Next came “Go To Sleep” by Radiohead and a gorgeous and soulful “Golden Lady” from the pen of Stevie Wonder. Other highlights were an appropriately dissonant “Skippy” by Thelonious Monk, an extended and an appropriately overwrought “Come Rain Or Come Shine” and “Dis Here” by the great soul jazz pianist Bobby Timmons. He finished with more Radiohead, “Little By Little,” exquisitely rendered. Unlike some jazz artists, Brad announced the names of the songs near the end of his program which was appreciated given how much he deconstructs and reinvents the melodies. He also said, “You all are so close, it’s freaking me out.” I think he was kidding. Maybe.

Jacob’s Ladder (2022) signed by Brad

After the show, I met him near the club entrance. I told him what a thrill it was to see him in such an intimate venue having seen him at much larger spaces over the years. ‘This is extraordinary,’ I gushed. “Thank you. You know, Spike (Wilner) is an old friend and I’m really happy to be here.” I handed him some vinyl to sign and told him how excited I was to have some of his music finally on vinyl instead of CDs. “Yes, my label Nonesuch is big on vinyl,” he replied.‘Have you ever heard anything from Thom Yorke or Johnny Greenwood from Radiohead on your treatments of their songs? I mean, they’re very talented songwriters, no doubt, but you’re a virtuoso,’ I asked. “That’s very kind of you to say. Actually, I do know their producer Nigel Godrich and he’s told me they really like what I do with their songs.” I couldn’t resist a shameless Tom Waits plug, ‘You know, I heard you cover Tom Waits on a sketchy bootleg awhile back. I’d love to hear you reinvent some of his songs.’ Brad smiled, “Oh yeah, I did ‘Martha,’ that’s a nice little tune, a beautiful melody.” I saw an opening, ‘You know, you could do a lot with his songs, “Take It With Me,” “Picture In A Frame,” Invitation To The Blues,” those all have great melodies. You could do a lot with them,’ I persisted. “ You know,” Brad said, “his songs are so lyrically driven, they may overshadow the melodies, but they have that melancholy which is essential.” Yes, the Celtic melancholy which inhabits my soul, perhaps one day he will explore Waits! I thanked Brad for his time, talent, generosity and especially his transcendent music.

Brad Mehldau, a jazz master and a gifted songwriter with impeccable taste. Not many can master Bach, Brahms, The Beatles, Dylan, Nick Drake, Nirvana, Radiohead, Stevie Wonder and Thelonious Monk with equal aplomb and conviction. Just arranging twelve different tones and smiling through tears!

Atlantic Jazz (1982) signed by Brad, Dave Brubeck, Ray Bryant, Kenny Barron, Tommy Flanagan, Sir Roland Hanna, Barry Harris, Hank Jones, Dwike Mitchell, Junior Mance, Andre Previn, Horace Silver, Billy Taylor, McCoy Tyner, Chucho Valdes

Atlantic Jazz Piano back cover signed by Monty Alexander, Roger Kellaway, Harold Mabern, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Randy Weston

Choice Brad Mehldau Cuts (per BKs request)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_k9bzHNfRCk

“I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face” Anything Goes 2004

I wake up every day to this beautiful song, you should too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zBQ52LxWWA

“River Man” Brad plays Nick Drake live in SF

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvMaC63vdao

“She’s Leaving Home” Day Is Done 2005

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

“Bittersweet Symphony > Smells Like Teen Spirit” Brad plays The Verve and Nirvana 2010

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6Fk5OMKy7w

“When It Rains” Brad plays Brad Largo 2002

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc0UiB7FvqI

“Song Song” The Art Of The Trio Volume 3 1998

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1F3J5BrPtqM

“Moon River” The Art Of The Trio Volume 2 1998

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpF0qKQ4WeE

“And I Love Her” Brad plays The Beatles 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GNuMfQ1N0g

“Tear Drop” Brad plays Massive Attack! Live 2010

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrQGKHZ5KmE

“Hey Joe” Brad channels Jimi Hendrix 2012

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-P679ZcwAg

“Little By Little” Brad plays Radiohead 2018

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

“Dear Prudence” Largo 2002

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77gJ-s9hDp4

“Stranger In Paradise” live at Smoke, Brad, Peter Bernstein, Jimmy Cobb, John Webber

Bonus picks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5Ye4m3bPQ8
Brad Mehldau livestream, Mezzrow 9 August 2021 first set

Thanks, luv and much respect to Spike Wilner and the gang at Mezzrow for their tireless and amazing efforts!

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Sitting in with Brad, “Where Do You Start” written by Johnny Mandel, Smoke, NYC August 12, 2023 early show, with Larry Grenadier and Joe Farnsworth

Jose Feliciano, Weston, Erin and Me…

I’m not like other guitar players. In fact, I'm not even like most acoustic players because I use the nylon-string acoustic. I do play steel-string and the electric guitar, too, because I love rock 'n' roll and guitarists like Jimi Hendrix, but my bread and butter has always been the nylon-string. Very few guitarists play nylon-string. They don't know how to get the sound out of them. That's something I've spent a lot of time on…It still makes sounds and does things that surprise me. Any time I think I've learned all the tricks, I'll come up with something, or somebody else will, and a new door opens. It's beautiful.

Jose Feliciano

Everything I learned was from records and listening to other people. Segovia was my classical influence, and then I liked Charlie Byrd a lot, too. In the 1960s, when Charlie brought bossa nova to the United States along with Stan Getz, I started listening to acoustic guitar players like Luiz Bonfa, Alirio Diaz - they were fantastic. But in the popular bag, it was Charlie Byrd who taught me through his records to do certain things on the nylon-string guitar that you're not supposed to do, like bending the note and playing kind of bluesy. All of the guitar purists scoffed at me in my teenage years when I played in the Village. But see, I did those things on the acoustic because I loved rock 'n' roll. I couldn't afford an electric guitar, so I would kind of play my acoustic like an electric. I loved it.

                         Jose Feliciano 

Sombra…Una Voz, Una Guitarra (1965) signed by Jose

It was exciting, sure. I loved Segovia. With rock 'n' roll, like the other kids my age, I discovered it on the radio and from American Bandstand. I picked up on rock 'n' roll between 1955 and '56, and in '56 Elvis came along and made us all rock 'n' roll fans. I remember doing Elvis songs at the school assemblies. They'd tell me, 'We're letting you go on, but please, don't excite the kids. Don't play anything too exciting.' Did I listen? F#ck no! I played what I played, you know? The kids would scream - it was great. After my performance, I'd go back to the classroom, and everybody would stand up and clap, which was pretty cool. The teachers had to deal with that. So that was my first taste of success and being accepted by the kids at school as a performer. You never get tired of that, believe me.

                         Jose Feliciano on early idolatry 

I've always had blistering speed with my right hand. People call it 'flamenco,' but it's not. I've heard the phrase 'Jose Feliciano and his Flamenco Guitar' - that's not what it is. I'm not a flamenco guitarist. I happen to play a nylon-string guitar that flamenco guitarists also use, but I'm not a flamenco guitarist.

Jose Feliciano

I love creating new music for my fans. I love the challenge of continuing to create hits and I love working with my producer, my musicians and my fans. I’m breathing so I’m making music. It’s that simple.

Jose Feliciano

Canta Otra Vez (1971) signed by Jose

Weston, Connecticut is a cool town. Erin and I have lived here for twenty years and our children have thrived here. Located forty-five miles northeast of New York City, Weston retains a bucolic charm with two acre zoning, interesting architecture (mid-century masters Mies Van der Rohe and Richard Neutra both designed homes here!), great schools, a vibrant arts community and endless stone walls. It has a colorful history with actors: Marilyn Monroe lived here after finishing The Seven Year Itch as did other icons Rodney Dangerfield, Bette Davis, Christopher Plummer and Robert Redford.

Weston also has a longstanding relationship with musicians. Fritz Reiner, conductor of the New York Philharmonic, led summer programs with the entire orchestra at his home in the 1940s, choreographer and ballet master George Balanchine summered here, far from the sweltering asphalt of New York City, disco diva Donna Summer lived on Crystal Lake, and chanteuse Eartha Kitt spent the twilight of her life in this leafy, wooded community.

Perhaps the most famous musician, who has been a long time Weston resident despite his numerous other homes, is Rolling Stone Keith Richards and his supermodel wife Patti Hansen. Keith and Patti have lived here for nearly forty years and both of their daughters attended the local Weston public schools. I've been told by some residents who preceded us that it was not unusual for Keith and Patti to attend Back To School nights and the school plays, where Patti supplied her fearsome skills as a makeup artist. Turns out even the most venal and decadent Rolling Stone can be domesticated, although the sight of Keith prowling the halls of the Weston Middle School sans drinks, drugs and smokes is unusual and unsettling!

Despite all his fame and notoriety, Keith Richards is not the most talented guitarist in Weston. By his own admission, Keith is the second best guitarist in his hometown to Jose Feliciano, "We have never crossed paths even though Weston is a very small town. There's only one gas station and one market…That's right, he's a much better guitarist than me..and I haven't trained like him." A deferential show of respect and a proper nod from one guitar titan to a fellow guitarist of towering talent.

Guitarras (1977) signed by Jose

Born blind with congenital glaucoma in Puerto Rico, Jose Feliciano and his family moved to New York City when he was five years old. Jose was already showing an aptitude for music, banging on percussion at age three, and later playing the accordion. Soon, he was smitten with the guitar, as Jose remembered his early influences, "I listened to a lot of Spanish guitarists. There was Yomo Toro who was such a great player. He played the requinto. I started out on the instrument when I was about nine, but I don't think I was a guitarist till I was fourteen, I played the requinto like Yomo Toro. When I was fifteen, I became an avid fan of Andres Segovia. He brought so much respectability to the guitar. I remember when I tried to apply to the High School Of Music & Art in New York City, they wouldn't take me because I played the guitar. I had to play the piano - that's what they said. In my situation, because I was very poor and we lived in a small apartment, I couldn't have a piano, so Music & Art was out. Juilliard was out, too, because you needed money to go there."

Since the fancy music schools were not an option, Jose got his real education busking in the streets of New York City and playing coffee houses and clubs in the nascent though burgeoning folk scene in Greenwich Village, crossing paths with Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Ramblin' Jack Elliott and Dave Van Ronk. Through his coffee house earnings, Jose was able to contribute to the family coffers, and his family was grateful for the much needed financial remuneration.

Fantastic Feliciano (1966) signed by Jose

While performing in 1963 at Gerdes Folk City in Greenwich Village, Jose was “discovered” and signed by RCA Victor A&R executive Jack Somer. In 1965, Jose released his first album, The Voice And Guitar Of Jose Feliciano, and several others followed, but Jose hit his commercial stride when he hooked up with producer Rick Jarrad, a friendship and professional relationship which would endure for the next fifty years. Jarrad, at the time, was producing Harry Nilsson and the Jefferson Airplane.

Rick suggested songs which were different - “California Dreamin’ “ by the Mamas and the Papas and “Light My Fire” by The Doors - not the usual fare. Initially, Jose was skeptical since both songs had enjoyed tremendous chart success a year earlier, but Rick was insistent and encouraged Jose to put his spin on the tunes. Feliciano! released in 1968, became a monstrous worldwide hit, reaching Number Three on the Billboard charts. In fact, the first single was “California Dreamin’ “ and the b-side was “Light My Fire." When asked what The Doors thought of his recording, Jose recounted years later, "I did hear from (Doors guitarist) Robbie Krieger who said 'That was the way the song really should have been done.' I think Ray Manzarek, the keyboardist, liked what I did. I was a Doors fan, so that was just my way of showing The Doors that I liked their music. I never thought that my version would be a hit because the A side of the single was "California Dreamin'." Clearly, this single is a worthy candidate for the best ever 45 rpm!

Feliciano! (1968) signed by Jose

Riding high on the success of this record, Jose’s profile was raised ever higher, and he was asked to perform the National Anthem at Game Five (Detroit Tigers vs. St. Louis Cardinals) of the 1968 World Series by his friend, Tigers broadcaster Ernie Harwell, an eventual inductee into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Jose sang the anthem his way, with soulful, yearning vocals accompanied by his fleet, finger picked acoustic guitar. A smattering of boos followed along with applause that the blasphemous performance was over. No one had ever sung the National Anthem like this. It was not sung in a stodgy, traditional way, rather it reflected the sensibilities and creativity of Jose. He recalled, "After I sang it, it was really strange to hear me being booed... and I didn't know what happened."

What followed was the worst that America has to offer. Angry calls to the Detroit Tigers front office precipitated a boycott of Jose's music on commercial broadcast radio and Jose was told that "Some veterans were taking off their shoes and throwing them at the television screens." There was a hue and cry to deport Jose from the miseducated and misinformed, sadly, a seemingly unending U.S. tradition. Indeed, it is not possible to deport a naturalized U.S. citizen, nevertheless, it affected and hurt Jose, "I was a little depressed to tell you the truth. And then they stopped playing me, like I had the plague or something." It is hard to believe that this performance almost derailed and scuttled his career.

Feliciano 10 To 23 (1969) signed by Jose

The unexpected and unintended consequence of his improvisation on the National Anthem, however quaint as it may seem today, are the many artistic interpretations that followed. It's not a straight line from Jose Feliciano's Latin folk to Jimi Hendrix's incendiary rock explosion at Woodstock in 1969 to Marvin Gaye's NBA All Star Game soul burner in 1983 to Whitney Houston's transcendence on an aircraft carrier in 1991, or maybe it is. As Jose admitted, "The only thing I can say about all these versions is that they wouldn't have done it if I hadn't done it - and I'm glad I did it.

Though the airplay dried up for a time, Jose continued to find college campus concerts more welcoming and he toiled away. Nothing overcomes a black list like releasing a Top 10 Holiday mainstay, even though "Feliz Navidad" was a bit of a fluke recording. Jose recalled that producer Rick Jarrad and he were working on a Christmas album in 1970, "Rick said to me, 'Jose, why don't you write a new Christmas song?' Well, at the time, the newest Christmas song was "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" with Brenda Lee. And I thought to myself, 'Well Rick, you're asking for a tall order. How do I write something as good as Irving Berlin's "White Christmas"?" And I have to say, I put my mind to it. I thought about it and I came up with this very simple song using Puerto Rican instruments, like the cuatro, which my uncle taught me how to play when I was a little boy."

An anthem was born, a Christmas standard was introduced, and "Feliz Navidad" has been as ubiquitous as Nat King Cole's "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting)," and Bing Crosby's "White Christmas," and just as beloved. As the song recently celebrated its fiftieth anniversary, Jose remarked, "I feel it celebrates the continuing joy it's bringing to generations of families around the world. And it's about the true meaning of Christmas - being with family, sharing good meals and music. My proudest memory simply continues to be those many moments when I hear people all around the world singing my song. That blows my mind. I never would've imagined that could ever have been the case with one of my songs. I am so proud that it is the most popular global bilingual song, written by me in Spanish and English." A stunning achievement for any artist, Jose continues to bring joy and happiness to so many all over the world, and it is equally remarkable that he lives with his family just down a quiet Weston street.

Fireworks (1970) signed by Jose

Given our hometown connection, Erin and I have been blessed to see Jose several times over the years. He and his wife Susan, together fifty years, married almost forty (and introduced by Ernie Harwell - something great did come out of the Detroit debacle!), have been tireless supporters of the Weston community. Whether headlining with a full band at Westport's Levitt Pavilion for thousands, singing Midnight Mass at Assumption Church for congregants or performing an impromptu solo acoustic show for fifty at the Weston Senior Center, Jose's generous spirit is as infectious as his music is compelling.

So it was a fitting reintroduction to Jose and his music that he performed his first show in nearly eighteen months at the Weston Arts Fair on July 17, 2021. "Look, we haven't played in a long time and it was important for me and my family to play our first show here in my hometown, Weston. Please don't boo if we mess things up, It's been awhile," he quipped before the show started. His vocals sounded great and his guitar picking remained flawless. It's a good thing Keef didn't show up, he would have been shredded. Highlights included "California Dreamin'," "Light My Fire," and a stirring "Ain't No Sunshine," which Jose dedicated to his late great friend Bill Withers.

Alive Alive-O (1969) signed by Jose

Alive Alive-O (1969) back cover

After the show, Erin and I were led backstage through the internecine hallways by our friend Wendy and met with Jose and his beautiful and charming wife Susan in their dressing room. I told him that Keith Richards was using no false modesty when he said that he was the second best guitarist in Weston, "Oh you are very kind to say that. You know, I have never met Keith Richards but he was a big influence. The fuzz tone he used on 'Satisfaction' was a very important sound to me." Susan handed Jose the albums and told him what he was signing. Susan loved Alive Alive O!, an album he recorded at the London Palladium, "Oh, look at the back of this album, there’s Trudy (his beloved sight dog), and on the mic, a small picture of Jose. This is the only album (and he released more than sixty) which has two pictures of Jose on the (back) cover," she explained. As he signed Fantastic Feliciano, she told me that the original drawing hangs in their hallway. It is a beautiful rendering. Erin and I introduced our two friends who were visiting, one from Los Angeles via Iran, and the other from London via Iran. Jose brightened, "Oh, it is so nice to meet you. I would love to go to Iran some day. I really think I can help the people there. Music is a great healer and that's what they need, love and music." And that’s exactly what Jose provides. My friends, Erin and I thanked him for his kindness, generosity, and especially his music.

As talented as he is humble, Jose Feliciano is an amazing artist, a healer, a humanitarian, a great man and a great neighbor. He is definitely the best guitarist in Weston! We wish he and his family peace and blessings.

Vaya con dios!

Levitt Pavilion program, September 13, 2003 signed by Jose

Choice Jose Feliciano Cuts (per BKs request)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQkY2UFBUb4

“National Anthem” live at World Series 1968

Oh, the horror and blasphemy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YicQtP-xyg

“California Dreamin “ Feliciano! 1968

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

“Feliz Navidad” live with Daryl Hall

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

“Ain’t No Sunshine” Jose sings Bill Withers 1972

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrotN8mCV98

“Purple Haze” Jose shreds Jimi!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-qsN1Zc_Lk

“Billie Jean” Jose crushes Michael!

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

“Light My Fire” live with Daryl Hall

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH4og7yap1o

“Sabor A Mi” live with Gloria Estefan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl4QBJeXqT4

“Rain” 10 To 23 1969

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

“Fire and Rain” Jose sings James Taylor with Daryl Hall

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

“Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying” Feliciano! 1968

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk3n-UQ9KSY

“Malagueña” Live

Bonus Picks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3-b3ViNTMI

“National Anthem” Jimi Hendrix Woodstock 1969

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8Z60CT6sLA

“National Anthem” Marvin Gaye NBA All Star Game 1983

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAMBM7YaEvQ

“National Anthem” Marvin Gaye, Game 4 1968 World Series, days before Jose

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

“National Anthem” Whitney Houston 1991

Feliz Navidad

Feliz Navidad signed by Jose

Billie Holiday, Mal Waldron and Me…

52nd Street was an energizing experience. Minton's had a front bar and a back room where the rhythm section would be pumping away on one tune, and the horns would solo chorus after chorus, getting more furious. Then the pianist would get tired and another would take over. It kept going like that all night long. I heard (Thelonious) Monk there even before I heard his records. He was a big man, austere and imposing. He looked like he had his whole world around him, and you wouldn't penetrate that world. His sound wasn't immediately attractive to me. The way he hit the piano was so strange, but later it grew on me. It's an acquired taste.

Mal Waldron

That tune ("Soul Eyes") was written for John Coltrane. I knew he was on the date the next day. The way the set up was in those days, they'd tell me who was on the set and then they'd tell me to write six or seven compositions for the date. So I had to stay up all night long and write the changes, and the next morning I'd come in to Hackensack, New Jersey and make the records. Then I'd go home and write some more music for the next date.

Mal Waldron, pianist and composer for Prestige Records

Impressions (1959) signed by Mal

All the thousands of people he’s played with love Mal because he makes them sound good, and he sounds good himself. He gets a wonderful sound out of the piano, and he’s got his own style, his own angle, a vast knowledge of structure, of harmony, of rhythm, time and space. He’s an ideal partner.

Steve Lacy

Well, music is a language, and as long as you have a large enough vocabulary, you can communicate with anybody else. And if the vocabulary is the same, then you can communicate even better. Steve and I had pretty much the same vocabulary.

Mal Waldron on his frequent duo collaborator, Steve Lacy

The Quest (1962) signed by Mal

A wonderful accompanist, arranger, composer and pianist, Mal Waldron flies well below the radar. Many are not aware of his accomplishments and enduring influence compared to his more celebrated contemporaries. Part of his obscurity stems from his decision to decamp to Europe in the 1960s where he settled until his passing in 2002, joining a long and esteemed list of jazz brethren expatriates, Kenny Clarke, Dexter Gordon, Johnny Griffin, Bud Powell and Ben Webster among them. As Mal trenchantly observed, "When I got to Europe, it was like the other side of the coin. In America, if you were black and a musician at that time, it was two strikes against you. And in Europe, if you were black and a musician, it was two strikes for you, so I decided to go for that." It was a smart trade.

Born in Harlem in New York City, Mal and his family moved to Jamaica, Queens when he was only four. The family was quite musical, although Mal's father was a bit of a martinet, "I was forced to take piano lessons, really forced. I didn’t like playing classics, because I had to do it the same way every time, otherwise I got my knuckles rapped. But if I didn’t do it, my father would pound me in the face or something like that. Fear is a great motivator.” Notwithstanding his father's brutish and churlish oversight, Mal's piano skills developed initially with the study of classical music. His love of jazz blossomed when he heard the indelible tenor saxophone of Coleman Hawkins and his signature song "Body and Soul." Mal remembered, "My first jazz experiences were on the saxophone. I bought an alto, since I couldn't afford a tenor. I got a big, hard reed and an open lay on the mouthpiece so it would sound like a tenor, and I got the music for "Body and Soul" from DownBeat, and for five minutes, I was Coleman Hawkins."

The relationship and infatuation with the alto saxophone didn't last, "I was trying to emulate Charlie Parker, but I couldn't arrive, so I hocked my horn and went back to the piano. I found my basis was strong enough at least to enable me to play the changes right." Drafted into the US Army in 1943, Mal was stationed at West Point and he would take the train in on weekends to see his jazz heroes, Art Tatum, Bud Powell, and Thelonious Monk. When he was discharged, Mal attended Queens College on the G.I. Bill where he studied Music Composition and Theory with Professor Karol Radhaus, and played sessions around New York City honing his skills.

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

His talents were noticeable and Mal was recruited by the redoubtable Charles Mingus, a towering figure, to join his band in 1954. Mal recalled, "Mingus was like my older brother. He gave me a lot of advice and helped me develop into a mature musician. I was into imitating Bud Powell from things like "Bud's Bubbles," making Bud's runs and so on. Mingus said, 'Don't copy anyone. That's not the way. An ordinary musician can play everybody, but a jazz musician can only play himself.' That stuck, and I started working on my own style which entailed not thinking of changes as changes, but as sounds. So that a cluster would do for a change, just a group of notes could be an impetus for soloing. I learned that the piano was a percussive instrument, you beat on it. We realized that jazz is the music for the people who were not satisfied with the status quo. You'd punch the piano as though you were striking somebody in your way."

Pugilistic pianism aside, Mal became the house pianist for Prestige Records, a celebrated record label known for important and seminal recordings by John Coltrane, Tadd Dameron, Miles Davis, Jackie McLean, Sonny Rollins and so many others. Mal described his responsibilities thusly, "Composing went along with improvising, which is instant composition. I'd make my changes first, nice blowable changes that you could solo on beautifully, and then write a tune over them. My life consisted of thinking about melodies in the daytime, writing them at night, and recording them the next day." Such diligence, hard work and preternatural talent led to more than four-hundred compositions, including the jazz standards “Soul Eyes," "The Git-Go," "Fire Waltz," and "Left Alone," an aching ballad with lyrics written by Billie Holiday.

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

Near the end of her tragic life, Billie recruited Mal to accompany her in 1957, "It was really an accident, because her pianist just conked out, he couldn't function any more... so it was an accident, but it was a beautiful accident for me." Mal recorded and performed with Billie until her untimely demise in 1959, and they co-wrote “Left Alone,” a beautiful blues ballad. Mal later recalled the circumstances, "She wrote the words and I wrote the melody. We were on a plane going from New York to San Francisco. It took more time than it does now because they were propeller planes. She just wanted to write a tune about her life. so she wrote those lyrics, and I wrote the melody. By the time we got off the plane, it was finished." Thanks and praises for propeller planes!

Though Billie's lyrics are bereft, forlorn and forsaken, Mal's melody brims with beauty and hope:

Where's the love that's made to fill my heart?

Where's the one from whom I'll never part?

First they hurt me. then desert me

I'm left alone, all alone

There's no house that I can call my home

There's no place from which I'll never roam

Town or city, it's a pity

I'm left alone, all alone

Seek and find they always say

But up to now, it's not that way

Maybe fate has let him pass me by

Or perhaps we'll meet before I die

Hearts will open, but until then

I'm left alone, all alone

Lady In Satin (1958) Billie sings, Mal plays!

Although Billie died before she was able to record "Left Alone," Mal released several instrumental versions and also accompanied the great Abbey Lincoln in 1961 as she delivered a stirring vocal. Mal's technique for accompanying singers was simple and direct, as he described, "Well, it's really support. I just lay down a blanket for them to walk on, the blanket is me, and they walk on me... It really helps me to improvise, because the words give it a completely different atmosphere to improvise on. You can improvise on the words alone, instead of just improvising on the changes and the harmony and the melody." He makes it sound so easy, but how tricky and devilish it is to execute, except in the skilled hands of a master.

Mal's career almost unraveled as quickly as it began. While on the road in Chicago with Max Roach in 1963, Mal overdosed on heroin, an unfortunate drug of choice, "I couldn't remember where I was. I couldn't remember anything about the piano or anything else. I lost my coordination, and my hands were shaking all the time. I spent six-seven months in East Elmhurst Hospital, where they gave me shock treatments and spinal taps and all kinds of things to relieve the pressure on my mind." It was an arduous recovery for the next two years as Mal had to relearn the piano and his extensive song catalog. Finally in 1965, his skills sufficiently restored, the film director Marcel Carne asked Mal to write the film score for Three Bedrooms In Manhattan. Mal accepted his gracious offer and he flew to Paris. In Europe, Mal thrived and, over the years, he lived in Paris, Rome and Munich, where he remained until his death in 2002. Mal found the reception gratifying, "The main thing that affected me in Europe is their respect for the music. They came out and made an effort to understand your music if they didn't understand it. When they were done, they showed respect and appreciation that you were an artist, which was not true in America." Equally remarkable, Mal stayed clean and free from all drugs, "I found in Europe, there was so much respect and love for me that I didn't need any drugs. I didn't need any drugs at all."

Sempre Amore (1987) signed by Mal, Steve Lacy

Erin and I were lucky to see Mal perform at the Village Vanguard in New York City in 1996. It was a rare stateside appearance by Mal at the venerable and intimate club, and he was joined by his longtime friend Steve Lacy on soprano saxophone. It was a Tuesday night late show and the environment was loose and low key, as the show wasn’t sold out and there wasn’t a lot of fussing, just two master musicians collaborating and creating. The program was Monk, Mingus and some knotty originals, featuring a perfect display of their wonderful interplay and longstanding chemistry. Mal could do it all, he could swing, play bebop and even mix in some dissonance. It was a remarkable and engaging performance. After the show, I chatted briefly with Mal and he was gracious as he signed his albums. As he signed Impressions, Mal confided, "You know, this is one of my favorite albums." I thanked him for his time and, especially his music.

Mal Waldron, a wonderful composer and pianist, and so terribly underrated. Whether he accompanies John Coltrane, Billie Holiday or Charles Mingus, Mal only plays himself!

Reflections (1959) signed by Steve, piano by Mal

Soprano Sax (1959) signed by Steve

Choice Mal Waldron Cuts (per BKs request)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_z4pYO4Y_g

“Soul Eyes” with John Coltrane 1962

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s5iD-q9FUU

“Left Alone” live with Jackie McLean 1986

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

“Warm Canto” The Quest 1962

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z9WBPw6dIo

“Blue Calypso” with John Coltrane, Jackie McLean, Art Taylor 1957

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppguMAJiqK8

“Three Gymnopedies, No. 1” Mal Waldron Plays Eric Satie (1983)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0oeMhHXfhc&list=RDe0oeMhHXfhc&start_radio=1

“The Git-Go” with Joe Henderson, Reggie Workman

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjdT0b5_DSg

“Fire Waltz” The Quest (1962)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JvgjdmTWf8

“Champs Elysee” Impressions (1959)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7wFgx0BLGk

“You And The Night And The Music” with Reggie Workman, Ed Blackwell 1983

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LP3l_qht-co

“Left Alone” duo with Archie Shepp 2002

Bonus picks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6_JhsFpvU8

“Foolin’ Myself > Easy To Remember > What A Little Moonlight Can Do” live with Billie Holiday 1958

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7w8Wb5_aZA

“Left Alone” Mal with Abbey Lincoln, 1961

George Cables, Art Pepper and Me…

I don’t feel that one should be stuck in the mud playing the same old stuff all the time, trying to prove that this music is valid. We don’t need to prove anything, but I think you really have to be responsive to your heritage and then go on and find your own voice.

George Cables

Goin’ Home (1982) signed by George Cables

I never really listened to pianists when I was coming up. I would probably say I’ve been more influenced by Miles or Trane and their whole bands rather than by any single pianist. The concept of the music is more important than listening to somebody’s chops, somebody’s technique, The way Miles’ band held together, it was just like magic. You were transported to another world.

George Cables

Circle (1979) signed by George, Rufus Reid

The Jazz Samaritans was led by Artie Simmons…and his cousin was Roy Haynes who would come by and check us out, especially if Billy was playing, he wanted to check out Billy Cobham. He would also sit in, play the drums. I mean, I wasn’t really playing anything, I was just starting, didn’t really know anything, but he would come and thrill us. I remember Roy Haynes did a roll on the bass drum, and everybody just fell out! He took a solo on the bass drum, we couldn’t believe it, we didn't know anyone’s foot was that fast! I thought it was just great, and later I got to play with him, which was even better! Once I was playing with him, and I was enamored at that time with the rhythm section Miles had with Herbie, Ron, and Tony, you know, they used to catch each other and play across the bar, play these accents. So I thought, you know, since Roy, when he would accent, it wasn’t like he would always come down on “one,” or the “four.” But I would try to catch him, but it was trying to chase him around the block, you never could pin him down! So he said “George…” He gave me a very nice lesson, and told me in a very nice way, he didn’t say, “Hey man, stop doing that, don’t do that,” he said, “Do you know who I listen to?” I said, ‘No.’ He said, “I listen to the piano player.” So he’s telling me, ‘Look, you could just do your thing and I can follow you, or I can be free to do my thing too, and that’s how it will come together.’

     George Cables on his first band and early lessons from Jazz master Roy Haynes

Phantom Of The City (1985) signed by George

Yeah, that was the last session. Tete-a-Tete and Goin’ Home were the same session. We didn’t know it at the time when we were doing it that it would be Art’s last. I chose that song “Goin‘ Home,” I was going to dedicate it to my mother-in-law who passed, but then Art passed away, so it became the idea of Art “Goin’ Home,” and that became the title of the record. And then the other one, “Tete-a-Tete” was a kind of calypso I wrote. I remember one thing, on the first session Art was nervous about doing it duo, and (producer) Ed Michel kept going and coming back in, so we locked the door. Course, Ed just found the key and came back! But Art just didn’t wait, he said, “Come on man, I just want to do this.” But Ed was being a producer, you know, gotta do this, gotta do that. Duo was a new thing for both of us, we wanted to get it right.

                         George Cables on his last recordings with Art Pepper

Tete A Tete (1982) signed by George

I saw Trane at age 20 at Birdland, with Elvin and McCoy Tyner and Jimmy Garrison, what a band. But I was really still too young to really get the most out of that music, I was too young musically, not musically initiated enough to really get it. I heard some things where I was really moved, but I didn’t really know and understand in my heart and in my soul exactly. I didn’t understand in a deep way what was going on. I got some of the things, as much as I could at the time. I got to Trane a little later on. That was when I was listening to some music in the basement and I was on the phone. I had A Love Supreme on—it was like something that was pounding on the door, you know, pounding on my brain’s door, “Let me in!” I got so distracted, I couldn’t talk on the phone, I had to hang up. All of a sudden, it was this epiphany, this realization, boom: “Oh, I get it.” You hear the stuff before, and you kind of like it, but everything else is kind of on the surface for me.

                          George Cables on the transcendence of John Coltrane 

Cables’ Vision (1979) signed by George

That was right in your face with McCoy, because of the kind of music he was playing. McCoy was playing with Elvin for chrissakes, so he’s playing the piano more like a drum, and the left hand was very strong. His right hand was very strong, and McCoy is very soulful too, but you felt as if he was playing percussively, not that he was banging, but his was a percussive approach that the piano was a percussion instrument like the vibes, or an African xylophone. Herbie, I thought, was a little more lyrical, and would use colors. Someone asked Freddie (Hubbard), “Who do you like better, Herbie or McCoy?” And Freddie, I don’t know if I’m quoting him right, but he said, “Well, McCoy’s my man, but Herbie can do anything!”

I mean Herbie’s voicings, I don’t know! Sometimes I asked Herbie, “What are you playing?” He said, “I don’t know.” Just put the piano in front of you, and where your hands fall, your hands fall. What he played was, I think, harmonically complicated. McCoy, you know, you got the sense that McCoy could kind of manhandle this thing. The feeling from McCoy… I remember one night at Keystone Korner in particular, I would have sworn that that piano was being levitated, he played with so much energy, it would just pick you up.

                         George Cables on Herbie Hancock vs. McCoy Tyner - Who ya got?!

Landscape (1979) signed by George

I try to tell students that the piano is a percussive instrument, and it can sing if you make it sing, and the whole orchestra’s in there, but you strike it, and that’s a quality, when you comp, I think you need to take advantage of. Some guys, you just hear the chords, a chord here, a chord there, but you need to invest in the rhythm, whether you’re delicate, it doesn’t mean you need to pound everything. You can try to drive and be an engine for a band, that’s part of what you do. The pianist, you know, we’re glue. We’re the glue of the rhythm section in a way, and maybe sometimes the glue in the band.

                            George Cables

High Energy (1974) signed by George, Freddie Hubbard

A sideman's sideman, George Cables has forged an exemplary career as an arranger, composer, and pianist. A leader or co-leader on more than forty albums, George has also appeared on hundreds of sessions with jazz luminaries Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, Roy Haynes, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Hutcherson, Max Roach and Sonny Rollins. His deft lyricism and acute sense of swing always bolsters and enhances these artists' recordings. George may be best known for his collaborations with Art Pepper at the end of Art's troubled life, and he appeared on more than twenty Art Pepper recordings, most released posthumously. Art's wife, Laurie confided that George was Art's favorite pianist, and as evidence, Art nicknamed George “Mr. Beautiful." He wasn’t lying, Art knowed!

Born in New York City in 1944, George was classically trained and attended the prestigious High School of Music & Art in Hamilton Heights in Harlem. Some very notable alumni are actor/singer/ Diahann Carroll, designer Milton Glaser, singer/songwriter Laura Nyro, KISS frontman Paul Stanley and actor Billy Dee Williams, quite an eclectic collection of artists. It also includes drummer extraordinaire Billy Cobham.

Crankin’ (1971) signed by George, Curtis Fuller, Lenny White, Stanley Clarke

A relatively late bloomer in jazz, George recalled in a wonderful recent interview with pianist Ethan Iverson, "I started playing piano when I was about six or so. Before then, actually, I used to watch my mother play in the house, and I used to try to reach up to the piano to play. The music that I'm involved with now, Jazz, was not in my vocabulary, It wasn't in the house. I remember people I played with saying, 'Yeah, man when I was a kid, I used to listen to my grandma, my father's records. I was listening to Bird when I was eight or thirteen, or something.' But all this stuff was new to me when I was fifteen or seventeen years old, so I was playing catch-up a lot of the time."

When he graduated from high school, George attended The Mannes School Of Music as a piano major and he joined his first band, The Jazz Samaritans, led by drummer and trombonist Artie Simmons. Other members were saxophonist Steve Grossman, bassist Clint Houston, Billy Cobham and Lenny White, all eventual jazz band leaders and stalwart musicians. George's real education was just beginning, and it started at the Five Spot, a venerable and storied New York City club, where he saw Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Coleman Hawkins' big band and others perform their illustrious magic. Soon, George was invited to play sessions with Art Blakey (he was a Jazz Messenger for a short stint in 1969), Frank Foster, Woody Shaw and Max Roach.

Double Image (1986) signed by George, Frank Morgan “Duet To It!”

George remembered his time with Max fondly, "We played different places with Max, because he was very business-like, he paid well. He had another air about him, and one night, Thelonious Monk came out to hang out at Club Baron, I couldn't believe it! We got off the stand and he kept looking at me. You know, I'm not one to go up to Thelonious and go, 'Hello Mister Monk!" All I know is that he's a different kind of guy. He's Thelonious Monk, he's someone apart from everybody. I might say something to Max (Roach), but who knows what to say to Thelonious Monk? And that night we had a party at Max's house, and Monk was there, and the night after, Max said, 'You know, that's the most I've heard Monk say in years.' And I hadn't heard him say anything that night! And Max said, 'You know, he likes you,' and man, I haven't come down from that yet."

Artworks (1979) signed by George

His chops sufficiently strengthened, George embarked on a tour with Sonny Rollins in 1969 which landed him in California. Smitten with the lifestyle and the West Coast music, George settled there for decades, initially in Los Angeles, then in San Francisco, finding session work with Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Art Pepper and other California compatriots. He also began recording at Contemporary Records, an influential Los Angeles based record label founded by Les Koenig in 1951.

Koenig was a Hollywood screenwriter and producer who was swept up in the furor fomented by the ugliest American Joseph McCarthy in his dogged pursuit of communists (real and mostly imagined) in the 1940s-50s. Though Koenig was not a communist, he was asked to testify and name "names." Rather than do that, as some disgracefully did, he accepted his blacklist as a punishment and started a record company. Motion pictures‘ loss was clearly music’s gain. Initially, Koenig wanted to record his friends - composers from the film community - but he broadened the label to indulge his passion for jazz.

Dynamics (1985) signed by George

While not as revered or acclaimed as the Blue Note label in New York City, Contemporary Records in Los Angeles was responsible for some epochal recordings: Sonny Rollins' Way Out West, Cecil Taylor's Looking Ahead!, Art Pepper Meets The Rhythm Section and Andre Previn's Double Play! Probably the most controversial and important recordings were Ornette Coleman's Something Else!!! and Tomorrow Is The Question! although the engineer, Roy DuNann, begged to differ. Upon hearing Ornette’s challenging rhythms and dissonance, Roy quipped, “I would have sent them home.” Although Ornette Coleman is considered a visionary now, his music mostly eluded Roy, “Yeah, I got so I could listen to a lot of the jazz stuff and know where one chorus was going to end and the next one begin. It was important for knowing where to make a splice. But with Ornette, you couldn’t tell where you were. It just started out and it ended. It wasn’t music at all for me.”

Art Lives (1983) signed by George, David Williams

Though Roy was less well known than Blue Note engineer supreme Rudy Van Gelder, he was vastly talented and a secret weapon at Contemporary Records. Roy was recruited to join Contemporary from Capitol Records, having worked on Nat King Cole, Peggy Lee, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, and hundreds of other sessions. With his keen ear and extensive experience, Roy helped design the recording studio, “Lester decided he wanted to try recording jazz groups in the shipping room. There were records stacked all over the place on record shelves. We needed a little control room so we could listen on loudspeakers without feedback into the studio, so we set it up in the office across from the publicist’s. Lester had a German friend who had worked at Telefunken with an engineer named Neumann. This friend had brought a Telefunken condenser microphone with him from Germany.” The magic would continue until Les Koenig's unfortunate and untimely death in 1977, and Roy’s departure from the recording studio.

That Old Feeling (1986) signed by George

Erin and I have been very blessed to see George Cables perform dozens of times over the years and it is always a joyous occasion. Full of impossibly good cheer, George's spirit radiates in his wonderful playing. There have been so many memorable shows over the years, at Blues Alley in Washington, DC, the Blue Note in New York City, and Bradley's, a now shuttered and sorely missed jazz club in the West Village. Erin and I have also seen George numerous times at the Jazz Forum in Tarrytown, New York, a wonderful jazz club run by trumpeter Mark Morganelli and his lovely wife Ellen.

Keep Your Soul Together (1973) signed by George, Freddie Hubbard, Ron Carter

After a recent Jazz Forum show, where George was supporting a record release by guitarist Roni Ben-Hur, George was warm and welcoming, and he was happy to sign some vinyl. I asked George how he ended up paired with Art Pepper on so many great recordings? "Thank you," he replied, "I was doing some sessions with Woody Shaw at Contemporary (Records) and Les (Koenig) really liked my sound and he thought Art and I would sound great together." And Les, with his impeccable taste was right! George was particularly struck when I handed him Freddie Hubbard's Keep Your Soul Together. He opened the gatefold carefully and pointed at a photo of saxophonist Junior Cook, "You know, Junior was my roommate, we lived together for awhile. What a great man and musician, I miss him." Erin and I thanked George for his time and, especially his music.

George Cables, a remarkable and remarkably unsung musician, the glue in every band and "Mr. Beautiful" in all ways possible. Long may he play!

California Concert (1985) signed by George

Choice George Cables Cuts (per BK's request)

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

“Over The Rainbow” duo with Art Pepper 1982

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQ8m-fYpfMA

“Over The Rainbow” live with Art Pepper 1981

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cyyKadNqV0

“Arthur’s Blues” live with Art Pepper 1981

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

“In A Sentimental Mood” George plays Duke Ellington! 1995

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

“It Don’t Mean A Thing” more Duke Ellington, live at Keystone Korner 2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTCVkNawNa0

“Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying” with Art Pepper 1982

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

“Keep Your Soul Together” with Freddie Hubbard, Ron Carter, Junior Cook 1973

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4GVyzHdjgI

“For All We Know” Too Close For Comfort 2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59ntu1ZlzQc

“Lullaby” My Muse 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHBA6Ee5htc

“Isn’t She Lovely?” Goin’ Home Art and George slay Stevie! 1982

Michelle (1966) signed by George

Thank You Thank You (1977) signed by George, Roy Haynes

Some Of My Favorite Things (1980) signed by George

Harold Land and Me…

Jazz has a lot to do with the vibrations of the moment. Perhaps with the communication between the group that’s participating, which would be aside from the amount of creative ability within each individual on the stand at that moment. It’s just, if things start working—or if they don’t. Which can happen at any given time, no matter what music is being played. A lot of times I think musicians can feel on the stand that it’s really happening, but the audience might not be aware of what they’re feeling. Then it can often be reversed; the audience can be completely bowled over, yet the musicians won’t feel that way. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I guess—or rather, the ear of the listener.

                         Harold Land 

Jazz is not going to change, no matter how much anybody attempts to blacken it. Jazz has been here for quite some time, and it doesn’t seem to be rubbed out, despite the obstacles it has to get over. It still thrives; there’s still millions of youngsters in the new generation coming up who want to play jazz. Even though they know they can go out and get a guitar, learn three changes and make thousands of dollars, their ambition is still to be jazz players. Why? That shows what a strong quality jazz has as an art. It’s no mirage—it’s for real.

Harold Land 1969 interview

Harold In The Land Of Jazz (1958) signed by Harold

We were driving around - can’t even recall where - but I asked him who his favorite trumpeter was and you know who he said? Not Dizzy, not Miles. Fats Navarro. And I told him Fats is my favorite, too. As a matter of fact, there’s a solo that Fats takes on “Out of Nowhere” - it’s a Tadd Dameron arrangement - that whenever I listen to it, it brings tears to my eyes. There was a certain quality to his playing that always moved me.

Harold Land on Clifford Brown

I know I would have had much wider acceptance if I had been based in New York.

Harold Land

Eastward Ho! Harold Land In New York (1960) signed by Harold

Harold Land is one of the great hard bop Jazz tenor saxophonists. Just ask Sonny Rollins who said in a recent interview: “Harold Land was one of the premier saxophonists of the time. He was one of the best… a great player, one of my favorites.” Terribly underrated, Harold’s prominence and renown was possibly dimmed by his allegiance and fealty to his West Coast roots, although his talents shone brilliantly on numerous recordings with Clifford Brown and Max Roach, Curtis Counce, Bobby Hutcherson and the Gerald Wilson Orchestra. Harold also furnished his fulsome skills on sessions with Roy Ayers, Donald Byrd, Bill Evans, Ella Fitzgerald, Hampton Hawes, Thelonious Monk and countless other jazz icons in his storied career.

You Get More Bounce With Curtis Counce! (1957)

Born in Houston, Texas, raised in San Diego, Harold Land was a late bloomer, initially playing piano and not picking up the saxophone in earnest until he was sixteen and heard the captivating tones of the inimitable Coleman Hawkins blowing “Body And Soul,” Hawk’s tour de force, and a source of inspiration for all saxophonists. After graduating from high school, Harold honed his skills, knocking around San Diego playing clubs and touring briefly with rhythm and blues band leaders Jimmy and Joe Liggins. In 1954, Harold moved to Los Angeles where he serendipitously met trumpet extraordinaire Clifford Brown. Harold was jamming at the home of his friend Eric Dolphy when Clifford heard him play. Clifford soon hired Harold to replace Teddy Edwards as tenor saxophonist in his important and heralded band, which Clifford had co-founded with Max Roach a year earlier.

Jam Session (1954) signed by Harold, Max Roach, Maynard Ferguson, Junior Mance, Clark Terry

Harold left his wife and young son in Los Angeles and went east, joining the Brown-Roach juggernaut which toured and recorded incessantly, and created some of the most passionate hard bop jazz records including Jam Session (1954), Brown and Roach Incorporated (1954), and Study In Brown (1955). Though the music was exhilarating, being on the road and away from his family while living in Philadelphia was wearying and difficult. Then, his grandmother fell ill and Harold disclosed, "After being away from Lydia and my son for two and a half years, I figured the best thing for me was to go back home and stay." Despite Clifford's protestations to remain, Harold was resolute and left to rejoin his family. Meanwhile, Brown and Roach recruited saxophone colossus Sonny Rollins as Harold's replacement, certainly a noteworthy addition and an invaluable consolation prize.

Study In Brown (1954) signed by Harold, Max Roach “Thanks Brownie”

Harold's decision to depart had a larger significance, as it probably saved his life. As his wife Lydia recalled, "If Harold had not come back when he did, he probably would have been in that car with Brownie. He and Brownie always drove together." Indeed, it was a tragedy when Clifford Brown and pianist Richie Powell (Bud's equally talented brother!) crashed on the wet slick anaconda that was the Pennsylvania Turnpike and perished on June 26, 1956 leaving the jazz world stunned. Brownie was just twenty-five years old while Powell was twenty-four, and their talents were as respected as their losses were devastating.

Harold remembered Brownie fondly, “Clifford Brown was a very beautiful person. He had a very warm personality and usually seemed so relaxed it made me relaxed to be around him. In my opinion, Brownie had a very even temperament, if that’s the best way to describe it, and a kind of wisdom or knowledge of himself and those around him, and of life in general, that one associates with someone quite a bit older than he was at the time. And to me these same qualities were evident when he expressed himself through his instrument. I have had more than one talented musician say to me, referring to Brownie, that he played his instrument like a young old man! And in each instance I’m sure they meant this statement to be an extremely beautiful compliment, that a man so young in years could acquire such command, depth, and broad musical scope in such a relatively short span of time. Playing with the fire and creativeness of a young man, and with the depth, tenderness, and insight into past, present, and future of an older man.”

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

Despite the loss, Harold soldiered on and released several influential albums as a leader, Harold In The Land Of Jazz, The Fox, and Eastward Ho! Harold Land In New York. Harold then joined the Gerald Wilson Orchestra, a highly acclaimed group of West Coast players under the helm and steely guidance of noted arranger and composer Gerald Wilson. Harold participated on thirteen Gerald Wilson albums in the ensuing decades along with other esteemed jazz colleagues, saxophonist Teddy Edwards, organist Richard "Groove" Holmes, trumpeter Carmell Jones, guitarist Joe Pass, pianist Jack Wilson and vibraphonist Roy Ayers, a supremely gifted ensemble. Another key collaboration was Harold's relationship with vibraphone master Bobby Hutcherson on eight distinguished Blue Note albums. Although Harold did not share the notoriety of some of his New York City peers, he was, nonetheless, prolific and influential as evidenced by his impressive discography.

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

In 1996, Harold joined the faculty at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) as a lecturer at the behest of guitarist Kenny Burrell, the Director of Jazz Studies who had helped create the program in the 1970s. Remembering Harold on his passing in 2001, Kenny said, "Harold Land was one of the major contributors in the history of the jazz saxophone. He was a vital and well-loved member of the jazz faculty here at UCLA."

I only saw Harold Land once in the late 1990s at the Jazz Standard in New York City. Harold rarely ventured east so it was a rare and exciting opportunity to see him perform. He had great musicians with him, drummer Billy Higgins, pianist Mulgrew Miller and bassist Ray Drummond. The performance featured songs off Harold’s 1995 release A Lazy Afternoon, mostly a compelling set of standards, "In A Sentimental Mood," "But Beautiful, "What's New," and a Thelonious Monk seldom heard nugget "Ugly Beauty." It was a sterling night of music propelled by these transcendent musicians.

As voluble and expressive as Harold was with his horn on stage, he was equally quiet and taciturn off stage. He was pleased to sign his vinyl but he didn’t exude much excitement nor proffer any insights. I thanked him for his time and his extraordinary oeuvre of music. Sadly, a couple of years after this concert, Harold passed away on July 27, 2001 after suffering a stroke at the age of seventy-two. It was a terrible loss as Harold was beginning to record and tour more. Fortunately, Harold's enduring music is timeless and sustains.

Jazz Impressions Of Folk Music (1963)

Choice Harold Land Cuts (per BKs request)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M283JFxesic

“Cherokee” Study In Brown 1955

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-q3i39qzHo

“West Coast Blues” West Coast Blues 1960

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

“I’m Gonna Go Fishin’ “ with Carmell Jones 1961

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

“Tom Dooley” Jazz Impressions of Folk Music 1963

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FE1t6lUVB_k

“Joy Spring” Clifford Brown & Max Roach 1954

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4YC-Yz53Bw

“The Peace Maker” The Peacemaker 1968

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPTFg667yyg

“What Is This Thing Called Love” Jam Session 1954

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwdYNNVv6Zs

“So In Love” Eastward Ho! with Kenny Dorham 1960

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

“Esatchmo” live in Cologne, 1986

Bonus picks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRitvl7o1lw

“Out Of Nowhere” Fats Navarro with Charlie Parker

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKq9Hn7Fo-k

“San Diego Bounce” Early Harold, 1948

9/11, David Rice, Sandler O’Neill, Sting and Me…

For the past five years on the anniversary of 9/11, I have written about some of the extraordinary men and women with whom I worked at Sandler O'Neill on the 104th floor of Two World Trade Center in New York City. The following is an excerpt from a letter which I wrote eighteen years ago to the mother of my deceased and great friend David Rice.

David Rice - three weeks before he was murdered on 9/11

"I met David at Sandler O'Neill in September of 1998. I had recently joined the firm some two or three weeks earlier and David was visiting from Chicago. We were introduced and chatted briefly, each one of us eyeing the other, wary and suspecting, like two fighters ready to spar. He was all Brooks Brothers head to toe: gray flannel suit, white button down shirt, red rep tie and conservative wing tips. I was all flash: Italian suit and loafers, custom shirt, cuff links, and a loud Hermes tie.

In an instant, I hated him. He was young, smart, gregarious, and unflappable Mid-West cool. At the end of the day (it was a Friday), he was flying to Chicago and I was headed to Washington, DC. David suggested we share a cab to the airport. I nodded begrudgingly, and we walked to the elevator bank. By no small coincidence, David mentioned that he didn't drink. Leery that I was now in the company of some high minded Okie Southern Baptist, I stammered, 'Do you go to meetings?' "Yes," he said excitedly and loudly, "Do you?" ‘Yes,’ I told him, ‘ever since December 13, 1992.’ David smiled broadly, and all the fears and tensions melted away as we shared the elevator ride down and subsequent cab ride together like two little school kids caught up in our own secret world.

During the cab ride, David told me that he had been sober since March 13, 1993, and he shared with me his remarkable story of how he came, came to, and came to believe. From then on, I teased him unmercifully that he would never have as much sobriety as I, and, as competitive as he was, this drove him nuts. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful drive, and over the next three years, we shared an incredible, intimate relationship, talking on the phone (almost) daily, and needling and teasing each other incessantly. David's zest for living and unbridled enthusiasm was infectious.

When David came to visit New York, I took him to meetings, in particular a Monday Men's Group that he enjoyed, and he introduced me to Richard V.F. and the very small meeting that Richard hosted in his apartment. I will never forget that gathering, six or seven dysfunctional personalities functioning beautifully, discussing their hopes, fears, dreams, and, as David always insisted, the twelve steps. At the conclusion of the meeting, it was off to dinner in the East Village.

This ragtag, motley crew enjoyed a convivial dinner and then, the check came. In a flash, David seized it. "What do you think about bank stocks?" he asked. Blank looks and vacant stares abounded. Our guests - a disheveled, unpublished playwright, a fine watch salesman peddling wares of questionable provenance, and other assorted hustlers and malcontents - went quiet. David continued, "Do you think they're cheap in here? The bank stocks?" "Yes" came a timid, unsure reply from nowhere. "All right then, that'll satisfy the IRS. Dinner's on me!" David proclaimed, proffering his corporate American Express (thanks Jimmy D!).

Then it was out into the streets and bright lights of the big city. A couple of blocks later, David started shouting, "Amy Rice! Amy Rice! Amy Rice!" at the top of his lungs. Thinking he had Tourette's Syndrome of a particularly weird and virulent strain, I didn't know what to do. Then, some three or four flights up in a window, a furtive image darted out from behind a curtain. "David, is that you?" It was his sister. Thank God he didn't have Tourette's, although others on the New York City sidewalks seemed not so sure and they gave him a wide berth as he strove with ardent resolve to her building. "I'll call you tomorrow!" he shouted, "We just had dinner. It was great."

In March of 2000, my career was at a crossroads, and I began to have discussions with another Wall Street firm. David was my biggest cheerleader. "Yes, you have to explore this opportunity for the sake of your family," he told me. I was a little hesitant and nervous, but he reminded me that God was always taking care of me and that God wasn't going to stop now. I made the move to UBS Warburg in May of 2000, relocated to Connecticut with my family, and David and I continued our friendship and constant dialogue.

David, in turn, began to think about his career. His marriage was falling apart - we shared many a late night call - and he felt professionally that he should move from Chicago to New York and switch to bond sales from equities. I became his biggest cheerleader. Yes, you should move, the partners at Sandler O'Neill love you, you are young, smart and all the action is in New York, I counseled. It is the only advice which I have come to regret.

On Monday, September 10, 2001, I spoke with David and, as usual, he had a crazy story. On the previous Saturday night, he went to the Michael Jackson birthday celebration at Madison Square Garden in the Sandler O'Neill box. 'How did you possibly get tickets?' I asked, incredulous that he saw the show, the hottest ticket of the year. "You'll love this Wheely," David started. By then he had given me many nicknames, "Neilio the Dealio" begat "Dealio" begat "Wheely Dealy" begat "Wheely" or just plain "Wheels."

Then David's story.... Sandler had four tickets for David and his customers. So, of course, he invited a date. He needed five tickets. Desperately. He called all the ticket brokers to no avail, there were no tickets. Did David back down? Hell no. He said he went to the security desk, and with all the earnestness he could command, he looked the guard straight up and said. "Sir, my name is David Rice and I do not have a ticket, my name is not on your list. But I have four clients in the Sandler O'Neill box who are expecting me and you HAVE to let me in." His sense of urgency and passion did not go unnoticed. Probably, it would have been easier to breach White House security than get into Madison Square Garden that night, but the guard relented and David quickly joined his guests in the Sandler suite.

How was the show? I asked. "It sucked. Michael Jackson's a freak and Marlon Brando's insane," he replied. How was your date? "Well..." then he paused, a long pause. "Let's just say I don't think we'll be going out again, but the clients loved it and we all had a great time." Classic David Rice. Always a story, always an adventure, and always an unstoppable force of life and energy.

The next day, September 11, was the worst day in my life. I was at work in Stamford, Connecticut on my firm's trading desk when the first tower was hit. Unsure of which tower had been struck, I immediately called the Sandler equity trading desk and asked for Frank Salvaterra or Bruce Simmons. Allison Jones answered, and she told me that Frankie and Bruce were off the desk in a meeting. She said it was chaotic but they were fine. 'Tell Frankie and Bruce I love them and I'm thinking of them,' and then I hung up.

Then I typed David an electronic message via my Bloomberg terminal, 'Just another day in paradise...' In an instant, David's response flashed: "Bad situation. We're OK" His words gave me comfort. Of course, David was all right and he would tell me fabulous stories later. Minutes later on live television, I saw a fireball erupt. The second tower had been hit, and in that one horrifying instant, so many lives, hopes and dreams were shattered and forever altered. I called Sandler again. The phone rang three times. I hung up. I felt guilty, as I didn't want to slow down anyone's escape. Or so I thought....and then I felt a terrible emptiness and sadness for what had befallen my friends and colleagues at Sandler O'Neill. It continues to this day.

When David's tower collapsed, I left work immediately, went home, hugged and kissed my wife and children, and tried to make sense out of what had happened. That night I went to a meeting - David was always on me to go to more meetings - and I prayed and prayed and prayed. Well, I'm still praying, I'm still trudging and I'm still waiting. I want answers and there are none. I can't make any sense, nor most days do I even try. All I know is I miss my friend David. Terribly.

For my birthday in December 2001, my wife, Erin, gave me a frame with David's picture which she downloaded from his memorial website. I burst into tears, a mixture of mostly sorrow and some joy. David's picture now occupies a prominent place among our other family photos. And when my children get older (they are five, three and one) and they ask me who is that smiling, handsome, slightly mischievous man whom they have never met, I will tell them simply: David Rice was one of the finest men I have ever known. He was a great and true friend and I loved him..."

Well, eighteen years have passed since I wrote those words to David's mother, and my kids are much older now, and they know exactly who David Rice is and what he means to me. I was very blessed to have him in my life, however fleeting the time, and I cherish his friendship and the many laughs that we shared.

This will be my last Sandler O'Neill 9/11 post. It's been an honor and privilege to share with you some small measure of their humanity. They are remarkable men and women and I miss them dearly and wish peace and blessings for their families. Shakespeare wrote that "Parting is such sweet sorrow..." Sometimes, for me, it's just sorrow.

God bless.
Neil

Happy, Joyous and Free! I love you David

Please feel free to disseminate and read the entire collection!

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/neil-j-kirk/frank-salvaterra-sting-he_b_8122112.html
Frank Salvaterra

Stacey McGowan and Kristy Irvine

https://www.vinyl-magic.com/blog/911-stacey-mcgowan-kristy-irvine-ryan-sting-and-me

Bruce Simmons

https://www.vinyl-magic.com/911-bruce-simmons-herman-sandler-sting-and-me

Here’s David’s obit from his family:

David Rice was the student with the grade point average of less than 2, who was voted most likely to succeed in high school. He was constantly in trouble. He would do things like rent a warehouse in Oklahoma City, hire a rock band, charge $10 a head and make thousand of dollars before the police broke up the party.

Still, as a teenager in Oklahoma City, he read biographies of Donald Trump and told his family that that was the kind of entrepreneur he would be. At age 31, David was an investor in bonds at Sandler O'Neill & Partners, in the south tower. "He drove his clients crazy but they loved him to death," says his younger brother, Andrew. "He was a pistol."

His life was marked by huge turnarounds. He had hit bottom in his early 20's from alcoholism and drug use. He dropped out of college. Then he began his recovery. He became a Fulbright scholar in Zimbabwe and South Africa. He earned a master's degree from the London School of Economics. Last February he transferred to New York from Chicago, where he had lived for 10 years.

"He was very real," his brother says. "He wasn't perfect but he was so wise for his age."

Here's the original Herman Sandler post.... 

Herman Sandler was a founder of Sandler O'Neill, a financial services investment bank. Along with his partners, he ran a very successful and lucrative practice. Herman was also a benefactor, who gave generously to the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and The Rainforest Foundation. He looked like Daddy Warbucks: shaved head, glasses perched on the top of his forehead, fit and disciplined like the US Army Captain who had served his country in Vietnam. He was tough and he did not suffer fools, and I was lucky to work for him and his talented team of bankers, salesmen, and traders on the 104th floor of 2 World Trade Center until I left in May 2000.

In November 1999, Sting was playing four shows at the Beacon Theatre in New York City. One of my clients was a big Sting fan and asked if I could get tickets. Tickets were at a hefty premium since the venue was so small - only 3,000 seats vs. Sting's normal Madison Square Garden gig with 20,000+. I bought tickets through a ticket broker and asked Herman for backstage passes, since Herman was friends with Sting and his wife, Trudie Styler, and served with them on the board of The Rainforest Foundation. Herman said, "No problem." Everything was no problem with Herman, even his boat was named "No Problem." Herman secured the backstage passes the next day and handed them to me. No problem.

Sting backstage pass - Beacon Theater, New York City

The night of the show, I met the client and her trading assistant for a quick dinner at the Ocean Grill on the upper West Side. They were very excited to see Sting. We finished our meal and headed over to the Beacon. The backstage entrance is near the loading dock, so we flashed our passes and we were escorted in. A roadie told us that there was no real backstage area, so we could stand along the wall or go to our seats. I looked at the wall. That didn't look very promising and it was too early to go to our seats. 'Lets try this again,' I told the clients, 'Follow me.' We went back to where we came from and an elevator door opened. Another roadie got off. We got on. Taped to the elevator wall was handwriting: Sting 6, Costumes 5, Band 4, Catering 3. This was helpful. I pressed 6 and up we went.

Outlandos d’Amour (1978) signed by Sting, Andy Summers

The elevator opened on the 6th floor into an anteroom where Sting had his back to us. He was being interviewed, speaking into a mic attached to a large tape machine. I walked by Sting, nodded, and my clients followed me and stood in the corner. Actually, they cowered in the corner, they were so star struck. The interview concluded and I greeted Sting. I told him that I worked for Herman Sandler. "Herman is a great friend and a good man. We're doing some great work together on the Rainforest Foundation," Sting said as he signed a couple of his albums. I asked him if he would take a picture with my two guests. He agreed. I coaxed them out of the corner and they flanked Sting as I took a picture. No iPhone in those days, I relied on a throw away camera just purchased at Duane Reade. I took the picture, no flash. I stalled, 'Hey Sting, we got everything working now,' I promised as I took another picture. No flash again. Sting laughed, "You got everything working except the camera!" Then he shook everyone's hands and left. We headed back to our fourth row seats and watched Sting put on a great show. My clients were very grateful that they got to meet Sting, less so when my pictures got developed and came back blank.

Regatta de Blanc (1979) signed by Sting, Andy Summers

Tragically, Herman Sandler died on September 11, 2001, along with sixty-six of his Sandler O'Neill colleagues and some of my best friends. Sting later performed his song "Fragile" at one of the World Trade Center benefits and dedicated it to Herman's memory. I miss Herman Sandler, David Rice, Frank Salvaterra, Bruce Simmons, Howard Gelling, Tom Clark, Tom Collins, Doug Irgang, Stacey McGowan, Kristy Irvine Ryan, Mike Edwards and all the other Sandler O'Neill colleagues who senselessly died that horrible day. Although the years pass, their loss is a wound that never fully heals.

Synchronicity (1983) signed by Sting, Andy Summers

Bonus content:

Armed with a Master's Degree from Harvard Divinity School, Andrew Rice is an accomplished author and poet - a veritable renaissance man. Recently, Andrew started a podcast - storiesfromnowherepodcast.com - with an eclectic and fascinating mix of guests, including the founders of Die Jim Crow Records (DJCR), a label which helps artists incarcerated behind bars, Great Britain based clinical psychologist Sandra Barefoot, Programme Development Lead for The Forgiveness Project, and Church Goin' Mule, a Cleveland, Mississippi based artist influenced by the outsider art of Howard Finster and Bill Traylor. and the delta blues of Robert Johnson, Howlin Wolf and Blind Willie McTell.

Several months ago, Andrew called me and asked if I would contribute to his podcast and speak about his brother. I was deeply touched and gladly accepted. Andrew said, "We'll just have a conversation and see where it goes."  There were no notes, no preparation and no guardrails. It was just two brothers united in their recovery and grief trying to make sense of the senseless. There were tears and laughter as we talked, remembering the indomitable spirit and force of energy that was our brother David Rice, his by blood, mine by choice. For me, It was a glorious afternoon, recalling the profound and profane, in short, the human condition which infuses and informs all of our lives.

As stated on its website, the purpose of Stories from Nowhere "documents unconventional conversations, details human connections, presents the questions and mysteries we all face, from anywhere, out in nowhere, and everywhere…" I am so humbled and honored to be included. Thank you Andrew for the opportunity. While I mostly bend and stumble toward the light, in words and deeds, you live an exemplary life of love and service. David would be so proud.

Neutral Milk Hotel, Jeff Mangum and Me…

It was this really sweet thing in the early days, when Will (Cullen Hart) and Jeff (Mangum) and Robert (Schneider) would give each other tapes of these songs, and some of these songs are just god awful, terrible. They were just thirteen year old boys yelling. "F*ck your mama," and bashing on the drums as hard as they can. It was just kids having fun, and they would fill up a whole cassette tape with this two-track recording of just dog sh*t, and they put this Elephant 6 logo on it, and would be like, "Hey man, I made you an album!" They're hysterical.

Laura Carter, Elf Power band member and Orange Twin Records founder

The songs sort of come out spontaneously and it’ll take me awhile to figure out what exactly is happening lyrically, what kind of story I’m telling. Then I start building little bridges—word bridges—to make everything go from one point to the next point to the next point until it reaches the end. A continuous stream of words keeps coming out like little blobs, usually in some sort of order. They come at me at random and I have to piece them together. I’ll hear lots of parts, but the songs are like little blurs in my brain. They’re whole entities, but it’s weird—I write them and I sing them and I envision them for what they are, and the recordings never go very far from that, but at the same time when they do become recordings they become like a whole other thing. It takes a little while to get used to the music coming from these speakers instead of inside my head. It’s very exciting to hear that, like when we play live, but it’s very strange.
Jeff Mangum, Pitchfork interview, 1997

I’m very influenced by the circus. A lot of the dreams that I have, I’m in the circus. I have this song called “Ferris Wheel on Fire,” and in the dreams a lot of times I’ll be walking around and there is this Ferris wheel in flames, and I’m on the ground walking through the crowd—a lot of the songs are influenced by my dreams. And where my dreams come from, I have no idea. When I was a kid, the bed used to feel like concrete, and I always had this dream where this bomb was rolling towards me, and everything was moving really incredibly fast, but it would never reach me. And I’d wake up, and my hands would feel totally enormous, and the bed would feel like concrete.
Jeff Mangum, Pitchfork interview, 1997

In The Aeroplane Over The Sea (1998) signed by Jeff Mangum, Julian Koster, Jeremy Barnes, Scott Spillane

When I started writing “Ghost,” it's like the 10th track, the song that goes “Ghost, ghost I know you live within me,” because we thought we had a ghost living in the house, living in the bathroom. So I locked the door and started trying to sing to the ghost in the bathroom. But then that was sort of like singing about the ghost that we thought was constantly whistling in the other room that kept waking me up, and then a ghost that may or may not live within myself. And it also ended up being more of a reference to Anne Frank. And a lot of the songs on this record are about Anne Frank.

Right before recording On Avery Island I was walking around in Ruston waiting to go to Denver to record. I don’t consider myself to be a very educated person, ’cause I’ve spent a lot of my life in dreams... And I was walking around wondering, “If I knew the history of the world, would everything make more sense to me or would I just lose my mind?” And I came to the conclusion that I’d probably just lose my mind. The next day I went into a bookstore and walked to the wall in the back, and there was The Diary of Anne Frank. I’d never given it any thought in my entire life. I spent two days reading it and then completely flipped out... I spent about three days crying, and just was completely flipped-out. While I was reading the book, she was alive to me. I pretty much knew what was going to happen.

But that’s the thing: You love people because you know their story. You have sympathy for people even when they do stupid things because you know where they’re coming from, you understand where they’re at in their head. And so here I am as deep as you can go in someone’s head, in some ways deeper than you can go with even someone you know in the flesh. And then at the end, she gets disposed of like a piece of trash. And that was something that completely blew my mind. The references to her on the record—like “Ghost” refers to her being born. And I would go to bed every night and have dreams about having a time machine and somehow I’d have the ability to move through time and space freely, and save Anne Frank.

                         Jeff Mangum writing In The Aeroplane Over The Sea 

I’ve cried while listening to the album. I still hear things in it that I missed from previous listens. The thing with this record is that it can’t be heard casually, it has to be an event! You first of all have to listen to the entire thing. The track sequencing alone demands it, if the tide and momentum don’t pull you along. These songs should not be broadcast as singles on a radio show. They are all linked to this prescribed chain and it all flows together. You can put it on in a room full of friends and conversations will just drop. People regularly hold their water to finish listening to this record. People sit in cars in driveways all over the world waiting to cut the engine and go inside until that chair squeaks and Jeff ‘gets up to leave’. This album commands attention but never demands it, you know?

                         Jamey Huggins, Of Montreal and Great Lakes musician on In The Aeroplane Over The Sea

The Golden Tickets!!!

It seems only a dream. Nearly seven years ago, my eldest daughter Kendall and I saw the elusive and enigmatic Jeff Mangum perform with his celebrated band Neutral Milk Hotel at the Klein Auditorium in Bridgeport, Connecticut. In keeping with Jeff’s reputation as the J.D. Salinger of Rock, the concert was barely advertised, there was no signage and we were lucky to score two great seats in the historic, restored Klein. Jeff had recently emerged from a self imposed fifteen year exile, regrouped his band, embarked on a worldwide tour, and had a headlining gig at Coachella, a festival of 90,000 besotted fans in the desert hills of Indio, California. It was quite a distance from Jeff’s initial beginnings in Ruston, Louisiana, a sleepy town of twenty-thousand, home to Louisiana Tech University, alma mater to Terry Bradshaw, an NFL wordsmith of lesser talents and, unfortunately, more renown.

Like most communities in the South, football is revered as the dominant male sport and a magnet for participation. Jeff didn't share this reverence. While trying out in junior high, his efforts were as uninspired as the lackluster attempts by his eventual music cohort Will Cullen Hart, "Neither one of us found it very interesting. We were the ones lagging behind," Will remembered. They did share a love of music, so they quit and jammed together. Initially, Will played guitar while Jeff played drums, a portent of his later extremely percussive approach on guitar. Soon, they were joined by Robert Schneider (who formed Apples In Stereo and created Pet Sounds Studios in Denver) and Bill Doss (who co-founded the Olivia Tremor Control with Will Hart). Certainly, there was an abundance of talent in Ruston, or as Will put it, "There was a group of us that gelled together because we didn't want to be in Whitesnake." Amen, one Whitesnake is definitely more than enough!

While still in high school, Jeff and his friends would haunt the college radio station at Louisiana Tech. Will Hart explained, "We were like, 'Look, we don't have that many friends. Can we maybe come up here and do a show?' " Once there, the embarrassment of riches which indie college radio afforded transfixed them. "We'd spend hours and hours just going through the records and pulling things out and going, 'God, this looks great! I want to hear this," Bill Doss recalled. They also began to share homemade tapes of original music amongst themselves, absorbing the influences of the Beach Boys, the Zombies, Syd Barrett and other psychedelic pop, a far cry from grunge which was the prevalent music genre at the time. On the tapes, they wrote "Elephant 6," which Will explained: "To me, it was a spirit thing especially, listen to the music inside yourself and don't give up. It's real. A lot of people saw it as a logo or a catchphrase, and it was that, maybe, but it's more than that..." And Jeff Mangum certainly agreed, "When we started the Elephant 6 thing, we had a very utopian vision that we could overcome anything through music. The music wasn't just there for entertainment. We were trying to create some sort of change. We had a desire to transform our lives and the listeners' lives." Thus was the Elephant 6 Recording Company, a collective of like minded sonic explorers, friends helping friends on their projects, with no President or Board of Directors.

Dropping out of Louisiana Tech after one year, Jeff moved in the early 1990s to Athens, Georgia, a rich music environment and a thriving scene led by the B-52s and R.E.M., one of the biggest rock bands at the time. Like his friends, Jeff was restless and eager to escape the confines of his hometown, and he continued to nurture his relationships with Will Hart, Bill Doss and Robert Schneider. As Jeff explained in 1997, “We sort of record for each other and write songs for each other. And like anytime that I’m in here recording, I’ll be going places that I don’t understand, and I’ll know that my friend Will’s gonna listen to it. I’ll give him a tape and he’ll really dig it. So that gives me a certain kind of gratification, to put something on a tape and walk down the street and hand it to him... There’s about twenty-five people that all came here from Ruston that live here now. It’s really funny; we all gravitated towards each other. We’ve just always played together our whole lives, but we’re not this closed club or something. There are people showing up all the time and they go, ‘Well I sort of bow this thing and it makes a squeaky sound!’ And then we go ‘Waaaa! Cool, man! Come squeak on this thing over here!’ If anyone wants to play, they just have to show up and want to play."

On Avery Island (1996) signed by Jeff Mangum, Julian Koster, Jeremy Barnes, Scott Spillane

In 1994, Jeff moved to Denver to record On Avery Island, his first album under the moniker Neutral Milk Hotel, at Pet Sounds Studio, produced by Robert Schneider, his childhood friend. Schneider and Mangum played virtually all the instruments, a cacophonous mix of guitars, air organs, xylophones, fuzz bass, tapes, trombone, and sundry Indonesian instruments thrown in for good measure. When released, the album elicited some good reviews and Jeff returned to Athens to create a band so they could play the songs properly and tour. He enlisted Jeremy Barnes on drums, multi-instrumentalist Julian Koster on banjo, guitars, Lowrey Wandering Genie organ, and singing saw, and Scott Spillane on trombone and trumpet. According to Laura Carter, Mangum's girlfriend at the time and later a founder of Orange Twin Records and a member of Elf Power, “None of us were professional musicians on any level, except Jeremy. Scotty learned to play the trumpet so fast and beautifully with no teacher, no experience, no nothing, just because he understood the goal and everybody believed in it.”

The recruitment of Scott Spillane was unusual. Though they were old Ruston friends and had played together in Clay Bears, a previous band, Jeff crossed paths with Spillaine in 1996 in Austin, Texas at Gumby's Pizza where Scotty was slinging dough during the night shift. Spillane recounted, "At two o'clock in the morning, all the drunks order pizza, and I was the only one in the store, so I was like, 'Come back here and help me throw this dough.' I just taught him how to put the sauce on the pizza. After about forty-five minutes of that, it calmed down, and we went outside to smoke a cigarette and he said, 'Man, this job sucks. You should come with me to New York.' " Gumby’s culinary loss was music’s gain as Spillane quit, took a bus to New York and squatted at Julian Koster's apartment in the city, "There were five of us, a dog, a cat living there in one room, about the size of a van." During the week, their squalor abated when they practiced at Koster's grandmother's home on Long Island. Their chops sufficiently strengthened, they toured, opening for acts as celebrated as Superchunk and as wondrously obscure as Supreme Dicks, still incredulous that their 1994 release Working Man's Dick didn't bring more acclaim.

In 1997, Spillane got a call to rejoin Magnum and his Elephant 6 cohorts in Denver to record Neutral Milk Hotel's masterwork, In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, "He said he'd feed me and buy me cigarettes for however long it took. So we ate rice and tofu with barbeque sauce on it every day for a month. We didn't do anything else then, except play a video game or two." While the band members shared their many musical talents, Jeff wrote nearly all the songs, which were an homage to the tragic life of Anne Frank. But it wasn't that simple or direct. The imagery of the lyrics was so graphic, varied and wild that they seemed the rantings of a stark, raving madman. Or a genius. Or both.

"In The Aeroplane Over The Sea"

And one day we will die

And our ashes will fly from the aeroplane over the sea

But for now we are young

Let us lay in the sun

And count every beautiful thing we can see

Love to be

In the arms of all I'm keeping here with me

"Ghost"

Ghost, ghost, I know you were within me, feel you as you fly

In thunder clouds above the city, into one that I loved

With all that was left within me till we tore in two

Now wings and rings and there's so many waiting here for you

And she was born in a bottle rocket, 1929

With wings that ringed around a socket right between her spine

All drenched in milk in holy water pouring from the sky

I know that she will live forever, she won't ever die

"The King Of Carrot Flowers Part 3"

Up and over we go through the wave and undertow

I will float until I learn to swim

Inside my mother in a garbage bin

Until I find myself again, again

Up and over we go with mouths open wide and spitting still

I will spit until I learn to speak

Up through the doorway as the sideboards creek

With them ever proclaiming me, me

"Two Headed Boy Part 2"

And when we break, we'll wait for our miracle

God is a place where where some holy spectacle lies

When we break, we'll wait for our miracle

God is a place you will wait for the rest of your life

Two-headed boy, she is all you could need

She will feed you tomatoes and radio wires

And return to sheets safe and clean

But don't hate her when she gets up to leave

The instrumentation and melodies were as challenging as the lyrics. Producer Robert Schneider disclosed, "He has a strong sense of what's cool, and for him, cool is very weird, like out of left field, like something you've never heard before on a record... I would generate a lot of ideas and record a lot of stuff, and most of the time, Jeff would veto it. He would always have feelings. Like one night, he dreamed about Tibetan monks chanting. The next day, he said, 'I want to have something that sounds like the way that felt.' " Jeff's bandmates were more than equal to the task: Julian Koster contributed a singing saw, basically an industrial saw that bends and, when manipulated with a bow, creates an eerie and ethereal sound, as hauntingly beautiful and ghostly as a Theremin, Laura Carter played a zanzithophone, a digital horn made by Casio in the mid 1980s which evoked bagpipes and other synthesized sounds, and Robert Schneider worked with Sott Spillane and Rick Benjamin on the horn sections. Julian Koster noted, "The tension of Scott being heartfelt, explosive, and Robert trying to superimpose arrangement and control, made for something nice." And driving the band with his nasal whine was Jeff Mangum, braying his surreal, dadaist lyrics with a force and potency that was otherworldly.

Everything Is (1995 EP, 2011 reissue) cover artwork by Will Cullen Hart

For their initial production run, Merge Records ordered 5,500 CDs and 1,600 vinyi, a prudent order given the limited success of On Avery Island. However, demand far outstripped supply and the record has sold more than 500,000 copies in the ensuing decades and continues to sell upwards of 25,000 copies each year. It has become one of the most critically acclaimed and beloved records in indie rock and many bands - Beirut, Bright Eyes and The Decemberists among others - have cited Neutral MilkHotel as a seminal influence for their uncommon instrument choices and elliptical songwriting. In fact, Grammy winner and arena rockers Arcade Fire acknowledged that they signed with Merge Records because it was Neutral Milk Hotel’s label.

All this success and notoriety didn’t help Jeff though. The worldwide tour was wearying and Jeff became more disconsolate and withdrawn. After their last gig at the Underworld in Camden, England on October 12, 1998, Jeff decided to retreat and stop performing. He even declined hometown heroes R.E.M's request to open for them on their upcoming world tour in 1999, which would have widened the Neutral Milk Hotelaudience considerably.The weight and burden of being a savior and a savant was too much. As Bill Doss told The Guardian in 2011, "Jeff's a very private person and kids were freaking out over him, following him around, these little packs of kids staring at him. It weirded him out in a way, and he just sort of backed off."

Poster signed by Jeff, Mangum, Julian Koster, Jeremy Barnes, Scott Spillane

Laura Carter agreed, "When Neutral Milk Hotel started to get so popular, Jeff started to back away from the whole thing. A lot of people that were approaching us at shows started to have a cultish behavior, and for me that was scary, because we're just people. We were excited to have this really develop into something wonderful, So at first, there was just total excitement, then as it kept snowballing, there was a little bit of fear... In some ways, I think that Jeff is a genius who knew the mystery of dropping out. Like Soft Machine's Robert Wyatt who waited another ten years to make an album. That is cooler than seeing a band grind into the ground playing the same songs and traveling around the country. Part of me thinks that the attitude of the fans was overwhelming. People were like, 'I was going to kill myself and you saved my life.' That's a hard act to live up to, and if your next album sucks, what are they going to do? Go kill themselves?"

The fans weren’t the only ones who were merciless in their pursuit. Journalists also wanted to dredge up information, including details about his parents’ messy divorce. This was not what Jeff intended as he responded to one particularly persistent writer, “I’m not an idea. I am a person who obviously wants to be left alone. If my music has meant anything to you, then you’ll respect that. Since it’s my life and my story, I think I should have a little say as to when it’s told. I haven’t been given that right.”

As Jeff also elaborated in 2002, "I guess I had this idea that if we all created our dream we could live happily ever after. So when so many of our dreams had come true and yet I still saw so many of my friends in pain, I saw their pain from a different perspective and realized that I just couldn't sing my way out of all this suffering. I realized that I wanted to take a deeper life in order to become kind of a truly healing force in people's everyday lives." And then he disappeared...

Ferris Wheel On Fire (2011 reissue)

So it was with complete shock that Neutral Milk Hotel regrouped and played a gig in our backyard on September 7, 2014 at the Klein Auditorium in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Erin was busy with our two younger kids, so I brought my oldest daughter Kendall, who was not quite seventeen at the time. She was very excited to see Neutral Milk Hotel, having grown up with their enthralling music. I wanted to make sure that I got a couple of records signed before the show as I was nervous that Jeff might disappear after the show. He had that ability. I happened to know the head of security (thanks Bernie!) so Kendall and I hung out near the backstage entrance to the Klein. One by one, the band members stopped to chat with Kendall and I, and signed the vinyl. Julian Koster and Scott Spillane couldn't have been any nicer, Julian even added a stick man self portrait. Jeremy Barnes was with his wife, the talented violinist Heather Trost, who was sitting in with the band. I told Jeremy that I was a big fan of A Hawk and A Hacksaw, his current band, and that I was sorry I didn't have any vinyl, just a couple of CDs. He was very gracious as was Heather.

Jeff Mangum came last. He looked like a Duck Dynasty cast off, long hair, even longer beard, funky, colorful sweater probably picked from a Salvation Army dumpster dive, and what looked like a Cuban military hat screwed on tight. He signed the records which Kendall gave him. I was respectful and said quietly, ‘We are so thrilled to see you tonight. Thank you so much for your music.’ “Thank you,” he replied and left, averting any eye contact. Kendall and I were thrilled with our brief encounter and went inside to watch the show.

The show did not disappoint. Though Jeff had been in seclusion, his vocals were strong and intact after a nearly fifteen year stage absence. He opened with a solo acoustic version of "I Will Bury You In Time," and then, the rest of the band joined and lit into a driving “Holland, 1945,” a stunning performance. Jeff sang and played guitar with such passion, fury and abandon, it felt like he was singing for his life, which he probably was. The crowd knew all the words and mouthed along, no small feat, especially given the lyrical excesses of Jeff’s nine minute opus “Oh Comely.” The encore was "Two Headed Boy, Part 2," the last song on In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, a fitting end to a remarkable show. To be sure, Jeff and his friends in all their ragged gloriousness were “truly a healing force in people's everyday lives, singing away so much suffering.”

I feel blessed to have shared this amazing concert experience with my daughter. Occasionally, even now, these many years later, I'll pinch myself and ask her, 'Did we really see Neutral Milk Hotel at the Klein?' Kendall assures me that we did. I still think it was only a dream.

Ferris Wheel On Fire back cover artwork by Jeff Mangum

Choice Neutral Milk Hotel cuts (per BKs request)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJTl4EyY_Hk

“The King Of Carrot Flowers, Part 1-3” In The Aeroplane Over The Sea 1998

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXSY0aspgKo

“Oh Comely” In The Aeroplane Over The Sea 1998

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gkl8WiWFw0M

“Ghost” In The Aeroplane Over The Sea 1998

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX9iW7n9qWQ

“Two Headed Boy” In The Aeroplane Over The Sea 1998

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq5l0MT_Ivg

“Two Headed Boy Part 2” In The Aeroplane Over The Sea 1998

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLaFLztnL84

“Holland 1945” In The Aeroplane Over The Sea 1998

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQd24x9aGQo

“Two Headed Boy Part 2, Holland 1945” live San Francisco 4.12.98

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVez90kx8ao

Live at the Knitting Factory, NYC 3.07.98

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMw54NK_524

Live in Athens, Georgia 10.31.97

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmjY1oihqq8

“Holland 1945” live France 5.30.14

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WeO5Fl8G8s

“Oh Sister” Ferris Wheel On Fire (2011 reissue, 1992-1994 recordings)

George Coleman and Me…

So 1963 was when Miles (Davis) called me in person. He said, "I'd like for you to come to Japan and do you have any other people you might want to recommend because I'm getting a new band." I recommended Harold Mabern, my partner from Memphis, for the piano...he wanted another horn besides myself, so I recommend Frank Strozier, who played alto. So when we first started out, it was a sextet, alto, tenor, and him on trumpet...Harold Mabern on piano, Jimmy Cobb on drums, and Ron Carter on bass...That lasted for a few months and we toured the West Coast. And then, after we finished the West Coast, he condensed the band, he broke it down and said that he just wanted a quintet. Jimmy Cobb left and...me, along with Ron Carter, we were the only two left in that band. That is when he added Tony Williams and Herbie Hancock and then the rest is history, the famous Miles Davis Quintet that made all those records that people still talk about today, My Funny Valentine, Four & More, Miles Davis in Europe, and Seven Steps to Heaven. It was those four albums that I did with him during that period, in just a year.

               George Coleman on joining Miles Davis

Quiet Nights (1963) signed by George

The major reason was, during that time, Miles was not in good health. I would wind up being out front, standing out front and in a quartet situation, because a lot of times he wouldn't show and then people would think I was Miles Davis. You can believe that. That is an absolute fact. They would come to me after the set was over and say, "Oh, Mr. Davis, the music was so tremendous." They had never seen Miles. They didn't know what he played, but he was so charismatic that even if he wasn't there, people thought he was. They didn't know whether he played tenor or trumpet or what. So there was too much pressure on me.

               George Coleman on leaving Miles Davis after one year

Max Roach +4 (1956) signed by George, Max Roach, Bob Cranshaw

George Coleman is playing with reckless abandon, not concerned with perfection or even precision. He is clearly feeding off the energy of the crowd and riding high above the beautiful accompaniment from the top-flight rhythm section. He is going for it. The no-holds-barred approach that is his signature is on full display throughout this whole date, and it’s absolutely delightful.

record label owner/saxophonist Cory Weeds on Live In Baltimore

Live In Baltimore (1971 recordings, 2020 release) signed by George

Oh yeah, the Famous Ballroom was great. We used to get up there quite a bit, with Wynton Kelly, Ron McClure and Jimmy Cobb. Those were some of the good moments. I really enjoyed playing there. The people were nice, too. A lot of black folks used to go there, too. It was integrated—I mean, black, white, whatever. They were there to listen to the music. It was a really great era.

George Coleman

Deeds Not Words (1958) signed by George, Max Roach

New York was incredible then. You had everybody from Coleman Hawkins - the father of the tenor saxophone in jazz - to Coltrane and Sonny Rollins. It was a constant inspiration to work at your craft. There was so much truly good playing, you couldn't help but be inspired. There was no room for jive.

               George Coleman on New York City in the late 1950s

Max Roach 4 Plays Charlie Parker (1959) signed by George, Max Roach

George Coleman grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, in a swirl of blues, jazz, and soul. Some of his classmates at Manassas High School were future jazz legends Booker Little, Charles Lloyd, Hank Crawford, Harold Mabern, Frank Strozier, and Phineas and Calvin Newborn. As Hank Crawford later observed, "We had a pretty good education just by being around each other." George picked up the alto saxophone at first, an homage to his hero Charlie Parker, "Charlie Parker was the real deal. He was the man I was really inspired by. His great technique, sound and all of those great qualities is what interested me to play the music." George switched to tenor saxophone when he joined B.B. King, "I made that switch when I joined B.B. in 1955. When I arrived on the scene, he went to the music store and bought me a tenor and that's when I began playing tenor because he had an alto player in the band."

Three Or Four Shades Of Blues (1977) signed by George

How the jazz gods smiled when B.B. King had no need for another alto saxophonist and bought George a tenor saxophone! From this humble beginning, George Coleman has played on some of the most important Jazz recordings like Herbie Hancock's "Maiden Voyage", Miles Davis' "My Funny Valentine", Max Roach's "Deeds Not Words" (written by bassist Bill Lee, film auteur Spike Lee's dad), and Lee Morgan's "City Lights."  George has released nineteen albums as a leader, and he has appeared on hundreds more as a sideman with Charles Earland, Charles Mingus, Jimmy Smith and Chet Baker. George spoke warmly of his recordings with Chet Baker, "That was a wonderful date. We did five of those LPs (including Smokin’, Groovin’, Comin’ On, Cool Burnin’). Chet’s chops were not the greatest and, of course, he was dealing with his affliction. We would record for maybe an hour or two, and then Chet would have to cut out, get his stuff taken care of. It was quite a revelation for me, because I had never played with him and I didn’t know he could play that great. When he put that trumpet to his mouth, man, some stuff came out of there—some real, real bebop. And he was sick..."

Manhattan Panorama (1985) signed by George, Harold Mabern

George's longest collaboration has been with his high school friend and pianist extraordinaire, Harold Mabern. They have been friends and colleagues for nearly seventy years. George appeared on Harold's first two releases in 1968 as a leader, including Rakin' And Scrapin'. Harold described the origin of the title, "I remember one day when I was ten or eleven years of age, I asked my father for some money for something I wanted to buy and I remember him saying, "Junior, I don't have the money now but I'll try to rake and scrape the money up for you." Steeped in the blues, Harold is a virtuoso pianist. His role model growing up was his fellow Memphian, Phineas Newborn, Jr., "When Phineas played, everything was at his command. He could put his right hand in one pocket and play complete compositions with his left. I knew the first time I saw him I wanted to play like that. I also knew I had my work cut out for me." As a leader, Harold has released more than twenty albums and hundreds more as a sideman in his celebrated discography, and his work continues.

Workin’ & Wailin’ (1969) signed by George, Harold Mabern, Buster Williams

Harold and George are both robust and physical performers. George has a brawny, muscular tone on the tenor saxophone which befits his background as a star high school football linebacker. A commanding stage presence, he was not nicknamed "Big George" for nothing. As he once mused about his athletic exploits, "I was sidetracked by the music. Any glimmer of hope for that was negated by the music that I was hearing from Charlie Parker and some of the other great players. So I knew right then that I wanted to be a musician pretty quick and not an athlete."

Live At Yoshi’s (1989) signed by George, Harold Mabern

Erin and I saw George and Harold again recently at The Jazz Standard in New York City, a small venue with one hundred-twenty five seats. With a halting gait, George made his way to the band stand. There, he remained seated on a stool as Harold thoughtfully handed him his horn. George said to the audience, "Thank you for coming. We'd like to dedicate this set and program to the one and only Miles Davis." The quartet - George on tenor, Harold on piano, John Webber on bass, and Joe Farnsworth on drums - opened with "Solar", a 1954 Miles Davis classic blues (the first two bars are etched on Miles' tombstone in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx!). George may be a lion in winter, but he can still roar. Even seated, his sound was warm and full, and there were plenty of solos by his talented accompanists as each song stretched beyond twelve minutes. The Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart standard "My Funny Valentine" followed which showcased Harold's lyrical touch. Harold deftly wove the Michel Legrand chanson "The Windmills Of Your Mind" into the middle of his extended piano solo before returning to the main theme. Next came the gorgeous ballad  "Someday My Prince Will Come" from the Disney songbook, Snow White never sounded so mournful yet beautiful. The quartet finished with "Oleo", a Sonny Rollins romp, as a blazing, up-tempo closer. It was a crisp celebration of Miles Davis, a glorious night of music, and an exquisite program executed by skilled practitioners.

Amsterdam After Dark (1985) signed by George

After the show, I visited with George in his dressing room. He was generous and expansive as he signed the vinyl. As he signed Amsterdam After Dark, he pointed to his horn laying flat on his dressing room banquette, "You know, that's the same horn on that cover, I've had it for more than forty years. It's not my main horn though, that one's in the shop."  ‘How long have you had the other horn?’ I asked. "More than fifty years," he chuckled. I mentioned that Jimmy McGriff played my wedding. "Yes, I know Jimmy very well. He used to play with one of my main men, Hank Crawford. Hank and I grew up together back in Memphis," George said. ‘That was some group of talent in Memphis back then,’ I mentioned. "Yes, it was," George agreed, "Yes, it was." And George Coleman and Harold Mabern are right at the top of that list of impressive talent, in Memphis or anywhere.

Mr. Wonderful (1964) signed by Harold, Sammy Davis Jr.

A Change Is Gonna Come (1966) signed by George, Jack McDuff, Pat Martino, Bernard Pretty Purdie

After my visit with George, I found Harold relaxing at the bar, having a drink with his dinner. I brought along some Sammy Davis Jr. vinyl because I loved Harold's Sammy tribute, Mr. Lucky, which he released in 2012. Harold smiled and said, "Sammy was a great artist and very underrated. I had a lot of fun recording his songs." I nudged him, "What about Greasy Kid Stuff ? That needs to be re-released on vinyl. Your version of Michael Jackson's "I Want You Back" smokes." Harold laughed, "Thank you, but I don't have anything to do with that." I expressed my condolences on the recent passing of Rudy Van Gelder, the ninety-one year old master engineer who ran a studio out of his home in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey and was responsible for nearly all of the Blue Note sessions from 1953 to 1967, including the works of John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins. "It's a terrible loss, that studio should become a museum," I offered. Harold agreed, "Yes it is a terrible loss. No one really knows what will happen. I don't know if there's a will, no one really knows. I was at a recording session less than a year ago and Rudy was there. He had moved a bed into the studio so he could continue to work." Erin and I left the show astonished with the vitality of these two jazz men in their eighties. Their music must be their secret elixir, I know it's mine.

Rakin’ And Scrapin’ (1968) signed by George, Harold Mabern

George Coleman and Harold Mabern, friends since high school and purveyors of the finest jazz. Long may they play.

Choice George Coleman and Harold Mabern cuts (per BK's request)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amLdS7KFEFo

"Woke Up This Morning" George sax solo, B.B. King on guitar/vocals

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc3CXMjeV-8
"My Funny Valentine" Miles, George, Herbie, Ron, Tony Live At Philharmonic NYC 1963

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HncvF1rTEMg
"Maiden Voyage" George with Herbie Hancock, Freddie Hubbard 1965

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5X-JHEFj18&list=PLB6A8217C2D99FF1A
"Lean On Me" Shirley Scott on organ, George wails Bill Withers! 1972

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QUYO69aclU 

"On A Misty Night"  Boppin' With The Chet Baker Quintet  1965

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbdoRmh8XYE 
"I Want You Back"   Harold swings Michael Jackson!  Greasy Kid Stuff  1970

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_FEIlEY7es
"Blues for B.B."   A Master Speaks   George Coleman   2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CkPB5GcvGw
"Rakin' And Scrapin' "  Harold Mabern   live   Smalls, NYC   2013

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsiI37-b2uI
"Hey There"  Mr. Lucky: Tribute To Sammy Davis Jr.  Harold Mabern  2012

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6pHGxs6hPE
"Fools Rush In"  with Norah Jones   Afro Blue  Harold Mabern  2015

Love Bug (1969) signed by George, Reuben Wilson

Lean On Me (1972) signed by George

Smokin’ (1977) signed by George

Two Sides Of Slide (1961) signed by George, Slide Hampton

Slide Hampton And His Horn Of Plenty (1959) signed by George, Slide Hampton

Jazz With A Twist (1962) signed by George, Slide Hampton

Time Capsule (1977) signed by George, Elvin Jones, Kenny Barron, Frank Foster, Frank Wess

Blue Breakbeats (1998 compilation) signed by George, Reuben Wilson

Larry Harlow and Me…

I came from a family of all musical people: mom, dad, uncles, brother, aunts, grandfather, great grandfather, so it was so easy to slip into music. Music and Art High School in New York City in the Barrio opened my mind to Música Latina. Going to pre-Castro Cuba to study and listen was my schooling… I fell in love with the 'cha cha cha.'

               Larry Harlow

Larry is a gringo with clave, who understands and respects our music, but also knows how to be innovative. Most of the people at Fania, no matter what their age, could be very conservative. But Larry came in with an open mind and renovated the format, adding new ingredients, new chords, new instruments, and that created enthusiasm and led to tremendous success for a lot of people, including me.

singer Ruben Blades

Heavy Smokin’ (1965) signed by Larry

I miss those days, I do. I miss the recording days; I was very, very good at doing it. I studied a lot, every time a new machine came out, I was right on it. We took everything from Mono, we started with Mono to the 4 Tracks, 8 Tracks, 12 Tracks, 24 to 32 then Digital. From writing operas, to writing symphonies, music scores for movies. We were always expanding the music to other concepts, taking salsa music to other worlds. I do miss those recording days, but I have a lot of business to take care of these days also.

Larry Harlow

When we got there, there was a big reception with all the natives in native garb, dancing and bands playing, Mobutu's staff and Don King waiting at the bottom of the steps. When we came off the plane, there was also a little band and it was playing (Fania founder Johnny) Pacheco's music, playing and singing phonetically in Spanish. Of course they didn't understand the Spanish but it sounded just like Pacheco's band. The kids would run up to me in the street and say 'You're Larry Harlow, you're Larry Harlow' and I thought 'how do these kids know who I am?' I was totally surprised, especially in a French speaking country. They would sing my songs and then do scat solos, playing bottles or pails, stuff in the street. The (concert) music was spectacular, almost everyone performed very well. James Brown - here's a guy who works every single day of the year -  was still rehearsing his band twice a day in Africa. He was putting them though it - dancing, singing, everything.

               Larry Harlow's Zaire '74 concert experience, prior to the Ali-Foreman Rumble In The Jungle

El Exigente (1967) signed by Larry

It is a label that right now only sell T-shirts, compilations and stuff like that, they don’t bring out new material whatsoever. It is great they keep the music alive as a testimony of a wonderful era. They put salsa on the map; brought it to a worldwide audience. A lot of kudos for Jerry Masucci in the old days, he put his money into creating this new musical genre. I was one of the lucky ones, was one of the first artists signed to the label. He used me, I used him. We had a love-hate relationship… it was very healthy and very good for all of us. It took us to places we would have never gone otherwise. Basically, Jerry made a career for me and I give him a lot of credit. There are issues with non-payment of royalties, not giving musicians credits when credits were due…

               Larry Harlow on his relationship with Fania Records co-founder Jerry Masucci

Con Mi Viego Amigo (1976) signed by Larry

Born Lawrence Ira Kahn in Brooklyn, Larry Harlow became an unlikely champion of Musica Latina and one of its foremost artists, celebrated as a performer, pianist, songwriter, arranger and producer. Surrounded by music at an early age, Larry's mother, Rose Sherman, was an opera singer, and his father performed as Buddy Harlowe, a bandleader at the Latin Quarter, a famous New York City nightclub run by Lou Walters, father of television icon, Barbara Walters. Larry remembered, “I was brought up backstage there. When I was a kid, ten or eleven years old, Barbara and I used to sit in the booth next to the spotlight, and we saw every show that came in there, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Joe E. Brown, Sophie Tucker...”

Larry's exposure to Latin music was piqued further as he walked to the High School of Music and Art on West 135th Street in Hamilton Heights. Larry heard "this strange music coming out of the bodegas and the mom and pop record stores and the bars." He was smitten and because he was an accomplished pianist, he soon joined Latin dance bands and played throughout New York City and at gigs in the Catskills during the summer. The Mambo dance craze was in full flight and Larry and his band mates made sure people got their Latin dance groove on. Rather than attend Brooklyn College in the late 1950s, Larry decamped for Cuba to study Latin music at its fountainhead. While the class work in Cuba was challenging, Larry's real education happened at clubs and concerts, As he recalled, “I became 'salsified', totally absorbed into the Latin culture. The music wasn’t called 'salsa' yet, but I became an Afro-Cuban nut, just studying the history and the old photographs and going to see Beny Moré, Orquesta Riverside and all those people in person.” 

La Raza Latina (1977) signed by Larry

As the Cuban Revolution took hold, Larry returned to the United States and resumed playing in clubs as a sideman and leading his own orchestra. Johnny Pacheco saw Orchestra Harlow  and immediately signed them to Fania Records, a fledgling record label in 1964 which Pacheco had co-founded with Jerry Masucci. Fania Records would eventually become as important to Latin music as Motown Records was to Soul music. Pacheco remembered seeing Larry and Orchestra Harlow, "The first thing I noticed was that he really knew how to play Latin music. He had the band set up, and they were pretty tight, but when he took a solo, that’s when he really got me. He used to take incredible solos. You could tell he had really listened to Peruchín and all those guys in Cuba. The scales he used to play, I was flabbergasted. He really was 'El Judío Maravilloso.' ” The Marvelous Jew -  "El Judio Maravilloso" became Larry's well earned sobriquet, and the title of a memorable Harlow record release in 1975.

And what a marvelous career Larry Harlow has had, releasing over forty albums on Fania Records as a leader, and producing more than two-hundred records for Fania with seminal Latin artists like Ruben Blades, Hector Lavoe, Ismael Miranda, Johnny Colon, and The Fania All-Stars who performed a sold out concert at Yankee Stadium in 1972. Larry coaxed a then retired Celia Cruz (living in obscurity in Mexico in 1973) to perform on Hommy, A Latin Opera, which was performed at Carnegie Hall. The story was a thinly veiled appropriation of The Who's successful rock opera Tommy, substituting "Tommy", the deaf, blind pinball player with "Hommy", a deaf, blind conga player with prodigious percussion skills. The record spawned worldwide hits - "Gracia Divina", "Soy Sensacional" and "Quirinbomboro" - and rejuvenated Celia Cruz as the "Queen of Salsa" as she embarked on a second recording career, probably the most productive and satisfying of her impressive artistic journey.

Senor Salsa (1976) signed by Larry

Led by his band's infectious, pulsating rhythms and his unbridled enthusiasm, Larry Harlow always puts on a bumpin' show. Most recently, I saw him perform at the Blue Note in New York City along with his expert ten-piece band, including noted drummer Bobby Sanabria, Nelson Gonzalez on tres (Latin guitar), Joe Fielder on trombone, and (per Larry's introduction) "my fellow landsman and colleague for almost fifty years" Lewis Kahn on trombone and violin. It is a joyful and propulsive noise indeed, as the two trumpet and two trombone gloriously drone on, while the piano, bass, drums and two conga supply a sturdy bottom.

Before the show, I visited with Larry in his upstairs dressing room. He was quite expansive as he signed the vinyl. I casually mentioned that I had not seen him perform in this club. "Yes, eighteen straight years playing at the Blue Note in Japan, and this is the first time ever in the Blue Note in New York? And I live on West 86th?! C'mon, there's something wrong with that!" How about Cuba, have you ever gone back? "No, I haven't played there since 1978. I have no interest in going back, they don't want to pay anything. Their musicians come here and get paid well and they take our jobs, but they don't want to pay us anything. No thanks." I heard you were writing a book? "Yes, the book is written but it's stuck in editing. You know Judith Regan? Well, she signed me, paid me $50,000, said she would personally edit my book, did nothing and disappeared. She's busy now with (disgraced NYC police commissioner) Bernie Kerik's book. I did like the fifty grand though," Larry said with a knowing smile.

Senor 007 (1965) signed by Ray Barretto, unsigned by Larry

I gave him a couple of albums to sign. He asked, "How many do you have? You know I made fifty-six." I said, I wish I had all of them plus the two-hundred-fifty you produced, as I handed him a Ray Barretto album. "Nah, I'm not signing that. You know, I miss Ray. A great friend, he played with me in the Fania-All Stars in the 1970s and he was in my first Latin Legends band in 1995. Ray had some problems though, he didn't pay his taxes for twenty-five years and it caught up with him. So, when we played, all he wanted was cash and that made it hard for the rest of the band. I didn't produce any of his albums, he was a real musician not just a drummer. He could write, arrange, produce, he was the real deal. He didn't need me as a producer." Like Tito Puente who studied at Juilliard? "Yes, exactly like Tito!"

How about the Rumble In The Jungle in Zaire in 1974? "Crazy. We were there twelve days, there was no money, but we had a blast. The (Muhammad Ali-George Foreman) fight was delayed because Foreman broke his wrist in training, but the concerts were booked so we went anyway. We had too much equipment on the (charter) plane going over there, so we had to shift it to the back of the plane. It's a miracle we got there." I mentioned that my friend, Gary Stromberg, was on the plane, and he told me that there were a lot of extracurricular activities. Larry had a big smile. "Yes, well, James Brown brought his own 'doctor' with his own bag. You can guess what was in it! Yes, there was a lot of stuff going on." How were the concerts? "The shows were great. I later produced all the music, but the scene was wild. They were hanging young kids underneath the stands for petty theft and stuff like that, while we were playing. We didn't know it at the time, but that was incredible. The (Mobutu) martial law was brutal. And all these young African bands showed up to play and we had no idea who they were. We'd say to them, 'Ok, the band in the blue suits, you're next, let's go', and they would play and they would be great. One of the bands was led by Fela Kuti, I knew who he was and he was impressive."

Nice ‘n’ Naasty (1976) signed by Larry

I asked him about his reception in other countries, playing in stadiums versus small clubs. "You know, I'm big in Colombia. Fans are so passionate, they're asking me to play songs from my first album. It's been so long, I have no idea how to play the songs. They know all the words, they ask questions like who is the bass player on the second side, track 3? How am I supposed to know?! They are fanatics. They get very deep. They also find out where you're staying and they will show up at your hotel and swarm, like two-hundred-fifty people following us around. We're like rock stars. My wife, well, my new wife is certainly not used to that." Again, Larry flashed a very knowing smile.

I mentioned that I was seeing Eddie Palmieri in a couple of weeks. "Oh, he's great, we're great friends. We go back a long time." What was his brother Charlie like? "Great musician, you know, a much better talent than Eddie, but he drank too much. That's what took him out. I'll tell you who was a great pianist that no one has ever heard - Bundini Brown (Muhammad Ali's corner man, sometime poet and author of "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, Your hands can't hit, what your eyes can't see"). He was a helluva stride player, he could really play. I'm not kidding." I thanked Larry for all his courtesy and kindness, and as I left, he said, "Hey Neil, really nice chatting with you. When I see you downstairs, I expect you to clap. Loud!"

No problem, Larry. No problem. Now if only his book could get published!

Synergy (1992) signed by Larry

Choice Larry Harlow Cuts (per BKs request)

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W777MIR8-ko
"Guantanamera"  Celia Cruz with Fania All-Stars  Zaire, Africa 1974

Larry Harlow on piano, Johnny Pacheco conducting, Ray Barretto on conga

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXN-_asIaYs
"Quimbara"  Celia Cruz with Fania All-Stars  Zaire, Africa 1974

Larry Harlow on piano, Johnny Pacheco conducting, Ray Barretto on conga

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed7aKWIq28w
"La Cartera"  Orchestra Harlow  live - dig Larry's corn rows!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed7aKWIq28w
"Descarga"  Buda All-Stars live with Larry and Charlie Palmieri on piano, Mongo Santamaria on conga

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MX__RFXq4s
"Gracia Divina"  Celia Cruz  Hommy, A Latin Opera  1972

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hChH_YyWAo4
"Soy Sensacional"  Orchestra Harlow  Hommy, A Latin Opera  1972

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xEbVo1fy8I
"Descarga Fania"  Larry Harlow's Latin Legends, Blue Note Tokyo  2015

Ron Carter, Brendan and Me…

I like to think that anything I play on will be commercially viable and I’m not afraid to say that. When musicians get together, whatever their level, something special can come out. I think if you’re looking for it, you’re not going to find it. As it turns out, those records you mentioned (Herbie Hancock’s Maiden Voyage, Freddie Hubbard’s Red Clay, Wayne Shorter’s Speak No Evil or Jobim’s Wave) happen to be important ones, whether it pertains to the advancement of sound or concept. We weren’t looking to make a famous record, only to have a great time playing and making as good a recording as possible.

               Ron Carter   Interview 2014

Pick ‘Em (1975) signed by Ron, Kenny Barron, Ben Riley, Buster Williams

You ever see an anchor? It’s down at the bottom, rusty. No one knows it’s there; no one gives a shit that it’s there, holding the boat back. Anchor of the band? That means the band’s not going anywhere. That’s not what I do, man. My job is to knock your socks off. An anchor is dead weight; it’s corroded. If you want to think of me as an item, think of me as a nice guy who wears great ties and plays bass, I can live with that.

               Ron Carter on Miles Davis calling him the "anchor" of his second quintet (1963-1968)

Spanish Blue (1974) signed by Ron, Billy Cobham, Sir Roland Hanna, Hubert Laws

For me, it's a highlight anytime someone calls me to make a recording with them, when any artist not only in New York but in the world, calls me to make a recording. To bring the music to the highest level, that's always my greatest moment. Any really good record date gives me another chance to make the music work. That's what I do.

               Ron Carter 

Uptown Conversation (1969) signed by Ron

I got the bass I have now in 1959 and borrowed money to pay for it since I didn’t have enough when I moved to NY. I’ve been playing this bass for all these years. Bass players I think look for a second fiddle and...secondary instruments and I have three or four that didn’t quite pan out. But I have a second one I’ve made some adjustments to and it’s coming together. What’s happening now is that airlines won’t let you take your instrument on board – and it’s forced us to play whatever instrument is at the gig. We call that a “bass du jour."

               Ron Carter  Interview 2014

Alone Together (1972) signed by Ron, Jim Hall

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Ron Carter is the most prolific and recorded jazz bassist in history, appearing on over twenty-two hundred recordings. An enormous body of work, this reflects Ron's participation on albums with Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Freddie Hubbard, Hank Jones, Lee Morgan, Horace Silver, and McCoy Tyner, among many others. Surprisingly, I do not have all of Ron's recordings (yet!), but I do have a bunch.

Maiden Voyage (1965) signed by Ron, Herbie Hancock, George Coleman

Empyrean Isles (1964) signed by Ron, Herbie Hancock

Born in Ferndale Michigan, Ron moved to Detroit when he was ten and pursued the study of classical music, the cello and double bass. Though he was aware of the vibrant jazz scene in Detroit in high school, his interests were Bach, Bartok and Handel. As he noted, "I started playing (cello) at ten years old and switched to bass at seventeen...this was around January 1955. My parents scraped by and got me a cello and encouraged me. Then I traded in my cello and got a bass from the local music store downtown and had a paper route to pay it off." That paper route yielded a bountiful return!

Peg Leg (1978) signed by Ron, Kenny Barron, Ben Riley, Buster Williams

Upon graduation, Ron attended The Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York where he continued his classical studies as a bassist with dreams of joining a symphony. Though he had considerable talent, he had no opportunities as symphony orchestras in the 1950s generally did not hire African-Americans. As the (not so) great conductor Leopold Stokowski told Ron, that while he loved his talent, the board of directors of The Houston Symphony Orchestra "was not ready for a colored man to be in their orchestra." Classical music's stupidity, arrogance and intransigence was jazz music's gain and good fortune.

Out There (1960) signed by Ron

After college, Ron started gigging around New York City and got jobs with pianist Jaki Byard and drummer Chico Hamilton. Ron's first recording was playing bass and cello on Eric Dolphy's Out There in 1960. Largely improvised in the studio, Out There is an aptly titled, avant-garde jazz excursion which features the compositions of Charles Mingus and Dolphy, a colleague in the Chico Hamilton band. Ron's big break was joining the Miles Davis Quintet in 1963 with Miles, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock and Tony Williams. This groundbreaking quintet released fourteen albums,including  E.S.P (1965) which featured three Ron Carter compositions. After leaving Miles in 1968, Ron continued his studio work, appearing on thousands of sessions and releasing forty-eight albums as a leader in his remarkable and indefatigable career.

Blues Farm (1973) signed by Ron, Bob James

His recording philosophy was simple: "Whenever I play, I think about what note will make the other musicians' notes sound the best. I'm always listening, and at each moment I want to pick a note that will make the other musicians think. I want to push the music to a higher level." As Ron brought his brilliance to each session, not only jazz musicians benefited, he also recorded with Roberta Flack, Lena Horne, Billy Joel, Gil Scott-Heron, Paul Simon, and hip-hop avatar A Tribe Called Quest.

Keep Your Soul Together (1974) signed by Ron, Freddie Hubbard, George Cables

I have seen Ron Carter many times through the years in New York City jazz clubs and they were memorable shows. From small groups - a fabulous trio in 2008 with French composer/pianist Michel LeGrand and drummer Lewis Nash at Birdland - to larger bands - the Ron Carter Nonet at the Blue Note which featured a string quartet with piano, bass, drums and Ron playing a Piccolo bass (an upright bass usually tuned an octave higher to allow for soloing in a higher register). Each time I met with him, Ron was kind and affable while he signed his vinyl.

The Kicker (1967) signed by Ron, Joe Henderson, Kenny Barron, Louis Hayes

Piccolo (1978) signed by Ron, Kenny Barron, Buster Williams

For me, the most memorable Ron Carter performance was at the Iridium in New York City in April, 2010. A basement club on Broadway, just up from Times Square, the Iridium is intimate with seats for maybe one hundred-twenty five. Ron was reunited with an old Rochester, New York friend, tenor saxophonist and composer Pee Wee Ellis, best known for his stint with James Brown in the mid-1960s and co-writer of the JB hits, "Cold Sweat" and "Say It Loud - I'm Black And I'm Proud." Joining Pee Wee and Ron were pianist Mulgrew Miller and drummer Jimmy Cobb. Yes, the Jimmy Cobb, the last living link to Miles Davis' transcendent Kind Of Blue, probably the best known jazz album and certainly, its best selling. Erin and I decided to bring the whole family to the show, so Kendall (age 12), Brendan (age 10) and Camryn (age 8) joined in the revelry. Fortunately, the smoky, basement jazz clubs of yore no longer exist, they are a faded (and absurd) memory like smoking sections on airplanes.

Blue Moses (1973) signed by Ron, Randy Weston

We were seated at a table and settled in for the show about ten feet from the small stage. The band came out and played mostly jazz standards in a straight ahead groove - "There Is No Greater Love", "Airegin" from the Sonny Rollins' songbook, and Tadd Dameron's "Good Bait." This marked the first time that Ron and Pee Wee had played together in more than fifty years and it was great to hear such good friends and master musicians perform so seamlessly. Sadly, there was no funk from the James Brown canon, just a mid tempo groover, "Blue Bell Pepper", a new track off Different Rooms, Pee Wee's recent CD. 

Monk Suite (1984) signed by Ron, David Harrington, Hank Dutt, Joan Jeanrenaud, John Sherba

After the show, Erin and I took the kids back stage to meet the band and they were extremely nice, as I'm sure they were not used to meeting such young and enthusiastic fans in a nightclub. I told Ron that my son Brendan was playing electric bass in a band and that they had recently brought down the house at an intermediate school recital. I neglected to mention that they played a cover of "Stacy's Mom", a wholly inappropriate song for Grades 3-5, that escaped the (less than) rigorous censorship of the school administration. Ron looked down at my young son, "That's wonderful news. You know what you must do?" Brendan looked up quizzically. Ron, tall and lean with long slender fingers, 6'3" and growing taller, intoned sternly, "You must practice, practice, practice. Everyday you must practice! That's what I do. That's what you must do." Brendan nodded quietly, he didn't seem rattled or intimidated, but I sure as hell was! We thanked Ron for the advice and the great performance, and left.

Big Bags (1962) signed by Ron, Milt Jackson, Hank Jones, James Moody, Willie Ruff, Jerome Richardson, Jimmy Heath, Clark Terry, Doc Severinsen

Ron Carter, as virtuosic as he is prolific, always evolving and exploring. And recording! As he once said, "I've been playing this instrument for over fifty years. Every day, I'm finding new combinations of notes to play, and wondering and wondering why I didn't think of that before.”

In Concert (1973) signed by Ron, Freddie Hubbard, Stanley Turrentine

Addendum: 6 August 2021

6 August 2021 - The Maestro!!!

I was blessed to see Ron Carter, the redoubtable bassist, perform with his exquisite quartet at the Blue Note in New York City. It was a wonderful night of live music and his other members - Renee Rosnes on piano, Jimmy Greene on tenor sax, Payton Crossley on drums - performed brilliantly. They opened with “All Blues,” segued into “Corcovado “ then a beautiful ballad and an unaccompanied “You Are My Sunshine” which the maestro picked, plucked and thwacked to the delight of everyone. Before launching into a sumptuous version, Ron disclosed that “My Funny Valentine” was his favorite song and finished the evening with a rollicking “ You And The Night And The Music,” a fitting coda to a sprawling suite of mesmerizing musicianship, or just another Ron Carter performance!

Before the set, I had a chance to visit with Ron in his dressing room and he was gracious to sign some more vinyl. He greeted me warmly, “It’s great to see you.” I almost looked behind me to see if someone else had come in. I mentioned that this was my first live show in New York City and Ron smiled, “Yes, I know. I need this and I’m glad you’re here.” I handed him his book which I had just purchased, ‘Hey, I got your book.’ “That’s not important,” he said with a long pause, at least 4 beats, “You need to read the book.” After he signed it, he handed it back to me and pointed at the inscription, “You know what those are? They’re repeating clefs, so Thank You, Thank You, Thank You…” I thanked Ron for his time and offered a fist bump as I was about to leave. He ignored the fist bump and clasped my forearm and drew me near, “Thank you for coming, I really need this.” Yes, Maestro, we all do, it was beautiful moment with an equally beautiful man.

Repeating Clefs - Thank You…

The Real McCoy (1967) signed by Ron, McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones

Off The Top (1982) signed by Ron, Jimmy Smith, Grady Tate, Stanley Turrentine

Choice Ron Carter Cuts (per BK's request)

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_oSAPsP6-w

"Stacy's Mom"  Brendan and Friends   Rockin' in Weston CT   6.11.09

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRHK9psKK7I

" 'Round Midnight"  Live with Miles, Herbie, Wayne, Tony and Ron

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asJRAGUlZ1c

"Walkin' "  Live 1983 with Herbie Hancock, Billy Cobham

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VN8zH366M8

"Cantaloupe Island"  Live with Herbie Hancock, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Tony Williams

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

"Autumn Leaves"  Live with Jacky Terrasson on piano, Russell Malone on guitar

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

"Joshua"  Live 1964  with Miles, Herbie, Wayne, Tony

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Mc2GPTZaxk

"Concierto de Aranjuez"  Chet Baker, Paul Desmond, Jim Hall, Ron Carter, Sir Roland Hanna, Steve Gadd

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ4WNpAYo6I

"Toys"  Live with Herbie Hancock, piano  Billy Cobham, drums

Yardbird Suite (1988) signed by Ron, Frank Morgan, Mulgrew Miller

Sessions (1964 recordings, 1975 release) signed by Ron, Chick Corea, Richard Davis

Concierto ((1975) signed by Ron, Jim Hall, Steve Gadd, Sir Roland Hanna

Empire Jazz (1978) signed by Ron, Jon Faddis, Billy Cobham, Frank Wess

Plas Johnson, The Pink Panther and Me…

My dad got me started, but I'm mostly self taught. I was playing mostly by ear. You have to have your idols, your heroes. You listen to what they play, pick up the licks you like. Adapting, I guess copying is a better word, the great solos and using what you can. It's the way you put it together that becomes your style. Your notes are your words. It's very boring if you use the same adjectives over and over again. So you have to listen to more than one source. The toughest part of playing jazz is sound and articulation - breaking down your sentences into melody and harmony.

Plas Johnson

Grease: that essence which each jazz musician applies to the music, allowing it to slide around and between the notes and rhythms, imparting elements of spontaneity, emotion and personality which defy written notation.

Plas Johnson, L.A. '55 liner notes

This Must Be The Plas! (1959) signed by Plas

Through the years, Erin and I have been to thousands of shows seeing music encompassing all genres in every conceivable venue: Jerry Jeff Walker in a dance hall in Luckenbach, Texas, Ray Charles and his big band (including The Raelettes!) rocking a Neiman Marcus store in a shopping mall in Washington, DC, Jimmy McGriff playing jazz at our wedding in our backyard, Willie Nelson performing a full set at a Tower Records store in New York City, Eric Clapton at Carnegie Hall, Beirut at the Guggenheim Museum (designed by architect eminence grise Frank Lloyd Wright) and James Brown performing in a tent at a store opening in Westport, Connecticut. Equally fabulous and uncommon was a free Plas Johnson gig in the lobby of the Westin Los Angeles Airport Hotel. LAX never sounded so groovy and greasy.

Best known for his studio work, Plas Johnson and his tenor saxophone have graced the recordings of The Beach Boys, Bobby Darin, Marvin Gaye, B.B. King, Liza Minnelli, Linda Ronstadt, Boz Scaggs, Frank Sinatra, Rod Stewart, and Tom Waits, a cast as wide as it is talented. Plas was also a member of the famed Wrecking Crew, a stable of extraordinarily talented Los Angeles based musicians who were featured on thousands of recordings. Bassist Carol Kaye, drummer Hal Blaine and guitarist Glen Campbell were just a few of Plas’ celebrated studio compadres.

The Pink Panther (1963)

Plas was also the tenor saxophonist on Henry Mancini’s ubiquitous hit “The Pink Panther Theme.” Plas remembered, "We only did two takes, I think. When we finished, everyone applauded, even the string players. And that's saying something, they never applaud for anything." The string players weren't the only one's applauding, "The Pink Panther Theme" captured the hearts and ears of millions of fans and became a beloved song which resonated throughout the nine subsequent Pink Panther movies (and cartoons!) in this enduring franchise. A tremendous commercial success, the soundtrack won three Grammys in 1963 and was nominated for an Academy Award, but lost to Mary Poppins, a worthy competitor. The composer Henry Mancini recalled, "I had a specific saxophone player in mind - Plas Johnson. I nearly always precast my players and write for them and around them. Plas had the sound and the style I wanted." To be sure, the mellifluous sound of Plas Johnson was a fitting muse.

It all started in Donaldson, Louisiana, sixty miles north of New Orleans, where Plas grew up in a very musical family. Plas was named after his dad, an abbreviation of plaisant, French for pleasant and delightful, an appropriate and apt sobriquet. His father and mother were musicians and included their children in their family enterprise, “My mother, Grace, played piano and sang. My dad, Plas Sr., played alto sax. They hustled work everywhere we lived. We would travel up and down the bayou on weekends. They would play wherever they could, in bars and restaurants, dances. We all were singers.” That changed when his father brought home a soprano saxophone, “It was a straight soprano. My dad paid $16 for it, he got it from a pawnshop. It doesn't sound like much, but $16 was a whole lot of money back then." For the princely sum of $16, a career was launched which still resonates throughout the film, jazz and television worlds today!

Mood For The Blues (1960)

Plas and his brother Ray, a pianist, recorded in the late 1940s as the Johnson Brothers Combo for Regal, a small label in New Orleans. Plas then joined the great blues and jazz singer Charles Brown in 1951 and toured with Charles until he was conscripted into the US Army. Upon his release in 1954, Plas decamped to Los Angeles where he studied at the Westlake School of Music, one of the first academic institutions to offer a college diploma for a Jazz curriculum. Though Westlake was only viable from 1945 through 1961 before closing, it did help other notable Jazz artists, including Bob Cooper, Charlie Haden, and Gary Peacock.

The versatility of Plas was invaluable as he became an in-demand session player in the fertile Los Angeles music and studio scene. Fluent on alto, baritone and soprano saxophone, as well as clarinet and flute, Plas considered his tenor saxophone the most important, "I started playing tenor when I was about fifteen. I call it my money horn. No matter how great you play alto, there's always more calls for tenor." And Plas got lots of calls, especially after the resounding success of “The Pink Panther Theme.”

L.A. ‘55 (1983) signed by Plas, Art Hillery

Dave Cavanaugh, a legendary Capitol Records A&R executive, signed Plas to a contract immediately after hearing Plas perform on some early Johnny Otis sessions. This led to some obscure recordings - a series of Arthur Murray dance records (credited to "Big Dave Cavanaugh") and jams with lounge exotica master Les Baxter on African Jazz and Tamboo! Plas also added his deft and smooth sax fills for singers Nat King Cole, Peggy Lee and Frank Sinatra. Plas remembered the exacting perfectionist that was Sinatra, "I sat in the hall for two hours and then Dave Cavanaugh brought me in to sit with the band. I played something like an eight-bar solo and that was it." All this acclaimed session work led to other opportunities in television, including a twelve-year stint on the Merv Griffin Show with Merv’s orchestra. Even the great Neal Hefti, a jazz composer of renown for his work with Count Basie, enlisted Plas and the redoubtable trumpet of Harry "Sweets" Edison to perform the theme for the hit television show The Odd Couple. Who knew that Felix and Oscar were hipsters and had such great taste?!

So it was a complete surprise when I was in Los Angeles on a business trip in March 2006 and scoured the LA Times entertainment section and saw that Plas Johnson was playing a gig at the Westin Los Angeles Airport Hotel for free. No cover, no minimum. Billed as "Jazz in the Lobby," it was a series of concerts in an unlikely venue. The hustle and bustle of a transient airport hotel lobby was surprisingly an hospitable host for an incomparable jazz master, no matter the cavernous lobby, challenging acoustics and sterile industrial furnishings. And Plas had some help, the great pianist Art Hillery was sitting in.

There was no stage, just a piano, drum kit, acoustic bass, saxophone and ferns. Lots and lots of ferns. I sat down at an empty table far from the madding shrubbery and an elderly woman asked if she could join me. 'Of course,' I said to the woman who was dressed in her elegant Sunday finery, as she sat down with her doting husband and friend. A few minutes later, the show started. Plas opened with a languid and dripping with molasses "Please Send Me Someone To Love." As Plas began his smoldering and sensuous groove, the woman shouted out, "Mmm, mmm, mmm, take your time!" It was a plea, a petition, and a prayer which Plas willingly answered as he played a wonderfully slow take on the Percy Mayfield classic. Other highlights were "Georgia On My Mind," from the pen of Hoagy Carmichael, a Ray Brown original "Parking Lot Blues" and, of course, "The Pink Panther Theme," a crowd pleasing finale. Despite the roomy and reverberant lobby, Plas imbued so much warmth and sound with his horn, it felt as if we were in an intimate, hazy nightclub. It was an amazing night of music.

The Blues (1975) signed by Plas

After the show, I visited with Plas and exhorted him to come back east to perform in New York. "Oh, I don't travel much these days," he said with a shrug and a smile. He was happy to sign his records, and I thanked him for his music and his time. As he once said about his extensive recording studio work, "My solos always seemed to bring up the record another notch. I could do that in eight bars, I could do that in twelve bars, and I was used to maybe do fills behind the vocalist after that." Yes, Plas Johnson always brought the songs up a notch, just listen to his contributions on Marvin Gaye's Let's Get It On or Boz Scaggs' Silk Degrees or Sam Cooke's Twistin' The Night Away or Joni Mitchell's Travelogue or The Platters' The Great Pretender or Tom Waits' Heart Attack & Vine or...

With Plas, the possibilities are as endless as they are rewarding!

After You’ve Gone…(1975) signed by Plas, Ray Brown, Harry Sweets Edison

Choice Plas Johnson Cuts (per BKs request)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBupII3LH_Q

“The Pink Panther Theme” live with Henry Mancini on piano

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=plas+johnson+please+send+me+someone+to+love

“Please Send Me Someone To Love” The Blues 1975

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCwF9XfHDX0

“Flintstones” After You’ve Gone 1975

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3byGuyvLG2Y

“The Blues” live with Jay McShann on piano, Milt Hinton on bass

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU5gedgIUfs

“Time After Time” The Blues 1975

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6qPwCg2f1Y

“Parking Lot Blues” Introduction To Soul Jazz 2000

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

“The Shake” Plas solos with Van Johnson 1959

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDrfHj3j398

“The Odd Couple Theme” with Harry Sweets Edison

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

“Peter Gunn Theme” live with Henry Mancini on Steve Allen show

Bonus Picks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBk1ajp8sIE

“Let’s Get It On” with Marvin Gaye 1973

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzCD84MNjBI

“Distant Lover” with Marvin Gaye 1973

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUg315xTNtk&list=PLjb5kMzP2zonY8b-FLOPt1bt2l11mWB4l

“What Can I Say” with Boz Scaggs 1974

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvpsquT3eOQ&list=PLjb5kMzP2zonY8b-FLOPt1bt2l11mWB4l&index=2

“Georgia” with Boz Scaggs 1974

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0qypyPl7oQ&list=PL6AINSH9vTTICTDY17uHuCZAmm5ycNOsD

“Squeeze Me” with Maria Muldaur 1974

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

“It Ain’t The Meat, It’s The Motion” with Maria Muldaur 1974

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzEBerpg9gk

“What’d I Say” wiith Bobby Darin 1962

Arthur Prysock and Me…

In the category of true and lasting greats - is Arthur Prysock. Here is a performer with the look and sound of a man who has lived and loved. His voice, a thoroughly matured instrument, has a warmth and power that is totally believable. The assurance with which he approaches a song, and the confidence with which his interpretation makes it so unmistakably his own - are qualities that emerge only when a rich natural talent is tempered by a good measure of experience. Prysock is clearly no adolescent, but it is at least equally clear that he is, and probably always will be, full of youthful vigor and fire.

producer Orrin Keepnews, Mister Prysock liner notes 1964

A Portrait Of Arthur Prysock (1963) signed by Arthur

Only in church. I didn't have any idea that I could sing, really. The people I got a room with, their son played piano. I sang in the bathroom, you know what they say, a singer in the bathroom sounds good. He was listening to me, and after a month or two, he asked me to come into his part of the house where he had a piano. He asked if I could sing in tune, and I said, 'I guess so. He hit a note, and I hit the note. He asked what songs I knew. One I knew was Nat King Cole's "That Ain't Right." It's a blues thing. He played it and I sang it. He said he'd teach me a lot of songs. He took me to the club and introduced me to his little brother and had me come up and sing a song. I almost fainted... I sang one song and the girls screamed. The man who owned the place came out and asked where I'd come from. He hired me for three dollars a night, which was a lot of money. I was working at Pratt and Whitney Aircraft, until they found out I was sixteen, and they fired me. So I stayed around there for about a year and became the biggest singer there.

Arthur Prysock and his early start in 1943 in Hartford, Connecticut

I Worry About You (1961)

We got back after three months - all the way to California - and opened at the Apollo Theater. That was the biggest thing in my life. The fellows kidded me, "If they don't like you in the Apollo Theater, they'll throw tomatoes at you, and they're still in the can." I was scared to death. When I walked out on stage, the girls screamed. I went backstage for about five minutes, they couldn't get me out there. I was scared to death. Buddy (Johnson) was a quiet man, he said, "Come on Arthur, they love you." They brought me back on stage. I started singing and they started screaming again. Buddy said, "They love you." He was right. I became the number one singer with Buddy. My first record was a million seller - "They All Say I'm The Biggest Fool." I stayed with the band for about eight years as a singer, and when I left, I went out as a single. Of course, it wasn't too good for me. Then rock and roll came in, and it almost killed me, almost knocked me out of the business. But I stuck to it, and I'm very happy I did."

Arthur Prysock and his first tour with Buddy Johnson

Art & Soul (1966)

"Here's to good friends, tonight is kinda special, the beer will flow...so tonight, tonight, let it be Lowenbrau." So intoned the dulcet baritone of Arthur Prysock as he implored the virtues of Lowenbrau, a Munich beer whose origins traced from the 14th century which was being mass produced by the Miller Brewing Company in the 1970s. Lowenbrau, a mainstay at Munich’s Oktoberfest since 1810, never caught on with North American, no account boozers like me. The recipe was different and Miller did not adhere to the strict German ingredient guidelines which proved prohibitively expensive to mass produce. As forgettable and horrid as the beer was, the jingle was inescapable and catchy. In those halcyon beer war days, Lowenbrau’s jingle was a valiant attempt to compete with Budweiser's spokesman, the incomparable Mr. Lou Rawls and, later, Colt 45's charismatic Billy Dee Wiilliams. Of the three, Arthur Prysock was, perhaps, less well known, but certainly no less talented.

Mister Prysock (1967)

Born in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Arthur grew up singing in the church. Like many in the 1940s, job opportunities were limited in the South to working in fields or picking cotton, so Arthur left to pursue a job in manufacturing in the North. He ended up working at a Pratt and Whitney Aircraft facility in Hartford, Connecticut. He worked there for a year until they found out he was only sixteen and he was unceremoniously fired. Fortunately, he was already singing at local clubs and he was hired by Buddy Johnson in 1944 to join his orchestra when the singer, Joe Medlin, fell ill. Aerospace’s loss was music’s gain!

This Is My Beloved (1968)

Arthur remembered, “Buddy Johnson came through and I asked if I could sing a song. His singer was sick. He said, "Well, if you know any of my songs, yes." I said, 'I know them all. I do them nightly.' I sang three or four songs, and when it was over, he asked if I'd like to sing with his band. I said, 'I'd love it.' He said, "You'll hear from me in a couple of weeks." We got together in Hartford. Then I wrote a letter home telling everybody that I was singing with Buddy Johnson's band. The girl I was going with down there before I left said I was the biggest liar and that I should not write to her anymore. When we got down there, we played Greensboro, Spartanburg, Darlington, the cornbread circuit. Everyone knew then that I was singing with Buddy Johnson.“ Notwithstanding his (soon to be ex) girlfriend’s misconceptions, Prysock became Lou Gehrig to Medlin’s Wally Pipp as Arthur stayed with Buddy for the next eight years and recorded many celebrated and million selling records, including “They All Say I’m The Biggest Fool” and "I Wonder Where Our Love Has Gone."

The Best Of Arthur Prysock (1967) signed by Arthur

Though he was only sixteen when he joined and too young to go into clubs, the experience was invaluable performing with these older musicians. Arthur remembered his time with Buddy fondly, "Yes, I wouldn't give it up for anything because Buddy Johnson was like a teacher. He would write the songs, and he would teach them to you the way they should be sung. Today, when I sing one of Buddy's songs, I always think about how he brought me up, teaching me how to present myself to the audience, lyric-wise. He couldn't sing too good, but he was a heck of a teacher." No, not many singers were blessed with the mellifluous and buttery tone of Arthur’s bass-baritone, a style that Arthur admittedly copied from Billy Eckstine: "Billy Eckstine was my idol. I loved his singing. We had similar voices... I still like him and we're good friends. Whenever we're around, we see each other. We almost spend the night together, just talking."

I Must Be Doing Something Right (1968)

After eight years with Buddy, Arthur decided it was time to move on, as he wasn't making enough money to support his growing family. Arthur credited his wife with her enduring support in those early, trying years, "It was tough. My wife also worked to help the family and to help me. She said, 'As long as you want to try it...' After about a year, she said, 'Are you sure you don't want to get a job?' "No," I said, "I gotta stick it out." It's good when you got a good woman, because you can have a bad one and that's the end of it. They don't care whether you make it or not. The first thing they want is the lawyer."

Fly My Love (1970)

Arthur stuck with it and enjoyed an acclaimed forty-two year career as a singer, mixing Jazz, Rhythm and Blues, and Soul in an intoxicating stew. He released more than thirty records and was nominated for two Grammys late in his career. He also recorded with jazz legends, including Count Basie who wanted Athur to join his band to replace the departing Jimmy Rushing. He spurned Basie's offer, as well as an opportunity from Duke Ellington, preferring to remain independent.

Here’s To Good Friends (1978) Tonight is kinda special!

The Lowenbrau fame came later in Arthur's career when he had been reduced to performing in cabaret style supper clubs. Arthur recounted, "I was in the studio at the time making Miller commercials. When I finished, the producer asked, 'Arthur, would you like to try out for a new beer, Lowenbrau?' I said that I had never heard of it, but I'd be glad to do it. He said, "Next week, maybe." I said OK. He called and asked if I had a key on the Lowenbrau commercial. I said, "Sure." He said, 'That's mighty low.' I said, "Don't worry about it." So I went into the studio and did it, and he said, 'Damn, I didn't think you were going to make it. I almost put it a half tone higher.' They loved the commercial because of the depth of it. I was contracted to them for eight years." And the royalties, as Arthur confirmed, were "lovely."

Funny Thing (1970)

Erin and I were lucky to see Arthur at a now forgotten club in Washington DC in the early 1990s. A friend of mine, William Claire, a rare book purveyor by vocation and a jazz lover by avocation, was an investor in a short lived cabaret style club a block off Wisconsin Avenue NW on Van Ness. The name of the club escapes, lost to the mists of time. I had used William’s considerable skills to sleuth copies of Fatso, a memoir by Arthur Donovan, the great Hall of Fame Baltimore Colt whose son was a college friend of mine, and I was blessed to spend many afternoons with them at the Valley Country Club. After securing several Fatso books, William said with a little exasperation, "You know, Neil, I do sell other books than Fatso. I'd be happy to find other names for you." I thanked William for his efforts but my bibliophile interests were decidedly low brow. However, when William told me that he was opening a jazz club, Erin and I leapt at the opportunity to see Arthur Prysock and his band.

The Country Side Of Arthur Prysock (1969)

The show was phenomenal. Arthur was in great form and his band was led by his older brother Red, a hard driving, honking saxophonist who was more comfortable in a R&B milieu than in a bebop environ. Red had performed (uncredited) on many of Arthur's hits on Old Town Records in the 1950s and 1960s, and they had been touring together for the past decade. Highlights at the show were "I Didn't Sleep A Wink Last Night," "The Very Thought Of You," "Good Rockin' Tonight," and a sumptuous cover of the Righteous Brothers' "Unchained Melody."

The Big Sound Of Red Prysock (1964)

After the show, I approached Red as he walked off the bandstand, "Hey Red, that was a great show, would you mind signing this?" and I handed him The Big Sound Of Red Prysock. "No," he said as he hurriedly brushed by me. I was a bit disappointed, so I warily approached Arthur who greeted me warmly, "Yes, I'd be happy to sign some records." When I mentioned that Red had just blown me off, Arthur said, "Oh, please don't take any offense. Red suffered a partial stroke awhile back and he's embarrassed by his signature." 'Wow, I didn't see that, I thought his playing was really good,' I said. "Yes, he hides it quite well," Arthur replied. I thanked him again for his time and especially his music.

Today’s Love Songs, Tomorrow’s Blues (1988)

The end came too soon for Red Prysock in 1993 and for Arthur in 1997. Red died of a heart attack and Arthur died of an aneurysm in Hamilton. Bermuda where he had retired years earlier. In September 1996, I spoke with Don Williams, a gifted drummer who was playing our wedding with the great Jimmy McGriff. Don noticed the framed, signed Arthur Prysock record on our wall and said dolefully, "You know, Arthur bought me my first real drum set, he was such a beautiful man. I played with him for a long time.” 'What's he up to now? I haven't seen him touring lately," I asked cheerfully. "Oh, it's such a shame. He's down in Bermuda, talking to the coconuts in the trees. He's in bad shape," Don sadly related. Unfortunately, Alzheimers was taking its ravaging toll and we heard the sad news that Arthur had passed nine months after our joyous wedding. But Arthur’s music plays on and on...

A gifted singer, the night wasn’t “kinda special”when Arthur Prysock sang, it was glorious.

Don Williams, Jimmy McGriff and Me… September 21, 1996

To Love Or Not To Love (1968)

Choice Arthur Prysock Cuts (per BKs request)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4j7QLblDFns

“They All Say I’m The Biggest Fool” Arthur sings with Buddy Johnson 1946

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6xFIFd95l8

“At Last” Arthur sings with Buddy Johnson Orchestra  1952

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Zucc8IgD4o

“Unchained Melody”  Arthur Prysock Sings Only For You  1966

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pm7k9PLTs4

“Close Your Eyes”  live on American Bandstand - 12 December 1964

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFKmVng6rrY

“When Love Is New”  Arthur sings Gamble and Huff! 1977 Disco Fever!

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

“Here’s To Good Friends”  Lowenbrau Beer Commercial  1970s-80s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoe-0L5Ru5I

“Here’s To Good Friends”  Here’s To Good Friends  1978

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

“My Buddy”   I Must Be Doing Something Right  1968

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPRIazUs9o4

“You Gave Me A Mountain”   The Country Side Of Arthur Prysock  1969

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

“Everything Must Change”   This Guy’s In Love With You  1987

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Zy7eXg825Y

“I Worry ‘Bout You”  with Count Basie  1965

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBp-aG98OPE

“I Didn’t Sleep A Wink Last Night”   1952

Bonus picks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0DngXqWCkg

“When You Say Budweiser” Mr. Lou Rawls 1978

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pK5HmuCMBM

“The Power of Colt 45” Billy Dee Williams

The Blasters, Dave Alvin and Me…

But the thing about The Blasters was that we were just playing our version of old Rhythm & Blues, all hopped up and fast, but that’s all there was. It struck a chord that night, and several other nights in several other cities we were banned from. It wasn’t like we were calling for people to burn down the city, you know, we were just playing our songs. Our attitude was always that when these things happened we didn’t stop playing, because we weren’t going to let that stop us from playing. Our job as musicians is to play. And your job as a promoter, this that and the other, is to make sure these things don’t happen. Whether that’s the right attitude or not, that was our attitude.
Dave Alvin

I had a '61 Fender Mustang, still have it ... and a lot of the people in the audience liked The Blasters... but then there's an element of the audience that hated The Blasters. We were almost like their older brothers who liked rhythm and blues. And they were going to show their displeasure. One kid threw this beer bottle really well and he threw it right at my head, and I raised — in maybe the greatest moment of my life physically — I raised the guitar up to cover my face at exactly the time that it got to my face, but the guitar got in the way and, yeah, there's about a six-inch-long, quarter-inch-deep gash in the Mustang to this day from that beer bottle. That kind of stuff happened. I remember it was in the mid 90s when I started relaxing before I went onstage, because I could go, 'Oh, wow, nobody's gonna throw anything. I think those days are in the past for me.'
Dave Alvin

King Of California (1995) signed by Dave

I don't know if "Fourth Of July" is my most Chandleresque song, but it was definitely trying to say a lot with a little. Sometimes I try to say a lot with a lot. But that song was trying to say a lot with a little. When I was writing it, I had a third verse, which I threw away, because the weight of the song with the third verse felt too heavy. On the other hand, with just the two verses and the little part that goes 'whatever happened/I apologize,' it felt like, 'Is that enough? Is that possibly enough? I get it. But will anyone else?' Here's what I've learned over time, and my only advice to a young traditional roots rock songwriter is that a song you think is entirely personal and no one else will get it is sometimes the most universal. I don't know too many songwriters who were trained or schooled as songwriters. So it's a feel thing. When X wanted to record the song and we recorded a couple of demos for Elektra, one of the producers, who is a notable musician who shall remain nameless, said, "I'm not getting enough. It needs more." So I thought, well, maybe I should pull that third verse back into it? But then I thought, no, it's getting the point across. They're either breaking up or they're staying together.

               Dave Alvin

Hard Line (1985) signed by Dave

There are many musical traditions in our household. Birthdays are celebrated with a raucous and rousing "Birthday" by the Beatles and the soulful ebullience of "Happy Birthday" by Stevie Wonder. Christmas treats run the gamut, Chet Baker to John Fahey to Frank Sinatra, and even, Jacob Miller's "Natty Christmas" makes a festive and green Yuletide appearance. Saint Patrick's Day is celebrated year round (as it should be!) and the more maudlin and morose the melodies the better. The talents of Paul Brady, Van Morrison, Sinead O'Connor, and, especially Shane MacGowan and The Pogues on "Carrickfergus", "Raglan Road", "Ye Auld Triangle", "The Homes Of Donegal", "Peggy Gordon", "Streams Of Whiskey" and "Wild Mountain Thyme" stoke and soothe my Celtic melancholy. "Grand weepers and grim reapers", as Tom Waits once described his music, "...beautiful melodies telling me terrible things." Amen brother Tom, amen.

The Blasters (1981) signed by Dave

Another great tradition occurs on our Nation's birthday, and surely we are not alone when we play "Fourth Of July" by the Los Angeles punk band X turned up way past eleven. It just sounds better that way. "Fourth of July" was written by the incomparable American roots music avatar, Dave Alvin, who formed The Blasters in 1979 with his older brother Phil. The Blasters released four critically acclaimed albums from 1980 to 1986 until Dave departed. Thereafter, the brothers remained estranged for decades, following in a great rock and roll bickering siblings tradition, advanced by the peevish Forgertys of Creedence Clearwater Revival, the petulant Davies of The Kinks, and the fractious Gallaghers of Oasis. Fortunately, Dave and Phil have enjoyed a recent rapprochement, and they have released two albums in tribute to their early rock and roll influences: Big Joe Turner and Big Bill Broonzy. As Dave acknowledged, "We argue sometimes, but we never argue about Big Bill Broonzy", the subject of their 2014 album, Common Ground: Dave & Phil Alvin Sing and Play The Songs Of Big Bill Broonzy, "Big Bill, he was the entrance drug into prewar blues. That's the record Phil came home with that was all late '30s recordings, and that was an eye-opening thing." Of his relationship with his brother, Dave recently confided, "Well, we’re getting along great. We actually haven’t been this close in decades. Over the past year, he’s had two life-threatening health issues, and that’s brought us even closer. For years there was a lot of… anger’s not the word, but misunderstandings. And there still are. But brothers are brothers. Brothers are gonna fight, brothers are gonna quibble, and brothers are gonna love each other. That’s just the way it is." Yes, it was not always lilacs and lilies for the brothers Alvin.

Teenage Cruisers (1980) signed by Dave

The Blasters never really fit into the Los Angeles hard core punk scene of the 1980s. The nihilistic speed metal and the discordant thrash of Black Flag, The Minutemen and the Circle Jerks was alien to Dave and Phil. At their core, they were blues and R&B aficionados. Dave described his early influences, "I wanted to be cool, that's about it. I wanted to play music from an early age which is one of the reasons why, when I was a certain age, I started sneaking into clubs. I had three older cousins, they were like ten, twelve years older than me, we’re talking about when I was like five and six. My cousin Donna was a wild girl, with a beehive hairdo and a jacked up ’49 Ford and she was an R&B chick. She liked Ray Charles and Big Joe Turner and doo-wop and rockabilly and things like that. My cousin Mike played acoustic guitar and banjo and he liked Ramblin’ Jack Elliot and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee and folk blues kinds of things. And then my cousin JJ grew up on a ranch and he liked Buck Owens. My view of the musical universe was really based on my older cousins’ tastes and by the time I was eleven or twelve, I was collecting old records and by the time I was thirteen or fourteen, my brother and I were sneaking into bars. It was like, 'We like this music, where can we go hear it?' At the same time, my mom would drive me to see Jimi Hendrix and a year later we were copping rides from guys to get to a club like the Ash Grove or to neighborhood bars. In those days, where we lived, you could find blues and honky tonk music and all that stuff in neighborhood bars and that was my education to a great extent."

For a kid straight outta Downey, CA, this was splendid training and breeding. Dave became the principal songwriter and lyricist for The Blasters, and he found the perfect voice for his music, "Now, I was never a singer. When I was a little kid, I got kicked out of choir. My older brother Phil was one of the star choir singers of the Catholic Church and I was asked not to be part of it. So when I wrote songs for the Blasters, I'd go to rehearsal and sing them for like an hour and my brother would sit and listen and say, 'Sing it again, sing it again.' Then, when he would step up to the microphone, he'd say, 'Okay, I got it' and I'd never sing the song again. I mean, I had this brother with this big, loud, magnificent blues voice." Unfortunately, the Alvin talents did not translate into fame or commercial success. Director Walter Hill solicited The Blasters for the music for 48 Hours, a hit film and a breakthrough for Eddie Murphy. Alas, Dave didn't like the script and refused to participate. As he said later with apparent equanimity, "We never sold out, which was both a good thing and a bad thing."

X; See How We Are (1987) signed by Dave, John Doe, Exene Cervenka, Tony Gilkyson, D.J. Bonebrake

After leaving The Blasters in 1985, Dave joined X briefly and played guitar on See How We Are,a record featuring "Fourth Of July" which has been a staple in our house ever since. He also joined The Knitters, an acoustic side project led by X vocalists and former husband and wife, Exene Cervenka and John Doe. Featuring an engaging mix of mostly covers of country (Albert Brumley's "Rank Stranger", Merle Haggard's "Silver Wings"), folk ("Walkin' Cane" from the 1880 quill of James Bland), blues (Lead Belly's "Rock Island Line") and rock (Steppenwolf's "Born To Be Wild"), The Knitters have released two albums in their modest discography:Poor Little Critter On the Road (1985) andThe Modern Sounds Of The Knitters (2005).

The Knitters: Poor Little Critter On The Road (1985) signed by Dave, John Doe, Exene Cervenka, D.J. Bonebrake

Back Cover signed by Billy Zoom

As a solo artist, Dave has released twelve albums and his range is extraordinary. From burning down the house rockers "Wanda and Duane" and "Haley's Comet" to country weepers "Bus Station" and an exquisitely re-imagined "Border Radio" to the folk bluster of "King Of California" and the Civil War horror of "Andersonville", there is little that Dave cannot write, sing and master. He is a consummate storyteller and a ferocious guitar slinger. I have seen him many times over the years, whether bashing on guitar with The Knitters at Irving Plaza in New York City and at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival in San Francisco, or fronting Dave Alvin & The Guilty Women at the Santa Monica Pier, or performing at smaller clubs like the Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia, Dave always delivers the goods. Each time, I met Dave after a show, I found him to be generous, his wit and humor as dry and laconic as "Dry River", a song he wrote about his childhood. "I was born by a river, but it was paved with cement..." Asked in an interview whether it bothered him at his shows that 'there's some clown yelling all night for "Marie, Marie" or "Fourth Of July"? Dave's response is telling, "And oftentimes, I'm that clown. I may be the rare artist who doesn't get tired of playing songs that he wrote. Part of it is that I'm always startled that I wrote them in the first place."

Lost Time (2015) signed by Dave

Lost Time (2015) signed by Dave and Phil Alvin

In April 2005, I saw a very memorable show at Cafe Nine, a small venue in New Haven, Connecticut. Touted as 'The Musician's Living Room' (accurate if your favorite musician's living room resembled a dive bar!), Cafe Nine is housed in a decaying brick building. Dave was playing an acoustic show with Chris Miller, his sole accompanist on guitar. I entered and walked into the bar. The stage to the right of the door entrance barely held room for one, let alone two guitarists. When the show started, Dave and Chris squeezed in, and the front door was sealed shut, in probable defiance of the (absent) fire marshal.  All tardy patrons were thus denied admittance, and more than a few banged on the door, their clamor and pleas to no avail.

Ashgrove (2004) signed by Dave

The crowd was what you might expect. Aging rock fans clinging to their fading hopes, swilling Heinekens, spilling Budweisers, and blotting out the last vestiges of a Sunday night in a sweat box. Dave and Chris were in fine spirits and played stripped down songs off Dave's recently released Ashgrove, titled after the legendary Los Angeles music club on Melrose Avenue, the site of many concerts where Dave and Phil saw their heroes - Big Joe Turner, Lightnin' Hopkins, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee - in their well spent youth. Dave and Chris played a mix of newer songs - "Rio Grande", "Ashgrove", "Everett Reuss" and "Nine Volt Heart" and worked in some Blasters' favorites - "Marie Marie" and "So Long Baby, Goodbye." to placate the boisterous fans who were pleading for more Blasters. Near the end of the show, during a guitar tuning break, Dave asked for requests for the encore. A fusillade of shouts erupted. One particularly persistent fan insisted on "From A Kitchen Table", a wistful ballad of unrequited love, regret, and love letters never read.

I hope this letter finds you
Wherever you may be
'Cause I mailed some awhile back
And they were all returned to me
Ain't nothin' I can tell you 'bout the hometown
Everything changes, but nothing's new
Just Sunday night at the kitchen table
Finishin' a beer and thinkin' of you.

And I still work the same job
Just live with my mom for free
'Cause ever since the old man passed on
It just got harder to leave.

Well I heard a rumor that you got married
Though you swore that you never would
I guess you finally got your own kids now
You ever tell 'em 'bout the old neighborhood?
Like the time we stole your dad's car
Drove all night down Imperial Highway
You kept sayin' "Maybe we should turn around, "
And I said "It don't take much to get away."

But I still work the same job
Just live with my mom for free
'Cause ever since the old man passed on
It just got harder to leave.

Guess that's all that I've got to tell you
I guess things turned out how they're meant to be
I just hope that this letter finds you
But until then I'll just keep it with me.

Eleven Eleven (2011) signed by Dave

A beautiful and mournful song, it even includes a haunting clarinet solo on the record, hardly fodder for a rockin' Sunday night encore. Dave laughed, "You know, that's a really tough song to play in a bar." Then he added over the din, "But it is Sunday night, so what the hell, let's give it a go." The crowd grew more reverent as Dave spun his tale about the broken dreams and unfulfilled promises which led to the quiet desperation and desolation of a Sunday night missive written from a kitchen table (or a barroom!).  Despite the ongoing revelry and bacchanalia in Cafe Nine, the irony was not lost on me. Once again, Dave Alvin was reading our mail!

Romeo’s Escape (1987) signed by Dave

After the show, I chatted with Dave briefly as he signed a couple of vinyl. I thanked him for his music. What was it like hanging with Big Joe Turner? I'm also a really big fan, I said. He paused. A long pause. He was deliberate and careful in his words, "It was like....hanging....with Joe Turner," he said with a thin smile. He drew a cigarette on the cover of Romeo's Escape, an homage to an ever present menthol, always dangling from his lips. I declined to ask him about his brother, I thought he was probably inundated with requests. In fact, he later wrote, "What's Up With Your Brother", a duet with Phil, to address all fan's concerns. Mostly, I just thanked him for his songs and music. I said, 'It was ballsy to play "From A Kitchen Table" in a bar, especially, this bar.' Ever modest, Dave replied, "Thanks, I wasn't sure that was going to work, but it turned out fine." Yes, it did.

Tulare Dust: A Songwriter’s Tribute To Merle Haggard (1994) signed by Dave

As he once said about his heroes, "Big Joe and T-Bone and Lightnin’ and whoever, who didn’t quit. It wasn’t even a lifestyle, it was just life. You just played music."

Dave Alvin, a well lived life playing and writing music, American music. Like he says, "Everything changes, but nothing's new."

Over There: Live At The Venue, London (1982) signed by Dave

When I look back on my time in this racket, the one thing I know is that you never know what people are going to like. I didn't think anyone would like "Fourth of July" when I was writing it. All I knew is that I liked it. But as a songwriter, you have to persevere through that board of critics that's in your head going, 'You might as well just throw this away. Nobody's going to like this one.' You just have to get to a place of acceptance.  

               Dave Alvin

Blue Blvd (1991) signed by Dave

Dave Alvin and The Guilty Women (2009) signed by Dave

Choice Dave Alvin Cuts (per BKs request) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhu807VUY24
"Fourth Of July"  X: See How We Are  1987

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJf4r5E4qHI
"Fourth Of July"  King Of California  1994

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXd1bG3ArNQ
"From A Kitchen Table"  Blackjack David  1998

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mG1hoB0nOeg
“Everett Reuss" Live 2010 Genius storyteller!
“No, because disappearing is poetry, finding him is journalism.."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6W25W6c4pY
"Everett Reuss"  Ashgrove   2004

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Im-407BAbnA
“King Of California"  Live from Austin, TX  1999

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcvabni9GF4
"Andersonville"  Live at Bottom Line, NYC with Richard Thompson on guitar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEdMgz2fmo0
“Border Radio"  Live From Austin, TX  1999

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxM7lNF9M3A
"Ashgrove"  Live with David Hidalgo and Pete Sears  2017  Listen and learn!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1iPfrJ8D8E
“Kern River"  Tulare Dust  Dave sings Merle!  1994

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AZyAoIL8GE
“Dry River"  Live From Austin, TX  1999

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o239IMppW5w
“Key To The Highway"  Common Ground  Dave & Phil Sing Big Bill Broonzy  2014

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFtDvDGUFZU
“What's Up With Your Brother"  Dave & Phil Live in Auburn, CA  2.11.16

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRCfky62TvU
"Wanda And Duane"   Blue Blvd  1991

Dead Rock West (2017) signed by Dave and Phil Alvin

Bonus tracks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmaXdkC0zE4
"Border Radio"  The Blasters

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPuQPJLxW8o
"Burnin' House Of Love"  The Knitters on Letterman  2005

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1N5HAOsw57I
"Goodbye Again"  Rosie Flores and Dave Alvin  1990 

Roadhouse Revival: Tour Of The USA flyer (1996)

Non Fiction (1983) signed by Dave

Eddie Harris and Me…

I like to hear anybody that is individualistic, especially if they are individualistically minded. You can hear it come out in their playing... Monk, Miles, Duke, Sun Ra, Kool and the Gang, Sly (Stone), Bartok, Schoenberg...anything that people do that is unique and different.

Eddie Harris

I practice eight hours a day. How do you think I can play all the things I play? I play at fast speeds for all the things I do on the saxophone, you've got to put time in. I make no bones about it. You talk with (guitarist) John Scofield and all these cats, they'll say, "Hey man, if we're in a hotel with Harris, put him in 101 and us in 1120. We'll never get any rest."

Eddie Harris and his multi-instrumentalist discipline

Swiss Movement (1969) signed by Eddie, Les McCann

Billie Holiday was very instrumental in trying to get me to understand that I could not only swing, that I played melodically. I was playing at the Pershing Lounge opposite Ahmad Jamal, and played off nights. She had a club underneath, which at first she called Birdland, then the people in New York wouldn't allow her to call it Birdland, so she changed it to Budland. She came down one time, when we were rehearsing during the afternoon... She came down to these rehearsals, any time she could, and she directed the rehearsals, "Hey, don't do that!" ...and she said, "You can really phrase, your timing..." and she used a lot of four-letter words...

Eddie Harris on his piano skills and his sharpest critic

It’s strange. People like my piano playing. I wish they would like my saxophone playing like that. I don’t know what it is. The piano playing, maybe it’s because I can groove, I get across to the average John and Jane Doe. The saxophone, I don’t know what it is, I’ve never had that happen.

Eddie Harris

I've been open minded. I listen to people, like what I like, dislike what I dislike, just the same as everyone else. I believe if you're playing a salsa tune, you try to improvise on the way the melody was constructed. If you're playing a tune where you want to take extreme liberties, in what you call avant garde jazz, you try to solo accordingly. That's all I've tried to do all my life in playing music. Therefore, people haven't always known how to program me. They'll say, "Oh, he's the cool cat because he did "Exodus." Then, "Hey man, what's this "Freedom Jazz Dance?" What is that?" Then, "What's he doing, man, playing with his echo on his horn or playing a tenor with a trombone mouthpiece? He shouldn't do that."

                       Eddie Harris

The Soul Of Eddie Harris (1961 recordings, 1968 release) unsigned

Arranger, author, composer, inventor, patent holder, pianist, saxophonist and singer, Eddie Harris was as broad in his interests as he was talented. Equally adept at piano, saxophone, clarinet, trumpet, vibraphone, oboe, and bassoon, Eddie enjoyed early commercial success with his jazz version of “Exodus” from the hit film of the same name (the first jazz million seller in 1961) while charting his own peripatetic path. Eddie also wrote the jazz standards "Listen Here" and "Freedom Jazz Dance," the latter popularized by Miles Davis, though Eddie seemed unfazed by his renown, as he related, "It just happened that Ron Carter took the tune over to Miles Davis and he recorded it, and then it became hip,” as did the multitude of others who performed it...

Playin’ With Myself (1979) signed by Eddie

Born in Chicago, Eddie studied music at Dusable High School under the imposing Walter Dyett who ran a fabled music program: Nat King Cole, Bo Diddley, John Gilmore, Johnny Griffin, Clifford Jordan, and Julian Priester are among its distinguished alumni. Walter Dyett was a bit of a martinet and he was unrelenting in his discipline and direction to his students, as Eddie recalled, “(Walter) Dyett was an instructor...he had been a Captain in the service, and he had to be rough, because the guys who came to that school were extremely rough. In other words, say you hit that part wrong. Some guys would just tell you, "So what? Go on and play the music," and he didn't tolerate that. He would either go upside your head, or have you bring your parents up to the school. I remember one time, I fell asleep. He kicked the chair out from under me, and I got up off the floor with my clarinet sprawled everywhere! It was really strange."

Although draconian and extreme, Dyett's techniques did have their rewards, "We could just read tremendously, because Dyett taught us like that...Woody Herman, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton - I got a chance to hear all these guys. They'd come by because they just couldn't believe the Booster Band was that hip. That was the jazz band, and when you miss a note, you're out of the band. He'd pop his fingers, 'You're out of the band, bring your mother up to school.' And a guy in the back would take out his instrument, he'd come and sit down, and he was just as good, if not better. I mean, it was that kind of competition you came up under, which really helped you."

Plug Me In (1968) unsigned

The school became a hotbed of talent for band leaders like Sun Ra (née Herman Blount) who relocated to Chicago from Birmingham, Alabama. Sun Ra was able to poach many students for his band who went on to storied jazz careers, John Gilmore and Eddie Harris among them. Sun Ra’s music was necessarily dense and different which flummoxed critics and listeners alike. Eddie remembered, “I didn’t have any adverse reaction to it, due to the fact that I played in the orchestras. I played classical music. The big thing was looking at the way he wrote them. It was like orchestra music. You had scales, arpeggios, flamadas and like that. He would write a note and make a zig-zag line to another note, and within that time frame, you played what you wanted to play. Which is modern writing today, but I wasn’t too hip to that, you know. I would have liked to stay along with him and played a lot longer, but I couldn't go along with his teachings that he had after rehearsals and after playing, when he said, 'I've been here before,' because he was talking about 'Space is the place' and going on with that. I liked his music, I liked to experiment, but I couldn't go along with his teaching. So not being with him, that's when I more or less started playing with another group of guys..where we did our thing." Eddie was far too earthy and grounded for Sun Ra’s extraterrestrial musings, and though his tenure with Sun Ra was brief, it was influential, notwithstanding their distinct philosophical differences, as Eddie would use the relentless innovation and restless experimentation in his future endeavors.

The Real Electrifying Eddie Harris (1982) signed by Eddie

After a stint in the US Army, Eddie moved to New York City and was in demand because of his versatility, playing in orchestra pit bands on Broadway, a grueling nine show a week schedule, and with trumpeter Kenny Dorham. Eventually, Eddie was frustrated with his lack of financial recompense, so he decided to move back to Chicago, "I just went back to Chicago...I was scheduled to go back to Europe and play because Quincy Jones was going to hire me to take a guy’s place named Oliver Nelson... He said, ‘Man, I’m happy to run into you. You can go back to Europe with me.’ I said, ‘Okay.’ I stopped by to see my mother, and she asked me what I was doing, and I said, ‘I’m going back over to Europe with a guy named Quincy Jones.’ She started crying. She just made a big issue out of this. I said, ‘What’s wrong? What’s wrong?’ She said, “I understood you was going to make a record.” I said, ‘Oh yeah, I can do that when I come back.’ She said, “It’s a shame. I’m ashamed to tell people that you play music because everybody’s made a record but you.” I said, ‘I don’t care nothin’ about that. I’m working. I’m playing.’ She said, “Well, you ought to make this one record, because VeeJay asked you to make a record.” But they’d asked me to record on piano, because they wanted me to sound like the guy down the street at Cadet Records who I used to show chords to... Ramsey Lewis...this guy had the Gentlemen of Jazz, and that was selling. So they wanted me to do that down the street at Vee-Jay. And I wasn’t particular about that, so I didn’t care nothing about making a record. But my mother said, “Oh, please make this one record, then you can go to Europe, Asia, anywhere.” I said, ‘But won’t nobody want me then if I stay here and make the record?’ So I went down to Chess, and I talked with them, and they said, “Well, we don’t want you to play the saxophone; you’re too weird,” and I told him where to go. Well, there was a guy named Sid McCoy, and a guy named Abner, who ran the company . . . It was actually Vivian and Jimmy’s company, V-J, and Abner was the president, and Sid McCoy was the A&R, artists and repertoire guy. Abner, who had gone to college with me, said, “I’ll tell you what. I’ll let you play several numbers on saxophone.” I said, ‘Okay, that’s fair enough.’ I told Quincy that. He said, “One record?! Oh, man.” And to this day, when he thinks about it, he says, “One record” — because that one record turned out to be “Exodus.” Isn’t that amazing? A million-seller.” Originally released as a 45 rpm single, “Exodus” went on to sell more than two million copies, and helped catapult Eddie's career which led to more than seventy albums as a leader and millions of records sold. And it wouldn't have happened without Eddie's mother's persistent and prescient admonition!

Trip! (1961 recordings, 1969 release) unsigned

All of Eddie's success came with a price, however, as critical acclaim never matched his commercial viability, "I figure that I'm put down because I sell a lot of records." That wasn't entirely true, as Eddie was unyieldingly creative and some of his albums were all over the map musically, mixing genres like funk and fusion, featuring his gruff vocals, and instruments that he helped create like a saxophone outfitted with a trombone mouthpiece that Eddie dubbed the "Saxobone." He also experimented with an electric saxophone, the "Varitone" which further confounded and alienated jazz critics and purists alike. He even released a comedy album - The Reason Why I’m Talking Sh*t - which was probably the final straw. As he admitted, "I'm experimenting. I'll try this, try that. A lot of people would say, 'No one knows where to put you.' I'd say, 'Why don't they just put me in a category called "Don't know where to put you?" You can do anything you want to do, if you want to do it." And he did.

Second Movement (1971) signed by Eddie, Les McCann

Erin and I saw Eddie only once in 1988 at Blues Alley in Washington DC. He and Les McCann were celebrating the twentieth anniversary of their album Swiss Movement, which was recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival. An impromptu jam session, the album was mostly improvised and a last minute addition to the third annual Montreux Jazz Festival. Though Les and Eddie knew each other, they were an odd and unlikely couple. Eddie was meticulous and planned everything, Les not so much. He was as freewheeling and open to possibilities as Eddie was disciplined and structured. Their commonality derived mostly from being on the same record label - Atlantic Records - who suggested they perform together.

Even more remarkable, Eddie, Les and the band had only rehearsed for ten minutes before they "let it happen." The celebratory throng in Montreux was only the beginning as Swiss Movement went on to sell more than a 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 Jazz which was then an unproven and fledgling festival, not the international showcase it has become more than fifty years later.

Second Movement (1971) back cover signed by Les McCann

The show at Blues Alley was a lot of fun. The rollicking piano of Les was driven by the searing tenor of Eddie. They played their biggest hit, "Compared To What" and "Cold Duck Time," a song which Eddie wrote, a paean really, about the virtues of an adult beverage of dubious quality and intent. After the show, Eddie was gracious as he signed his vinyl but seemingly withdrawn in contrast to his partner, the voluble and expressive Les McCann. We thanked Eddie for his time and especially his music.

Sadly, we never had the chance to see Eddie again as he passed away in 1996, but what a legacy of music and songs he left us. An author of seven music books, a patent holder for mouthpieces which he designed for trumpet, trombone and saxophone, and a seller of millions of records, Eddie has also been sampled by hip hop artists, Heavy D, The Notorious B.I.G., Digable Planets, Gang Starr and hundreds of others. Although the critical acclaim may have been elusive to Eddie during his lifetime, his influence and relevance extends among fans and musicians to this day. Maybe, just not for his comedic efforts, that record is rare to find and deservedly so.

The In Sound (1965) unsigned

Choice Eddie Harris Cuts (per BKs request)

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

“Exodus” Exodus To Jazz 1961

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsHtO_i4qzM

“Listen Here” The Electrifying Eddie Harris 1967

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDrH5urtCbQ

“Freedom Jazz Dance” The In Sound 1965

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7F7sg5IeZY

“My Buddy” Mighty Like A Rose 1961

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

“Compared To What” live at Montreux 1969

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8YOLY4Tats

“Cold Duck Time” live at Montreux 1969

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

“The Shadow Of Your Smile” The In Sound 1965

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Az34xP65Fn4

“Set Us Free” Second Movement with Les McCann 1971

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cXT23pOH7g

“I Don’t Want No One But You” The Electrifying Eddie Harris 1968

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgqdT9iYHxM

“Playin’ With Myself” Eddie plays piano and sax 1979

Bonus picks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJ11cArknek

Miles Davis: “Freedom Jazz Dance” Miles Smiles 1967

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

Dr. Lonnie Smith: “Freedom Jazz Dance” live 2008

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4R2qZFC4Qb0

“What I’m Thinking Before I Start Playing” The Reason I’m Talking Sh*t 1975

Charles McPherson, Mingus, and Me…

I remember coming over to his house one day, and I had my report card with me. He said, 'Hey, let me see your report card.' So, I showed him the card. Now, in those days I was a “C” student; I had no As, no Bs on my card. I didn’t do much to try to get an A; as long as I got a C and I was passing and wasn’t the dumbest guy in the class, I was fine with that. 

When Barry saw all of those Cs, he looked at me and said 'You’re quite ordinary!' I didn’t think of that as being a put-down or anything like that. Then, he said, 'I’ll tell you; the kind of musicians that you like, and the people that you admire, these people are not “C” students at all. They are very special people. You can’t just be a “C” level, mediocre and ordinary person and have just a mediocre mind to play this kind of music. It’s too complicated; there’s too much stuff going on, and you’re not going to be successful with it. You need to do everything that you can to broaden your mind. How you think, how you conceive and all these things. You need to get a new template other than this “C student” thing.'

When he said that , it meant more to me coming from him than coming from my parents saying the same thing. From that point on, I started doing the New York Times crossword puzzle because Barry did it. He would do the Sunday puzzle in an half hour. Besides music, he was a voracious reader; he would read books about Schopenhauer and Nietzsche. I had no clue about any of that kind of stuff.

Charles McPherson on lessons with pianist and mentor Barry Harris

Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus (1964) signed by Charles, George Coleman, Benny Golson, Richard Wyands

I stayed a long time with Mingus, about twelve years. Drove me completely nuts! I quit for about a year, worked for the Internal Revenue Service because I had kids. I was like, ‘Man, Mingus, I can’t.’ He was a great musician but…gone…you know? I told myself I have to get away from Mingus. So I went to the Internal Revenue and I worked on 1040s. That was weirder than Mingus... I did it for about a year. It was interesting – I saw a lot of returns.  I remember seeing John Coltrane’s return one year. This guy was making serious money. That was amazing to me in the sixties. A jazz tenor player and this was during his tour of My Favorite Things with the soprano and Greensleeves. I actually did his return – I saw it! I thought a tenor player playing jazz, making that kind of money. in 1964 or whatever, was pretty impressive. 

               Charles McPherson

Tijuana Moods (1957 recordings, 1962 release) signed by Charles

In working with him, as difficult as he could be, I found out that he had a good heart. There was a tenderness about him in his heart, and he was honest; he wasn’t a dishonest man. This part of Mingus that never gets out, I saw. As a case in point, we were doing a benefit for a beat poet and writer named Kenneth Padgett.. He was a personal friend of Mingus and he was sick. We were in Mill Valley and we did a benefit with Mingus' Band. At the end of the benefit, Mingus started handing out $5 bills to us. He wanted to give us something, because we were playing with no salary. Everyone took the five dollars, except me. When he got to me, I just said to him, 'What's five dollars, more or less? Just put it into the kitty for the man because he's sick..Five dollars is not going to change my life, so give it to him.' I was about twenty. When he saw that everyone took the money except me, he looked at me and his eyes got all welled up with tears, and he said, 'Thanks Charlie.' From that point on, he had a different way of dealing with me than he did with everyone else in the band. He was moved that I, a twenty year old, gave back the money. That impressed him. He had a special way with me. I could be late, or act kind of silly on the bandstand, but he would just kind of look the other way and wouldn't give me a hard time...

               Charles McPherson on Charles Mingus

Mingus At Monterey (1965) signed by Charles, Richard Wyands, Jon Faddis

Born in Joplin, Missouri, and raised in Detroit, Charles McPherson is an acclaimed alto saxophonist, arranger, and composer. Appearing on more than seventy albums as a leader and side man, Charles is probably best known for his twelve year association with Charles Mingus. Charles recalled their beginning, "I came to New York in 1960. I started working with Charlie Mingus..He was different than Detroit guys but he did have this: he wrote poetry, he painted, he had a world view, and he was totally into music. These people were bigger than life. They were just characters, they were really something, that generation."

Con Alma! (1965) signed by Charles

Equally formative was Charles early upbringing in Detroit, a thriving jazz scene in the 1940s and 1950s. Charles remembered his lucky circumstances, "The street that I lived on just happened to be a street where Barry Harris lived right around the corner, five minutes away. A trumpet player named Lonnie Hillyer, who worked with Mingus along with myself for a long time, lived right on my street. And there was a jazz club a few blocks down on my street called the Blue Bird, which was, at that time, probably the hippest jazz club in Detroit. So it was interesting that, of all places, as big as Detroit is, I ended up on the same street as a really great local jazz club. The house band at that time was Barry Harris on piano, Pepper Adams playing baritone sax, Paul Chambers or Beans Richardson on bass, and Elvin Jones was the house drummer.” Some house band, nearly all these artists went on to lead and perform on seminal jazz albums throughout their outstanding and prolific careers.

Bull’s Eye (1966) signed by Charles, Barry Harris

After being told about Charlie Parker by a tenor sax student in his junior high school band, Charles' life was transformed, "One day I was in a little candy store, and there was a jukebox with records in it, and I saw Charlie Parker. And I was like ‘Oh! Let me put my money in and hear this guy!’ And when I heard that “Tico-Tico” (from Charlie Parker South of the Border), I was completely floored. I was thirteen or fourteen years old, and from that point on, it was like ‘that’s it.’ And I knew nothing about changes or chords, and I’m just a kid. I knew immediately that this is the way you’re supposed to play.” Augmented by regular visits to the Blue Bird club down the street and, especially Barry Harris' house, Charles musical education flourished. "It was a big lesson. At that time, Barry’s house was a hub of musical activity. Everybody in the city, all of the good musicians would come over to Barry’s house because he worked at night, but in the day time, he was free to practice and do what he wanted to do. Anytime anyone wanted to, they could come by and talk music, play or talk about ideas. So this was a natural thing that would happen with Barry. Musicians from New York would come by Barry’s house, as he had a reputation as an “open house.” So, I was able to see and meet John Coltrane; he would come by Barry’s house when he was coming through from New York. Sonny Rollins…all of these wonderful people. And I was always there, living right around the corner. After school and after homework, I would go over to Barry’s house..." Yes, Barry's lessons and "open house" served Charles well.

Stay Right With It (1972) signed by Charles, Barry Harris

As the music of Eric Dolphy and John Coltrane became more experimental and dissonant in the 1960s, Charles did not follow in their iconic footsteps, although he did replace Eric in Mingus’ band. As he revealed in a 2016 interview, "I don't think that I ever knew what Eric was doing, but I did understand, at least to some degree, what Trane was doing... I still wanted to play melodic music. I always thought that dissonance and melodicism should be balanced in music, and even how you improvise. I never thought that everything dissonant for the sake of dissonance was the way that I wanted to go. I always believed in a balance of melodicism mixed with tension and dissonance."

Bird (1988 soundtrack) signed by Charles, Jon Faddis

In 1988, noted film director, actor and jazz enthusiast, Clint Eastwood came calling. Jazz music and musicians have always featured prominently in the Eastwood oeuvre, from Erroll Garner's "Misty" in Play Misty For Me, to Lalo Schifrin's Fender Rhodes fusion in Dirty Harry, to alto sax extraordinaire Art Pepper solos in The Gauntlet. The soundtrack to Bird was no exception, and featured Charlie Parker's original solo sax recordings with a newly recorded rhythm section, including Monty Alexander and Barry Harris on piano, Ray Brown and Ron Carter on bass, and John Guerin on drums. Charles McPherson added a blazing alto on three tracks and Jon Faddis supplied a fast and furious trumpet. A technological achievement, it is a remarkable refresh on probably the most important and influential jazz artist ever, Charlie Parker (with apologies to Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington!). And, for me, the soundtrack is the best thing about the movie, which I found depressingly dark and dour, though accurate. There is nothing funny about Bird's descent into addiction and death, no MTV Behind The Music arc of downfall and then redemption. Just as Clint wanted to portray, Bird shows the inexorable decline and degradation of active addiction. Me, I'm happy to listen to the soundtrack, hard pass on watching the movie again.

Siku Ya Bibi (1972) signed by Charles

I saw Charles McPherson perform recently at Dizzy's Club at the sprawling complex that is Jazz At Lincoln Center In New York City. Dizzy's Club is the smallest of the three venues, probably seats for one hundred-forty patrons. The backdrop is Columbus Circle with the bustling lights of New York City and Central Park twinkling below. The quintet was introduced by public address and then Charles bounded on stage and tore into a five minute solo on the Charlie Parker favorite "I'll Remember April." It was a virtuosic display of hard bop blowing from a master. For a man approaching eighty, Charles showed no signs of slowing. Next came, "A Tear And A Smile", a luxurious ballad that showcased Charles' strength of melody and improvisation, and "Marionette", another McPherson original, highlighted the extended guitar work and crisp, disjointed leads by guitarist Yotam Silberstein. A beautiful ballad, "Yesterdays", followed with Charles' warm and resonant alto rendering the composition with grace and emotion. "Lester Leaps In", the Lester Young composition by way of Count Basie galloped at breakneck speed with a drum barrage by Johnathan Blake and percussive comping by pianist Jeb Patton.

Today’s Man (1973) signed by Charles

For an encore, Charles introduced "Blue Monk", a Thelonious composition with "We always need to have some blues in our program," and he began to lay out a mournful, soulful sound which the band leisurely followed. As Charles said recently, "The real vibe of the blues - a slow blues, not an uptempo blues - is a state of reverence. The Greeks had different words for different kinds of love. "Eros" is sexual love. "Agape" is more how you feel about God. In the blues, even though there's plenty of suggestive lyrics, the feeling underneath is more Agape. There's a longing towards God. You have to be in that kind of space to play the blues well." Judging by the rapture evident in the club, Charles took us all to a happy place. It was a happy ending for all.

Mingus At Carnegie Hall (1972) signed by Charles, Jon Faddis

After the show, I visited with Charles. He was as lively offstage as on. I mentioned how impressed I was with his performance and stamina. It seemed as though the band is half your age and they were barely able to keep up. He smiled and laughed, "Well, thank you. I have a great band and they really inspire me." When he signed Bull’s Eye, he marveled at the band members, “Look at that rhythm section: Barry on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, Billy Higgins on drums. Man, those cats could play!” I mentioned that it was a shame that Paul Chambers died so young (age thirty-three). “Well, look at all the music he left behind. We weren’t cheated,” Charles said brightly. Next, I asked Charles an impossible question: what was your favorite band? “Oh man, that’s really hard to answer. I guess both of these for different reasons,” he said pointing to the Charles Mingus and Barry Harris vinyl. “Mingus for his Duke Ellington compositional skills and ability, and Barry Harris for his sense of rhythm, which was impeccable. I learned so much from both of them.” I thanked Charles for his time, and especially the music.

Charles McPherson, a tour de force on stage and off.

Newport In New York ‘72 (1972) signed by Charles

Choice Charles McPherson Cuts (per BKs request)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sTexZBr-4o
"My Cherie Amour"  McPherson's Mood   Charles swings Stevie!  1969

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1VihvFzcNU
"Desafinado"  Live In Tokyo   1976

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33ZF9LMGM2c
"Don't Explain"  Siku Ya Bibi  1972

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i41fkEg-x40
"Never Let Me Go"  The Quintet/Live!  1966

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdfpD8Z5VbM
"They Say It's Wonderful"  Beautiful!  1975

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyrY20rZjZ8
"I'll Never Stop Loving You"   But Beautiful  2005

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzdBAFKgyng
"Marionette"  Come Play With Me  2008

Bonus cuts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IguEshhurq8
"Tico Tico"  Charlie Parker  1951

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tds9pKRuIhE
"Ellington Medley"  Mingus at Monterey  1964

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fiqK5Wlv8A
"In A Mellow Tone"   Mingus: The Complete Town Hall Concert  1963

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SB_wYEvmU8I
"Don't Be Afraid, The Clown's Afraid Too"  Mingus: Let My Children Hear Music   1972

Charles live at Dizzy’s, March 13, 2022

Charles with pianist Jeb Patton, Dizzy’s, March 13, 2022

Charles with Terrell Stafford, Dizzy’s, March 13, 2022

Charles with Terrell Stafford, Dizzy’s March 13, 2022

Charles McPherson Dizzy’s, NYC March 3, 2018

Charles McPherson and friends, Dizzy’s, NYC March 3, 2018

Charles McPherson Dizzy’s, NYC March 3, 2018

Frank Wess, Count Basie and Me…

It's important for anybody who wants to play jazz. I mean all that other stuff, you can forget it. If you can't tap your foot or dance to it, you may as well be driving a cab. That's what it's all about. When I do clinics, I have the individual instruments play by themselves and I want them to make me dance - make me want to dance, you know. I don't want them to depend on the rhythm section or somebody else for that swing.

Frank Wess

North, East, South and Wess (1956) signed by Frank, Kenny Burrell, Frank Foster, Benny Powell

When I heard Lester Young, that was that. Basie came through town for a dance at the Lincoln Colonnades; I couldn’t even sleep that first night. They were waving those hats, doo-wah, doo-wah. Prez and Herschel Evans were in the band, and Eddie Durham was playing guitar. The band was hot! Prez was staying at a three-story rooming house, and a friend of ours brought us there. Prez came out in his pajamas, with his horn in his arm and a little powder-box full of joints. He offered everybody a joint! We asked him how he made all those funny sounds, and he showed us.

                         Frank Wess on his idol Lester “Prez” Young

Chairman Of The Board (1959) signed by Frank, Harry Sweets Edison, Frank Foster, Al Grey, Benny Powell

I didn't meet Basie until I joined him in '53. He had been calling me for a couple of years and I told him I was busy doing something else and I wasn't going to quit school to go back on the road, because I had had enough of the road. So he just kept calling. And at about the end of my school year, he called again and said he thought he could get me more exposure than I had. That struck a chord in me. I said, ‘Maybe that's what I need.’ I told him I had to have a salary. He said, "What do you want?" I told him and he said, "Okay, you got it."

Frank Wess

The Greatest! Count Basie Plays, Joe Williams Sings Standards (1955) signed by Frank, Harry Sweets Edison, Frank Foster, Al Grey, Joe Williams

The band was hot. We were in one of the best bands Basie ever had. And that’s the band that made him rich, you know. The band was tight. I had forgotten actually, how good the band was until I was listening to those Mosaic recordings. And then it came back to me, how good that band was. It was like one person playing. Everybody was — it was a good band. Well Basie, he knew how to do that. You know he didn’t fault nobody. He just let it stay there until the cats got it together, and then when they got it together he knew what to do with it. But you know the fellows in the band did all of that. He didn’t know too many people, really, I mean musicians. When he’d want somebody he’d say “hey Magic, I need a trumpet player — I need a trombone player — I need a bass” I need this — I need that. And I’d tell him who to call. I got Eddie Jones in the band, Bill Hughes, Sonny Cohn, Eric Dixon, Thad Jones, I can’t think, oh Al Aarons. Yeah I got a whole lot of people in the band.

Frank Wess

From The Pen Of Benny Carter (1961) signed by Frank, Harry Sweets Edison, Frank Foster, Al Grey, Benny Powell

But he let us do what we wanted to do. He never rehearsed the band - Joe Newman, Frank Foster, Thad Jones, myself, and we were the ones who decided which arrangements we took. If somebody brought in an arrangement and we didn't like it, we would just say, "Pass it in." And Basie didn't say nothing, he just sat in the back listening. He let us do it, you know. And he wasn't someone who fired people every two minutes either, so all the cats stayed there long enough to know each other and get to be a band. You know, you can't have a good band in six months.
Frank Wess on his tenure with the Count Basie Orchestra

Count Basie Swings, Joe Williams Sings (1955) signed by Frank, Harry Sweets Edison, Frank Foster, Al Grey, Joe Williams

I played for a while in the Two Franks band, with Frank Wess and Frank Foster, and that was wonderful. To hear the two of them play together, the fire they generated between them, was just marvelous. And then Frank would play one of those pretty ballads of his, with that sound, on alto-he would play ballads in that band on alto-and it was unreal. I loved to hear him play ballads. He could play a ballad that would make you cry.

                        Pianist Kenny Barron on Two Franks

Two For The Blues (1984) signed by Frank, Frank Foster, Kenny Barron, Rufus Reid

I hadn’t been with Basie long, and we were in Atlanta. Next door to the hotel was an upstairs club, and I was drinking, feeling good and acting crazy. Basie saw me, and when I went back in, one of the valets said, ‘Chief wants to see you.’ I knock on the door and come in; he’s sitting on the side of one bed and I sit across from him. He started talking about the transportation was eating him up, and all the humiliation he had to go through. He went through a whole lot of shit with me. I didn’t say nothin’. I didn’t nod my head one way or the other. I just looked at him. And he started through his story the second time, and I still didn’t say nothin’. He’s crying the blues; he was in debt. Then he started through his story the third time. I said, ‘You know what I think? I just want to know why you ever hired Jimmy Rushing, the way you can cry the blues.’ He was trying to talk me out of my salary. That’s the last time he ever did that. You had to understand Basie. We used to go to the track together; he loved to gamble and couldn’t gamble—not one lick. So everything was beautiful as long as you didn’t ask him for the money. Then you got stories for days. When we went to England the first time, he wouldn’t carry the music. He said, ‘I’m not gonna pay all of that overweight. You all don’t look at it no-way; you’re always looking out in the audience at some chick!’ So we went to England, and we did two weeks with no music. Blew them people’s minds! They invited us back to do a command performance the same year.”

                            Frank Wess 

Basie Picks The Winners (1965) signed by Frank, Harry Sweets Edison, Frank Foster, Al Grey, Benny Powell

Best known for his eleven year stint in Count Basie's formidable orchestra, Frank Wess had a remarkable seventy-year career, as influential as it was lengthy. An arranger and composer, a skilled tenor and alto saxophonist, Frank was also the winner of six straight DownBeat Critics' Poll awards as best jazz flautist from 1959-1964. He was instrumental in helping the flute become an essential improvisatory instrument in jazz, especially within big bands. Indeed, Frank was a quintuple threat, and his talents were showcased on more than twenty albums as a leader, and hundreds more sessions as a side man, including thirty records with Count Basie, including seminal recordings with Basie and revered guests Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra and Joe Williams. Though Frank Wess was not as acclaimed as others, he was certainly an important and beloved jazz artist.

The Award Winner (1964) signed by Frank Wess

Jazz For Playboys (1957) signed by Frank, Kenny Burrell

Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Frank's family moved to Sapulpa, Oklahoma (fifteen miles south west of Tulsa) where he studied classical music, "I was taught classical music. I belonged to the All State High School Orchestra. We used to go around the state at different times, playing." After a while, Frank found the music tiresome and uninteresting. Fortunately, that changed when his family moved to Washington, DC, "And then in '35, we moved to Washington. I had stopped (playing) for a year because I got tired of the music... But when I moved to Washington, it was a different scene. I was in high school and during lunch time, they used to have sessions down in the orchestra room. (Pianist) Billy Taylor was going to school there too and a lot of different fellas. We'd be jamming there at noon time and I said, 'This is what I want to do.' So I got my horn, had it fixed up and started playing again." Even then, his fulsome talents were apparent. His classmate Billy Taylor was considering switching from piano to saxophone until he heard Frank play. As Billy later confirmed, "He's the reason I don't play tenor saxophone. Even in his teens, he was really a remarkable player."

Steamin’ (1963) signed by Frank, Kenny Burrell

Upon graduation from Dunbar High School, Frank joined the Army, "My ROTC bandleader was recruiting eligible young professionals to go into the Army. They had a deal where you got a rating your first day and you didn't have to do any basic training. All you had to do was play music. We played all kinds of music - Viennese waltzes, marches - everything. I had a seventeen piece swing band. We were sent to Africa in 1942. When we got down there, the first gig we played was for the Americans, the Germans and the English. Can you believe that? They were all dancing together." As captivating as the music surely was, I’m sure it didn't hurt that the sensuous and beguiling singer Josephine Baker was entertaining the troops as vigorously as the band.

On My Way & Shoutin’ Again (1963) signed by Frank, Frank Foster, Harry Sweets Edison, Al Grey, Benny Powell

In 1944, Frank returned to Washington, DC and joined Billy Eckstine's band and toured with him for two years. Frank remembered, "I had known Billy Eckstine before the war, so when I went to the theater to see him. He said, 'Look, my tenor player is going into the Army, come on with me.' So I quit my job and went with him. That was a good band, Fats Navarro, Art Blakey, Gene Ammons..." Frank was rather understated about the significance of Eckstine's big band. Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Dexter Gordon and Charlie Parker were among its glittering alumni, and in Gillespie's autobiography, To Bop Or Not To Bop, Dizzy decreed, "There was no band that sounded like Billy Eckstine's. Our attack was strong and we were playing bebop, the modern style. No other band like this existed in the world."

Eason’ It (1962) signed by Frank, Frank Foster, Harry Sweets Edison, Al Grey, Benny Powell

The road life was wearying though, so Frank enrolled in the Modern School of Music (an affiliate of Howard University) in Washington, DC in 1949 and pursued his study of the flute with Wayman Carver, an early mentor and a fervent believer in the merits of the flute in jazz improvisation. Carver had played flute and participated on early jazz recordings with Benny Carter and Chick Webb with their bands in the 1930s.

Hollywood Basie’s Way (1967) signed by Frank, Frank Foster, Harry Sweets Edison, Al Grey, Benny Powell

His studies complete, Frank graduated in 1953 and joined Count Basie and completely changed the construct of the flute in Basie's orchestra. Initially hired as a tenor saxophonist, Basie was unaware of his prodigious talents on the flute. During a rehearsal, Basie was startled to hear Frank's proficiency soloing on "Perdido" which they eventually recorded and released in 1954 and became a big hit. Frank’s talents were also showcased on “Cute,” another hit for Basie penned by arranger extraordinaire Neal Hefti, as well as the intro to Frank Sinatra’s swinging “Fly Me To The Moon.” Frank Wess became an integral part of the orchestra with his sax and flute and helped paved the way for other jazz flautists Herbie Mann, Yusuf Lateef, Paul Winter and so many others.

Basie’s Beatles Bag (1965) signed by Frank, Frank Foster, Harry Sweets Edison, Al Grey, Benny Powell

After leaving Basie in 1964, Frank settled in New York City and worked in television show bands - Dick Cavett and David Frost - and he even had a ten year run as a band member on what was then a fledging show, Saturday Night Live. He also worked in Broadway’s orchestra pits, performing every day and matinees on weekends, for hit shows Golden Boy with Sammy Davis Jr., Irene with Debbie Reynolds, and Sugar Babies with Mickey Rooney. All the while, Frank kept his chops sharp playing clubs and theaters with smaller combos.

More Hits Of The 50s And 60s (1963) signed by Frank, Frank Foster, Al Grey, Harry Sweets Edison, Benny Powell

I was lucky to see Frank Wess many times at Birdland, the Blue Note and the Village Vanguard, all esteemed jazz clubs in New York City. The most unusual venue was a restaurant on the West Side in a neighborhood affectionately called “Hell's Kitchen.“ Though gentrification had begun, the full onslaught of the Disney-fication of Times Square wasn't yet complete in the 1990s, and there were still some dicey parts in keeping with the environs‘ colorful moniker and reputation. One night while walking home to my fourth floor walk up on 45th Street, I passed by a restaurant that had "Frank Vignola and Frank Wess Appearing Tonight" scrawled on a chalkboard. I stopped dead in my tracks. The restaurant was as forgettable as its name and menu, but Frank Wess?! This I had to check out.

2 Franks Please (1956-1957 recordings, 1980 reissue) signed by Frank Wess and Frank Foster

I walked in off the street, the bar was to the right, mostly empty stools, save for a couple of hardy souls trying to blot out the last vestiges of a dissolute Sunday night. They didn't appear to be jazz aficionados. The stage, well there wasn't really a stage, the band had set up against the wall opposite the bar where some tables had been removed. There was no cover charge, no speakers, no amplifiers, and none were needed in such a small room, adding to the allure and intimacy. There were maybe fifteen or twenty patrons in varying and alternating degrees of attentiveness and distress. Meanwhile, both Franks were performing as though they were at Carnegie Hall. Frank Vignola deftly tossed off fleet runs on his guitar while Frank Wess blew gorgeous tenor saxophone fills just like his idol and one time mentor Lester Young. They played jazz standards, "My Funny Valentine," "The Very Thought Of You," Basie classics, "Jumpin' At The Woodside" and "Lil Darlin',” and original compositions. It was a compelling night of music and, best of all, they were engaged in a month long residency of Sunday nightperformances.

I Hear Ya Talkin’ (1959 recordings, 1984 release) signed by Frank, Curtis Fuller, Hank Jones

I came back the next three Sundays and saw some extraordinary music and, this time, I had lots of vinyl at the ready. Frank was impeccably dressed in his Sunday finest and he was happy to sign the records, especially the Basie albums with his closest friend Frank Foster, with whom he had toured as The Two Franks, and all the other great musicians. Frank didn’t say much, but he smiled warmly as he signed the records, he seemed to always let his horns do the talking. I was struck by how devoted he was to his craft. No matter the size of the venue, or the quality of the audience, Frank came to play. And he performed almost to the end in 2013 when he passed away at ninety-one years old.

Opus De Jazz (1955) signed by Frank, Hank Jones

Bags & Flutes (1957) signed by Frank, Kenny Burrell, Tommy Flanagan, Milt Jackson, Hank Jones

I was reminded of his selflessness and dedication when he visited pianist Hank Jones as Hank lay dying in 2011. Frank brought along his horn and played “The Very Thought Of You.” As Frank explained at a concert later that week before launching into a gorgeous, hushed version, “I’m going to play a song that was a favorite of Hank’s. We used to play it a lot together. In fact, I went to the hospice and played it for him on the day he died.” “The Very Thought Of You,” a fitting send off to a fellow superlative musician from an exceptional, self effacing musician and man. With Frank and Hank, it was always about the love and the music.

Flute Of The Loom back cover signed by Frank

Flute Of The Loom (1973)

Elvin! (1961) signed by Frank Wess, Frank Foster, Elvin Jones, Hank Jones

Time Capsule (1977) signed by Frank, George Coleman, Frank Foster, Elvin Jones, Kenny Barron

Choice Frank Wess Cuts (per BKs request)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhK8TV27sBo

”Cute” live with Count Basie’s Orchestra, Milan 1960

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEcqHA7dbwM&list=RDZEcqHA7dbwM&start_radio=1

”Fly Me To The Moon” Sinatra sings, Basie Swings, Wess flutes!

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

Steamin’ “ Jazz For Playboys 1957

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

”Count One” After Hours 1957

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11HXDGQpHHg

”The Very Thought Of You” with Hank Jones 2006

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HB4zQ6VxWlo

”Autumn Serenade” with Hank Jones 2003

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3U-H2D4_N8

”Opus De Blues” with Hank and Thad Jones 1959

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKZQU7-ivxM&list=RDEM99sjTJtAmfKFadQpygwXXQ&start_radio=1

”The Summer Knows” with Kenny Barron 2011

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrL-o3ui-8U

”I Hear Ya Talkin’ “ with Hank and Thad Jones 1959

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpW0NcdXBtE

”Lush Life” live with Billy Taylor 2006

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

”Sittin’ On The Dock Of The Bay” Flute Of The Loom 1973Recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama Frank Plays Otis!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FvGyUhhHz0

”Rainy Afternoon” with Tommy Flanagan 1980

Live At Buddy’s Place (1976) signed by Frank, Clark Terry

Brown’s Bag (1976) signed by Frank, Ernie Andrews, Ray Brown, Benny Green, Milt Jackson, Karriem Riggins

Phil Woods, Charlie Parker and Me…

As a musician, I’m trying to touch people. If that works, great. I can’t tell you what makes that work. I have a thing on my wall here that Beethoven said: "The vibrations on the air are the breath of God speaking to man's soul. Music is the language of God. We musicians are as close to God as man can be. We hear his voice, we read his lips, we give birth to the children of God, who sing his praise. That’s what musicians are." I love that.

Phil Woods

Phil & Quill (1957) signed by Phil

The Lennie Tristano Trio opened, and when they were through, his bassist, Arnold Fishkind, came to get us. Lennie was blind, of course, so Arnold and Lennie took us behind the curtain—the place was a former speakeasy and too small for a true backstage area. There sitting on the floor was the great Charlie Parker....eating a cherry pie. He said, “Hey kids, you want a piece of cherry pie?” I said, 'Oh Mr. Parker, cherry is my favorite flavor.' And it was. I’ve always loved cherry pie, so he cut me a big slab, and we talked music. We were there for about five or ten minutes, then he had to go to work. He had his pie, and then the lesson started. We went back outside and listened to an hour of the genius of the alto saxophone.

Phil Woods meeting Charlie Parker for the first time in 1946

Woodlore (1957) signed by Phil

We no sooner landed than Frank Rehak, who was a pretty wild guy, got right to the opium den and he came back with some of the best smoke... so it’s the first rehearsal, I’d never met Dizzy, and we’re rehearsing in Abardan, Iran, and it’s outdoors, there’s no dressing rooms, it’s just a little stage. And then... Frank brought some of his goodies and we’re underneath the stage and a pipe is going, being passed around. And all of a sudden, everybody disappears and I’m holding the pipe, and here comes Dizzy, and he says “What do you got there?” And I said, 'It’s not my pipe.' "Yeah, that’s good, that’s a good line, Phil. That’ll get you off the hook," he says, “Young man, do you realize this is a State Department tour?” I say 'Yeah.' He says, “You could be jeopardizing my gig, every man, jack on the band, I mean it could be the end of detente, the end of world peace.” He had me going. I knew I was going to get sent home. He gave me like about ten minutes of this tirade, then he says, “Is it any good?” I said, 'Birks, I’m no expert but it’s the best grass I ever smoked.' And he said, “Then gimme me some before I fire your white ass.”

Phil Woods meeting his new boss Dizzy Gillespie in Iran in 1956

The Youngbloods (1956) signed by Phil, Donald Byrd

I had just graduated from Juilliard in 1952 and was playing at the Nut Club on Seventh Avenue and Sheridan Square in the Village. After all of that great education, here I was playing Harlem Nocturne ten times a night. I wasn’t happy with myself. I was saying to myself, My God, I’m a Juilliard graduate, and I can play great jazz, and here I am playing Night Train and Harlem Nocturne. I didn’t like my mouthpiece. I didn’t like my reed. I didn’t like my horn. I didn’t even like the strap. One night somebody came into the club and said, “Hey, Charlie Parker’s playing across the street, he’s jamming.” The guy was referring to Arthur’s Tavern... it was a little tiny hole in the wall with a little bar. I was going on my break so I rushed over... and there was the great Charlie Parker playing the baritone sax. It belonged to Larry Rivers, the painter. Parker knew me. He knew all the kids who were coming up.  I said, 'Mr. Parker, perhaps you’d like to play my alto?' He said, “Phil, that would be great. This baritone’s kicking my butt.” So I ran back across the street to the Nut Club and grabbed the alto sax that I hated. I came back and got on the bandstand, which was about as big as a coffee table. I handed my horn to Bird and he played Long Ago and Far Away. As I’m listening to him play my horn, I’m realizing there’s nothing wrong with it. Nothing was wrong with the reed, nothing was wrong with the mouthpiece, even the strap sounded good. Then Parker says to me, “Now you play.” I said to myself, 'My God.' So I did, I played a chorus for him. As soon as Bird finished, he handed me the horn to take my solo. When I was done, Bird leaned over and said, “Sounds real good, Phil.” This time I levitated over Seventh Avenue to the Nut Club, and when I got back on the bandstand there, I played the shit out of Harlem Nocturne. That’s when I stopped complaining and started practicing. That was quite a lesson.

               Phil Woods

Jazz For The Carriage Trade (1956) signed by Phil

Quincy Jones had a band that was preparing to tour Europe in the summer of 1959. The band was rehearsing in the mezzanine of the Olympia Theatre and I somehow wrangled an invitation to attend a rehearsal. It was a great band with some of Quincy's friends from Seattle... I listened to a number of pieces in which there were solos played by various members of the band. It would be unfair to say that those solos were perfunctory, but later, when Phil Woods stood up from the lead alto chair to play his solo feature, the atmosphere changed. Phil played as if there were no tomorrow. The contrast was striking and I have always remembered the impression it left. If you practice rehearsing, then when the time comes to perform, you are ready to rehearse. Phil practiced performing.

bassist Chuck Israels

Bird Feathers (1957) signed by Phil, Jackie McLean

They (Art Blakey and Dizzy Gillespie) kidnapped me... cause I was in a maudlin groove.I was drinking too much, I was not content with my existence, I was not making any progress. And so they threw me in a cab and took me to Dizzy’s house. And they said, What’s your problem?” And I said, 'Oh man, I’m just not getting anywhere.' And they said, “Well, if you clean up your act a little bit, stop drinking so much, you might be somebody.” I said, 'You think I can play?' They said, “Yeah you can play, but you’ve been behaving like an asshole." I said, 'Yeah, but I’m a white guy.' And Dizzy said, “Time out. big time out here. Woods, Charlie Parker didn't play this music for black people, or for red people, or for green people. He played it for everybody. If you can hear it, you can have it. You know, you can't steal a gift. Bird gave it to us, you can't steal a gift." I never forgot that night...and it changed my life. I stopped drinking in excess, I mean, I didn't become perfect, but I went up another notch...

Phil Woods

Pairing Off (1956) signed by Phil, Donald Byrd, Tommy Flanagan

The pride of Springfield, Massachusetts, Phil Woods became an important jazz alto saxophonist, composer, arranger and teacher during his nearly sixty year recording career. He released more than fifty-five albums as a leader and performed on hundreds more vinyl as a sideman with Bill Evans, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk and so many others. Few artists, if any, studied with blind jazz pianist Lennie Tristano, graduated from the Juilliard School of Music, jammed with Charlie Parker (even marrying his widow Chan Parker for seventeen years!), and played on studio tracks with Billy Joel ("Just The Way You Are"), Aretha Franklin ("Somewhere"), Paul Simon ("Have A Good Time") and Steely Dan ("Dr. Wu"). Yes, Phil Woods is unique in his improbable life and singular career.

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

Bequeathed a saxophone by his uncle when he was twelve years old, Phil resisted his initial urge to melt it down into tiny toy soldiers and began to play it. Remarkably, he generated a sweet sound and private lessons followed with Harvey LaRose, a music teacher whom Phil selected indiscriminately from a telephone directory. A simple, random phone call changed his life. Phil remembered, "Your first teacher in anything is so important. If that person decides you have talent and wants to touch your soul, wonderful things can happen. Mr. LaRose was an incredible inspiration. Mr. LaRose was the man." Soon, Phil was playing in the high school jazz band and he began field trips to New York City for additional studies with Lennie Tristano, an influential jazz pianist credited with playing 'free jazz" improvisations for the first time in 1949 with his quartet. Upon graduation from high school at age sixteen, Phil enrolled in The Juilliard School of Music in New York City where he studied the clarinet. A saxophone major was not yet offered in Juilliard's 1940s curriculum as it was not considered rigorous enough or befitting classical instruction, so Phil studied Brahms and Mozart on clarinet during the day and played alto saxophone at bebop jam sessions at night. It was quite an education and experience. 

Jazz Sahib (1957) signed by Phil, Hank Jones, Benny Golson

Jazz was vital and booming in the United States in the 1950s, in the dance halls and theaters, on the radio and jukeboxes, and especially at its epicenter, the plentiful jazz clubs of New York City. Phil recalled the scene, "And jazz was in every joint. Jazz was relevant. I mean people were dancing to 'All the Things You Are' and 'How High the Moon.' You’d play your horn and nobody said you were playing art or jazz. You were just playing American music. It was a different world." Phil began to lead his own groups and toured and recorded with Dizzy Gillespie, Buddy Rich and Quincy Jones, all important artists in his development. Phil even participated in a Benny Goodman tour of the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War. Phil reminisced, "In 1962, I joined Benny Goodman for his tour of Russia. He wasn't the greatest human being that I've ever met, but what a great artist! That's all we really care about, the great art. But he was tough on his musicians and nobody really understands why. He had his set ways, he wanted us to sound like his 1938 band. It was unusual for a man who did so much to revolutionize the music to be caught up in the past like that. If any of us caught the audience for him, he'd reduce our solo space. It was very perverse. I don't think he had always been that way though, I think it was something that caught him in later years. That was the only time I ever worked for him, we'd had quite enough of each other." Phil was not alone in his dislike of Benny. As fellow tour member and tenor sax great Zoot Sims said when asked what it was like to tour Russia with Benny Goodman, "Any tour with Benny Goodman is like being in Russia!"

Altology (1957 recordings, released 1976) signed by Phil

As rock and roll eclipsed the importance of jazz during the 1960s, Phil moved to Paris with his then wife Chan Parker and their children. A souring United States political climate in 1968 provided further impetus, and what jazz musician doesn't love, or isn't beloved in, Paris?! He stayed five years before returning in 1973 and he was miserable and uncertain upon his return: "I stayed in L.A. for a minute before heading back to New York. I was going to head back to Paris. Nothing was happening for me in the States. It was a failed experiment. I was trying to be a prophet in my own land. I was staying with Jerry Dodgion, the saxophonist. We were just kind of hanging out one day and saying goodbye to everybody since I was returning soon for Paris. The phone rang, and it was Michel Legrand’s manager who needed a saxophonist to play with Michel. His manager said, “I got Eddie Daniels just for the first week but I need someone at Jimmy's Club. We’re going to record live, and I need a good man.” Jerry said, “I can’t do it but Phil Woods is sitting right here. Do you want to talk to him?” Well, to make a long story short, I did the gig. That was my solo spot. I had just split up with Chan, I had just fallen in love with Jill, my current wife. She was ill at the time, and I didn’t know what I was doing. I was going out of my head. I had to deal with divorce proceedings, my future wife was sick and I was heading back into the New York clubs with my tail between my legs to record with Michel." 

Around The World (1961) signed by Phil, Clark Terry

For the second time, Phil's destiny changed as a result of a phone call. Of all the songs Phil has written and recorded in his lengthy career, he cites "You Must Believe In Spring" from that live recording at Jimmy's Club with Michel Legrand as his pivotal and essential favorite. "It's one of the highlights of our live recording for RCA. When the tape was rolling, I said to myself, 'I’ve got to come up with something here. This is it.' Well, I guess I did because that led to a record contract with RCA. For the next RCA project, Michel wrote a piece called Images that we recorded in London in 1975 with strings. It won a Grammy that year, and the rest is history. I know, it was ironic that I was heading back to France because nothing was happening here, and my career was saved by Michel Legrand, who had lived just down the road from me in Paris. So that song has a lot of importance for me." Indeed, their success led Phil to form his own quintet which would last for the next forty years and achieve four Grammy wins, not to mention the studio work with Aretha Franklin, Billy Joel, Paul Simon and Steely Dan. While Phil was only paid $300 for his studio work on Billy Joel's "Just The Way You Are", he was not bitter. He was bitter about one missed opportunity, "I wish I had done Earth, Wind & Fire, because that's one of my favorite bands. I didn't know who they were and my idiot manager said, "They don't have enough money." I mean, $300 for Billy Joel, that's not a lot of money either, man. Earth Wind & Fire would have paid twice that....it was a mistake. I was misguided by my management, so I never had a manager again."

Phil Woods/Les Tabackin (1981) signed by Phil, Lew, Bill Goodwin

I saw Phil Woods innumerable times over the years in jazz clubs in Washington, DC and New York City. He always had great musicians with him, including his brother-in-law Bill Goodwin on drums, Steve Gilmore on bass, Hal Galper or Bill Charlap on piano and Tom Harrell or Brian Lynch on trumpet. He always wore a leather cap ((http://leather-accessories.net/phil_woods_hat.html  - buy it now while supplies last!) and he was of boundless energy on stage. One memorable show was at One Step Down in the West End at the edge of Georgetown in Washington, DC. Singer and pianist Shirley Horn called it "The best little jazz joint", I called it a dive. It was small, maybe a capacity of sixty patrons, and when you entered off Pennsylvania Avenue, you took one step down and walked into the club.The piano was set up to the left, a quintet at most could fit on what passed for a bandstand, and then a long, dark mahogany bar, probably forty feet to the end of the narrow rectangular room with restrooms in the rear. Cloaked in anonymity, One Step Down was a windowless, smoke-filled drinkers hideaway, far from prying eyes. Several brown naugahyde booths fronted the stage, the floor an unholy alliance stained with nicotine, smoke, spilled booze, broken promises and unfulfilled dreams. A perfect dive and an intimate venue for some great jazz with Herb Ellis, Shirley Horn, Lee Konitz, James Moody, and David "Fathead" Newman, just a few of the artists Erin and I saw perform here over the years. 

Phil Woods Quartet Volume One (1980) signed by Phil, Steve Gilmore, Bill Goodwin

Each time I met Phil, he was always kind and generous while signing the vinyl. As voluble and electric as he was on stage, he was taciturn and demur off stage. A simple nod as he signed was about all he could muster with me, although he did sign one vinyl "Merry Xmas", caught up in the frolic and revelry of the holiday season! I was always struck by his description of his instrument, "You know, that whole early tradition of the alto saxophone. I mean, if you go to the movies and you hear an alto, somebody’s kissing or somebody’s dying. It’s a very romantic or perilous instrument, you know what I mean? But it always signifies something very deep."

Evolution (1988) “Merry Christmas Phil Woods”

Phil's bond and ties to Charlie Parker were steadfast and inextricably linked, so it was fitting that his last performance was a tribute to Charlie at the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild in Pittsburgh on September 4, 2015, reprising the Charlie Parker With Strings vinyl with members of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Though stricken with emphysema, supported by an oxygen tank and confined to a wheelchair, Phil played an engaging set and announced his retirement for health reasons before playing his final number ever, Gerry Mulligan's "Rocker." A fitting coda to a remarkable career, Phil died less than a month later at age eighty-three, but what a wonderful legacy he left. As he stated in a late interview, "Jazz will never perish, it's forever music, and I like to think that my music is somewhere in there and will last, maybe not forever, but may influence others."

Whether romantic or perilous, Phil Woods' music persists. He cuts deep.

The Groovy Sound Of Music (1965) signed by Phil, Gary Burton, Bob Brookmeyer, Steve Swallow, Phil Woods

Big Bad Band Live (1974) signed by Phil, Jimmy Heath, Clark Terry

Choice Phil Woods Cuts (per BK's request)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnsMlgVEeJ4

"You Must Believe In Spring"  Live in Montreal with Michel Legrand  2001

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36-z_FZZPSI

"You Must Believe In Spring"  Live At Jimmy's  1973  Phil's favorite tune!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzbS6fxA6ZU

"The Summer Knows"  Musique Du Bois  1974

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnsycHk8VBw

"All The Things You Are"   Cool Woods  1999

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH_svH2LCwY

"I Remember April"  Live with strings  Marciac Jazz Festival  2005

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EQzk75s61E

"Superwoman"  Live From The Showboat  Phil swings Stevie Wonder  1976

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJHfs3d4r-8
"Undecided"  Live with Quincy Jones Orchestra, Clark Terry and Phil laying out!  1959

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UyUTP_IucQ
"Au Privave"  with Red Garland  Sugan   Phil swings Charlie Parker!  1957

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0zJaoKTyh8
"The Midnight Sun Will Never Set"  I Dig Dancers  with Quincy Jones  1960

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLkq0DW3lB0
"Stolen Moments"  Alive And Well In Paris   1968

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rVfOcB1v9c
“Man With The Hat"  Man With The Hat  with Grace Kelly   2011

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdUTVlQqG5M
"Rocker" Re-Birth Of The Cool  with Gerry Mulligan  1988

Bonus cuts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIr_hAJOv5w
"Somewhere"  Hey Now Hey (The Other Side Of The Sky)  Aretha sings, Phil swings!  1973

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaA3YZ6QdJU
"Just The Way You Are"  The Stranger Billy Joel - Phil wails at the end!  1977

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtEm14zt3Ug
“Have A Good Time"  Still Crazy After All These Years  Paul Simon - Phil cuts loose at the end!  1975 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fNVzxq81ns

"Dr. Wu"  Katy Lied   Steely Dan  1977  Phil solos

More Live (1981) signed by Phil

What Makes Sammy Swing! (1964) signed by Phil, Clark Terry

Quincy Jones Explores The Music Of Henry Mancini (1964) signed by Phil, Gary Burton, Clark Terry

Paquito D’Rivera and Me…

A great part of my childhood happened in the Tropicana club because my father on the side was a representative of the Selmer Company, so he used to sell instruments to the musicians of cabarets and military bands. For example, I saw the Nat King Cole Trio when I was eleven or twelve years old from the pit of the Armando Romeu Orchestra at the Tropicana. Of course, I was not able to go to the club at night in the main hall, but I was able to be in the orchestra pit and all that. And I went to many rehearsals, so I developed very good ears for what other musicians had to say, the friends of my father. So, little by little, by listening, by transcribing the solos and all that, I learned how to play. And still today, I am trying.

Paquito D’Rivera 2016

Grupo Irakere (1976) signed by Paquito, Arturo Sandoval

I think it was around 1970 that Herbie Hancock said in an interview in Downbeat, when somebody asked him, “What is jazz?” He said, “Jazz is something impossible to define and very easy to recognize.” This music is unique, the feeling when you play, and jazz is as much as what Ornette Coleman does as what Tito Puente does when he plays the Latin jazz thing... it’s the result of a multi-national culture, of a multi-cultural country, and it’s a blessing for the entire world. It’s the music of the world, and the best way to promote freedom and peace is through jazz music. You don’t even have to speak the language. You go to, I don’t know, Japan or to Taiwan or wherever, and three or four musicians start to improvise, and they start playing what they call the standards, and there is peace and understanding immediately. Even if you play wrong chords, they will try to help you. Jazz is a blessing and it’s the contribution of America to the world. That is what I think. It’s the greatest contribution of America to the world, so God bless America for that!

Paquito D’Rivera

Irakere (1977) signed by Paquito, Arturo Sandoval, Chucho Valdés

Dizzy was probably the dearest jazz musician ever. He was so generous not only creating a great career for himself, but he enabled others to make their own career, me included. I remember when he called me in 1981, he was supposed to do a two month tour with his quintet and Toots Thielemans was supposed to be his guest artist. And I had recently arrived in this country and then he called me. I was working in Washington DC at Blues Alley. They said, “Dizzy Gillespie is on the phone for you.” I thought, ‘What happened?’ And I answered the phone, I said, ‘Hello Dizzy, can I do something for you?’ He said, “Yeah, Toots Thielemans had a stroke.” I say, ‘Oh my God.’ “Well, he’s doing fine but he’s not going to be able to do this tour. He was going to be my guest artist. You want to sub for him?” It’s like someone calling me to do a movie instead of Marlon Brando or something. I said, ‘Dizzy, I am not as well known as Toots Thielemans.’ And Dizzy, typical, he said, “You want to do it, do it, or you don’t!” ‘Yes sir!’ Then, after that tour, I remember that the following year, I had my first wonderful tour with my own group in Europe. So this is how generous Dizzy was, and what a wonderful person, fantastic musician... and he was a blessing in my life and the life of many many many many of us. He will be remembered forever.

Paquito D’Rivera

Irakere 2 (1979) signed by Paquito

Music is an abstract art mainly. You don't have to call your music anything. I remember once I asked Jaco Pastorius when I met him many years ago, he was playing something, one of those things that he plays, and do you know what he was playing? 'What do you call that thing? What?' And he said, "Oh, I call it music." He was playing something out of this world and he called it music. That thing that Jaco Pastorius played, I don't know...maybe you can call it jazz, but it sounded like something else. He had a lot of rock 'n' roll, had a lot of classical... He called it music.

Paquito D'Rivera

Irakere 2 back cover signed by Arturo Sandoval

Winner of fourteen Grammys in his storied career, including Best Latin Album, Best Classical Contemporary Composition, Best Classical Recording and Best Latin Jazz Album, Paquito D’Rivera is an accomplished arranger, composer, clarinetist and saxophonist. Equally proficient in jazz or classical music, Paquito grew up in Havana, Cuba and his father, a classical saxophonist, was a seminal influence. Paquito recalled in a recent interview, “Well, my father is still today a main figure to look up to in my career. He was a classical saxophone player. He never had the ability to improvise, but he loved the music of Ellington and especially the Goodman Orchestra... he never called it jazz, for some reason he didn’t like the word jazz. He preferred to call it swing. He’d play the Goodman Swing Orchestra back to back with Goodman’s wonderful rendition of Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto. So I was like eight or nine years old and I was pretty confused. But it was a very happy confusion, because he had the concept of that music. He was very Ellingtonian, not only because he loved the Ellington orchestra, but because he said there are only two kinds of music: good and the other is not.”

Blowin’ (1981) signed by Paquito

Under his father’s care, instruction and tutelage, Paquito became a prodigy on saxophone and clarinet, performing with the National Theater Orchestra at age ten. Later, he studied at the Havana Conservatory of Music where he met the preternaturally talented pianist Chucho Valdes. Paquito was also a featured soloist on saxophone and clarinet with the National Symphony of Cuba when he was only seventeen. As his musical journey continued, Paquito was able to perform jazz when mores in Cuba briefly loosened, as he recounted, “There was a time when jazz music was a four letter word in Cuba - literally! After many years of that thought, in 1967 they decided to create the Orquesta Cubana de Musica Moderna. There were a lot of left wing people going to Cuba, attending congresses and visiting, so the government decided to create an image that Jazz was not forbidden and that nothing was forbidden there. They created the Orquesta to play American music - that is incredible. I directed the band for two years... When I decided that I wanted to play only jazz in the Orquesta, then I got fired, and after a while the Orquesta ceased to achieve the function that it was created for and it disappeared.”

Mariel (1982) signed by Paquito

Though the Orquesta was defunkt, Paquito met some invaluable friends and in 1973, he joined forces with Chucho Valdes and founded Irakere, a Cuban jazz supergroup, perhaps the only one of its kind. Irakere released many influential jazz records which incorporated elements of bebop, classical music, Cuban folklore, Cuban popular dance and jazz in a compelling fusion. Presently, it's hard to understand how brave and courageous it was for Paquito and his fellow artists to perform and record this music. At the time, Cuba's Ministry of Culture derided jazz as the "music of imperialist America," and the great trumpet maestro Arturo Sandoval was once threatened with imprisonment for the scabrous sedition of listening to American jazz on the radio. Arturo remembered the restrictive nature of recording in Cuba, "We wanted to play bebop, but we were told that our drummer couldn't even use cymbals, because they sounded 'too jazzy.' We eventually used congas and cowbells, and in the end, it helped us to come up with something new and creative." Yes, this was years before Ry Cooder's sanctioned visit to Havana in the late 1990s and subsequent reclamation and deification of the beneficent Buena Vista Social Club. These were hard and dangerous times indeed.

Live At Keystone Korner (1983) signed by Paquito

Paquito, in particular, chafed under these restraints and was always flirting with imprisonment for his candor and irreverence . As he reflected on the differences between Cuba and the US in a 2016 interview, "I am sometimes a little polemical. If you're polemical in this country, your problem can be personal with the people who don't like your invective or have a different opinion, but that's about it. But being polemical in a totalitarian system can be fatal. So what would have happened to me is unpredictable, because when I see something I don't agree with, I have to say it. I did that when I lived there. I didn't get in trouble because I was a popular musician with Irakere and had many friends, but that was going to end any minute. Chucho once told me: 'Man, you have to stop with all this bullshit; now calm down, do your work.' I said yes, because Chucho and Oscar Valdes had taken me out of involuntary retirement and put me to work again in Irakere. For two years, I did nothing, and they paid my salary. I knew sooner or later I'd get in trouble, so it was time to leave." Not surprisingly, Paquito defected to the United States via Spain in 1980 (with Chucho's blessings), and joined his mother and father who had left Cuba in 1968. Arturo Sandoval subsequently left Cuba a decade later in 1990.

Havana/New York (1978) signed by Paquito, David Amram, Candido, Arturo Sandoval

Since his defection in 1980, Paquito has released more than thirty-five jazz albums as a solo artist, recording with David Amram, Cachao, Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Mann, Astor Piazzolla, Tito Puente and so many others in his extensive and varied discography. As impressive, Paquito has collaborated on many classical recordings, including four albums with acclaimed cellist Yo Yo Ma, and he has performed his compositions with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the National Symphony Orchestra. As he explained, "When I compose classical compositions, I mix all that I learned in my life from the Cuban music to the Brazilian music that is my love...And if you ask me about my style, it's a mix of all that I have been learning all my life and still learning today. When you think you are a finished musician, you are finished." No doubt, his father is smiling down from the heavens relishing all his son’s accomplishments, in classical music, jazz and otherwise.

God Rest Ye Merry Jazzmen 1981) signed by Paquito, Percy and Jimmy Heath, Arthur Blythe, McCoy Tyner, Wynton Marsalis

A New Jersey resident since the early 1980s, he has never forgotten his Cuban roots, as in 2005 when he lambasted Carlos Santana for wearing chic Che Guevara apparel at the Oscars ceremony. Paquito wrote an open letter to Carlos which was published in El Nuevo Herald in March 2005 which excoriated Santana’s sartorial choice of wearing a crucifix over a Che t-shirt, whom he called "The Butcher of Cabana, the moniker given to the lamentable character known as Che Guevara by those Cubans who had to suffer his tortures and humiliations in that nefarious prison. One of these Cubans was my cousin Bebo, imprisoned there just for being a Christian. He recounts to me on occasion, always with infinite bitterness, how he could hear from his cell in the early hours of dawn, the executions, without prior trials or process of law, of the many who died shouting, "Long live Christ The King!" Though scathing in his criticism, Paquito was not inaccurate. As he had promised, “If I see something wrong..."

Latin Jazz Celebration (1983) signed by Paquito, David Amram, Candido, Arturo Sandoval

I have been blessed to see Paquito many times over the years and his performances have always been exceptional. On and off stage, he is full of impossibly good cheer. One time, as I was leaving his dressing room at the Blue Note with a batch of signed vinyl, Tito Puente was walking toward me to visit Paquito. I said 'Hello,' and Tito saw my Paquito Explosion record and asked to see it, "Oh, this is a great record, I'm going to sign it over his signature," which El Rey did as he inscribed it "To Paquito, Best Wishes", two great musicians paying homage (and pranks!) to one another.

Explosion (1985) signed by Paquito, Tito Puente “To Paquito “ mucho gracias El Rey!!!

Erin and I saw Paquito again on December 6, 2019 at the Jazz Forum in Tarrytown, New York. His quintet included Diego Urcola on trumpet/flugelhorn, Alex Brown on piano, Hamish Smith on bass, Eric Doob on drums, and a very special guest on trombone - longtime SNL band fixture - Steve Turre. It was a marvelous night of music performed by these magnificent musicians. Highlights were "Fantasia Impromptu," from the Grammy winner Jazz Meets The Classics, which Paquito told us "was written by the great Puerto Rican composer Frederic Chopin" and "Concierto de Aranjuez," an exquisite piece written by Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo made famous by Miles Davis in 1960 on Sketches Of Spain. Paquito relayed that Rodrigo didn't like Miles' version, to which Miles responded, "You will when you get the (royalty) checks!" The band was crisp and the interplay between Paquito and Diego was fierce and inspiring. Noted trombonist Steve Turre joined for an extended blowing session on Dizzy Gillespie's "A Night In Tunisia." a fitting coda to a night of remarkable music.

Jazz Forum, Tarrytown, New York December 6, 2019. Paquito, Diego, Steve Turre

After the show, Paquito was especially gracious offstage as he signed some of his records. I asked him about Dizzy Gillespie's relatively unheralded and unknown prowess on piano, "Yes, he was a marvelous player. He may not have had the agility or dexterity of others, but Dizzy always played the right notes." I mentioned that I saw him sit in with pianist Roger Kellaway last year at the Hotel Kitano, "Oh, I love to play with Roger. He is so much fun to play with, everything flows so easy from him." He smiled warmly when he saw the Irakere records, "Yes, we had a lot of fun recording this music. These musicians are phenomenal, and I’m lucky they are also my friends.” Erin and I thanked him for his time, and especially his music.

Paquito signing at Jazz Forum

Paquito D'Rivera, a prodigiously talented musician and composer in classical music and jazz, his music is extraordinary and, thankfully, he is far from finished.

Viva Paquito D’Rivera!

Why Not (1984) signed by Paquito

Choice Paquito D'Rivera Cuts (per BKs request)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlGUdl5IkEI

“Descarga Mambo” live with Cachao

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxF4tEssUfY

“Seresta- Samba For Carmen” live with Dizzy Gillespie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MB_PKLRv8g

“Juana 1600” Irakere live 1978

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zajkVjfxts8

“Romance en la Habana” El Arte Del Sabor with Bebo Valdes, Cachao

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IM3feNLEK0

“Libertango” live 20004

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBAwQdKp9E4

“Chequere Son”. Grupo Irakere (1976)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ70TdzV-vU

“Valle de Picadura” Grupo Irakere (1976)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsPSVK1YRyc

“Claudia” live with Chucho Valdes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAwHiE8nnmw

“I Remember Diz - A Night In Tunisia” live

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiF0a7hgN1A

“Mozart’s Adagio” live Kennedy Center 2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OGD_qgv0eU

“Brasileirinho” live with Yo Yo Ma

Celebration (1988) signed by Paquito

Paquito blowing at Jazz Forum, 2019

Steve Turre blowing Jazz Forum, 2019

Bud Shank and Me…

I don't even know what the hell West Coast Jazz is. It was something different from what they were doing in New York, so the critics called it West Coast Jazz. That Miles Davis Birth Of The Cool album, out of New York, probably started West Coast Jazz. It was also very organized, predetermined, written. It was a little bit more intellectual, shall I say, than had happened before. Jimmy Giuffre, Buddy Childers, Shorty (Rogers), Shelly Manne, Marty Paich, (Bob) Coop(er), almost everybody involved; we all came from somewhere else, New York, Texas, Chicago, Ohio. The fact that we were in L.A. around the orange trees had nothing to do with it. I really think that everybody played the way they would have played no matter where they were. New York writers, they're the ones who invented West Coast Jazz.

Bud Shank

Witch Doctor (1953 recordings, 1985 release) signed by Bud, Max Roach

You have to eat. You have to survive. When I became a full-time studio musician, I had been unemployed for a long time since jazz music left us in 1962-63, or whenever. At that time, I don’t think any of us realized what was going on, but some American jazz musicians ended up here in Europe, some gave up playing altogether, some went off into never-never land by whatever chemical they could find, and there were some others who went into another business. That’s what I did. I went into another business using the tools I had, which was playing the flute and the saxophone. Consider that a copout? No, I don’t.

Bud Shank in a feisty 1987 interview with a European critic

The Swings To TV (1958) signed by Roger Kellaway

This record sold a whole bunch, like about 10,000 copies, which for that time was a lot of records. (Pacific Jazz record label owner) Dick Bock had to get the accountants, and they figured out, all of a sudden, that he owed me money. And he had never owed anybody money before. He didn't have any money to pay royalties, so he went down to Hollywood Electronics and bought me a very, very, very good sound system. I've still got the speakers, AR3s. My nephew has the Dynakit tube amp. This was my first hit, my first royalties. A big deal. I never got any royalties after it, either, for anything.

Bud Shank on his 1960 film soundtrack, Barefoot Adventure

Bud Shank With Maynard Ferguson (1954 recordings, 1963 release) signed by Bud

When Sinatra recorded, he knew exactly what he wanted—but that didn’t stop him from telling the guys in the band. But he always did it in a nice way. I remember on my first or second tour with him in Japan, I was supposed to play an improvised solo on clarinet. But I decided to play it on the tenor sax instead. The first time I did that, he turned around after the song with his “What the hell was that?” look. But he liked what he heard and wanted it in each time. I believe on that Jobim date, Sinatra was right in the studio with us, not in a booth. He liked to be right in with the band.

               Bud Shank on recording and touring with Frank Sinatra

I Hear Music (1966) signed by Bud

Jobim told me that he and the other musicians had listened to my records with Laurindo Almeida in the early 1950s along with other West Coast albums I was on. He said those records helped them figure out what direction to go in. He said the records gave them something to work on. At the time they didn’t know they were heading toward Bossa Nova. The word hadn’t been invented yet. In fact, nobody even knows what it means today. It’s just a term someone made up and they don’t even know who it was. So they listened to our albums and then they added their playing, rhythm and new songs they were writing.

               Bud Shank on his influence on Antonio Carlos Jobim and Bossa Nova

California Dreamin’ (1966) signed by Roger Kellaway

Chet Baker was a strange case. I always got along well with him. There are other people who didn't. The only problem I had with Chet is I would go for a couple of years and not see him and every time I would see him, the first thing he would say is 'loan me twenty dollars.' Which I never saw again. He had a lot of notoriety and a lot of fame at an early age, more than he could handle, and that is why I think he took the road to avail all that and he did it so violently and so much that he was in jail in Italy, and he was about to be the next James Dean. They were about to make a movie star out of him. That's how far he got up in the popularity kind of thing and he blew it all because he couldn't face it. All he wanted to be was just a player.

               Bus Shank on his friend and mercurial genius Chet Baker

Bud Shank and The Sax Section (1966) signed by Bud

Born in Dayton, Ohio, Clifford Everett "Bud" Shank Jr. was a noted jazz composer and performer for over sixty years. The day before he died at his home in Tucson in April 2009, Bud recorded In Good Company in a San Diego studio with Jake Fryer on alto, and his regular quartet of Mike Wofford on piano, Bob Magnusson on bass and Joe LaBarbera on drums. His wife revealed, "He knew it was his last shot. The doctors told him if he went, he would die. And he went." In spite of his failing health, the posthumous recording features Bud blowing alto saxophone with a fervency which belies his impending demise. All nine tracks were recorded as first takes, and the last piece Bud ever recorded was "Speak Low", a gorgeous mid-tempo ballad from the pen of Kurt Weill. A fitting denouement to an important if relatively unknown artist.

When his family moved from Ohio to North Carolina in 1946, Bud began attending the University of North Carolina as a music major, staying for two years, before departing to California where he joined the big band of Charlie Barnett and then Stan Kenton in 1950. As his chops developed, he honed his craft, but Bud was not particularly pleased with his Kenton experiences, "That band was too clumsy to swing, because of the instrumentation and voicings. On the other hand, the sounds that came out of it were really big noises, really impressive. That's what that band was all about, making these really big noises." Yes, a thirty-nine piece band will have that effect when bolstered by the contributions from later day stars Art Pepper, Maynard Ferguson, Shorty Rogers, Shelly Manne and vocalist June Christy. Unfortunately, the Stan Kenton "Innovations In Modern Music" tour would prove to be a commercial, if not an artistic, failure. Soon, Kenton reverted back to his nineteen-piece orchestra, and Bud moved on as well.

Bud Shank Plays Music From Today’s Movies (1967) signed by Bud

Bud's education continued at The Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach, the site of many jazz performances by Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Chet Baker and recordings by Art Pepper, Ramsey Lewis, Elvin Jones and Charles Earland. The house band, The Lighthouse All-Stars, featured Bud on flute and alto saxophone, Bob Cooper on tenor saxophone and oboe, Howard Rumsey on bass, Conte Condoli on trumpet, Max Roach or Stan Levey on drums, and a revolving cast of characters and special guests. The jam sessions were legendary and The Lighthouse became the West Coast's answer to Birdland or the Village Vanguard in New York City: fans and performers flocked to hear the latest grooves and jams. Recently, The Lighthouse was showcased in the 2017 Oscar winning movie La La Land: Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone never looked so smashing and West Coast club cool!

Adept at most woodwinds, including flute, clarinet, tenor and alto saxophone, Bud Shank had wide and open ears. He helped introduce Brazilian-infected jazz in 1953 recordings with guitarist Laurindo Almeida, whom he had met in the Kenton orchestra, nearly a decade before Stan Getz exploded Bossa Nova with Charlie Byrd on their 1962 Jazz Samba album, and Stan's ubiquitous 1964 world wide hit "Girl From Ipanema." For his part, Bud was modest about his influence. Asked years later if Stan Getz had listened to his 1950s albums with Almeida, Bud replied, "I doubt it. I'm sure he didn't. Stan was Stan. He didn't listen to much of anyone else. What he did was perfect with Charlie Byrd. Charlie was the one who brought the music and songs back when he was down there on a State Department tour, and Stan adapted it." Ever wide ranging in his music tastes, Bud also played flute with Kimio Eto, a Japanese Koto master on Koto & Flute in 1960, and he performed on Improvisations, one of the initial recordings of Indian sitarist Ravi Shankar in 1961. Indeed, long before iTunes existed or had a World Music category, there was Bud Shank.

Windmills Of Your Mind (1969) signed by Bud

Then came a fallow period for jazz in general, and Bud became a studio musician for hire for the next fifteen years. He scored the surf movies Slippery When Wet and Barefoot Adventure, performed on the soundtracks for The Thomas Crown Affair, The Summer Of '42, The Sandpiper, and worked with artists as diverse as Sammy Davis Jr., Julie London, Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme, The Association, and The Mamas & The Papas. Yes, Bud's flute solos are heard in both "California Dreamin' " and "Windy", two enduring, quintessential 1960s pop hits! It was not all fun and games in the studio, as Bud explained, "It was heart attack-ville for a lot of people. Pressure. You sit by the phone and you never say no, because the first time you do, they’ll never call again. A very cut-throat business. It was a straight job. Spend all night in a recording studio for some stupid pop star, then get up at seven o’clock in the morning to play on a movie thing all day the next day. That’s the kind of industrial life it was...They wanted flute players or oboe and clarinet players. Almost all the work I did had to do with the fact that I could function as a classical flutist. The movies were a flute world."

Fortunately, Bud was able to break from the bondage of studios when he formed the L.A. Four in 1974 with fellow compadres, Ray Brown on bass, Laurindo Almeida on guitar, and Shelly Manne on drums. Eventually, Jeff Hamilton replaced Shelly on drums, and they would record ten albums during the seven prolific years they were together. All the while, Bud was conflicted over serving two masters: flute and alto saxophone. And he was ready for a decisive break. "I always felt flute was a strange jazz instrument anyway. It lacks guts compared to the sax, trumpet and trombone. There’s a reason everybody uses those basic instruments in jazz. You start bringing in toys, that’s exactly what they sound like, even though I was pretty good at it. But so what? Since I threw my flutes away in 1985, I’ve had a chance to really study composition, not formally but by listening and looking. My keyboard playing is still atrocious, but it’s about ten thousand percent better than it was before, and that’s helped a lot."

A Spoonful Of Jazz (1967) signed by Bud, John Sebastian

Regrettably, I only saw Bud Shank once, at Blues Alley in Washington, DC in 1996. For over twenty years, Bud had settled in Port Townsend, Washington and rarely ventured back east to tour. He had become the Music Director of the Centrum Jazz Workshop, and Diana Krall (Mrs. Elvis Costello!) is the most famous alumna of Bud's summer programs during his stewardship. Diana credits Bud with introducing her to Ray Brown (with whom she would later record and tour), Monty Alexander, John Clayton and many other jazz luminaries which ignited her career. Bud was performing at Blues Alley in support of his recently released Bud Shank Plays The Music Of Bill Evans, along with Mike Wofford on piano, Bob Magnusson on bass and Joe LaBarbera on drums - the very same band mates who would perform on Bud's last gig thirteen years later in San Diego.

As exected, the program was devoted to mostly Bill Evans compositions - "Waltz For Debby", the Miles Davis co-written "Blue In Green" from Miles' epochal Kind Of Blue, "Funkallero" and "My Bells." But there was nothing demonstrably cool about Bud's alto saxophone, it was hard, rough-hewn and searing, definitely not the "dry martini" approach favored by Paul Desmond and other cool jazz practitioners.  After the show, Bud was happy to sign the vinyl. He smiled warmly when he saw the Lighthouse album with Chet Baker and Max Roach, "We had some great times playing there, that was a special club. I miss Chet." He laughed when he saw one of his first studio recordings with Maynard Ferguson in 1953, "Yes, I was young once!", he chortled. I thanked him again for his kindness and especially his music.

That Old Feeling (1988) signed by George Cables

Near the end of his life, Bud neatly observed, "The art form we know as jazz music, like many other things, is changing rapidly. We are losing jazz clubs and jazz radio stations, jazz record labels and true jazz festivals. Are there any real ones left to speak of? I am old enough to have survived a lot of dry spells and periods of change, but nothing like this. Many doomsayers are predicting the end of our art form as we know it. I am not among them. I have my answer, but changes as large as we're seeing now can frequently be very good—shaking out the dust, the dark clouds and the bullshitters. We can only hope."

Words, wisdom and hope from a fabulous musician, mentor and teacher.

Michelle (1966) signed by George Cables

Choice Bud Shank Cuts (per BKs request)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBcjN9BX8O

”Speak Low" In Good Company 2009 The last song Bud ever recorded!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhZULM69DIw
“California Dreamin'" The Mamas & The Papas Flute solo by Bud!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81nkBpn9PyM
“California Dreamin'" with Chet Baker 1966

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPYT9Vyu62A
“Windy" The Association Flute solo by Bud!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAwtbC-5PHo
“Hello Goodbye" Bud and Chet Baker swing The Beatles! 1968

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTCp5_RbhEs

"Sounds Of Silence" Bud and Chet swing Simon & Garfunkel! 1966

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrLrceFz7hA

"Over The Rainbow" Fascinating Rhythms 2009

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XOmQoeMYvI
"Night And Day" Joao Donato and Bud bossa nova Cole Porter!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwzO7eL58mg

“Autumn Leaves" with Joe Pass, Clare Fischer 1962

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFSXnI83n-4

"I Will Wait For You" Bud Swings Michel Legrand!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1mbmvH9Mwk

"Watch What Happens"  L.A. 4 swing Michel Legrand!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UuxFQQROME

"Nature Boy"  Live with Bill Mays on piano  2004

California Concert (1985) signed by George Cables

This Bud’s For You (1989) signed by Al Foster