Free For All

Oh, I was TOTALLY in the minority, so much so that there was no negative vibe at all. We played funky clubs in East St. Louis, south side Chicago, Memphis, Dayton; I was the only white guy in the group and I had the time of my life! I remember many of my jazz heroes talking about paying dues on blues bands, so when I got the opportunity I grabbed it. Living in Iowa and culture-starved, I guess. The only downside was that being a horn player in a blues band you were relegated to riffs and not much soloing, but I really dug listening to Albert every night. I just recently bought a copy of "Born Under A Bad Sign" in a fit of nostalgia. I didn't realize 'til later just how heavy he was. Plus I learned to blow in the keys of E, B, A, D, etc......................

Just FYI, here's a partial list of people I've gotten to meet/play with as a result of being a member of Woody's band: Al Cohn Bill Perkins Zoot Sims Billy Mitchell Clark Terry Dizzy Gillespie Billy Eckstein Tony Bennett Nancy Wilson Cab Calloway Joe Williams Mel Torme Maynard Ferguson Benny Carter Pepper Adams Jake Hanna Carl Fontana Conte and Pete Candoli Louie Bellson Jack Lemmon (sitting in on piano!) and more I'll probably think of....... Please understand, I'm not bragging, but am extremely grateful for my opportunities!! So many of these cats are gone now, I really cherish these experiences. If you want to know something REALLY bizarre, my first road gig was a brief stint with Albert King! For a kid from Iowa, this was REALLY culture shock!

VERY old!!

My complaint with this is the use of the word "transitioned". The last time I checked, this word was a noun and not a verb. I've recently heard it used as a verb a lot i.e., "The regime in Iraq has transitioned to a new era." I'm not someone who obsesses over language abuse or spelling, but sometimes the lack of language skills (in the media especially) makes me go NUCULAR, IRREGARDLESS of context!!!!

Thank you, catesta. It also works well as a coaster, or if you have a wobbly table.............

Hi Rooster- No, I didn't make it to the Victoria and Albert museum but we did stop at Stonehenge (insert Spinal Tap jokes here). Yes, mostly non-British ethnic food (except for fish and chips, of course) is the way to go. I've never been able to figure out that whole "blood sausage" thing. We stayed at a hotel right across from Chinatown, so great meals were not a problem. Some great Indian and Italian near the club, too. Did you go to Ray's when you were there? I don't think the latest incarnation is as hip. Where the hell did that picture come from??? It's from a jazz camp I do in Wisconsin. Beside me in the section is trombonist Steve Weist and the shaved-headed guy is Chicago saxophonist (now relocated to New Orleans) Ed Peterson. I don't know if this "coming out" was such a good idea.........

Gulp.......yeah...that CD was, among other things, my opportunity to record with my hero, the great Carl Fontana. Lovely picture, too. I feel so naked..........but buy the CD anyway!!

OK, I guess I'll come out. I am an anonymous trombonist by the name of Paul McKee. I was over there playing w/the Woody Herman band- I first played with them in 1984 when Woody was still fronting the group. Now Frank Tiberi fronts the band (which I guess you'd have to call a "ghost band", a term I hate). Frank Tiberi is an amazing musican who, in his mid 70s, is continuing to play his ass off. Back when I joined in 1984, the band was out on the road an average of 46 or so weeks a year- it's much more of a part-time gig now, but the standards of quality have not changed. It's an honor to play with some of the greatest players I know in this band. Plus, I've had some AMAZING "brushes w/greatness" by being a member. Like the membership of this and the defunct BNBB, it's one of the greatest dysfunctional families to be associated with. There, I came out. Be kind.

I just returned from a couple weeks in Europe. We played a week at Ronnie Scott's and a couple other gigs. Here are some observations.... RONNIE'S A great jazz club. Smelly and smoky and very hip, it's the Village Vanguard of the UK. BEER UK wins, hand down. The cascading bubbles in the glass almost bring tears to my eyes. ICE CUBES US wins, hands down. You'd think they were made of platinum the way they dole 'em out. I'd like my Coke cold, please! WASH CLOTHS US wins. None to be found in Europe. BACON US wins. It's bacon, not HAM. And cook it all the way through, please. JAZZ AUDIENCES UK (and Europe) wins, I'm sorry to say. They are more attentive and appreciative IN GENERAL. Of course, a loud drunk English guy is very entertaining. AIR CONDITIONING US, but to be fair, it was unseasonably HOT HOT HOT over there. But to stay in a hotel (or ride a bus) w/no air is a miserable experience. Yes, we Americans are spoiled babies much of the time. BRUSH WITH GREATNESS We followed Micheal Brecker at the Brecon Jazz Fest. and got to hang w/him backstage. He had Joey Caldarazzo, Jeff Watts and....I can't remember the bass player. James Genus, maybe? Or maybe it was Anthony Cox. They sounded great at the HOTTEST stage (temperature-wise) I've ever played on. The most interesting thing that happened, though was at Ronnie's. Kevin Spacey, of all people, came to the gig on multiple nights and actually hung with the band between sets. Most surprisingly he SAT IN with the band on a tune. He can actually sing! He was over there prepping for a movie he's producing, directing and starring in about Bobby Darrin. (No, he didn't sing Mack The Knife, thank God). He was very cool to talk to, not pretentious at all but very normal and quite a jazz fan. Another time at Ronnie's I met Kenny Baker, the diminutive jazz fan who was inside R2-D2 in the Star Wars movies. Finally, I had heard that the Tower Records in London had closed. I thought this was the one I frequented (the one in Piccadilly) but I was happy to see it still there and doing fine. I guess there's another "Tower of London". I should check it out sometime. Also checked out Virgin and Ray's. No major finds, though. Seriously, I love going over there and have made many good friends and intend no offense to our UK friends. If you can avoid getting run over (drive on the right side, already!!) it's a great (but EXPENSIVE) hang. Plus it's about the only place in the world where they don't hate us.

Having just returned from a trip to the UK I can offer my input to this topic. I've flown w/my axe many times and have had NO problem (with one exception) carrying it on, but the with the current changes in checking and carry-on guidelines (a result of the troubled airlines wringing more money out of our pockets) these already confused policies have decended even further into total chaos. The main problem to me lies with the enforcement of these policies- I called three times before my trip and got three different interpretations of airline policy. Add to that the chance that the person you check in with is similarly uninformed, and also that you are at the mercy of the person at the gate and you have the fixin's for a lovely trip. I have recently stopped trying to carry on my horn- it does fit into just about any overhead, but lately it seems that I'm flying more frequently on those small commuter "puddle jumpers" that often have NO overhead storage. You can "gate check" your instrument which circumvents the trip through the baggage transport system, but you still have the possibility of damage from the instrument bouncing around in the hold. I recently purchased an SKB hard plastic case made to transport golf clubs- my gig bag fits nicely inside and it seems to offer decent protection. Often people assume that I am carrying golf clubs and ask what my handicap is, to which I respond "Giant Steps" and receive a blank stare. Of course, once you check your instrument there is a reasonable chance you will never see it again. Once in my more naive years I was talked into checking my horn in the soft case ("Oh, don't worry, we'll take SPECIAL care of it!") Needless to say not only did they lose it for several days, when it did arrive it was demolished in prime Looney Tunes fashion. And of course I had to sign a waiver that released the airline from any responsibility. Yeah, I learned my lesson. The latest restrictions apply to weight AND dimensions, but I did find out that there were exceptions for musical instruments. When I checked in for this latest trip I had to insist that the agent look up this info- they really seem to hate to do that. He found what I was waiting for and PRINTED OUT A HARD COPY for me, which turned out to be gold- I used it several times, and it saved many hassles. I have also found it does no good to "go off" on the agent when facing travel problems- they are but a pawn of the company, and most often respond better to a cooperative vibe than rage. Sometimes, however, a controlled "tantrum" at the gate works wonders. They usually don't want to spend time dealing with you and will let you by. That's a little riskier these days, though , with all the current paranoia. At least I didn't have to fly back through NY or any of the affected blackout cities- I know some of my bandmates from NYC got TOTALLY screwed.

That's what I mean when I refer to it as "happy"- it doesn't really have the dark, probing moodiness of later stuff. It's more like a walk in the park on a sunny day, IMHO. Jim Sangrey mentioned how the 65-68 stuff made the first quintet sound tame by comparison. I think that's the problem with these major periods of Miles career- each new chapter tends to steal the spotlight from the previous chapter. Of course, had there never been a Coltrane quintet or Blackhawk quintet there might have been a completely different 65-68 quintet. I try to appreciate each of these sets on their own merit instead of comparing them to each other. It's like saying "who was better, Wayne or Trane?"- I don't think Wayne would have been the same kind of player had there never been a Coltrane. Each new branch on the big tree is fed by the branch it sprouts from, even though it might have a prettier flower.

I also "came of age" during the 70's. I went to my first jazz concert and attended many more while in high school, usually at jazz band festivals. The 70's represented the last full decade of the majority of the touring big bands- I was able to hear Basie, Kenton, Buddy Rich, Woody, Maynard (with a full big band), Clark Terry's big band (with Branford, Conrad Herwig, et al), Thad and Mel (in Grinnell, Iowa!!!-with Pepper, Roland Hanna, Jimmy Knepper, Jerry Dodgion et al), Don Ellis (!) and Louie Bellson, to name a few. It's a shame young players don't get the opportunity to hear big bands of this calibre LIVE anymore. The remaining touring bands are, for the most part, "nostalgia" ghost bands which many people, especially the younger ones, find boring or dated. The tight, swinging touring band playing new as well as old music was a joy to behold, and seeing 16 or more musicians making a living (albeit usually a meager one) playing great music inspired people like me to work hard with the hope of getting an opportunity to play with one of them someday. I also heard Return To Forever (around the time of Romantic Warrior), Matrix (remember them?), Chase (a great band, what a loss), Weather Report (w/Erskine and Jaco) and others. And I won't even start to list all the individual "guest artists" I heard w/various high school and college bands as well as with their own groups. It may not have been Blue Note's greatest decade, but don't tell me the 70's were lame- that's the decade I went from "ignorant" to "obsessed"!

Couldn't agree more! The Blackhawk set has been at the top of my play list over the summer. I can find no weaknesses- Hank sounds just fine to me, the rhythm section swings like a madman and Miles sounds fantastic. A very "happy" performance and a nice contrast to all the other sets. I wonder how the Jack Johnson set will fit into this hierarchy when it comes out- it seems like it's gonna be a mutha.

I've also been enjoying the recently acquired "Moten Swing" reissue. When I think of favorite Kenny I always think of "Why Was I Born" off the Coltrane/Burrell.

This Palo Alto side just was re-released. It's a session from 1981 w/Jimmy Rowles, George Mraz and Billy Hart. I give it a hearty recommendation, two thumbs up! "Three Little Words" smokes, as does "Pent-up House". Pepper is such a monster- I first heard him on The Cooker and then the Thad and Mel stuff. Did you know that he even did a short stint w/the Kenton band?

The word "jazzy" has always scared me.

Frequently, until I realize that I have absolutely no other marketable skills! Sometimes it's the best of all things, sometimes it's simply the path of least resistance; I guess your personal assessment depends on the balance of these two. I just don't want to deliver pizza. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Man, this reminds me of "Sophie's Choice". The impossible decision. Each one of these sets has brought so much pleasure it's hard to pick just one- each recording has its own unique delights. I remember before the Plugged Nickel set came out, it was like the secret "Holy Grail" of jazz. Anyone who owned it was immediately elevated to a higher social status. The 65-68 set contains some of the most innovative and fresh playing and composition. And it's still totally fresh. Wayne's tunes are timeless. The Cannonball/Trane group was the first Miles I ever heard and changed my priorities about music forever. I've got 'em all, but I guess if I have to choose one it'll have to be the Gil set. Great playing by Miles plus some of the most detailed, engaging and imaginative arranging/orchestration of all time- the arranger in me can't help but focus on that. Gil's orchestration is, to me, on a level of someone like Stravinsky. My only regret is that Gil should've gotten a little more rehearsal time from Columbia; the only blemish is some of the loose ensemble passages, especially on the Porgy stuff. Certainly forgiveable given the big picture. The Miles portion of my music collection represents my favorite music. His music encompassed, if not directly influenced, many of the major stylistic shifts in jazz. A significant number of the most influential musicians in the history of jazz share the space on these recordings: Bird, Monk, Sonny, Gil, Cannonball, Coltrane, Wynton, PC, Hank, Wayne, Tony, Herbie, McLaughlin, Corea, Jarrett, Liebman, Grossman, Scofield, Kenny Garrett, etc., etc. etc. Whenever I need "grounding" or inspiration, whether I need to mellow out (IASW, KOB) or get pumped up (Milestones, We Want Miles) I listen to a Miles side. There were those who were better trumpet players but few who were better musicians or better leaders.

All I can add is that I know Jim, he's still around KC. I haven't heard his CD (I am impressed he was able to get Carmell Jones, though) and I'm not really aware that he plays around town a lot. So Dan, you say his CD is happening, huh? Rooster, what's this about your "rejection of most of the KC jazz scene"? B) I don't think this kind of attitude will get your picture on the cover of the KC Chamber of Commerce Annual.

I'm also a big Joe Henderson fan, but I decided to pick between Trane and Sonny for the heavyweight title. I have to admit I reach for Sonny more often than Trane, so I went with Newk. I've been listening to the RCA box lately, so maybe that swayed me- the long version of 52nd St. is amazing!

You mean like Krusty The Klown's superfluous third nipple?

Is that how Vanilla Ice got his start? P.S., maybe "hip hopify"?

What was Lee's relationship w/Cal Massey? That could have been an influence.

I don't know if this one has been discussed, but I think it's some excellent late (1987!) Chet. I don't know if the inspiration that night was spiritual or chemical, but Chet seems to be very much alive and kicking. Sometimes late Chet is almost painful to listen to, but this one is a pleasure. Even after reading "Deep In A Dream" and learning more than I needed to, I still love listening to all Chet. Talk about someone who did a lot with limited tools, especially late in his career! I really like those My Favourite Songs/Straight From The Heart sessions (1988). Also, from 1984, Blues For A Reason w/ Warne Marsh.

OK, I should be practicing, writing tunes, doing something more constructive w/my time than surfing cable, but here I am watching this show. Yes, it's part of a current trend of this type of show (the make-over shows like Trading Spaces and While You Were Out combined with the current media "Will and Grace" bandwagon), and is exploitive and stereotypical in many ways, but so help me, I can't......tear.....myself.....away (Shatner moment). I think I'm attracted partially because my wife and I are getting ready to buy a house and this makeover stuff is interesting. Or maybe I'm just gay. If these guys ever had to deal with me they'd just have to pack it in (no pun intended) and give up. I'm sure this is not everyone's cup of tea, what do you think? I'm sure it will run its course and disappear like most TV fads. In the meantime...............