Jack Sheldon

[Alexander]

Let's give it up for trumpeter Jack Sheldon, best known for singing "Conjunction Junction" and "I'm Just A Bill" on the Gen X mainstay, Schoolhouse Rock! He's made several excellent albums as a leader (I really enjoy the PJ "Quartet and Quintet" disc which collects his first two sessions as a leader) and as a sideman (especially with Curtis Counce). He was also a studio musician on the west coast, and his many album credits include several Tom Waits records!

Let's hear it for the greatest trumpeter and vocalist that no one's heard of!

[JSngry]

He's also a marvellously sick comedian. Guaranteed crackup whenever the guy speaks. Used to watch the first few minutes of the old Merv show just to see if Jack would get a few seconds.

I STILL wonder how this cat hooked up w/the Counce group. You look at all the social factors at play (race, substance use, etc,), and see this cat right in the middle of it, and some pretty interesting scenarios arise.

FWIW, Sheldon showed up on the Kenton album of songs from HAIR, and had a feature on "Sodomy" that must be heard to be believed. In a good way. Talk about grasping the essence of a song!

Yeah, I'll give it up for Jack Sheldon, one of the true subversives of our time. Gotta love him!

[Bill Fenohr]

I have not heard it in many a year, but there was an album he did for Capitol, which i think was called Out!, that has some of his comedy routines on it. The one i remember was a bit about "The Mideval Jazz Quartet". Pretty wacky stuff, but it made me chuckle.

Im going to have to try and find that album again.

[JSngry]

A few years ago, NPR (or American Public Radio, can't remember), had a New Years Eve broadcast of live jazz gigs from across the country. The PST segment was of a Jack Sheldon gig, and the guest vocalist was freakin' JONI JAMES!

WHOA!

How many cats have played with Curtis Counce AND Joni James?

It boggles the mind, it does...

[randissimo]

I first heard Jack Sheldon when my mom got a jazz version

of "My Fair Lady" from Columbia record club back in the early 60's...

Jack plays and sings brilliantly on the record along with Shelley Manne. If you can find it give it a listen. There are some really swingin' arrangements on the record.

[brownie]

Don't forget Jack Sheldon was brilliant in the Jimmy Giuffre adventurous 'Tangents in Jazz'

debut album on Capitol. And on his big band date (Jack's Groove) on Gene Norman Presents

with a great lineup including Art Pepper, Chet Baker, Harold Land, Mel Lewis.

Also some great dates with Art Pepper including 'The Return of Art Pepper' and 'Smack-up'on Contemporary.

Not familiar with his Capitol records. An good?

[JSngry]

Thank God for ".org" & the preconcieved notions of the "general public". Thank God for Organissimo Forums. I'd not raise this issue anywhere else. But the crowd here can hang, at least I HOPE they can. To wit:

Nobody's anwered this yet, so I'll be blunt.

How the hell does somebody who's spent most of his career doing music and projects that can crudely, but best, be described as having a "white" estehetic show up playing TOTALLY badass hard bop trumpet with a bunch of African-American junkies?

Flame away. but only if you really grasp the implications of what I'm saying.

[king ubu]

Yeah, "Tangents in Jazz" is wonderful stuff! Just gave it a spin a few days ago. Love it! (anybody knows more about the drummer on this date? can't recall his name right now)

ubu

[brownie]

Jim, you asking a hard question. One equivalent musician would

be Frank Rosolino. Another badass musician who was a comedian

in his own way and as funny as could be from what everybody who

met him has asserted.

He obviously was more confused than Jack Sheldon and I wish Jack Sheldon

a very happy future. His comedian aspect I have heard about but never

had the chance to see. From what I can grasp, I really missed something.

[brownie]

Jim, you asking a hard question. One equivalent musician would

be Frank Rosolino. Another badass musician who was a comedian

in his own way and as funny as could be from what everybody who

met him has asserted.

He obviously was more confused than Jack Sheldon and I wish Jack Sheldon

a very happy future. His comedian aspect I have heard about but never

had the chance to see. From what I can grasp, I really missed something.

[brownie]

Forget to add that I totally agree with your Thank God for the

Organissimo Forums. They're really the best. My favorite place

to hang around nowadays (when I have time enough)

[James]

Jim, regarding your question (and with absolutely *no* sarcasm intended) consider what Jack might have had in common at the time with "the junkies" besides great chops. Jack has been fairly open about his past which stands in sharp contrast with how he lives today.

And yeah ------- he is completely HYSTERICAL on his best nights doing his bits. I caught him on a particularly "blue" night when half the crowd was losing it, and the other half was getting uptight at his humor. Those of us who were dying noticed the sour-puss expressions on the faces of the uptights, which only amplified our hysteria into complete abandon.

[JSngry]

Jack has been fairly open about his past which stands in sharp contrast with how he lives today.

Well, ok then. I suspected as much, but this openness is something of which I was not aware. Any leads as to where I can read/hear about all this? I'm not trying to be sensational or voyeuristic, not at all. I have a genuine curiosity of the "sociological" type. The guy's career/life fascinates me.

Edited March 19, 2003 by JSngry

[mikeweil]

Let's ask the question the other way 'round: How many trumpeters were there in California at that time being adequate for the Curtis Counce Group? That band was hard bop, but also very sophisticated, and he had it down. If the musicality counts first, there were musicians from the swing era on trying to play with anybody they liked with no regard to color. At least that's the way it looks to me from old Europe.

I, too, would be interested to read something about his life. Liked him from the first time I heard him with the Counce Group and he's been one of my favourite trumpeters ever since. Did he ever record with Jimmy Rowles? Would have been a great pairing.

[Bataki]

I like Jack Sheldon very much, both as a trumpeter and as a singer. A fine example of both these sides of Jack can be heard on "The Jack Sheldon Quintet - Hollywood Heroes". There are seven tracks on this Concord LP from 1976, and he sings on five of them. The tunes are:

The Joint Is Jumping, Pardon My Southern Accent, Poor Butterfly, Lover, Rosetta, I Thought About You, I Want To Be Happy, and the other musicians are Gene Estes dr, Doug Macdonald g, Ray Sherman p and Dave Stone on bass. If somebody hasn't heard Jack Sheldon before, I recommend this one. I also have another exciting old Concord LP with Bill Berry's LA Big Band: "Hello Rev" whith Jack in the trumpet section, and in "Tulip or Turnip" he performs one of his raps: Be Your Own Best Friend, before his trumpet solo. A great guy! And the cover photo of Hollywood Heroes is worth a chapter of its own.....

[James]

Jim - check your p.m. inbox.................

[Roundsound]

Gigi Gryce - Is his first name pronounced with a soft G or a hard G?

[alankin]

Sheldon has a short comic bit called "Be Your Own Best Friend" on the 1976 recording by Bill Berry's L.A. Big Band, Hello Rev, on Concord. He has a very interesting take on the 1970's self-help book of the same name.

Anyone else heard this one? Pretty witty...

(Sheldon also sings Duke's "Tulip or Turnip" on the album.)

Edited March 23, 2003 by alankin

[Michael Fitzgerald]

Gigi comes from the initials G.G. and is pronounced that way.

Mike

[Big Al]

Did he ever record a vocal version of "Filthy McNasty?" My wife and I heard a vocal version the other day, and we figured it was the same guy who did "Conjunction Junction" and "I'm Just a Bill" (not knowing who did this at the time).