Home-town heroes and under-the-radar talent

[umum_cypher]

Pah! Name 'em!

[Alexander Hawkins]

Harry Beckett, for sure!

Byron Wallen.

I think Steve Waterman is at least Gerard's equal in that vein.

Of the younger guys, Tom Arthurs is a far more interesting player.

I don't think Henry Lowther or Kenny Wheeler would fit within my claim about 'London' players, but just to chuck the names in the mixer...

[umum_cypher]

We'll agree to differ.

[Alexander Hawkins]

[Chalupa]

http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/20...Sam_DAmico.html

[sidewinder]

London trumpeter and flugelhornist Gerard Presencer would be world famous if he was American and if his recorded output wasn't so uneven.

Interesting you should suggest Presencer in this thread...I think he's a fine player, but not outstanding, even amongst London trumpet players (all IMHO!).

I always think of Gerald as a great technician, but fine player nevertheless - and very professional. He does a lot of teaching I believe (Royal Academy?) and was in his earlier days strongly featured in the National Youth Jazz Orchestra.

[sidewinder]

Harry Beckett, for sure!

Still one of the 'great originals' over here. Nobody else sounds remotely like him !

Mingus certainly recognised that.

[Alexander Hawkins]

Yeah - Harry absolutely SMOKED at the Rutherford memorial gig at the Red Rose a few weeks back. A truly awesome trio with Nick Stephens and Tony Marsh.

Later that night, BTW, we had the trumpet section of Harry, Kenny, Henry Lowther, Ian Smith, and Orphy Robinson(!) in the London Improvisers Orchestra!

[Chalupa]

Back in the early 80's there was a local pop band called The Vels. They had a huge groundswell of support, signed to Mercury records, and promptly faded from view. Their keyboardist was well known/respected in the local music circles.

Chris Larkin

http://www.philly.com/philly/obituaries/11881517.html

[Chalupa]

Update on Bootsie Barnes....

http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2008/03/...ves-a-challenge

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Update on Bootsie Barnes....

http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2008/03/...ves-a-challenge

Thanks for posting that. Bootsie used to have some CDs for sale on CD Baby, but they weren't there, last time I looked.

MG

[Chalupa]

Legendary jazz drummer Charlie Rice indicted on fuel-theft charges

http://www.philly.com/dailynews/top_story/...ft_charges.html

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

That's bloody terrible. Hope Charlie's cleared.

I met him in Newark in '96; he was playing with Jesse Morrison and Gloria Coleman. Nice one, NJ.

MG

[Chalupa]

Linda Cohen, 61, guitarist, composer, committed teacher

http://www.philly.com/philly/obituaries/20...ed_teacher.html

[Guest Bill Barton]

Golden Ear Awards

The Hadley Caliman Quintet is featured. Hadley was elected to the Seattle Jazz Hall of Fame in 2004. He is da man!

[Chalupa]

Legendary jazz drummer Charlie Rice indicted on fuel-theft charges

http://www.philly.com/dailynews/top_story/...ft_charges.html

Charlie Rice beats the rap!

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage...ts_gas_rap.html

Life is back in tune for Charlie Rice, the venerable jazz drummer who was accused last year at age 88 of stealing gasoline from the Camden school district.

The New Jersey Attorney General's Office yesterday dismissed official-misconduct charges against Rice, after he spent the last 11 months fighting them in court.

.....

Originally from West Philly, Rice sat behind the drums for some of the biggest names in jazz, including John Coltrane, Chet Baker, Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. He continues to play every once in awhile.

[clifford_thornton]

I was really impressed by this:

Rocco John Group

[Guest Bill Barton]

I was really impressed by this:

Rocco John Group

Thanks for reminding me of this one, Clifford. It's another release that "slipped between the cracks" for me. Now, all I have to do is find it in the teetering stacks of new/recent releases!

And time for an enthusiastic plug for the amazing trombonist and multi-instrumentalist Stuart Dempster. Be sure to check out the "Sound Gatherer" link on his home page. I recently heard him in performance with the group Sunship and was - yet again - blown away. He's playing May 23 at the Chapel Performance Space in the Wayward Music Series with the Deep Listening Band.

[robviti]

I was really impressed by this:

Rocco John Group

thanks for introducing me to this band. it's nice to know that after 30 years of digging improvised music, there's still a lot of stuff i haven't heard.

are people familiar with charlie kohlhase? he's a multi-reed player with an awesome sound on the bari. he records and performs in a variety of contexts, presumably to keep things fresh and interesting. all of his quintet dates are worth owning, and you can get some of them used for ridiculously low prices at amazon. charlie has also recorded some great stuff with john tchicai and with rosewell rudd that is worth investigating. all in all, charlie is an important figure in the boston scene today, and he's been a friend and mentor to me, recommending unfamiliar recordings and helping me develop a better understanding and appreciation for free jazz.

i hope other members will take an interest in this thread. it takes so little time to offer a name for consideration, and the results help keep expanding the circle of listening. who needs another remastered title when there's so much good music you haven't heard yet?

[clifford_thornton]

Yeah, Kolhase is a fine, fine player. Seen him w/ Duck Baker and also Tchicai.

[Guest Bill Barton]

Another enthusiastic for Charlie Kohlhase!!!!! His Explorer's Club group has a fine new CD on Boxholder called Adventures. Helluva band...

[Guest Bill Barton]

And another Boston-area musician worthy of mention is Ken Field. He recently visited the Pacific Northwest to take part in HonkFest West and I had the pleasure of hearing him play several times and meeting him: a very nice guy and a fine musician.

Ken Field

Revolutionary Snake Ensemble

[JamesJazz]

In Detroit, we have many gifted tenor men, like Charlie Gabriel and George Benson.

Charlie sat in with Lionel Hampton's BeBoppers during Hamp's 1948 Paradise Theater gig - Fats Navarro was on the band - and Hamp kept him for a couple of weeks, according to Charlie, who was 16 at the time. His pal, trumpeter Claire Roquemore, also sat in with Hamp. While Claire (whom Miles cites in his "bio" and who terrorized all the trumpet players in town) succumbed to 'the horse which so many rode,' to paraphrase Ira Gitler, Charlie is going strong and works regularly around town, usually with Marcus Belgrave, and around the country. He's from New Orleans and his tenor sound is warm, swinging, and distinctive. And his clarinet playing....too much! His CD with Red Richards won an award in France.

George Benson started in solid late 40s R&B bands on alto, and added tenor in the early 60s. George led the last house band at the Flame Show Bar. He's more bop oriented than Charlie, and when he gets going on a blues it sends shivers up my spine (George used to 'walk the bar' when he played with King Porter's band). And his ballads....wow....

Pianist Johnny Allen is 92, plays beautiful piano, elegant, really, and has touches of Hines and Wilson. He arranged the score for "Shaft" and crafted many Motown charts. We just honored him at last year's Detroit International Jazz Festival. Johnny was MD for the Club Congo Orchestra in 1942 when the band backed Billie Holiday during a week long engagement...

This is a great thread, I'm unfamiliar with most of the musicians cited here.

[Michael Weiss]

In Detroit, we have many gifted tenor men, like Charlie Gabriel and George Benson.

Charlie sat in with Lionel Hampton's BeBoppers during Hamp's 1948 Paradise Theater gig - Fats Navarro was on the band - and Hamp kept him for a couple of weeks, according to Charlie, who was 16 at the time. His pal, trumpeter Claire Roquemore, also sat in with Hamp. While Claire (whom Miles cites in his "bio" and who terrorized all the trumpet players in town) succumbed to 'the horse which so many rode,' to paraphrase Ira Gitler, Charlie is going strong and works regularly around town, usually with Marcus Belgrave, and around the country. He's from New Orleans and his tenor sound is warm, swinging, and distinctive. And his clarinet playing....too much! His CD with Red Richards won an award in France.

George Benson started in solid late 40s R&B bands on alto, and added tenor in the early 60s. George led the last house band at the Flame Show Bar. He's more bop oriented than Charlie, and when he gets going on a blues it sends shivers up my spine (George used to 'walk the bar' when he played with King Porter's band). And his ballads....wow....

Pianist Johnny Allen is 92, plays beautiful piano, elegant, really, and has touches of Hines and Wilson. He arranged the score for "Shaft" and crafted many Motown charts. We just honored him at last year's Detroit International Jazz Festival. Johnny was MD for the Club Congo Orchestra in 1942 when the band backed Billie Holiday during a week long engagement...

This is a great thread, I'm unfamiliar with most of the musicians cited here.

Several years ago Barry Harris, Mark Stryker and I went to hear George Benson, Johnny Allen and Will Austin at a brunch gig in Grosse Point. We got a real kick about how they played the changes to Satin Doll:

D-7 G7 D-7 G7 E-7 A7 E-7 A7 (now brace yourself) F6 F#maj7 C !!! Of course we had to get into a deep analytic discussion as to how this sort of made sense.

[Free For All]

Several years ago Barry Harris, Mark Stryker and I went to hear George Benson, Johnny Allen and Will Austin at a brunch gig in Grosse Point. We got a real kick about how they played the changes to Satin Doll:

D-7 G7 D-7 G7 E-7 A7 E-7 A7 (now brace yourself) F6 F#maj7 C !!! Of course we had to get into a deep analytic discussion as to how this sort of made sense.

Wow, that's different! I can see how you can rationalize the GbMA7 since the usual changes (Ab-7/Db7) imply that key center (although the Gb to C root motion is pretty dramatic), but I'm not sure how you'd explain the F6 as a substitute for the A-7/D7. It probably sounded OK w/the melody so it remained.

Interesting how "personal" variations on standard chord progressions pop up every now & then.