who's Babs Gonzales?

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

saw one of them "chronological" cds today: noticed some really good sidemen on it! is this bebop? west coast or east coast? some tracks seemed to be small group, some orchestra. what instrument does babs do? who is babs? etc?

[Daniel A]

what instrument does babs do?

Why don't you try the All Music Guide? Lots of info - and it's even for free!

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

crashes my IE- i should try amazon...

[king ubu]

whose babs? mine or yourse?

his BN disc is fine! there has been some discussion of him here, too... why not try the search function?

[mikeweil]

Babs was the weirdest hipster ever to apply bebop to vocal chords .....

If you don't dig scat of the craziest degree, cut it out.

[AllenLowe]

"Babs was a hip guy" - Joe Albany

he was one of the few singers that other jazz musicians seemed to like - has an interesting autobiography, if you can find it - not a great singer, but some nice ideas, and is on the first recording session Sonny Rollins ever made, I believe (Professor Bop, I think, reissued on Blue Note) -

[Chuck Nessa]

She was Jimminy Smits' manager.

[king ubu]

She was Jimminy Smits' manager.

yous talkin' of her, sir?

[Shannon Dickey]

Babs was a very fun scat singer. I agree that his autobiography "I Paid My Dues (good times...No bread A story of jazz") is a very great read. "eccentric" doesn't come close!! The bk. is kinda hard to find, Norton Records had found a cache of them somewhere, about 8 years ago, and were selling them for $20.00 a pop, in new condition. By the way it was published by the "Expubidence Pub. Corp." Ha Ha!!

-----HB

[Christiern]

Babs used to live down the street from me. He was a frequent visitor who would show up in the middle of the night. After a while. my doormen knew not to buzz me.

That said, he was a colorful character whom I actually enjoyed knowing. As for his autobiography, there were actually two--I have them both:

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

i was hoping he was an sax player. are you sure hes not a sax player?

[Daniel A]

I'm not so sure.

[Shannon Dickey]

I am 99% sure Babs was not a Sax player, I have a lot of his recordings, and not on any does he paly the horn (at least not credited) nor have I ever read/heard that he did so. Also, he was not confined to scat singing, he did the whole "hipster-jive" proto rap thing as well.

-----HB

[Big Wheel]

crashes my IE- i should try amazon...

Tip: use answers.com when you want to look up AMG data. Navigation is much easier IMO.

[Christiern]

Babs only played sax with an "e"

[Shannon Dickey]

Christiern,

Your copy of "I paid my dues" looks like a later printing than mine. Mine has a much younger head shot on the cover, entirely different cover design as well. Cover price is .95 cents. It's copyright 1967. Just curious.

---HB

[marcello]

Dizzy Gillespie once told me that his wife wouldn't let Babs in their house.

[AllenLowe]

Professor Bop is my favorite - as I mentioned, Sonny Rollin's recording debut -

"take a song like auld lang syne

than you add a bebop line -

don't call a cop -

call Professor Bop"

(I'm forgetting a few words here but you get the idea) -

[Christiern]

Marcello, I fully understand why Lorraine Gillespie didn't welcome Babs as a visitor--he could be (and often was) a bit too much.

Horny, my copy is a Lancer Book, also published in 1967.

My other book has dedications to his mother, Lottie Brown, and Josephine Baker, who died two days apart whilst the book was in its last stages. The publication year is 1975 and, as you can see below, there was no typesetting involved, just typewritten pages, with corrections.

Edited September 26, 2006 by Christiern

[Alexander]

Professor Bop is my favorite - as I mentioned, Sonny Rollin's recording debut -

"take a song like auld lang syne

than you add a bebop line -

don't call a cop -

call Professor Bop"

(I'm forgetting a few words here but you get the idea) -

That's the song I always associate with Babs. I think J.J. Johnson is on that recording too.

[bichos]

here you can read the first 28 pages of his biography. and the cover is different from the others shown here.

http://www.liquidatorgraphics.com/culture/ipaidmydues1.htm

click on the "next arrow" to continue to read.

keep boppin´

marcel

[mikeweil]

I enjoy this thread as much as I enjoyed reading Babs' bio or listening to his records - thanks everybody!

Are these two books different texts, or is the newer one just a reprint? If not, I'd try to get it.

[AllenLowe]

I hope they cut out the anti-semitic comments - which, as I remember, are rife in that book -

[ghost of miles]

I've been listening this morning to an interview Robin D.G. Kelley (author of the new Monk bio) did with the show "Jazz and Justice," and he mentioned that there's a new edition of I PAID MY DUES coming out, with an introduction by Robin.

[Brad]

If you can, see if you can find Babs' Sunday Afternoon at Smalls Paradise. Great cd on the wit and wisdom of the man. No jazz fan should be without.