who's Babs Gonzales?

[jazzbo]

I love his work. I have all of it that I can find.

One of my favorites is his wild version of "St. Louis Blues."

[epistrophy007]

She was Jimminy Smits' manager.

yous talkin' of her, sir?

This was the first cd of Babs I bought, before I knew she was a he...

Voilà, Crazy

j.

[clifford_thornton]

I've never listened to him, though any certifiably weird motherfucker gets props in my book. Curious now.

[CJ Shearn]

We have the volcanic interpretations avec James Smith and his Trio

Edited December 14, 2009 by CJ Shearn

[JamesJazz]

I met Babs in NYC around 1973 at the Jazz Museum. I was a volunteer, hung around and make a pest of myself, and Jack Bradley took pity on me and let me be a gofer. Babs came in one afternoon, and I struck up a conversation with him. He felt like talking, and we spent the afternoon in an office at the Museum. Babs told me many stories, answered some of my questions about Tadd, Bird, etc. He "suggested" that I buy his book and I did, whereupon he took the money ($4, I think) and told me to go get us a six pack. So we sat around and got buzzed and it was a real thrill to spend time with him. He later sent me his "Expoobident World of Babs (Speedy) Gonzales" LP.

[Teasing the Korean]

I just picked up the Chronological 1947-49 CD, containing 24 tracks recorded for Blue Note.

I have the brilliant "Tales of Manhattan" also.

What else is worthwhile? I know little about Babs.

[jazzbo]

That Chronogical is killer. Buy whatever you can find.

[Gheorghe]

should give the Chronological a try. It´s a shame I read so much about him and would like to hear the stuff he did with Dameron (Three Bips and a Bop from Blue Note), but it never happened. I think there was some with him on a Spotlite collection "Cool Whalin´"....

... ps...: and I think one of his last performances was at the North See Jazz Festival, I think he was about 60 when he died (1979 or so)

[Caravan]

should give the Chronological a try. It´s a shame I read so much about him and would like to hear the stuff he did with Dameron (Three Bips and a Bop from Blue Note), but it never happened. I think there was some with him on a Spotlite collection "Cool Whalin´"....

... ps...: and I think one of his last performances was at the North See Jazz Festival, I think he was about 60 when he died (1979 or so)

Babs Gonzales, October 27, 1919 – January 23, 1980

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babs_Gonzales

[Gheorghe]

So I did remember quite well....

Strange, with all that BN reissue I think I never saw a BN CD or LP with the "Three Bips and a Bop" material.

[mikeweil]

It was just 78's on Blue Note - only in the late 1990's Cuscuna compiled them to this disc, which has some tracks not on the Classics and vice versa:

[king ubu]

That's a pretty nice disc! Bought mine from someone here (Lon?) many moons ago ...

[paul secor]

For me, it's somewhat interesting and also of historical interest, but much more of an oddity than anything else.

[Peter Friedman]

I always have dug Babs. Out of town so can't give the specific information, but he is on some tracks on at least one Bennie Green record on Blue Note. I too enjoyed reading his book. An outrageous cat.

[jazzbo]

Yes, he appears on "Soul Stirrin'" and wrote the title tune.

[mikeweil]

He MC'd on Johnny Griffin's Riverside live studio LP, "Studio Jazz Party" - although he doesn't sind it gives the whole affair a unique atmosphere. He's one of the guys in the center.

[jazzbo]

I once suggested a complete recordings of Babs Gonzales box set on Mosaic to Mr. Cuscuna. His response to me was "YOU MUST BE OUT OF YOUR MIND!" which I thought was appropriate.

[paul secor]

I always have dug Babs. Out of town so can't give the specific information, but he is on some tracks on at least one Bennie Green record on Blue Note. I too enjoyed reading his book. An outrageous cat.

Yes, he appears on "Soul Stirrin'" and wrote the title tune.

Plus two version of "Encore" on this one:

[jazzbo]

Right, forgot about those. All this material is in the Mosaic Select.

[Michael Weiss]

Around 1976-78 I heard Clifford Jordan's group at the New Foxhole Cafe in Philly. He had Wilbur Ware and Wilbur Campbell. At some point during the evening Babs came in. He was hawking his books and pamphlets. I vaguely recall him sitting in on Round Midnight. He was intense,

[Late]

That Chronogical is killer.

Yes.

(It also contains Sonny Rollins' first appearance on records.)

[sidewinder]

I once suggested a complete recordings of Babs Gonzales box set on Mosaic to Mr. Cuscuna. His response to me was "YOU MUST BE OUT OF YOUR MIND!" which I thought was appropriate.

I would have gone for it !

[mikeweil]

Me, too!

But some of the singles Babs himself produced may be hard to find, and if he was still alive at the time jazzbo suggested the box, negotiations would have become downright crazy.

[king ubu]

I once suggested a complete recordings of Babs Gonzales box set on Mosaic to Mr. Cuscuna. His response to me was "YOU MUST BE OUT OF YOUR MIND!" which I thought was appropriate.

YOU ARE NOT ALONE

[Teasing the Korean]

How does the sound on the Blue Note disc compare to that on the Chronological CD? I ask because a few tracks on the latter sound kind of rough in places, not that it's a big deal.