Eddie Locke story

[fasstrack]

I heard the news yesterday that the great drummer Eddie Locke, originally from Detroit, passed away and am very sad. He was a very special individual.

We worked together twice: once with trumpeter John Eckert as leader, in a joint that lasted about thirty seconds. That was a fun gig and John sounded especially good that night. Eddie was really digging it.

But the story that I want to relate shows the kind of man Eddie was: I used to put groups together for special events at Mercy College in the NY area. I was asked to do a Black History Month event in Feb. 2002. I got James Chirillo, guitar, John Beal, bass, Eddie, and myself on guitar. I knew we would play for a group of young people unfamiliar with and probably uncaring about jazz. I made a special request to Eddie to talk to these young folks about the jazz life. I got more than I bargained for b/c besides playing with his usual energy, charisma, and great brush work, he spoke to the kids (who were looking, as I predicted, like 'what are these old guys gonna do?') Eddie talked about the way Coleman Hawkins, Red Allen, and Roy Eldridge, etc. adopted and looked after him when he got to town. He really made a point of the idea of jazz musicians as community, then went on to talk about neighborhoods, music education, and other topics with great wisdom and charm. He got into the social origins of jazz as a dance music and mentioned that once during the night they would have a little 'hot time', where they would play solos 'like we did tonight'. I could see the kids warming up after the first tune, girls first. We played well, and I enjoy playing with each of these guys, but it was really Eddie that gave it that special something. We finished with Topsy (it was a tribute to Charlie Christian and other musicians) and by the last tune they were cheering us. We were real jazz messengers that day, and that gig will always be a little special for me.

By a miracle a young person recorded the gig on VHS and I had it edited and titles added with the hopes of releasing it commercially, but the video/audio quality was just not good enough for today's persnickety techno-heads. But I promised Loren Schoenberg I would donate it to his Harlem Jazz Museum, and I will. It ends with Eddie saying "you have lovely place here. I must come back"---after tearing it up on Sweet Georgia Brown. For now, those interested can hear a lengthy version of Topsy from that gig at:

www.myspace.com/joelfass

You can hear we were feeling the spirit.

RIP, Eddie Locke. You had a great life.

Edited September 22, 2009 by fasstrack

[marcello]

Whenever I saw him with Roy at Jimmy Ryan's, he always seemed to be having a good time, and that joy spread from the bandstand to the audience.

[fasstrack]

Whenever I saw him with Roy at Jimmy Ryan's, he always seemed to be having a good time, and that joy spread from the bandstand to the audience.

The last time I saw him I was headed to Holland to move there. He said 'have a great life'. That's what he wanted people everywhere to have. That's the way he sounded.