remember a few months ago I was trying to remember

[AllenLowe]

who I thought had recorded for King? CHewy and Jim and I went back and forth because I just could not remember his name.

well....tonight I was out playing with Taylor Ho Bynum, who was in Portland for a concert - and I'm talking to his tenor player who says "my dad was a jazz pianist from New Haven." And guess what? I almost fell on the floor because his dad was the pianist I was trying to remember a few months ago - and his dad was CECIL YOUNG - who, yes, DID record for king - because I then found this on the internet:

"Pianist Cecil Young's quartet exploded onto the Seattle jazz scene in 1950, introducing the rhythmic fire of bebop to an eager new audience. His quartet's debut record was immediately successful, and Young, known for his devilish sense of humor as well as his immense musical talents, rose to great but brief regional prominence.

http://www.blackpast.org/?q=aaw/young-cecil-c-1920-c-1975

Edited September 18, 2010 by AllenLowe

[JSngry]

I've heard this and it didn't do too much for me...way too much "go man go"-type playing, if that makes any sense.

[John L]

way too much "go man go"-type playing, if that makes any sense.

Not that you couldn't guess it from the drawing on the cover.

[MomsMobley]

Speaking of vaudeville, we should talk more about Wilbur Sweatman later... Allen, you know you're cited in the Tim Brooks book "Lost Sounds" right? Dunno about the Berresford yet but wanna check it.

ALSO-- you ever hear the Syd Nathan record sales convention disc in the King box? Can't check youtube now to see if it's up there.

[JSngry]

Yeah, vaudebop, that works for me.

[AllenLowe]

some very good tenor playing nonetheless - and they were clearly going for a Shearing thing - but I remember the guy sitting in one night with a friend of mine and he had a very nice, Nat Cole-like sound.

it was weird bumping into his son after 30 years -

[papsrus]

Nice story Allen. Glad that you solved the mystery.

Equally interesting that you were playing with Bynum. Now that I'd like to listen to.

[AllenLowe]

he came through on this bicycle tour he's doing, and I went up and did Black and Tan Fantasy with him, a pianist, and a tenor playing. Nice guy, we had a lot of fun. And it turns out he lives in my old neighborhood in New Haven.

[Alexander Hawkins]

Absolutely - great guy, killer player

...fantastic writer and bandleader too!

Edited September 18, 2010 by Alexander Hawkins

[JSngry]

some very good tenor playing nonetheless - -

I hear ya', but to me, he sounds like Sam Butera probably sounds to people who don't like Sam Butera.

[AllenLowe]

well, they were definitely going for a "set piece" sound, trying to sell some records. But when the tenor player opens up he's got some chops.

Edited September 18, 2010 by AllenLowe

[JSngry]

Indeed, very much of the (then) Gene Ammons/Tom Archia bag, which is definitely cool, but then the shtick comes in and he goes there so easily and....enthusiastically that I wonder if maybe it was all shtick to him...we got a guy like that around here (I'm sure there's a guy like that everywhere...), learned all the hip licks and all the corny ones, learned everything, really, and puts them all together in such a way that just when you're ready to think that this guy's pretty happening, he'll veer off and make you want to vomit on his highly-shines shoes, and get some on his highly starched tux shirt just for good measure (especially if you've eaten Indian food and you know there's gonna be plenty of turmeric in there).

But he can definitely play the instrument, and he definitely is a real crowd pleaser, so...it is what it is, ya' know?

But it looks like this guy, Gerald Brashear, hung around Seattle and was an institution there: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Brashear

[AllenLowe]

yeah, there used to be a few guys like that from the old school in New Haven, in the late 1970s - these guys had od'd on Flyin' Home and other, later, assorted semi R&B tenors - they could play, but taste was an issue. And of course the crowds loved it.....

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

KING released a record recorded @ the harvard exit theater?!?!?!? i will never urinate on the side of that building ever again.

[JSngry]

Too late. A piss laid is a piss played.

[clifford_thornton]

Allen, who is Cecil Young's son?

T Ho B is a fantastic musician, indeed.

[AllenLowe]

yeah, we had a nice time - Cecil's son plays tenor, his name is Paavo Carey. He teaches north of here. Great musician, good guy.

[Hoppy T. Frog]

yeah, we had a nice time - Cecil's son plays tenor, his name is Paavo Carey. He teaches north of here. Great musician, good guy.

What's north of Portland? The Arctic?

[Matthew]

Allen, who is Cecil Young's son?

T Ho B is a fantastic musician, indeed.

Allen is lucky to play with THB, Goodnes, do I ever love his duets with Braxton (Bynum not Allen's... though I'm sure an Allen Lowe / Anthony Braxton duet would be interesting also....).

[Hoppy T. Frog]

Allen, who is Cecil Young's son?

T Ho B is a fantastic musician, indeed.

Allen is lucky to play with THB, Goodnes, do I ever love his duets with Braxton (Bynum not Allen's... though I'm sure an Allen Lowe / Anthony Braxton duet would be interesting also....).

Yeah, Bynum has a certain "something" that perhaps it's a sense of good humor and warm-heartedness I sense in his music and personal nature that may make him the greatest and most deep of all of the Anthony Braxton students (like the good humor and warm-heartedness Braxton himself shares with the world).

[AllenLowe]

genuinely nice guy - I hope to hook up with again at some point.