Joe Daley/Joe Daley Trio

[jenda]

ok so here i am, the apparently elusive jpendur... i pm'd rockefeller center, still trying to figure out how to work this place, just found it... yes there are some recordings, some new ones in the offing, re-releasing the emergency theater stuff from russell's eidelon tapes label asap, and the no earth trio recording featuring lyx ish (now deceased) and "saxaphone terrorist" joanne powers, also the no earth duo with drummer paul baker are soon to be released... funny you should mention it... we are in the process of editing a lot of unheard of, very far out improvisational material from various artists... archival and not necessarily the best sound quality but VERY interesting... and some new work in progress, studio and live... so... what do you want to know?

[JSngry]

First things first - whazzup w/Russell Thorne these days?

[couw]

he ended up in a bookstore, where Jennifer (welcome!) is apparantly also involved.

[Dan Gould]

I'm on a list for a dealer with set price LPs, and I just noticed he's got this Joe Daley RCA, M- for $15. Don't know if that's a good price or not but if anyone is looking for this and wants me to snag it from this dealer, let me know via PM.

[relyles]

I'm on a list for a dealer with set price LPs, and I just noticed he's got this Joe Daley RCA, M- for $15. Don't know if that's a good price or not but if anyone is looking for this and wants me to snag it from this dealer, let me know via PM.

For anyone who is wondering I think that is a very good price. I paid $30 for a mint copy shortly after Jim's blindfold test. Before that I think I also so it for somewhere between $40 - $50.

[Son-of-a-Weizen]

(imagine there being a Duluth Symphony if you've ever passed through Duluth),

Yeah really.....the symphony that Taconite built. Must have been established by the Congdon family in the 30's.

[Late]

This was an interesting read. Thought I'd share it here.

Recollections of Joe Daley

by Rich Corpolongo

I met Joe when I was 11 years old. My brother Tony had just gotten out of the Marine Corps and went to take music lessons at Rizzo School of Music located in Chicago. One of his theory teachers was Joe Daley. Since I had an interest in playing the clarinet my brother mentioned to me that his theory teacher also taught clarinet and saxophone.

My first meeting with Joe was nerve racking. He had a way of looking through you with his piercing eyes. I didn't know how to cope with this musical giant until much later.

If there was any question about a certain interpretation of a musical idea Joe would demonstrate it completely on his clarinet—sometimes taking the whole lesson to prove his point. Of course, whenever I would deliberately not practice Joe would be on my case with very hurtful remarks such as:

1) "Why don't you give your clarinet to someone who wants to play it."

2) "You'll never play that horn—you're wasting your money and my time."

3) "Why don't you give it up and just come here every week and we'll talk."

4) "Why not become a baseball player since you are obviously not going to become a musician."

His sarcastic remarks would send me home crying. I was determined to prove to Mr. Daley that he was wrong in his judgment and I would play the pants off the exercise the next lesson. This was pretty much the way lessons went until I got to high school.

Sometimes he would eat lunch while giving a lesson. In between bites Joe would correct any wrong note or phrase. I'd be playing and hear a snorting or gargling sound coming from behind me, not knowing what would come out next.

I started smoking and invariably Joe would ask me for a "square." "Square" was Joe's hip word for a cigarette-since cigarettes were round, "square" was the opposite word.

I continued studying with Joe until my Junior year in high school. I had always had an interest in jazz and discovered that that was Joe's real interest also. I switched to tenor sax because it was pitched in B flat like clarinet; besides Joe also played tenor. I went through Joe's entire course of study. At his last lesson he told me that he had taught me everything he knew and that in order to improve I would have to go out and blow as much as I could.

I remember inviting Joe to one of my informal jazz gigs assuming that he would probably not come—but he did. He walked in just when I was about to play a solo. I was paralyzed thinking that he would rip my solo to ribbons, but instead he said "sounds good." It was the first time he ever voiced a positive reaction.

Many years later my brother told me that Joe's impression of me when I first started was "Tony, your little brother has a very bright future."

Joe often recommended me for jobs—sometimes I would even take his place. His confidence started me in the music business and his lectures influenced me to go to college to get a music composition degree.

He invited me to play with him with the Chicago Symphony at a children's concert in 1968. We performed a composition by Gunther Schuller called "Journey Into Jazz" about a young trumpet player who grows older and older and better and better, finally making the grade. Joe's group consisted of Bobby Lewis–trumpet, Dan Shapera–bass, Hal Russell–drums, Joe–tenor sax, and me–alto sax.

A funny thing happened while we were at Orchestra Hall. In the basement of the hall are lockers with tuning strobes. Both Joe and I were extremely careful to tune as perfectly as we could to A-440 before returning to the rehearsal so that the orchestra players could not say that we were out-of-tune jazz players. We were surprised when we tuned to the oboe upstairs by the variety of pitches that came out of the orchestra. They were so noticeably out-of-tune that Joe looked at me in shock.

I rarely saw Joe in the next few years. We would meet on a gig or house party. Then in 1972 came the Mill Run Theatre in Niles. We played a different act every week including Liberace, Danny Thomas, Sammy Davis Jr., Lena Horne, Jack Benny and Tom Jones.

One day between shows Joe, Bobby Lewis, and I were in the musicians' dressing room relaxing. The other musicians were out having lunch, drinking or whatever. Joe said "let's play." He played a rhythmic idea which Bobby took it up and developed it. I took hold of the idea and started moving it away from where Joe had started it. Bobby now was following me instead of Joe. Joe stopped abruptly, looked at me in disgust with his piercing eyes and said, "Hey man, you're not doing the thing that me and Bobby are doing." I said, defiantly, "Maybe you're not doing the thing that Bobby and I are doing."

My answer broke Joe up and he said, "Wow-ee, you have arrived." Joe realized that I had developed my own voice musically. After that incident Joe and I became more than teacher-student, we were friends in the quest for musical adventures—mainly the Free Jazz movement.

During this period Joe was having trouble with his second wife. He was drinking very heavily and needed a place to stay. I offered my apartment. We set up housekeeping and talked about every subject under the sun.

One night after a gig we decided to experiment with our voices. We sang a jazz tune with solos one after the other. During one of my solos Joe stopped me and said that I was not making the chord changes. I argued that it was he who was not hearing the correct version of the song. We argued and argued. I told him that he should try my approach before discarding it as un-musical. He said that he would try it on the next gig. The next night after Joe's gig he told me, "Rich, I tried your suggestion. You m— you, you're no student anymore—we're equals".

When I started taking lessons with Joe I idolized him (I thought of him as a god), I wanted to play exactly like him. As I got older, I no longer wanted to play like him. His exact words were, "Get your own thing happening, don't worry about criticism, play what you know, and by ear, and everything will turn out alright."

Joe was rough with his students. His discipline, direction, and insight into all facets of creative music and the music business are legendary. He always spoke his mind no matter what. He was not afraid to say he was wrong. Although he would never compliment anyone to his face he would lavish praise to no end behind a person's back. On the other hand, Joe never say a bad word behind anyone's back—he would always say it to their face.

He rarely showed emotion, although he had a lot of it. He could cry as well as laugh with no fear of who saw it. He was well-respected and feared for his ability, loved and hated for his candor, extremely intelligent, witty and fun to be with.

It wasn't until he fell ill that I learned that he thought of me like a son. My father died when I was age 8. Now that I look back on it, I thought of Joe as a step-father. I loved him very much. Joe will live in my memory and the memories of all who came into contact with him.

Copyright 1998 by Rich Corpolongo

[HolyStitt]

Thank you posting the article.

[clifford_thornton]

Yeah, that's really great. Thanks.

[paul secor]

Thanks for posting that article - great stories & thoughts.

Edited September 24, 2006 by paul secor

[Late]

David — you were in the studio when this was recorded? I thought this session was actually a studio date with live applause added later. Now I'm confused ...

[Larry Kart]

Late -- See Chuck Nessa's last post on this thread for the answer:

http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...mp;#entry557882

[Late]

ok so here i am, the apparently elusive jpendur... i pm'd rockefeller center, still trying to figure out how to work this place, just found it... yes there are some recordings, some new ones in the offing, re-releasing the emergency theater stuff from russell's eidelon tapes label asap, and the no earth trio recording featuring lyx ish (now deceased) and "saxaphone terrorist" joanne powers, also the no earth duo with drummer paul baker are soon to be released... funny you should mention it... we are in the process of editing a lot of unheard of, very far out improvisational material from various artists... archival and not necessarily the best sound quality but VERY interesting... and some new work in progress, studio and live... so... what do you want to know?

Anyone come across any of these recordings?