Boyd Lee Dunlop

[paul secor]

New York Times

[Dan Gould]

Was going to post this; great story. When I get home I'll click to watch the video of his playing.

[paul secor]

Another story

[AllenLowe]

try listening. This is all a bit depressing. It's a little like the Emperor -

[AllenLowe]

he is not a pianist - no chops, no ideas. It's just another condescending, age-ist pile of crap. And I don;t think it's deterioration - he's got less keyboard harmonic knowledge than I do. This is just the worst kind of racialist B.S,, too, IMHO; if they'd found an old white guy he wouldn't have seemed "authentic" and nobody would have done a thing.

[Dan Gould]

Nary a sentimental bone in your body, huh Allen?

I mean, let's say the guy sucks that much, and he only attained a 'cocktail jazz' skill set. Its not nice that in his decrepit old age he's playing again, or gets a chance to record? You didn't front the money for the recording date.

And I seriously doubt that if it was an old white guy who:

Was a gigging musician most of his life

and

Had a very successful brother who played jazz

and

Ended up enlivening the lives of other senior citizens by playing a broken-down piano

that this article wouldn't get written.

[AllenLowe]

it's fine that he's having some fun - but you read the articles and they treat him like he's some undiscovered jazz treasure - would that someone had done the same for Bill Triglia when he was 80 and still had chops as good as Hank Jones. It's the context that bothers me, the condescension of praising him just because he's old - he is not a jazz player.

[marcello]

I knew Boyd Lee in the 70's when he used to play around the usual spots around here.

He was always a crazy fucker!

I remember once when he showed up for a gig that he was playing for a leader in a upscale spot, and he showed up wearing the required tux but without shoes or socks!

Hi cousin is drummer Nasar Abadey (in D.C.).

Edited December 9, 2011 by marcello

[AllenLowe]

did he have any chops back then? he just sounds musically clueless in those clips.

[Chuck Nessa]

We will check back when you are that age, in a home. Hope you make it.

[AllenLowe]

well, as I said, I have no problem with his playing as a hobby.....but to portray him as some un-sung and re-discovered hero is just....dishonest. Listen to Sonny Rollins at 80 - he doesn't need any propping up. Or better still - Von Freeman - is Von "great for his age" or is he just great?

I heard Benny Waters when he was almost that old, and Benny Carter; Art Hodes when he was pretty advanced in years; George Kelly; Russell Procope, Dickey Wells, Earl Warren, even Jo Jones had more on the ball. Or Sammy Price - these were real musicians. This guy is a phony, sorry.

[Adam]

I don't think he's a phony. He's just playing what he plays. It's other people promoting him. (I haven't heard him, just read the articles, so I won't speak to the playing).

But your writing, Allan, makes it seem like he was the instigator and is at fault for all of this, when the story I read just said he was playing at his nursing home and getting occasional local gigs. Other people started thinking he should record. No one is a "phony" here; just one person who isn't that great a player (I suppose) and people who thought he should have a chance.

[Dan Gould]

it's fine that he's having some fun - but you read the articles and they treat him like he's some undiscovered jazz treasure - would that someone had done the same for Bill Triglia when he was 80 and still had chops as good as Hank Jones. It's the context that bothers me, the condescension of praising him just because he's old - he is not a jazz player.

I don't think there's enough of him at the beginning and end of the video to judge but more importantly, I don't remotely get where you find him being hailed as an undiscovered jazz treasure. The second article is a little more verbose about his supposed skills but I'd like to know where you find in the NYT article that he's some fantastic talent, undiscovered for too long.

Again I think the whole point is the old man in the rest home getting a chance to play the piano again, and to record as a leader for once.

[Chuck Nessa]

Yup. Not sure it was worthy of the NYT, but a decent story.

[JSngry]

20 points just for the name "Boyd Lee Dunlop".

[marcello]

did he have any chops back then? he just sounds musically clueless in those clips.

Well, he was never great, but a lot of fun!

He was so consistently off the wall, he sure could make things interesting in short doses.

[Joe]

FWIW, a quick trawl of YouTube turns up a few more extended glimpses of Dunlop the musician, including what purports to be a Hammond B-3 performance from 1993.

[AllenLowe]

Dan: there are a few full performances, including a mediocre blues and a version of Tenderly which goes nowhere - I have more piano chops than this guy, honestly.

the "jazz treasure" thing is implied in a few of the articles which detail his whole history, meeting Tatum, Buffalo, etc - hey, if they wanna deal with Buffalo, where were all these journalists when Al Tinney was around? HE was a pianist. This guy is an impostor.

Edited December 10, 2011 by AllenLowe

[BFrank]

This morning on NPR's Weekend Edition - Saturday

[marcello]

Boyd Lee was part of the jazz scene in Western N.Y. that was made up partly by less talented players that had some experience playing with name bands in their past, but ultimately, returned home.

What they offered to the scene was a mentoring to the players of a younger generation and teaching them both the musical language and sharing what they knew and learned as players involved in the whole culture.

I'm sure this was repeated in many cities across the country, and it was a important part of the process of being a jazz musician (Black and White) and the community. They made their contributions.

[AllenLowe]

hmmmm.....I understand in principle - but in my experience the local mentoring jazz players had a lot more talent than someone like Dunlop - thinking of a place like New Haven, where I lived for 20 years, and which had a lot of players who were somewhat "second tier", but often just guys who's stayed around - and even where, perhaps, they weren't fully functional as jazz players, it often had to do not with talent but a lack of time. Whereas. at least on this evidence, Dunlop is not really good enough to teach anyone. I will allow, however, that maybe he was a lot better years ago. But the playing they refer to now is just empty. Check out Marty Napoleon, for one good example - about the same age,plays at old age homes - but you can hear the feeling and the knowledge. With Dunlop, for example, on the internet version he does of 'Round Midnight - harmonically it's weirdly thin. He doesn't even sound like a talented amateur.

sigh....

[king ubu]

hum, finally played some of these youtube thingies... sounds to my ears like he can hardly navigate through "Tenderly" and is pretty much lost in "Round Midnight". Nice story and all, and if he gets to have some success, that's fine with me. But for me it's "thanks but no thanks". Sounds like when my dad used to tinkle at the piano when I was a kid (dad and piano are both still around, dad just stopped the tinkling...)

[Dan Gould]

I need to find these youtube thingies myself ... maybe the problem is that your average reporter for the NYT doesn't have a clue what good jazz sounds like.

[king ubu]

One is right here in this thread... if you open it in youtube, you'll find others, including the organ one (in very bad sound).

(uhm, make that "an" organ one... thought it had been mentioned already but that must have been elsewhere)

[JSngry]

Great "human interest story".

Beyond that, I dig Frankie Dunlop very much!