You're Invited to Dinner

[paul secor]

I probably have too much time on my hands. It's a beautiful day here and I started daydreaming about being at a dinner party with guests of my choosing who happen to be musicians. In my daydream, I was sitting around a table with Cecil Taylor, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charles Ives, and Johann Sebastian Bach.

If you did the same, what musicians (I include singers, composers, conductors under the umbrella of musicians) would you choose? The table seats six, including you - a good number for conversations without things becoming unwieldy.

Oh - and in my daydream, language differences are somehow not a problem.

Hope this one hasn't been done before, or doesn't seem too flakey.

Edited May 16, 2012 by paul secor

[JSngry]

Is this a potluck, or do I need to provide the food?

[paul secor]

Is this a potluck, or do I need to provide the food?

You provide the food. They provide the conversation. Seems fair to me.

[Dave James]

Oh, it's flakey alright, but I love this kind of stuff. It's similar to a couple of questions I like to ask people after I've gotten to know them a bit.

1) If you had to spend the next six months confined to a hospital bed, who (living or dead) would you like to have in the bed next to you?

2) If you were stranded on the proverbial desert island and you had all you needed to drink, which three foods would you take with you?

I'll have to give some additional thought to my dinner guests. The only one I know for sure would be John Lennon.

[.:.impossible]

King Oliver, Sidney Bechet, Lee Dorsey

Charlie Parker, Eric Dolphy, jimmy Lyons

There's six because someone in this group wouldn't show.

[papsrus]

1) If you had to spend the next six months confined to a hospital bed, who (living or dead) would you like to have in the bed next to you?

I can damn sure tell you it wouldn't be anybody dead!

[Free For All]

One thing I always wonder about regarding this interesting exercise is the chemistry between the guests themselves. Did you factor this into your choices, Paul? Or does one just pick five people they'd like to meet? I wonder if there's going to actually be a conversation or just awkward silence. Or maybe Cecil, Louis and Duke end up hanging in the kitchen while Ives and Bach sit at the table (although if Louis brings some weed that could get things loosened up). I think Bach and Bird would be interesting. Or Debussy and Bill Evans. Or Stravinsky and Gil Evans.

With Paul's particular group it would be interesting to have a piano around.

[PHILLYQ]

I'd gladly cook up a feast for my guests of whatever their favorite foods are. I want them to be comfortable so the conversation will flow. I'd love to have Jimi Hendrix, Miles, Coltrane, Jaco Pastorius and Tony Williams. Talk music, play music, etc. I'd be happy just to listen and watch.

[Bright Moments]

I'd gladly cook up a feast for my guests of whatever their favorite foods are. I want them to be comfortable so the conversation will flow. I'd love to have Jimi Hendrix, Miles, Coltrane, Jaco Pastorius and Tony Williams. Talk music, play music, etc. I'd be happy just to listen and watch.

if Jaco is coming u better hide the good silver

[Rooster_Ties]

I'm as big a fan of Charles Ives as they come, but I can't imagine he'd be a very good dinner guest.

Or even reasonably good. Or even remotely good.

[cih]

I'm split between:

1. Bessie Smith

2. Charlie Patton

3. Monk

4. Frankie Half Pint Jaxon

5. Keith Moon

and:

1-5. The Saturdays

[brownie]

I'ld be happy sharing a table with some that went away much too young:

Clifford Brown

Fats Navarro

Sonny Clark

Scott LaFaro

Jimmie Blanton

Might turn into an interesting evening

[BillF]

Charles Mingus

Oscar Pettiford

Bud Powell

Jaco Pastorius

A recipe for the perfect dinner party!

[Dan Gould]

You guys are totally missing it:

Mobley plus 3 more of Chewy's favorites

Chewy himself

Now that's a recipe for fascinating conversation!

Not to mention, instant-party.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

My problem with these fantasy dinner lists is that I can't get past the fact that most of these older black men would probably not want anything to do with sharing a dinner table with this pasty-white freckle-faced Irish American.

[king ubu]

Yeah - I'd rather have someone at my table that would be genuinly interested. That's rare enough with real people that you do get to know, so... but at this time, I'd say Matana Roberts. And it would be me inviting her, of course!

[cih]

I assumed we were allowed to pretend to be likeable and interesting? I've already invited The Saturdays

Edited May 17, 2012 by cih

[king ubu]

Well, would you want to be someone else than yourself just to have dinner with what might turn out to be a semi-dumb, bloated, and maybe junked up artist? Or are we supposed to assume that - in this scenario - all artists are very likeable people and most interested in talking to us of all people?

[cih]

Well, would you want to be someone else than yourself just to have dinner with what might turn out to be a semi-dumb, bloated, and maybe junked up artist? Or are we supposed to assume that - in this scenario - all artists are very likeable people and most interested in talking to us of all people?

ok - this is turning out to be not my kind of fantasy after all - I'm out!!

[king ubu]

You guys are totally missing it:

Mobley plus 3 more of Chewy's favorites

Chewy himself

Now that's a recipe for fascinating conversation!

Not to mention, instant-party.

Poppa Lou will walk in and out and bring loads of sammiches

[paul secor]

I'm as big a fan of Charles Ives as they come, but I can't imagine he'd be a very good dinner guest.

Or even reasonably good. Or even remotely good.

In my imagination, Cecil, Louis, Duke, and Bach get him talking. Then again, perhaps I have too much imagination.

[Pete C]

I was once at a table next to Threadgill at an East Village Sicilian restaurant. Though we certainly know people in common we had never been introduced, so I didn't say anything to him. But he's probably one of the people I'd invite, probably Butch Morris too. I'd really look for people I can count on for being interesting conversationalists, not just musicians I like. Among the dead I'd probably think of a guy like Rex Stewart whose writing suggests he'd be a good talker. And Steve Lacy without a doubt. I probably wouldn't invite Monk or Bud... Maybe Ernest Dawkins because the couple of times I've chatted briefly with him he seemed like such a nice guy. Oh, and for another nice guy who's has stuff to say, Dave Burrell.

Charles Mingus

Oscar Pettiford

Bud Powell

Jaco Pastorius

A recipe for the perfect dinner party!

You should consider inviting Juan Tizol. And if you really want to up the stakes, Tizol & Strayhorn.

I used to work as a programmer for insurance companies, so at one point I imagined a dinner with three legendary insurance men: Charles Ives, Wallace Stevens & Franz Kafka.

Edited May 17, 2012 by Pete C

[GA Russell]

I'd like to have dinner with Stephanie Zimbalist (who has sung with Tommy Tune), and her dad and three other family members to take up the slack if she isn't enamored with me!

Edited May 17, 2012 by GA Russell

[jeffcrom]

I thought about this for awhile, and realized how many musicians I have wished would just stop talking.

[Pete C]

I wouldn't want to have dinner with Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock because I'm afraid they'd try to recruit me for their cults.