New Documentary on Bill Crow by Neal Miner

[sgcim]

A friend emailed me this this morning, he said it was very good:

 

[BillF]

Fascinating stuff! 👍

[Quasimado]

Beautiful - thanks for that.

[sgcim]

Anyone recognize who the guitarist was in the picture of Bill with the Teddy Charles Trio? It was a big guy so it definitely wasn't Raney.

[sgcim]

My sources say it was a guitarist named Don Roberts. They made an album together called Teddy Cohen and His Trio. They were trying to do a copy of the Red Norvo Trio sound, but the arrangements were poor, and Roberts was no Tal Farlow. TC plays nice on a few straight ahead cuts

The album is re-issued under the name "New Directions", with some other material with Jimmy Raney and Hall Overton.

[jlhoots]

FWIW, Gene Lees was a big "fan" of Bill Crow.

[Chuck Nessa]

1 hour ago, jlhoots said:

FWIW, Gene Lees was a big "fan" of Bill Crow.

Gene Lees was an interesting piece of work. Met him a couple of times, and he was always happy to be met.

[Larry Kart]

10 hours ago, Chuck Nessa said:

Gene Lees was an interesting piece of work. Met him a couple of times, and he was always happy to be met.

Crow documentary is a delight.

[gmonahan]

6 hours ago, Larry Kart said:

Crow documentary is a delight.

It sure is. Now I have to go hunt down those Jazz Anecdote books!

[Big Beat Steve]

8 hours ago, gmonahan said:

It sure is. Now I have to go hunt down those Jazz Anecdote books!

Not to forget his account of the 1962 Benny Goodman tour of Russia. 😉

https://www.billcrowbass.com/to-russia-without-love.html

 

[JSngry]

Wish somebody had done something like this with George Duvivier. 

[gmonahan]

On 2/24/2023 at 11:07 PM, Big Beat Steve said:

Not to forget his account of the 1962 Benny Goodman tour of Russia. 😉

https://www.billcrowbass.com/to-russia-without-love.html

 

Oh yeah, that one is a classic!

[Balladeer]

I heartily recommend Bill Crow´s gorgeous memoir book

"From Birdland to Broadway - Scenes from a Jazz Life"

If I had to chose only one book about jazz - I´d promptly pick this one!

[Big Beat Steve]

Ouch ... You're making my music bookshelf in my music room overflow and burst apart at the seams at last ... I just ordered a copy online - so thanks for the recommendation ...

[Balladeer]

You´re welcome, Big Beat Steve.
Great reading, you´ll encounter all those Greats we love from this time, Stan Getz, Tristano, Pee Wee Russell and so many more. Have fun!

[romualdo]

That was beautiful - what a gorgeous, gracious & humble multi-talented person Bill is

He reminded me of another contemporaneous bass player Peter Ind

[Big Beat Steve]

Am about to finish his book "From birdland to broadway". A great read indeed.
And VERY refreshing to see a jazz musician who is also very articulate with WRITTEN WORDS (not that I would have doubted it - given his account of the 1962 BG tour of the Soviet Union) and can do his memoirs without having to be ghosted (to a greater or lesser extent). After all that's about as "straight from the horse's mouth" as things can get.

[Ken Dryden]

Bill Crow has long been a talented writer. His long essay “To Russia Without Love” should be required reading, if you haven’t read it, you can find it posted on his website.

I hope he gets another book published, I am sure he has enough stories for one.

[Big Beat Steve]

3 hours ago, Ken Dryden said:

Bill Crow has long been a talented writer. His long essay “To Russia Without Love” should be required reading, if you haven’t read it, you can find it posted on his website.

I hope he gets another book published, I am sure he has enough stories for one.

That's what I meant to refer to with my above comment - "not that I would have doubted it - given his account of the 1962 BG tour of the Soviet Union". I've downloaded this essay several years ago and immediately printed and filed it. 

[Ken Dryden]

Two musicians I’ve interviewed had nothing but good things to say about Benny Goodman: Ken Peplowski and Bucky Puzzarelli. Of course, I didn’t discuss Goodman with every former sideman whom I interviewed.

[Big Beat Steve]

Could it be that they had musical dealings with him primarily in his later years when he may have mellowed with age?

[mikeweil]

On 4/8/2023 at 1:19 PM, Balladeer said:

I heartily recommend Bill Crow´s gorgeous memoir book

"From Birdland to Broadway - Scenes from a Jazz Life"

If I had to chose only one book about jazz - I´d promptly pick this one!

Just ordered a copy - thanks for the recommendation, shelving problems aside.

[sgcim]

On 5/31/2023 at 11:57 AM, Big Beat Steve said:

Could it be that they had musical dealings with him primarily in his later years when he may have mellowed with age?

That is the only possible answer I could imagine!

[JSngry]

 

[Kevin Bresnahan]

On 2/25/2023 at 2:07 AM, Big Beat Steve said:

Not to forget his account of the 1962 Benny Goodman tour of Russia. 😉

https://www.billcrowbass.com/to-russia-without-love.html

 

This is such an interesting read. I have to pick up his books. Which one is recommended first, "Jazz Anecdotes" or "From Birdland To Broadway: Scenes From A Jazz Life"?