Recognizing (Jazz) Musicians on the Street

[BeBop]

Put a horn in his/her mouth or sticks in his/her hands and there are plenty of musicians I'd recognize. But I can't think of more than a few - all people I've seen live - that I'd ever recognize on the street. I don't watch TV, videos, movies or anything. CD covers are of some, but limited, use, since not many feature head-on artist photos. A lot of the colorful people in the music world - Diz, Monk - are gone.

So what about you? Could you pick Omar Avital out of a line-up?

[doubleM]

I think I'd recognize Tom Harrell, Rasheid Ali, and Norah Jones. The first two because I've seen them a couple of times, and they're distinctive looking people. Norah Jones, well... .

[Chuck Nessa]

Don't they all look alike?

[Randy Twizzle]

Instead of naming musicians who I might recognize here's some that I did recognize: Barry Harris coming out of an OTB parlor in Times Square, Red Rodney standing in front of a Broadway theatre, Dexter Gordon walking down 5th Avenue, Kenny Washington in J&R and Joe Pass in a Chicago hotel elevator. I've also seen Tony Bennett several times in Manhattan and once on Newbury St in Boston. In Boston after I said "Hey Tony" he stopped and asked me if I knew where there was an art supply store in the area. I didn't know.

[Chuck Nessa]

Michel Pettruciani

Yeah, I stumbled across him once.

[Van Basten II]

Locally Michel Donato is easy to recognize. Cyrus Chessnutt, Pat Metheny have very distinctive features also.

Edited November 15, 2006 by Van Basten II

[Chuck Nessa]

Seems a post was deleted.

[Kalo]

Yes it was; I tried to correct my mispelling of Petrucciani and accidentally deleted.

[Rooster_Ties]

Ran into Jason Moran once on the street here in KC (then again, I knew he was gonna be in town that night).

Funny enough, when I ran into him that day -- he mentioned having run into Björk on the street in New York City just the week before.

Edited November 15, 2006 by Rooster_Ties

[Kalo]

And as I always seem to do, I misspelled "Misspelling" in my last post!

[Kalo]

By the way, Chuck, on the joke!

[Chuck Nessa]

By the way, Chuck, on the joke!

Thanks.

[Spontooneous]

Ran into Jason Moran once on the street here in KC (then again, I knew he was gonna be in town that night).

Funny enough, when I ran into him that day -- he mentioned having run into Björk on the street in New York City just the week before.

Ran into Rooster once on the street here in KC and mistook him for Bjork.

I really ought to adjust the meds.

[Rooster_Ties]

Actually, I think I did look like Bjork that day. Must have been my meds.

[bertrand]

I had a thread aout this 2-3 years ago (or was it on the BNBB), but I ran into:

1) James Williams walking in Dupont Circle in D.C.

2) Ron Carter at the D.C. Zoo

3) Joe Chambers at Borders' in D.C.

Bertrand.

[7/4]

Actually, I think I did look like Bjork that day. Must have been my meds.

...or your hair.

[BeBop]

I Encountered Dex on the street once too. Before I even saw him, I recognized him by his laugh-like utterance. Another time, I saw Dex and Jessica Williams together; quite a sight.

Also saw Red Rodney several times when he was wearing the military uniform around San Francisco. The meaning of this all was lost on me.

Getting back to the thought I didn't express very well in my original post: musicians don't make much of a lasting visual impression on me, even if I see them in magazines or CD covers.

By the way: Chuck's Petrucciani joke (I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt here) was truly cringe-inducing.

[medjuck]

Saw Dexter at LAX once. Looked great: Long Tall Dexter walking all alone with his sax case.

Saw Anthony Braxton on the street in Paris, Charles Loyd on the beach in Santa Barbara and Charlie Haden at a restaurant with his son-in-law Jack Black but that was before a Keith Jarrett concert so does it still count? Similarly I've seen Horace Silver several times but always in the audience at musical events. .

[brownie]

Chance encounters while on the road...

Jim Hall taking in the sights with a friend in Ferrara, Italy.

Harry Edison walking through the main city square in Toulouse, southern France. He was playing later that week in a local club. I went up to him and said hello. We finished the evening over drinks in a nearby café!

[JSngry]

Passed Gil Evans on the street once. That mug was pretty hard to miss.

Saw Charles Tolliver @ a Joe Henderson gig. Those glasses were pretty hard to miss.

[AllenLowe]

Strangest encounter - Jack DeJohnette at Tower Records, NYC, middle 1980s - I said "are you Jack DeJohnette?" and he glared at me like he was a crazy man. Did not answer, just stared like he wanted to kill me. I took that as a "yes."

[Tom Storer]

George Coleman on the street in NYC; Michel Petrucciani on a bridge in Paris; Steve Lacy on the street in Paris more than once, and once at a party given by a friend who happened to have once been a neighbor of Lacy's--chatted with him for a little while, he was very sociable; Archie Shepp in a Virgin Megastore on the Champs Elysées (looking through his own records!); Mark Helias on the subway in NYC; David Murray on a TGV platform in Paris; Al Levitt in a record store in Paris; and too many to name in the audience at jazz clubs.

Edited November 15, 2006 by Tom Storer

[Man with the Golden Arm]

I've also seen Tony Bennett several times in Manhattan and once on Newbury St in Boston. In Boston after I said "Hey Tony" he stopped and asked me if I knew where there was an art supply store in the area. I didn't know.

"Johnson Paint" at Mass Ave used to be one of the best. If your gonna say "hey" you better be prepared! Tony would have been impressed.

[Randy Twizzle]

I've also seen Tony Bennett several times in Manhattan and once on Newbury St in Boston. In Boston after I said "Hey Tony" he stopped and asked me if I knew where there was an art supply store in the area. I didn't know.

"Johnson Paint" at Mass Ave used to be one of the best. If your gonna say "hey" you better be prepared! Tony would have been impressed.

Yeah well it was my first visit to Boston in 20 years and I knew nothing, and having seen Tony at least 4 other times in NY I felt we were old friends. In fact each time I've seen him I've said "Hey Tony" He's the kind of kind of guy that inspires that kind of neigborhood familiarity. Though admittedly this was the first time he ever responded to my Hey

[Tom Storer]

Forgot to mention seeing Steve Swallow, Carla Bley and Andy Sheppard in a restaurant in Paris.

But the real question is: how many times have we been recognized by jazz musicians on the street?

Edited November 15, 2006 by Tom Storer