John Handy talks with Night Lights

[ghost of miles]

Hey all, as a supplement to this week's Night Lights show Handy With The Horn, I did a telephone interview last week with alto saxophonist John Handy. Part 1, in which he talks about early encounters with Dexter Gordon and Art Tatum, why he went with the alto over the tenor, and working with bassist Albert Stinson in the late 1960s, is now posted. I'll be posting the rest of the interview on the Night Lights site throughout the rest of this week.

Edited January 29, 2018 by ghost of miles

[alocispepraluger102]

Hey all, as a supplement to this week's Night Lights show Handy On the Horn , I did a telephone interview last week with alto saxophonist John Handy. Part 1, in which he talks about early encounters with Dexter Gordon and Art Tatum, why he went with the alto over the tenor, and working with bassist Albert Stinson in the late 1960s, is now posted. I'll be posting the rest of the interview on the Night Lights site throughout the rest of this week.

wow!

[ghost of miles]

Part 2, in which Handy talks about his unusual method of tonguing, how he came to play with Charles Mingus, and the origins of “Goodbye Porkpie Hat”  is now posted.

Edited January 29, 2018 by ghost of miles

[Clunky]

interesting stuff, I've been listening to quite a bit of Handy, despite his reservations I think his Roulettes are just fine....I prefer the second one thought FWIW.

[ghost of miles]

Part 3 is now posted. Apologies that it's taking me so long to transcribe this--we talked for about an hour and 45 minutes. Hoping to have the conclusion up late tomorrow or Monday.

Edited January 29, 2018 by ghost of miles

[fomafomic65]

Thank you GoM. Great work;

I love reading musician interviews such this

[ghost of miles]

This week we're re-airing Handy With The Horn in honor of the saxophonist's upcoming 85th birthday, and I'm reposting the 2008 interview that I did with him as well.

Part 1 (early encounters with Dexter Gordon and Art Tatum, why he came to favor the alto over the tenor saxophone, and the legendary young bassist Albert Stinson, who was a member of Handy’s late-1960s band)

Part 2 (Handy talks about his unusual method of tonguing, how he came to play with Charles Mingus, and the origins of “Goodbye Porkpie Hat”)

Part 3 (Handy's troubled relationship with his first record label, his recording of “Alice in Wonderland” with Charles Mingus, why trumpeter Richard Williams didn’t appear on his second album, his move back to California in the early 1960s, his Freedom Band civil-rights project, and the formation of his quintet that would appear at Monterey in 1965)

Part 4 ( Why Handy's quintet broke up, playing Bartok with classical pianist Leonid Hambro, his experiences as a jazz educator, and his memories of Monterey and the mid-1960s rock scene)