Chuck Nessa Posted August 13, 2012 Report Share Posted August 13, 2012 Von always thought he was born in 1922. A couple of years ago the author of the Tribune piece wrote an article "exposing" the "error" to Von's surprise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.A.W. Posted August 13, 2012 Report Share Posted August 13, 2012 Von always thought he was born in 1922. A couple of years ago the author of the Tribune piece wrote an article "exposing" the "error" to Von's surprise. Thanks Chuck, and my condolences. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster_Ties Posted August 13, 2012 Report Share Posted August 13, 2012 Sad news. Thank you, Vonski, for all the great music, and for being Vonski. RIP Paul, you played with him a time or two, iirc. Memories? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.A.W. Posted August 13, 2012 Report Share Posted August 13, 2012 Sad news. According to the Chicago Tribune he was 88, but as far as I know he was born in October 1922, so I guess he was 89. Not to quibble...he would have turned 89 come October. So he was born in 1923, not 1922. Thanks for the info. He was born in 1922, see: http://arts.gov/honors/jazz/jmCMS/master.php?id=2012_02&type=bio See Chuck's post, #26. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free For All Posted August 13, 2012 Report Share Posted August 13, 2012 It was always swinging and inspiring, and there were always a lot of laughs. I was "McKeeski". Sad news. Thank you, Vonski, for all the great music, and for being Vonski. RIP Paul, you played with him a time or two, iirc. Memories? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stereojack Posted August 13, 2012 Report Share Posted August 13, 2012 He had a long life, and for that I am happy. We have lost one of the great original voices in jazz, and for that I'm sad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted August 13, 2012 Report Share Posted August 13, 2012 Von was also an outstanding human. He demonstrated that to me many times over the years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.A.W. Posted August 13, 2012 Report Share Posted August 13, 2012 He had a long life, and for that I am happy. We have lost one of the great original voices in jazz, and for that I'm sad. Couldn't agree more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John L Posted August 13, 2012 Report Share Posted August 13, 2012 Damn! Von was one of the remaining true individual voices of jazz. RIP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted August 13, 2012 Report Share Posted August 13, 2012 Go in beauty. He was -- and remains -- a true original. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 The Tribune leaves out some fine SteepleChase discs with the great Wilbur Campbell. My link Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Kart Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 Will never forget the first time I heard him in person, in the late' 60s or early '70s, not too long (I think) after he came back to town from his time with the Treniers in Las Vegas. He was playing a small social affair (I think it was someone's wedding anniversary, perhaps a friend of his) in a nice room above a South Side restaurant, with Don Patterson, guitarist Sam Thomas, and Wilbur Campbell. I knew Von's Atlantic record, but what I heard that afternoon was almost beyond belief in its power and mastery -- and ease, too. I remember telling Joe Segal about what I'd heard the next time I ran into him, suggesting that he bring Von into the Showcase. I swear Joe said something like "Von Freeman? Never heard of him." Probably he was just putting me on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 Memories can be tricky. I think the Atlantic record was recorded in 1972. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.A.W. Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 Correct, the Atlantic dates from 1972. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 First encountered Von at one of Joe Segal's Charlie Parker Memorial concerts. He was dueling with Dexter Gordon. Next was another Segal show with Von, Jug, Mobley and a very uncomfortable Hank Crawford. Started a weekly encounter at the Enterprise Lounge on 75th St in 1975 and this went on for about 4 years. During that time we made our first recordings. Remember him wiping the floor with Sonny Stitt one night on Lincoln Avenue. Met his mama - lovely lady - at the house they shared with George. Tons of memories through the years. Hard to put them all together in some context. Last saw him a few months ago. Thank you Vonski. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colinmce Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 There are all substrata of jazz musicians from innovators down to journeymen, but I'm most drawn to the originals and Von was one of those, archetypal even. He won't soon be forgotten ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Kart Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 First encountered Von at one of Joe Segal's Charlie Parker Memorial concerts. He was dueling with Dexter Gordon. Next was another Segal show with Von, Jug, Mobley and a very uncomfortable Hank Crawford. Tricky memory for sure. I was at the Parker Memorial Concerts (in Aug. 1970) and heard Von there, so the South Side party gig I was at must have taken place sometime before then, because I'd certainly never heard Von in person prior to that afternoon. I remember talking over how stunned we both were by what we had heard with Harriet Choice, who was there with me that day. Maybe I transposed the Atlantic album backwards in time because his playing on the album, when I heard it, was not at the level I recalled from that party. Von didn't get onto record at his best until Chuck did the glorious deed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
romualdo Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 A farewell to another of the masters Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fasstrack Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 Sorry to hear.... My link A great life well spent. I've been immersing myself in his old pal Chris Anderson's music lately. Any jazz musician who learned to play in Chicago ought to be proud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ep1str0phy Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 RIP to Von, whose music is great so, so many ways. It's weird--I got copies of Have No Fear and Serenade & Blues purely on the strength of the Nessa catalog's AACM offerings, and I was shocked by how accessible Von's music felt to me--accessible, yes, in the way that high quality standards music can be/often is less alienating than experimental offerings, but also by virtue of how fluid and virtuosically improvisational Von was (and, in document, remains). There's something simultaneously primitive, futuristic, and transcendent about Von's sound. As a "free jazz guy," I got it instantly--the timbral flexibility, the pitch play (more "out," really, than even most so-called free tenors), the phrase construction... I'd say that Von's back catalog stands as a monument to the validity of inside playing as a perpetually relevant form--assuming, of course, the player has the intelligence, wit, power, and invention of someone as dedicated as Mr. Freeman. Eternal thanks on my end for that... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B. Goren. Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 Sad news to start the day with. RIP Mr. Freeman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFrank Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 Lois from JazzCorner writes: Chico Freeman just called me and asked me to convey this message from him and his brother Mark: "To our beloved Vonsky who influenced so many and was such an innovator, please remember him and don't be sad, but celebrate his life and that he lived his life to the fullest." There will be a tribute to be announced soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brownie Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 Sad way to start the day A true original who led a life full of music and friends! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKE BBB Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 May he rest in peace. A truly original musician. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDK Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 Let me add my condolences to Chuck, Von's family, and to those who knew him. Though I have a few of his albums, I won't pretend to know him well, and haven't traveled to Chicago often enough to have ever seen him perform in person. But that obit/bio that opened this thread was an incredibly moving and informative read for me. It said more to me in a few pages of what jazz is and was all about - and about its often unheralded artists - than the totality of Ken Burns' "Jazz." R.I.P. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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