Soul Stream

Let one of those jazz classes sit down and transcribe that "Groovin' At Small's" session and see how "unsophisticated" that is. That's some of the most complex MUSIC ever played over jazz changes, period! Like Miles Davis told Eddie Henderson, "Quit trying to play trumpet, and try to play some music." If people would get over the messenger (the B3) and get to the message (the notes jimmy's playing), maybe more people would realize what a heavy fucker that guy is.

Mike, I'll take that "Golden Thrush" Prestige LP. Let me know the details....I'll PM you

I don't think it's being downplayed. I just think young people don't know what it is. Where would they be exposed to it? My first exposure to the blues was a Roy Clark/Gatemouth Brown album I bought cause I saw Roy on Hee Haw! And that was the early 80's when at least SOME blues-based rock was still being played on the radio at least. Now, what's a kid's perception of the blues? A B.B King commercial for Diabetes control? The background for a burger or car ad? I honestly don't know. I do know one thing...It's not commercial radio. There's NO blues in today's R&B or Rap songs. Much less pop material. Exposure is everything. You've got to START...SOMEWHERE!!! No matter how lame it was initially. That Roy Clark album led me on a road that took me from Lightnin' Hopkins to Charlie Parker and all points in between.

If you didn't like Braith's 3 Blue Note albums, I don't think you'd like "Blue John" at all. IMHO, the Braith solo efforts are better. I think the Mosaic is supposed to have Patton's "Along Came John" "The Way I Feel" "Oh Baby" "Let 'Em Roll" "That Certain Feeling" and either part of "Understanding" or Harold Vick's "Steppin' Out." IMHO this is a fucked up list. Along Came John is OUT on CD, Let Em Roll is OUT on CD (and has been forever.) And then to release PART of Under or Steppin'????? This is a crackhead Cuscuna lineup. Sorry. This is really a no brainer....The Way I Feel...Oh Baby...That Certain Feeling...Accent On The Blues...Understanding. Plus any and all Bonus material. I would have included "Got A Good Thing Going" but I understand it's coming out soon enough. I don't know what the status of this is...on hold? Coming? Without the BNBB on this one we're fucked as far as answers go I guess. Unless someone e-mails Cuscuna.

It's always amazed me that two of the biggest exponents of blues and jazz, B.B King and Jimmy Smith were still alive and playing consistently. Knowing the day would come when they wouldn't be around, I've seen Jimmy and B.B. every time I've been able. The day either are gone, the world will feel like a different place to me. We really have been fortunate to have been alive at this point and time. To be able to be on the earth at the same time as many of our heros is a true blessing. And believe me, the heros of today and yesterday will be the heros a hundred and a thousand years from now. No one will every play organ "better" than Jimmy or squeeze the blues from a guitar like B.B. Long live the kings.... Oh yeah...and Lou Donaldson...G.T. Hogan...Melvin Sparks...Lonnie Smith...Sonny Rollins.....

I'm with Chuck and Jim. Where I come from, playing the blues is what it's all about. That's what people strive for. If you can't do that on a basic level, older musicians won't even listen to you. I found it pretty disheartening that people in their teens and twenties just didn't care to hear anything bluesy or swinging. It's all about "beats" to that generation. Sure there's exceptions. I'm in my early 30's, so I'm not too far off the mark. But I know I'm too old already in the sense that a basic connection through blues feeling has been a disconnect with younger people. I'm not sure what happened. With few exceptions, they just don't care.

I think he's very, very right. I learned my lesson several years ago, when on a gig in a hip young joint I slipped in the obligatory blues. I looked up only to find the place had cleared out. I had been playing blues for years, mainly to a slightly older crowd (late 20's and up.) I won't play any blues if the crowd is young, play the blues over a funk beat...! The kids hate the blues. It just doesn't play any part in their life. They have no relationship with it. I find nothing wrong with that. People are who they are. The blues are evergreen in a way, but I don't think they'll every truely connect with 99.99% of an audience.

Just goes to show that once again the music industry is inhabited by scum. Not only agents and managers, but many of the musicians, for example... I used to be in a band where the lead singer was a big heroin addict, among other things (great singer, frontman though.) However, one night he overdosed and died. For the next three days his body was transported from one junkie musician's house to the next. Nobody wanted to call 911 or make a hospital drop-and-run. Finally, someone dropped the body at a non-junkie musician's house while he was out. When he came back, he discovered the body and called the cops.

Yeah....but on the other hand, how could you feel sad riding home from a Philly Joe Jones drum lesson! ...but seriously, that's some sad shit.

The drummer who plays with my organ trio is very good friends with G.T. Hogan. His mentor. G.T. lives in San Antonio. He is battling emphasyma and other ailments from what I understand. Isn't playing much these days, but still can when his health allows. Phenomenal drummer who is a sweetheart from the reports I get. I'd love to see him play.

In answer to how's Dizzy Reece's "Soundin' Off"...it's one of the best Blue Notes IMHO. A Perfect 10.

Big Al, Big Al, Big Al....what are we going to do with you! You don't have any funky Stitt. Shame on you! Run to your favorite CD store now and get... Sonny Stitt/Don Patterson Vol. 2 Legends of Acid Jazz (Green Cover) Sonny Stitt Legends of Acid Jazz (Blueish/Pink Cover) Gene Ammons Legends of Acid Jazz (this one contains a Stitt/Ammons session with Leon Spencer on organ titled "talk that talk". bad ass funk and jazz) This will be a good start. There is a lot more. All the Stitt/Patterson CDs on Prestige are some of the best organ/horn things ever done. They are essential. Check out the www.fantasyjazz.com website to see what you need....

Hey JSngry, No, I never played that place. Matter of fact, I really haven't played in South Dallas much at all. Sounds like a great place. But I did play Cousin Lenny's (KKDA legend) birthday party a few years back. I was again the lone vanilla suspect at the event. I was in the backup band. The line-up was @4 different Tyrone Davis influenced singers. They all had to out-tyrone each other....so by the last guy he was down in the audience about "making love" to some poor lady. Yikes. We played "Can I Change My Mind" 4 times that night along with all the other Davis tunes....

Got this in the mail the other day. Stinko. Man, I miss the "thumbs down" icon at times like these. This is bad bar band music and nothing but. Dan Trudell sounded great on the couple of other things I heard from him. But like they say, you can't do it all. He might sound good in a straight ahead setting, but he sounds super-white-and--uptight in a funk band. Him and that guitar player should get together and promise each other to learn some blues and funk before they go out and attempt this type of gig again. And the "original" songs bite my weenie. When the guitarist lays into his Peter Green-on-his-worst-day-ever intro on "Sweet Sixteen," I want to throw his effects in the pool along with his blues jam bravaro. Pew. Clyde sounds like clyde. But you can't have a band by yourself. It's like someone took Bonnie Raitt's band, threw in Clyde Stubblefied at gunpoint and told someone to hit the record button on the tape machine. This CD stinks and I want my money back (so tell us what you really think)

Saw this on another thread which suggested a peek over at the AAJ board. It said he was in the hospital with a stomach problem. This sounds like very bad news. I saw a pretty drastic deterioration in his state of health in the last 3 years or so. At 75, and with his lifestyle, I always thought he was working on borrowed time to a degree. That said, although his disposition is taciturn at best. He single-handedly created a whole genre, jazz organ. Sure, others got the ball rolling. But without Jimmy, organ would have died a not-so-slow and painful death. Make no doubt about it, he spawned an industry. Jazz clubs across America were virtually given another 10 years of life support from the soul-jazz organ genre he created in the late 50's-early 60's. To me, nobody alive embodies genius more than Jimmy Smith. To create and master a genre and style is something the rest of us mortals could only dream of. Jimmy dreamed it and lived it. Hope his dream continues. Long Live Jimmy Smith.

This is one of the best series ever IMHO. Sure, many don't like the cover art, but I actually kind of do. Anyway I NEED MORE!!!! They haven't put anymore out in forever. I've e-mailed many times, always with the "no plans" reply. This stinks. I've got to have a few more in the near future. EVERY disc in the series is a winner. Some personal favs...the first Shirley Scott one (with the red cover), the Don Patterson/Booker Ervin and the Leon Spencer Jr.(dig that vest!) Anybody down for a concerted e-mail campaign.

...well, you had to go upstairs, but at least you didn't have to play in the mud again!

I got "Jailhouse" Mama Brown.... ....but I wish I were Toothless "Tooth" Jefferson.

I once played in an all-black R & B band in Dallas called Led & The Love Company. It was like a Temptations-sytle thing. The band was actually really good. We mostly played company functions and upscale black clubs. However once we had a gig at "Pop The Coochie" in South Dallas. Another guy in the band, Karl, told me not to come since he was afraid for my safety being white. Actually, he wasn't going to make the gig either...black or white...it was too, too dangerous. I really didn't believe it would be that big of a deal, never had a problem before, and Led was adament that I do the gig. So I rode with Karl. I had never been to this part of town. It was night, and we were driving through what looked like to be bombed-out housing projects. No windows, doors...but people still darting in and out. Very odd. Finally we made it to "Pop The Coochie" It looked like you'd think. Bright blue cinderblock rectangle with the name emblazoned on the side in pink. No airconditiong. Boiling hot, but with a single industrial-size fan at the back. When you walked in, you had to give them your gun. So I immediately noticed a foldout table full of handguns by the front door. Also the gangster were in two groups...the young rapper-type gangstas...and the ones who ran the club...the older gerry-curl crowd. They had a cake in the center of the room. In the shape of a naked girl "we love you (whoever)" "Oh, a birthday. I thought." No, turns out it was a celebration for one of the crew that had been gunned down and murdered the week before. We started to play and the crowd hated it. Surprisingly. They booed and yelled. Then we took a break. On the break, a guy got on the mic. Said he was a "comedian." But all he did was go on a vicious rant against white people. The whole time staring at me. Meantime, I tripped over the cord to the fan. It had been spliced together with tape, and came apart. The fan stopped! I scurried away. The place got hotter. To make a long story short. We almost didn't get paid. We did, but there was almost bloodshed between Led and the Gerry-curl crew. We we did get the money...it was all in crack 1 dollar bills.

People HATE stuff without words. It's a huge generalization, but hugely true. They don't even have to know the song, but it someone's singing, however badly, you're o.k. If you're playing organ trio stuff anywhere outside of a big northeast city, forget about' it! I get requests for ZZ TOP, Stevie Ray Vaughan, ect., still.... Let's not even start the bad gig horror stories. I'll never stop. Can I tell you about The Poodle Dog Lounge in North Austin or Pop The Coochie in South Dallas....

I actually made under $1 once. It was a 4 piece band playing for tips. At the end of the night we had made a grand total of three dollars in tips for the whole band. But my worst gig....I once played a "company" party that was supposed to be a music festival open to the public. We were playing for FREE under the promise that the exposure was going to be great, 2000-3000 people were expected. ...well, we showed up. The gig was on a little stage on the grass next to a non-descript office building in Carrollton, Texas. One extension chord ran from the bulding to the stage. The drummer forgot his cymbals. The 2,000-3,000 people turned out to be... about 15 people! Mostly little kids under 4 years old. The whole time we played, McGruff The Crime Dog stood in front of the stage and played with the kids. Oh yeah, and it was about 100 degrees to boot. This is when I first started playing music, so I had invited my whole family to the BIG festival! They all came. They even videotaped the event so I have it forever.

B3-er and Jsngry know. If you play music late at night, you've got to keep somewhat late hours in general. Otherwise, like B3-er said, you'd be too tired at the gig or driving home from it. I've always been a bit paranoid about the late night drunks on the drive home. So being alert is pretty important in my book. But sometimes I do wish I had a 10pm to 6am sleep schedule like a normal person.

Alexander, haven't you noticed the "modern" new cycle is eternity? I'm glad it is good news.... I'd rather hear the endless accounts of cable new telling us the happy ending than the sad...

I had a gig last night, didn't get to sleep till after 3 a.m. central time. Now my clock's set to that since I woke up at 10 this morning. My sleep schedule is so messed up, my bedtime/wake-up time fluctuating 3 hours in a day is not uncommon. Mostly though, I stay up 'till @ 1 a.m. and get up @ 8 depending on the day's circumstances. Working real late several nights in a row can really throw me off. Usually, however, I'm done by 11 p.m and home...in bed by 1. Let's see 1.44am now....

Nice to see The Mule again!