sgcim

Mike Alterman, a pianist that I worked with for five years in a band, spent eight months on the road with Chet Baker in the early 60s, and was so traumatized by the experience that he never said a word about it in all the time I knew him. I'd meet Mike occasionally after the time we worked together in that band, and he'd talk about the time he spent in the Woody Herman Band (he can be heard on the WH album "East Meets West" playing a long solo on a blues), the time he was fired by our current prez for asking for a raise in his solo piano gig in Trump Towers (Trump heard him playing some show tunes and said to Mike, "I like that!", so he figured it was a good time to ask DT for a raise- wrong), but he went to the grave a few years ago without saying a word about his eight months with Chet on the road, at least to me. RIP, Mike.

This comes a a total shock.I didn't think he was that old. RIP, Hal

Here's a suite of the score Schifrin wrote for the Exorcist, that was turned down by Friedkin. Lalo called it a setup by Friedkin, because the studio told Friedkin that the score and the scenes in the trailer were too much for audiences. It was scaring the hell out of them, and they told Friedkin to tell Schifrin to tone the score down a lot. But Friedkin, being the weirdo that he was, refused to tell Schifrin that the score was too bombastic, and at the final studio recording, he led Schifrin into a trap where the executives heard the same music from the trailer. Friedkin walked out of the recording studio after a few music sequences, and told Schifrin to meet him privately in the head of the Warner Bros. Music Dept. Schifrin was hearing plenty of horror stories about what was going on- Friedkin's temper tantrums, dismissing friendly advice, firing his collaborators, etc... "He started to scream, foam was coming out of his mouth. "Where are the two orchestras of strings? This is not what we talked about! This music is not going to be in my film!!" he told Schifrin. Lalo could see that WF was out of control, and there was no reasoning with him, so he remained quiet to avoid a physical confrontation. Larry Marks, who was the head of the Music Dept., told LS that WF had already had a group in mind, Tubular Bells- and the help of a composer, Jack Nitzsche. William Blatty cake to LS' defense and made public declarations to the press, and the fired ex-film editor confirmed Blatty's comments about the setup. All Friedkin could respond with was that LS had written a score with "Mexican Maracas"! From LS' Autobiography.

Well, they had people like George Barrow, Charlie Fowlkes in the band, and I forget the rhythm section, but the conductor/pianist knew what he wanted, and told them how to play her show.

RIP, Connie. She brought her own guitarist when she toured, so I was out of work when she was appearing at the theater in NY, where I was in the house band, for the first few nights that she sang there. Then, when she was attacked at the Holiday Inn, right near the theater, they replaced her with Melba Moore, who didn't carry her own guitarist with her. I was really young when I had that gig,still in my teens, so when they asked me if I could play R&B, I said "sure", not even knowing what the hell that meant. I was completely about jazz when I had that gig, and didn't give a crap about any 'commercial' music. The guys in the house band kind of gave me a hard time, because I was getting paid a full week's salary for only working half the week (about seven bills, which was pretty good money back in the 70s), and they were getting the same amount for working a full week of shows.

I missed this announcement, but I found out about it from a trumpet player I played with last night. Sad news, but at least he got to play great jazz with the WDR Band, and enjoyed a nice retirement. I played a bunch of gigs with him back in the late 80s. RIP.

One staunch defender of the first band made a comment on a You Tube KC video, that Fripp should get a medal for milking "Court" for over 50 years!

You gotta be kidding! 2.

Not a date movie, according to Pauline Kael: "The film is too cadenced and exotic and too deliriously complicated to succeed with most audiences (and when it opened, there were accounts of people in theaters who threw things at the screen). But it's winged camp--a horror fairy tale gone wild, another in the long history of moviemakers' king-size follies. "

I listened to it again, and the 1969 performance was so spontaneous and daring, it was the equivalent of Mingus' Jazz Workshop band with Eric Dolphy! They took so many chances, that it could have fallen apart at any second. Ian literally turned into Dolphy, playing wild outrageous lines that captured the "talking" technique" that Dolphy used. He even started telling jokes like Eric did with his horn. Giles was right there with him, along with Fripp, and even Lake got into it. The subsequent groups might have had more technique, but as far as spontaneous playing and having onstage conversations with their instruments, they rarely came near the first KC.

It was the biggest bomb of all time. No one understood what was going on, even the actors! I still keep watching it, hoping that it will make sense to me someday. Friedkin has made it clear that he had nothing to do with it. BTW, Friedkin hated Lalo's score for the original Exorcist so much, he took the tape of Lalo's music, and kicked it so hard that it rolled out of the studio, and out the door, on to the sidewalk!

Ian called Fripp a week before he died, and apologized for quitting the band in 1969.

I'll bring masks, too. They might remember you. I've been watching "Animal Kingdom on NF. It makes you an expert on 'jobs'...

The 21st Century Schizoid Band Live in Japan concert had some nice re-workings of stuff from McDonald and Giles, along with some stuff from "Road Eyes" and Giles' great (and only) album as a leader.

That vocal part sounds like it would've been good for Exorcist 2: Heretic.