sgcim

The only album I have of an obvious example of a guy that 'had issues' in playing his instrument, but hired fine sidemen was Cecil Gregory "Nova Guitar". He got Jack Six on bass and Frankie Dunlop on drums, and basically just played the melody to the tune, then for his solos just kind of comped. I searched for his name, and came up with this review of a live 'concert' in a place he rented out for a night, using the same players: THE perennial problem of the jazz musician of finding an audience has no pat solutions. He may scuffle in obscure clubs for years hoping that someone may notice him. Or he may take the bull by the horns and invest some money — his or friends’ — in a showcase for his talents. That is what Cecil Gregory, who has • been playing guitar for more than 20 years, has done. Mr. Gregory made two grabs for the bull. First he made record, playing with a quartet. And then, on the basis of the record, he gave a concert Monday evening in the Jade Room of the Waldorf‐Astoria, using the same quartet he had on the record two established jazzmen, Jack Six on bass and Frankie Dunlop on drums, and a friend, Howard Williams, on piano, along with his own guitar. • Mr. Gregory's program was a mixture of pop standards that have been taken up by jazz musicians (“Indiana” and “Just Friends”), jazz standards (Charlie Parker's “Yardbird Suite,” and Horace Silver's “The Preacher”) and his own compositions. He made no pretense of being a virtuoso guitarist, but instead, played in a pleasant, straightforward style, mixing flowing, single‐note lines and chorded passages. It was an approach that would make for a pleasant, low‐keyed evening in club but did not have the substance for a concert presentation, especially when virtually every number was played in the same sequence of solos." I've got many albums of fine players who never got well known, who used well-known sidemen, but that wouldn't be as fun as this one album.

Let's just say it became a ploy to get on a label.

Sonny Igoe- great jazz big band drummer. Sonny Land- trumpet player/big band leader

When I was in the Jazz Police, NWA didn't even exist, and even if they did, that was not our jurisdiction. We only dealt with 'jazz pretenders'.

There must be a million of them. When I made my only CD as a leader back in 2004, I asked for advice from a well known musician on how could get it put out on a decent label. He told me to hire a well-known player as a sideman. He said one of his students just hired Herbie Hancock as a sideman, and it got picked up by some label. I decided not to follow his advice, because I didn't like the song order he insisted I use.

Anyone hear the albums Albam made with O'Donel Levy, "Simba", and "Dawn of a New Day"? I used to see them in record stores when I was a kid, but I was a rabid member of the jazz police, and they looked too commercial for a proud officer such as myself. I heard some stuff by Levy after I retired from the 'force', and realized I made a big mistake.

Congrats, Mark! It's been my reference book since last Fall for the real info on many of the greatest jazz musicians of jazz' most creative period. "Before Motown" was good for sociological facts about what was once the center of jazz in the US; "Jazz From Detroit" went as deep as you could go with the music and musicians. NYC has always just been about the money; Detroit was about the music.

Yeah, that's a good one. I used to do a lot of gigs with this weird chick singer that specialized in songs like that. She did "When the Sun Comes Out", in addition to "I'm a Fool to Want You". She'd come out half-crocked with make-up that made her look like Norma Desmond, and hit on all the young musicians in the band. She'd wear dresses that emphasized her cleavage. On her card it said "Vocalist with Woody Herman, Stan Kenton and Tommy Dorsey", but she never recorded with them as far as I can tell. The only thing I found was a TV appearance with Frank Sinatra. She was actually a pretty hip singer, who did a lot of hip things with the time.:

Which is pretty much where they belong.

Check out the lyrics on the bridge, "Put the Stan Getz record on".

Here's an instrumental that DR wrote captures the mood of city noir very well. No lyrics, though:

Imagine hearing this one in a bar at 3:00am sung by Shirley Horn

I was disappointed by the cast album of "The Nervous Set". Even though it had Kenny Burrell in the band, the rest of Tommy Wolf and Fran Landesman's songs were nowhere near SCRHYUTM and ATSYM. "Golden Boy", the musical by Charles Strouse had some other noir-ish type tunes like "While The City Sleeps" which takes place during a game of poker with a bunch of guys with nicknames like 'Judge', and their night time activities. "Rules of the Road" was a song that had those desperate noir-type lyrics that only transients could relate to.

Here are some of the lyrics: "Pretty women, blue eyed or brown, How they drive you crazy, how they bring you down. Then they're all fat and happy, and you're a worn out bum. Gim-me some Gim-me some!

I'm still waiting for the first review. I know the 'production quality' is never going to be as good as "Pure Desmond...

"Gimme Some" from the show "Golden Boy" sung by Sammy Davis Jr.

Buddy, Can you spare a Dime?"

"You Don't Know What Love Is" "The Gentle Rain" "A Day in the Life of a Fool" (The Brazilian writers could be downright morbid) "How Insensitive"(The Brazilian writers could be downright morbid, so imagine you're in a Brazilian cafe listening to those last three) We'll Be Together Again "God Bless the Child" "Stormy Weather" (When I was working at the trumpet player Mel Davis' club, he told me the one song I should never play is Stormy Weather!) Lonely Town (Even Bernstein had the blues, even though he couldn't even follow the twelve bar form when he tried to play a blues at a club once!) Some tunes don't even need lyrics to evoke that feeling, like Jim Hall's "All Across the City" and ON's Stolen Moments:" "Any Place I Hang my Hat is Home"

Sorry, but that's not Don Preston playing that excellent solo on "Billy The Mountain", that was Bob Harris(1), who replaced Don Preston in the Mothers in 1971 for the tour that included the "Live at the Fillmore East" album. Harris was the son of "Tonight Show" trumpet player Maurice Harris, and was an unusual presence in the MOI, because he was a hard bop playing, lifetime junkie. I don't know if Zappa knew that he was a user. Harris played his Wurlitzer on that BTM solo, the favorite instrument of Ray Charles, his idol, who he jokingly called, 'that genius n-word'. Harris spent a few years on the road with the Ray Charles Band when Marcus Belgrave was in the band. Harris was also the husband of singer/songwriter Judee Sill, and did some of the arrangements on Sill's self-titled first album. I have the "Playground Psychotics" CD, and Harris' solo is my fave part of the album.

I remember talking with a sax player friend of mine on a gig once back when tech was starting to make us feel like dinosaurs, and I asked him, "Who do you think is going to be able to survive this tech onslaught in the future?" He thought that it would have to be someone who could literally do everything. That was about 30 years ago, and I guess the future is here. WKCR, Columbia's jazz station, has been playing an interview with multi-instrumentalist/composer/arranger/bandleader/vocalist Charlie Rosen (not the late pianist, although back in college we used to call him 'Charlie' behind his back), who has led a few of his own big bands; one that plays mainly jazz arr. of Broadway tunes, another that plays his video game music, that uses some electronic instruments, and a more eclectic one that uses a string section. He was one of those kids with parents who were 'legit' musicians, and he learned how to play most instruments, was born with perfect pitch, and studied composition, piano and arranging when he was young. Here's proof that he is indeed a multi-instrumentalist: Here's his more pop-oriented modern band: And here's his 'Broadway' band: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi1HPD8ioR0

I can't count the number of times I'd see that LP in a record store, sit there arguing with myself about whether I should buy it or not. Bobby Jones and Pat Martino! But what if they don't get any blowing space or the singer sucks? The more cautious/cheaper me always wound up winning. Thanks for posting!

It's not hard to trace where he got his famous "Wooooo" high notes from. He admitted that he got it from Marion Williams, my fave Gospel singer. I saw her at SOB in NYC, and got her autograph at the end of the show.

The Love album from 1967, "Forever Changes" had a schistload of Tijuana Brass-like arrangements on it. Arthur Lee used to meet with the great arr./composer David Angel daily for two weeks, and they'd sit at the piano and Lee would sing or play what he wanted on each tune. Angel would orchestrate it for strings and trumpets, with optional tacos.

There should be some more on Quill coming soon from Phil's autobiography. Jill Goodwin (Phil's wife) emailed me and said: " The book is getting closer to being finished. We've been over the discography and think it is as complete and accurate as we can make it. Hopefully, it will be useful to those interested in Phil's very prolific recording career. Stay tuned for an announcement about the release of Life In E Flat, hopefully later this year.

Sorry to hear this. A drummer I was playing with was on some of his Alto Madness records, and said RC just split, and he never heard from him again. It turned out he was in bad shape for a while, but he moved down to Pittsburgh and got better. I liked his playing until he made the mistake of recording the record, "Side By Side" with Phil Woods, when Woods was still in his prime. That was a mistake. Any alto player who recorded with Woods when he wasn't limited by his emphysema looked bad in comparison. Same thing with guitarists who recorded with Jimmy Raney, and Raney was great right up to the end... The smarter alto players waited till Woods was shot till they started recording with him. RIP, Richie Cole.