Jim Alfredson

Yeah, I've got Black Coffee. Killer date. Johnny Hammond Smith never got his due and I feel bad leaving him off the list, but there's only 10 (or 11) spaces. Maybe we need to make it 12 and put Black Coffee on there. You know who else is bad and doesn't get mentioned enough? Leon Spencer. I was listening to a web-stream of Pete Fallico's show one evening a few years back and he played this smokin' tune... just swingin' like crazy. It sounded like Jimmy Smith, but actually a little cleaner but not too clean, so I knew it wasn't DeFrancesco. When Fallico said it was Leon Spencer, I about fell out of my chair! He also said Spencer was working on a new record, but I haven't seen anything. That was years ago.

I may be wrong on this, but I recall reading some liner notes where she claimed she preferred recording with a bassist. Maybe she liked leaving her left hand free to chord. Or maybe I'm not remembering correctly. But if you think about it, she basically mentored in Lockjaw's band and even when he had Don Patterson with him, Lockjaw still used a bassist. With freakin' DON PATTERSON!? So maybe it's Lockjaw's fault?

You tell 'em, Soulstream. Novices. Peons. FOOLS! Billy Gardner is way cool. What happened to him? I was listening to Open House by Johnny Hammond Smith the other day... what a great record.

Other than "opening" for Fathead a few years back (what a blast that was), the only other time I've had the pleasure of seeing him live was on a joint appearance with Mose Alison. Now, I like Mose allright, but Fathead sounded SO good that night and much to my dismay, he kept taking these really short solos, in order to let Mose sing and do his thing. After about the 6th song of this, when Fathead ended his solo after only a chorus yet again, I yelled out, "Don't stop!!!" He just smiled. I got to talk to him backstage. A genuinely nice person.

Please... Herbie ain't no organ player!! Sure, he plays piano like the proverbial mofo, but organ... shit, next you're going to nominate Oscar Peterson because he played organ on a couple cuts of that Pablo record (Jousts). Lookit Man with the Golden Arm, trying to get all obscure on me. You got this?

DANG! You're allright in my book!

Touché.

Cigars are nasty. Sometimes, when I'm playing the Green Door Lounge here in town, some asshole will light up a huge cigar and of course he's sitting right to the side of the stage, 3 feet from me, blowing that shit in my face.

Look, this shit isn't up for discussion, ok? Booker T? Yeah, the MGs were cool, but Booker ain't kickin' no bass, so he's not on the list. Harold Vick's Steppin' Out?? That wasn't on the list and besides, Patton is already on the list. Jeff Palmer? Please. Freddie Roach? He had some good album titles (Mo' Greens Please!) but he doesn't have the junk to put him on the list. I will give you some extra credit for having Bill Heid, though. All these so-called organ fans here on this site that don't have any Bill Heid are CHUMPS! (*tongue firmly in cheek)

I agree. Even if the whole mentor/apprentice thing wasn't there, it would help so much to have a network of clubs to play. Shit, if we could just find a weekly gig at this point, to work our stuff in front of an audience, I'd be happy.

Nobody has an opinion on this?

Yeah, I blew the name, live over the air. I've had to lock my doors and turn out all the lights because strange people keep coming over to my house to berate me. It's like I don't even have a life anymore....

I know I should feel bad for Michigan, but I don't.

You fools are all wasting your time. Everyone knows the single biggest improvement you can make to your system are a couple of these: CLICK ME!!!

It could be, if it was, but it ain't .... click here for a clue .... NO kidding! I just hope it made the....er, b3-er's Christmas!

BB King's body guards were in wheelchairs? Not very effective body guards, are they?

By the way, this is a pretty cool site: http://www.looknohands.com/chordhouse/piano/ I play mostly by ear so chord names still get me now and then. This is a nice reference so I can say, "Ok, how does a 11b9 sound again? Oh yeah! THAT chord!"

Well, after playing it a few times, it doesn't sound "wrong" but it doesn't sound right either. Maybe I'm voicing it badly.

Ok, so the chord on the fourth measure in the solo section of Punjab is listed in the Real Book as: Fmi7(b5) This doesn't sound right to me comparing it to the recording, but I can't make out what McCoy is playing. Ideas?

Congrats... ours went well (with the R&B band) but two band members almost came to blows! HA! Fun stuff!

Yes, but does he follow the "two standards per disc" rule?

Probably...

You know, we got some flack for having a disc of all original material and not any standards. We play our share of standards at gigs, but we didn't see any point in having them on the record. Like Michael said, do we really need another version of "Oleo" or "Kirk's Works"? That said, on our next disc we may have a rendition of "Tenderly" but only because we're doing something really different with it, not because we think we "need" to have a standard on the disc. In my opinion, this is the attitude that is killing jazz.

I like to think about it this way: The good news is that anyone can release a CD. The bad news is that anyone can release a CD. It's hard to beat the glut, for sure, but as musicians, the only thing we can do is try to make a product that stands out musically (and as a recent thread suggested, maybe even make it stand out in other ways) and try to get it into the hands of the right people. That's about all we can do. All in all, I think it's a good thing.

Love it! RIP!