eroot64

P.S. What a great player Al Grey was, and the nicest man you would ever want to meet.

One crazy note about Dad and the baritone, Stan Kenton needed a Baritone player and asked pop, Dad said " sure I play Baritone". Then he went out and found a horn to barrow even used the reed that was on it (un heard of,pop was a fanatic about reeds) . He didn't have a chance to pick up the horn before the show, so the first time he played Baritone was on stage with Kenton. In pops words "Iron Balls". Dad was never crazy to play Baritone he said it took to much wind.

There are many very good recordings from woofyprod. one in perticular is a friend of Dads, Lennie Niehaus http://www.woofyproductions.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=WPCD96

Im having a problem pasteing photos , I get an error message saying "you are not allowed to usethat image extention on this community. I have tried .jpg , .tiff , png even tried pasteing to word then copying . I even switched browsers, monzilla gets closer but still no luck , any advice?

Pop was a real character, growing up listening to his stories I know the best times of his life were spent on the road. We really hoped to write a book about it , but the dementia took him so quickly it never happened. He wanted to call it "sitting at the back of the bus". He was often the only white member of the bands he toured with during the 50s and 60s. His band mates got great pleasure making him sit in the back . I think that started with Dizzy Gillespie, a man he truly loved.

I have been trying to personally contact anyone who expressed an interest In Billy (Dad)on line before and after his death. He gave up the road and the music he loved to move to Vegas and play the steady gigs in the showrooms and support the family.I always felt a bit guilty about that so about 15 years ago on fathers day I did a google search and found many posts about dad on the Bluenote site. I asked that they send comments and best wishes to pop . He was very happy to know that he was still thought of , so I have continued to do so. I sent each of you a message of thanks please forgive any duplicates.it seams there are many Funkenstein's with doctorates on this site, lol

Hi my name is Eric Root. Billy Roots son. I found these posts and want to thank everyone for the kind words. Im sure dad would be happy to know he was fondly remembered. I was also happy to see that someone found a copy of dads last recording date Live at Cappozzolis, I did the photography for that show, Dad was already showing signs of dementia and was really not at his best, he was disappointed by that and never really picked up the horn after .On the recording was also Vinnie Tanno (in my opinion) one of the greatest trumpet players of all time and dads friend since the age of 6 . Vinnie died not long after this date. A few years before this recording Vinni was playing at a casino in Las Vegas with a group called sorta dixy jazz band. I didn't know he was playing when I came in but from across the house I heard a trumpet blasting , cutting the rest of the band to shreds. I thought "damn that sounds like Vinnie" ,,,and it was when he saw me he beamed a smile , hes is one of the kindest men I ever met and I miss them both.(Vinnie is also known for his work with KC and the sunshine band) If anyone would care to read it Billys elegy along with some photos and a discography it can be found at http://therootsolutions.com/billroot.html , .Also a video of his memorial concert is on you tube Memorial concert Thank you all