JSngry

Never gets old!

Remember Cannonball's unfortunately unfulfilled ambition to do a musical about Dinah Washington?

Do you do that at parties?

Imagine if Chris Montez had done "Night and Day" instead of Sergio Mendes...would the intro have changed?

Chris Montez sorta-kinda singing with Pete Jolly's Ramsey Lewis Trio-esque backing with vibes and percussion...why? How?

Bam-Bam Eberhard - Bam-Bam Boogie (Vol. 2)

Tappan Zee was a Bob James joint, so maybe that's a complicational factor? News I can use, thank you!

I have the three LPs, what is the unreleased cut, and on which CD is? I concur that it's excellent music. In it's time, it was sort of an affirmation that Freddie could still engage with that type of repertoire and band.

Where can one go to hear these?

Ricky Plays Ronny!!!

I went to a church youth retreat ca. 1969 where our cabin blared Chambers Brothers every free minute, I met a kid named Malcolm whose folks kicked him out because he grew long hair AND a moustache, and the nightly rap session was hosted by a guest clergy from Dallas who stated point blank that he saw absolutely nothing wrong with social use of Marijuana. This was East Texas and I was 14 or so. I also got to see rednecks wearing bell bottoms, Moms in miniskirts, and way too much overtly hostile reactionary pushback to all of if. And church girls always bring up "going all the way" in youth group, like wanting to get a retroactive permission structure they knew they weren't going to get, but at least they were asking for it. They should have saved that for the retreat guy, maybe. If pot was cool, maybe fucking was too! Talk about anything, they said! Also, a stereo FM easy-listening station awash in reverb-drenched pizzicato strings, only some of which was Hollyridge Strings. So that's what "groovy/now-sound" means to me, realtime real-life experiences of a LOT of people wanting to get high and/or just feel that peace, man. Not seeing a place for Buddy Rich in there...Buddy was definitely not that. Woody Herman, otoh...two Richard Evans albums... there's a case to be made there..

It did here as well, but only after dark...

I dunno... I fully recognize "groovy/now sound" as a thing, and often a good thing, but in my mind, it's a thing that always contains at least some elements (real or pretend) of weed/drugs, 'luded foreplay, and/or staring into the void in awe and/or confusion. You get none of that - and I mean NONE of that. In a Buddy Rich Big Band album. Absolutely zero. The one possible exception might be the RCA disco record Speak No Evil but I have my doubts that he actually even plays on that one. Seriously. But yes, definitely, file then where you can find them! 😂

There's networks (especially then there were networks). Not every qualified player has steady gigs. So in a spot like that, the band's MD would either call people directly, or have the office call, get somebody who could make it ASAP, set them up with transportation etc and move on. For all I know, Buddy could have gotten Al Porcino or somebody to come out for a few gigs at really good pay until a new lead player could get in. Worst case scenario, the sub would be delayed a day, so you would hire someone local to play a lesser part and move everybody over accordingly. As for getting more permanent replacements, as time passes, the schools did become a farm system of compent players who would work for less. But before that, older established players would get a referral, a phone call, and a chance to accept or refuse. Then business took place. Simple as that. I've known several people who cancelled our on local gigs literally hours in advance to stay home so they didn't miss that phone call. That was a very real thing. Today, probably all done by text. I don't know. As far as sight-reading the book, yeah, that was expected. They wouldn't call somebody who couldn't do a serviceable job of that except in the most dire of circumstances. All these hi-prike big band schools, their real function wasn't to encourage creativity and stuff like that, it was to make you into a badass section player with multiple skill sets. Back then, there was a market for that!

"groovy/now sound"... Are you basing that on the music inside the covers or the covers themself? What if it there is is hardly in the vein of Stan Kenton Plays Hair or anything of that ilk.

It was a Chess product (Janus). All the latter-day copies that I saw in the stores looked and felt to be bootlegs... Covers a tad blurry, cheap cardboard stock, and vinyl...ugh. Every now and then I would meet somebody who had an OG copy and they would know the real deal about Minnie, RC, and Stepney. But most others bought it expecting...not that. A lot of people thought it was just weird.

This one is only "major" in retrospect. Didn't do shit on the charts in real time, and forget about airplay. No way. Same thing with Rotary Connection.

Les McCann, believe it or not?

Stepney, all the way. His style is unmistakeable. Rotary Connection was his project initially, and even sorta till the end. Minnie began to assert herself, as well she should have. But Stepney still channeled everything. As for this song, my hunch is that he wrote the song, and Rudolph had the lyrics. They're SO psychedelic... Do yourself a favor anyway and check out the entire Come To My Garden album. Trust me.

There's a lot of reflexive repulsion towards Buddy Rich, as well as a lot of idiotic idolatry. I get it, on both sides. But I think an objective individual can parse it all out if they want to. Bonus record: Keep The Customer Satisfied A big band like this in person...it moves a lot of air in the room. A LOT Yeah, I am too! 😜

The New One Stick It Rich In London - Very Alive at Ronnie Scott's That should get you where you want to go.

Charles Stepney will continue to be discovered as the giant he was! They did that song again on Minnie's first solo album:

AFAIC, the PJ records and the first three RCA albums are the lasting legacy of that band. And of the PJ albums, Buddy and Soul gets a pass from me, and Mercy Mercy Mercy stays on the list just because it was so damn popular. A case could be made for The Roar Of 74 as well, I suppose. Past that, I'll take mine on YouTube and such. But this was a pretty damn good band right here. Frisky like a mo!

Chatty!