fasstrack

Now I know who to go to with a sob story as a misunderstood musician when I'm, er, in need of funds... I hasten to add that my copy is NOT the original, it's a (probable) pirate. (Put the arm on a poor old pensioner, would ya? ) MG Why not? You know the old 'stick to the wall' theory, dontcha?

Now I know who to go to with a sob story as a misunderstood musician when I'm, er, in need of funds...

Wow. There are some real jazz fans on here. Few other places would someone ask about Teddy Bunn's influence on Bill Jennings. Though I'm a guitar player and a guitar player lucky enough to have worked with Hadda I couldn't answer that. I heard Bunn a little more than Jennings. I dug both when hearing them but am an authority on neither. A friend played a really rare record for me once, featuring Leo Parker and Bill Jennings. It ws terrific, but I only heard it the one time---and you'll never see it anywhere so don't even think about it. Also heard him with MacDuff, as he was the 1st guitarist in that group (unless I'm wrong, and I might be). My old buddy Eddie Diehl was the 2nd. I think generally, though, if you asked musicians---or just everyday people----who and what their influences or favorites are you might be very surprised. You can hear certain things and it mostly comes out in the wash but you'll never know everyone someone digs unless they say so. If they listened and dug it's somewhat of an influence. So in that spirit I never assume anything.

Modern Music was the label started and owned by the man in her life, Jules Bihari. She was a classical player and after he heard her somewhere playing a piece and putting it into dance tempos for the hell of it told her he had $800 to invest and if she worked up a boogie he'd record and pay for it. I think that's how that label got started and she had some 'race' hits for it once it did.

If anyone's interested in hearing Hadda herself at her best, try this: Hadda Brooks: That's My Desire (originally Flair Records, reissued on Virgin). It's a very good sampler of her early career, and a with great cast including Teddy Bunn, guitar and, I believe, Willie Smith, alto. The CD I was given to study for the gig was Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere (DRG). Al Viola, Sinatra's guitarist is on it along with Eugene Wright and Jack Sheldon. It's good, too, and from much later in her life.

Undoubtedly. Probably worth a listen, though....

Someone posted something about them on another board. They are for real, for good or for bad, and the lead singer, Seth Putnam, is a real piece of work. Their 'hatin' on' lyrics are intended to shock but, according to Putnam, not to be taken seriously. Some even cracked me up. Anyway, if anyone can understand WTF he's singing without an interpreter they're a bloody genius. Anyway, some of their CD titles are pretty funny, like 'I Like it When You Die'. Tune titles include 'I just Ran Over your Dog'.

Don't know anything about the recording, but I can tell people something about Hadda: I worked with Hadda Brooks for a month, give or take, at a watering hole that will remain nameless here in NY in 1994. She was a wonderful ballad singer and boogie woogie (yes, you heard me) pianist. Brooks achieved some measure of fame in the '40s appearing in films like Out of The Blue and another with Bogart, (can't recall the name) usually in nightclub scenes as the sultry chanteuse. She was quite a beautiful woman back then and just barely escaped major stardom, best as I can figure. The last picture she was in was "The Crossing Guard" with Sean Penn, where she sang one of her signature songs, "Anywhere, Anyplace, Anytime" to him. She was a joy to work with, especially since the owner of the joint went out of his way to torment her, myself, and the bassist. We ignored him and pulled together to have a wonderful run. I still remember the way she did "The Thrill is Gone" rubato with me strumming and the bass (Morris Edwards) bowing. It gives me chills to think about it. Her other specialty numbers included That's My Desire, Don't go to Strangers, and the last night when we basically said screw the owner and played for us, she got up from the piano and spanked All Of Me. She was a champ. Sorry I don't know anything about this date. It sounds kind of bizarre, actually---but, hey, you never know. They're all great musicians. But 'Hadn't Anyone till You' was another of her signature tunes. Probably they were all in London separately and somehow Warne and Lee wound up backing her on her gig which was recorded. Stanger things have happened. And I hope you all didn't mind the reminiscing. It's just that I want people to know what kind of singer and person Hadda was.

R. Crumb, unmistakably.

I laughed when I saw the thread title but after seeing the lyrics I realized that this used to be played regularly on a show on WBAI FM---a listener-sponsored, progressive institution here in NY since 1960 . Sorry, can't remember the show but it was an overnight slot. As soon as I saw "First rule of success" I knew. Only back then it wasn't funny, but annoying and seemed pretentious. This reminds me---don't ask why---of a guy I used to know who had a very minor disco hit called---I shit you not---Savage Lover--- around the same period, early '80s. Not a bad guy, either. Probably a decent musician, too, as I recall. My other friend and I cracked up and made endless fun of his tune, though. Then one day I was watching SCTV and there it was as background to a sketch. I almost had apoplexy, I laughed so hard. But one night this un-named guy, our mutual friend and his wife, and un-named's new girlfriend Holly went out to eat. His girl, packed like a dollop of sherbert into her jeans and also with the I.Q. of sherbert, didn't say two words to me (or much more to anyone else) all night. Until I accidently brushed up against a vegetable from a common plate we all were sampling from. Then Holly suddenly became quite animated, turned to me, her eyes aflame and uttered these now-immortal words: "You touched it, now eat it, scumbag!" Yow, Holly! Yow Savage Lover! Yow the Reagan years!!

Ask a dumb question...... Thanks. I want to hear this. I really dig Warne, though in some settings more than others. This sounds great, on paper at least.

LP name, please?

Yeah, this is a hell of a recording. I used to own it, but it myseriously vanished. Guess it went to keep my hair company....

I do. Yes, a very dark performance by Mr. Landau as a man battling and ultimately triumphing over his conscience. Woody's view of life, the art/show biz world, and love are pretty damn depressing in this one. He's pretty much saying that calloused shmoozers with mediocre talents and steel-trap hearts (Alan Alda's character Lester in case you haven't seen it) win every time over humble, everyday-looking philosophers (Prof. Levy) and principled, open-hearted documentary makers (Allen himself, playing Cliff in the film). And, of course, they get the girl, too. I'd write about this more, but now it's time for me to jump into the East River. Anyone want anything?

He didn't really 'change', either, to me. He reflected, evolved, and improved.

My favorite Sonny is his 60s stuff, not that I don't love what preceded it. But you get the best of both worlds on Alfie and E. Broadway Rundown. Also: On Impulse (which he hated, I'm told). He's building on his foundation, stretching out, and you can hear him taking it out more harmonically, deepening his sound, throwing those new influences into the mix. (Hey ma, look at me analysing!!). I really love He's younger Than You Are; Street Runner with Child; Alfie's Theme, all, of course, from Alfie. It's poignant, vibrant, swinging music. 60s jazz at its best IMO. The music was the best part of that movie (though the soundtrack had much more, obviously. Oliver Nelson wrote his ass off without ever getting in Sonny's way. You sure don't want to do that. The whole cast of players was great and I can hear Phil Woods' lead alto in my head right now).

That's exactly right, all of it. Different sensibilities; different stages in a musician's life; different temperaments; different levels of concentration/focus; different breakfast cereal, etc.= different approaches.

Everything's cool. Hope I didn't over-provoke.

Alan: To explain: It's just that, without revealing too much personal info, I've been through the thinking game when it comes to playing and found that for me it really doesn't help. Relaxing on the stand, going with the flow, and listening do----for me. If that's anti-intellectual, then it is. When one wants to take remedial action on one's own craft then the thinking game is necessary, even key. But the hardest part for me (I'd like to speak for others but seem to offend people when I do)is letting go of things. I really believe it holds us back from the current moment, where life is lived, as opposed to in our heads. So that's where I'm coming from, and I'm sorry, Larry, if if that came off as preachy. We're both big boys. It's just the way I feel.

Yes I am somewhat, but it's all there in the music. The words are afterthoughts---not without value, but afterthoughts nonetheless. You know that old saying "Don't look back. Someone might be gaining on you"? Well, I'm not nuts about the second part but I'm trying to learn how to do the first. Ain't easy.

Thanks. I've met Lewis. I don't claim to know him and haven't read him, but I sense he's the McCoy. So will do. Thanks again. Christern: Did you have a show on WBAI in maybe the late 60s-early 70s? If so, I recall hearing one show in my teens. (I guess that makes us all 'AKs', me being in my early 50s ).

I see the smiley face, but while it's not impossible that Perkins was doing some stuff and stopped, it's far more likely that he (and Kamuca too) had doubts about the hipness, and even the "manliness," of their softish Pres-derived approach in the light of contemporary Rollins and then, in just a bit, Coltrane. The recorded evidence suggests this for both men, and I recall that Perkins, in a Cadence interview, speaks quite directly of the doubts he had back then and how they affected his playing. IMO, after a very awkward patch, Kamuca came out of this playing better than ever before, but Perkins, with rare exceptions like the one Jim mentioned, never really got it together again (though some of his attempts to work lots of timbral and harmonic edginess into his playing were interesting). Wow, Larry. I'm a musician and I don't even take this stuff that seriously. No offense, I really like your writing and everything, but why not just say 'different strokes' or something and be done with it? Music stops being fun when you pick it apart too much IMO. Analysis is in order when studying, of course, but I think you perhaps over-analyse what, after all, was probably just a fun day for some great players who themselves were probably so 'blind' they probably didn't even remember what they did the next day.

That's what I was trying to clarify. The interviews, or call them quotes if you prefer, with Lester are never attributed. So there's no way of knowing who he said what to. Hope that clears it up.

They played some of that at the Museum of Television and Radio here in NY a few years ago. What I remember was Miles telling a story about his father's views on somebody, maybe a local (black) politician: "Fuck (so-and-so). He's looking to exploit poor black people for a cheap labor base". Then another politico's name was brought up. Miles said "Again, he said 'fuck him too'" To titters if not out-and-out laughter from the audience. (At least some of the interviews were conducted before live audiences).