fasstrack

A jam session from the same site: https://crownpropeller.wordpress.com/2016/04/17/a-jam-session-with-clarence-c-sharpe/ And a loft session with Phil Dwyer nd Steve Grossman, same site: https://crownpropeller.wordpress.com/2012/12/16/more-music-with-clarence-c-sharpe/

Forgive me if this has been posted before: https://crownpropeller.wordpress.com/2012/05/30/105-minutes-with-legendary-clarence-c-sharpe/#comment-9104 I have written about Clarence 'C.' Sharpe here and elsewhere before. He was my friend, and a great spirit. You may read at the bottom of the comments a C. Sharpe story I posted.

There are all manner of wild 'remedies' that people claim work. It's belief and expectation---much like religion. If the stuff worked on insomnia so perfectly everyone would be taking it, right?

I didn't have a TV for years, and only watch news now (with suspicion b/c it's corporate). The rest is inane me. Who is Steve Colbert again?

he was nice to me. i was playing with a horrible street band once in front of the gulf and western building. i mean they were excrable. the two co-leaders started on kazoos, then graduated to banging on bass drums. anyway, jackie came by and listened, trying to hide behind the ballantine beer hat i never saw him without---so as not to make me self-conscious. i peeped him anyway, and was embarrassed as hell to be seen and heard with this raggedy-ass band. when i ran into jackie next time i told him i had seen him and was embarrassed. he rejoined 'don't be. i listened 'cause you were the only thing happening'. he told someone else that i 'had a lot of heart'. i was very bummed that he went out the way he did: seemingly alone and forgotten.

I'm almost 62, too. I feel your pain ...

You are a good man, Chuck Nessa

chuck, that is alvin queen's label. i also put this up on fb today and got a nice response from him thanking me for talking about john collins. we had a nice little exchange. that lp was eponymously titled john collins, and besides collins and queen feautured sweets edison. yes, it came out in the '80s. i used to own it. in the front cover picture mr. collins looks just as happy as in that nat cole video i posted. i bet he was a hell of a guy...

http://www.allmusic.com/album/moment-of-truth-mw0000654233

I recall hearing him at some Art Blakey event or other. Maybe it was part of the JVC Festival in NYC. '80s. Haven't seen hide nor hair of him since. Glad he's still around...

I knew him in the '80s at the Jazz Cultural Theater, and played his very interesting charts at a Clifford Jordan big band rehearsal. He also used to play for Charles Davis's class there. He was a great guy, and very encouraging to younger musicians like myself. I very much liked his work in the early '60s on both piano and organ with Gerald Wilson's big band. I think he had perhaps a serious stroke, and spent his final days in a nursing home, pretty much forgotten about before passing away in 2007. Here is a bio:http://www.bluenote.com/spotlight/the-underappreciated-jack-wilson

Thank you! I will look into that... Here's a bio: http://www.allmusic.com/artist/john-collins-mn0001704785

Are there any recordings of him with Pres? I've seen pictures of the group with him...Don't know if they were brothers. I never heard that...

John Collins is IMO criminally underrated. He's actually almost forgotten about. To me, he was the best of 3 very fine guitarists to work in the King Cole Trio. For taste, stage presence, and wonderful group playing check out this video of the Trio:

Doug finally broke away from his Dad's influence later in life, and became a deeper artist for it...He really grew. When I first heard him in the late '70s he was only 17 and, quite understandably, sounding very much like Jimmy---except with a fatter tone. He was playing Jimmy's licks. He finally came into his own sometime later, a real artist. It must be a real stressor having a great musician for a father and playing oneself. Everyone judges you against his achievements. It takes courage and fortitude to break away. I also can tell you that in my private conversations with him Jimmy expressed great pride in Doug...

I'm very sad. I didn't know Doug,but did know Jimmy and am in touch with Jon. I feel very bad for Jon right about now. I'm also thinking about a great player I was friends with: Sean Levitt...Also, Tim Breen---who was in a class by himself, but never recorded...

I never met him. Those are all second-hand stories, though amusing. Probably I should have kept them to myself... I'm sure there was a softer side.

Like anything else worth doing I guess one has to get a plan and stick to it. Best of luck to you, too Still taking the herbs, and I guess I will until they run out. They do sort of knock me out. I do wake up after a few hours sometimes, though. But it's getting easier to go back to sleep...

That is definitely worth having. I wonder if any of it has the 3rd guitarist in the King Cole Trio, John Collins. He was fabulous...

I'm not as disciplined as you. Plus, a glass of wine slows me down and relaxes me. (I just bought a bottle). I made the mistake last night of listening to music on youtube, and that kept me up awhile. Won't repeat that error. Sounds like you have a good routine. Good for you...

I've been listening to my old teacher and mentor's recording The Master and Live at Bradley's. He's just as good as I remember! I won't post a link to youtube because I don't believe in what they do (put up music for free so people can steal it). I recommend that people purchase the CDs/vinyl instead. My other favorites remain the great Wes Montgomery, and I've been enjoying the hell out of Ed Bickert. I heard that he retired from playing after his wife passed away. Very sorry to hear this. We need great music in the world. Check out his many recordings with Paul Desmond (the series is called Live at Bourbon Street), and his own dates. He is so musical and swinging...

Damn it, I woke up again at 4 AM this morning---despite copious amounts of herbal supplements. The birds were singing when I finally got back to sleep. Had to have java to get started---something I also recently swore off. This has not been easy...

Thank you, 'Canarsie' Sorry, not interested in reading that. Thanks anyway...

Nice story about Ruby Braff. I actually witnessed him in action in 1977, at a memorial for guitarist Sam Brown. He was mean and sexist in his comments about a female singer who performed. (She was annoying and insincere). I won't print what he said because there are women on this board. Part of his anger may have stemmed from the fact that he was blackballed by the very powerful Joe Glaser---whose bad side he had gotten on. You can dig up a DownBeat from, I think, the earliest '80s where he talks about this. I guess he dug his own grave. Too bad. He was a great player who took Pops someplace of his own. I did hear two amusing stories: 1: A musician said to another 'you're gonna work with Ruby? Don't worry if he hates you. He hates everybody'. 2: Ruby at a recording session, as the musicians were opening their cases: 'that's too goddamn loud already!' Ruby's nickname for Eddie Locke: The Mandrill. For Dick Hyman: The Cash Register A real character...

yeah, dancing monkeys are ok. flying monkeys---as in the wizard of oz---are scary...