marcello

Marty Morell - Drums/Bill Evans

As a Builder,that looks like 1"x6" and 1"x8" Tounge and Groove, solid pine paneling which is actually a higher grade than you would find in Dad's basement! Since that type of material originates in the South, the club could be there. To me it looks a little like a young Steve Davis who played with Coltrane and is /was from Philly.

The Sam Noto "Act One" is a very fine session that also featurs my old hometown friend, saxophonist Joe Romano, ( also Barry Harris and Billy Higgins ) who played a lifetime with Woody and Buddy and is still alive and cookin'! Here is Scott Yanow's review below: For his second of four Xanadu dates as a leader, the excellent bop trumpeter Sam Noto meets up with his old friend Joe Romano (who sticks here to tenor), pianist Barry Harris, bassist Sam Jones and drummer Billy Higgins. They perform five of Noto's originals, some of which are based on the chord changes of familiar standards, and a beautiful three-song ballad medley. All of the musicians play up to par, making one wish that Noto's Xanadu sets would be reissued on CDs. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide A Joe Romano Link

Okay, Okay..... But more than once I sept in the same hotel room/suite with him and no touchy feely! Never saw a pass at a man or boy although I saw him nibble on more that one woman's ear lobe! Back to the book.... I thought that those bands with Al Gafa/Rodney Jones/Mickey Roker were not given much exposure. I have always loved "Portrait Of Jenny"

Birks was a hetrosexual all the way, for sure! The point of my post was that any abusive behavior, to women or others, was the exception and not the rule and he should be remembered for his massive contribution to the music. When you're talking about a genius, there are many layers to their personallity. To take single incidents and tar a long and productive life is plain wrong. He known far and wide as a giver of himself and his knowledge; not a taker and abuser. I suspect that his personality was not condusive to drinking or hard drug taking. That the same appitite he had for learning and living caused him to over indulge, at times, and he lost control of himself. When I knew him he did not drink or take hard drugs in any way and had a profound, deep belief in his Bahi faith. He evolved; just like Jazz. Yeah he carried a knife. If you had to carry money from town to town , like he did, you might carry one too! I, of course, never saw him, cut or threaten anyone. And let me tell you; I saw some people come up to him with crazed looks in their eyes, talking bizzare, looking drunk and drugged, talking angry and loud, paranoid and disturbed. I would have run and hid! He almost always was kind and cool with them. Like Rodney Jones said" a lot of old guys carried knives". Don't forget that Dizzy grew up in the South; a tough country boy who had to take abuse there and in the North that we can only imagine. I'm not making excuses for him. He could be rough and tough but that was just a small part of his personality. Ahh, shit... This IS getting more than a little strange. I try to give a little insight from my point of view and he is called Gay?! He was, and will forever be, a GREAT MAN.

Does it really surprise everyone that Dizzy was a real human being? I spent a fair amount of time with him from 1975 to 1983 and saw him in many situations, both private and public, with all types of people. He was by far more generous with his time with most people ( many musicans! ) and giving of his opinion and knowledge. Did I see him get bent out of shape and angry? Yeah , sometimes. Did he carry a knife? You bet! A real nasty looking carpet cutter! Did he put up with a lot of shit from promoters and lames? God, yes! I believe most people could not stand the type of pressures that were part of his day to day life. He had to live up to great expectations ,and sometimes,he fell a little short. He knew what his place was in the history books and that was a HEAVY cross to bear! I could tell you stories, but who really cares? Does it lessen his contrubution? Does it make "Olinga" any less touching? Does it fade your memories of that searing trumpet? If it does, I feel sorry for you. So forget the bullshit about him and the chinks in his personality; forgive and love him as you would a friend. But I have to tell you to walk down the street with him was something! Alive and vital all of the time! I mean, just to look in a store window with him was a eye opening expierience. He loved life and people. He interacted with life in a way that made every moment intense and full of love. That's his bottom line. That's his legacy. That's what drove him to be such a icon and innovator. That's how we should remember him. With LOVE.

Ray(Bulldog) Drummond sounds great ,as always, on Joe Locke's "Beauty Burning"( Sirocco) and has a origional song by him on it called "I-95".

Those live recording with Bud Powell in Paris are great. I'm thinking of "Live at the Blue Note' on ESP and those others made by Francis Paudras that feature Zoot, Dizzy and Griffin.

Groove Merchant - I don't really understand your problem with a nice professional photo! Joe Locke is a great artist and THE master of the jazz vibraphone who plays with DEEP feeling and soul. The fact tha the has formidable technique, and knows how to use it, is not a crime. Besides his compositions are always swinging and beautiful! The Paragram Shift recording, however, is not a good representation of his gifts. You are much better off buying his latest 'DEAR LIFE", (pictured on my avitar) or '4 WALLS OF FREEDOM' ( with Bob Berg ), both on the Sirocco Label. Soon, Joe and Geoffrey Keezer will have a Quartet cd (that is released in Japan now) available in the States. Let us know what you think after you listen to 'DEAR LIFE'! Joe Locke By the way; look out for Keezer's new Trio recording on Maxjazz. Another Master!

IMPACT and MUSIC INC. & BIG BAND are two of the really great big band recordings of the '70's!

Ron lays down some SERIOUS funk on Joey Baron's 'Down Home' along with Arthur Blythe and Bill Frisell. Its on Intuition Music and Media Intuition Mucic & Media /Songtone I had never heard of it before but Ron turned on our mutual friend, vibraphonist Joe Locke, to it. It smokes!

You know Bruce, that's a good question! Thak God for Google. Here is a link for all you may want to know about emo: emo

I must say that I bought the new Miles Blackhawk cd and the cymbal sound is very distracting to me and ruins the recording. It's very high and over powers the rest of the music. The vinyl is a groove!

Jsngry - I believe he is talking about pop performers but his comments also apply to many of the Jazz performers we see and hear. There are more than a few who arrogance, and superior attitude ,to both their fans and fellow artists, far exceeeds their talent. I see many Jazz players who assume a "pop mentality"!

The band for the "Bags Groove" appearance was: Joe Locke - Vibes Mike LeDonne - Piano Mickey Roker - Drums Ray Drummond - Bass ( Friday ) Jom Webber (1st set Saturday) Bob Cranshaw (2nd set) Now enven though the writer does not know much about jazz, he was truly taken by the performance as to opposed to what he usually hears and sees. I think that it makes his observations even more noteworthy that he does not come from a deep jazz position and when he does see or hear some of todays more exposed and touted jazz performers, he is left cold. When someone like him is touched by THE REAL THING, it's good for the music we love. Remember?

Here is a insightful piece from the Columbia Spectator; any comments? Cool, Baby Alexander the Greer By Alex Greer Columbia Daily Spectator November 12, 2004 Since when did we take “cool” to be Robin Leach-inspired songs from whiny vocalists and a band that has no knowledge of their instruments outside of power chords? Since when did we take “cool” to be musicians naming themselves after a currency and mumbling rhymes with less vocabulary variance than the label on a bottle of orange juice? Since when did we let “cool” even come anywhere near the emo movement? Cool used to be smooth. The o’s used to be dragged out for a little bit longer than necessary; it used to be a word that came from deep down within the throat. The word, or the real version at least, still exists here and there. And at Smoke, a club just 15 minutes from campus, it prevails. Joe Locke and the Milt Jackson Rhythm Section gave a good vocabulary lesson there last Friday. Locke filled in on vibraphone (kind of like a xylophone) for the late Milt Jackson, whose rhythm section decided to give a tributary performance, a jazz wake if you will. Joe just leaks energy, and I highly recommend seeing his next performance in the city before he leaves for England. In between his invigorating solos he literally ran offstage so that the rhythm section could get a taste of some of the spotlight, and he always scats the notes of whatever he’s playing while pounding it out on the vibes. His whole air made me realize just how much we’ve lost our grasp of “cool.” In mainstream music we never see guys like Joe anymore; it’s always the group of idiot teenagers whose manager and producer have more say in the music than the band does. And in the rare instances when we find a band that has creative control, what drives their music never really tends to be the same thing that drives Joe and the Milt Jackson Rhythm Section—the thing that I’m sure we’ve lost touch with. Granted, there are exceptions, but the wave of alternative rock, emo, and hip-hop that we’re seeing dominate the charts now is, at its core, driven by the fixation that the artists have on showing off. For some reason—most likely a lack of ideas about anywhere new to go with music—current mainstream rock has come to rely on shock value. The genre now figures that, if it gives it to us hard enough, mindlessly enough, and distorted beyond all recognition, we won’t realize that the tunes just lack any substantive value. Rap, on the other hand, loses its concern with where it’s stemming from by being so concentrated on showing that it knows its roots (i.e. Kanye’s reliance on sampling Nina Simone and the Beatles instead of original beats). Its fans, however, never seem to realize the references, making the whole self-destructive process pointless; I can’t even count how many people I’ve had to tell that Ma$e’s new single, “Welcome Back” is actually from the 1970s sitcom Welcome Back Kotter. The front that these genres have had to put up as of late has forced them to become a hollow shell of music. What they’re missing—what Joe Locke embodies and the aspect of “cool” that has been forgotten—is soul. Cool is not screaming at the top of your lungs, “I will never know myself until I do this on my own” (cough, Linkin Park). The Milt Jackson Rhythm Section doesn’t have to put up the front to make good music or to make their presence known: last Friday all of Smoke was awestruck at the section’s talent (another forgotten word), produced by a couple of old black versions of Mr. Magoo with sensible suits and ties, jamming with a shy pianist with a five o’ clock shadow. They can spend their time concentrating on their music because they’re not distracted by trying to show that they’ve got balls. They have soul, and soul permeates without effort, and that’s what’s cool, baby. Joe Locke will be playing at Knickerbocker from Nov. 18-20. Smoke is located at 106 and Broadway.

Joe Locke and Geoff Keezer have recorded for eighty-eights as "The New Sound Quartet". The record is called "Summer Knows" that has both great originals ( "The King" by Locke is wonderful ) and some reallygreat re-workings of standards such as Keezer's arraingement of" All The Things You Are". Joe Locke

This is the same band that played the Isle of Wright Festival. I have kept only the disc that featured Miles ( it was a 2 lp set) that has "Call It Anythn'" on it.

Joe Locke & Geoff Keezer who have a new recording that is , for now, only available in Japan called 'The Summer Knows' by 'The New Sound Quartet".

I spoke to Joe Locke on Monday when he heard the news of Mark's death; he is devestated. Joe and Mark made two great frecordings with Joe's 'Storytelling' group; 'Storytelling' and 'State Of Soul' that are very dear to Joe and a fitting legacy to Ledford's many talents. Joe Locke websites; www.joelocke.com & www.joelocke.net.Joe Locke's official web site Joe Locke .Net

I think this is not only fine music but almost a exact example of the music that Dizzy was playing live ( except for the flute) and I really dug this group with Al Gafa. This is NOT the commercial music that was on the 'Dizzy's Party' record. but has those great Al Gafa songs like 'Barcelona' and 'The Land Of The Living Dead', not to mention Dizzy's ' Olinga', which was a SERIOUS and spirtiual song to him ( maybe the flute solo has been edited out of the cd version). By the way, Al Gafa's 'Leblon Beach', also on Pablo, is really fine and not released on cd.

Here is Vibraphonist Joe Locke's Itinerary through 2/05: October 22 - Peterborough, England : 4 Walls of Freedom Peterborough Jazz Club October 24 - Cork, Ireland: 4 Walls of Freedom Cork Jazz Festival October 30-31 - Seattle, WA : Joe Locke Quartet w/Thomas Marriott - Tula's LIVE BROADCAST ON KPLU November 5-6 - NYC: Tribute to Milt Jackson w/Mike LeDonne, Bob Cranshaw, Mickey Roker Smoke November 18-20 - NYC : w/Lew Soloff & Francois Mouton The Knickerbocker November 22-27 - London: 4 Walls of Freedom Ronnie Scott's November 30 - December 4 - Sheffield, England: 4 Walls of Freedom One Eleven Club February 16 - Denver, CO.: 4 Walls Of Freedom Mount Vernon Country Club February 18 - Portland, OR: - Educational Workshop Portland Jazz Festival February 19 - Portland, OR: 4 Walls of Freedom Portland Jazz Festival February 27 - Half Moon Bay, CA.: - Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society