Sangrey and the Lord

[Michael Fitzgerald]

So, some people twiddle their thumbs when they need to kill some time with mindless activity. I page through the Tom Lord CDROM indices.

Today was letter S and I came across Jim Sangrey. But I also came across Gerard Sangrey, immediately preceding. My supposition would be that Gerard is an error, since his only appearance is playing tenor on a 1983 Daagnim label session (and Jim plays tenor on 5 other Daagnim records).

Concrete confirmation would be appreciated. Any explanation of how the error happened would be a bonus.

(I was also surprised to see NJ sax guy Bob Ackerman on some of those Texas sessions. I had thought he was strictly a local here.)

Mike

[rostasi]

Hey Jim! Didn't you do some González sessions that had Gerard Bendiks?

Edited June 18, 2005 by rostasi

[ghost of miles]

And what about your various pseudonymns, Jim?

[JSngry]

Gerard Bendiks would be the correct name. Drummer, percussionist, conmposer/conceptualist, all-around freakinagoodway. The kind of cat who would (and did) bring in an incredibly difficult tune called "Nigeria" which tuned out to be "nothing more" than "Airegin" played backwards. Also a guy who has one of the most jaw-drobbing commands of odd-meter superimpositions I've ever come across. You want to hear one hand play a septuplet, the other play a nontuplet, one foot play 15, the other 13, all over a 3/4 beat? Gerard's you man. He's spent a lifetime figuring out and perfecting stuff like this, and transferring it to his compositions, which of course freaks everybody (myself included) out when trying to make sense of it.

Gerard was also one of the first in our area to not just recognize, but actually actively and avidly pursue the post-Ayler innovations of the AACM & the European free improv movements. He studied w/Alan Silva for a while in Paris, and also brought a unique-for-the-area "global" perspective, much of it due to having a French (iirc) mother and a father who had a job working for a major oil company, a job which sent him and his family to different countries for extended periods.

Gerard is also one of the few local drummers who know how to tune his kit. The guy's drums sound incredible, speaking with a distinction and fullness of tone that many confuse with "volume". This attention to duning no doubt somes from his deep devotion to studying the playing Sonny Greer & Max Roach.

Needless to say, a person with an outlook such as Gerard's stuck out like a sore thumb in the "jazz community" at NTSU in the mid-1970s, where the 60s Blue Note sound was considered the "ultimate" in modern music. But you'd go to Gerard's crib, & he'd lay some Art Ensemble, Lacy, Braxton, Frank Wright, etc. on you, as well as tons of Max, Ellington, Mingus, etc. A guy after my own heart!

Gerard's still active, still playing, still doing what he does in the face of what can best be described as a befuddled marketplace (as well as a too-large group of befuddled musicians). I'll shoot his a link to this thread and see if he wants to contribute some of his unique verbal gymnastics, which are every bit the equal of his musical ones.

As for Bob Ackerman, yes, he and his wife (singer Pam Puvis) both lived and gigged (and in Bob's case, plyed his trade as mouthpiece technician/deal-broker) in these parts from the late 70s through the early 1980s, before moving back home to Jersey. Bob was one of those cats who tryed to have a foot in both (many, actually) musical "camps", which in the deeply factionalized DFW jazz scene of those (and, to a great extent, these) days, made him a "man without a country", so to speak. But he put forth a valliant effort while he was here!

[JSngry]

I saw this the title of this thread and was afraid it was going to be a demand that I repent of my recorded musical sins.

Trust me, I have, and I still am...

[Michael Fitzgerald]

A wealth of information. Thanks.

Bruyninckx has it correct, btw. Lord completely omits any drummer.

=====================================

Bruyninckx:

-Anthem suite- : Dennis Gonzalez/John Purcell : Dennis Gonzalez (flhrn,cond) John Purcell (as,ts) Bob Ackerman (reeds,fl,pic) Jim Sangrey (ts-1) Ed Smith (vib) Alex Camp (b) Gerard Bendiks (d)

Dallas, Texas, October & December 1983

Anthem suite : Hymn for Albert Daagnim 11

Ljubljana

Deputy of Jah (1)

Purcell's down -

'Clajoma (1) -

Fat butt (1) -

======================================

Lord:

Anthem Suite: Dennis Gonzalez/John Purcell:

Dennis Gonzalez (flhrn,cond) John Purcell (as,ts) Bob Ackerman (reeds,fl,pic) Gerard Sangrey (ts-1) Ed Smith (vib) Alex Camp (b)

Dallas, Texas, October & December 1983

Anthem suite : Daagnim 11

Hymn for Albert

Ljubljana

Deputy of Jah (1)

Purcell's down -

'Clajoma (1) -

Fat butt (1) -

======================================

Mike

[RDK]

So let me get this straight: Michael is telling us not to believe in the Lord?

[JSngry]

I would like to add that "Fat Butt" is an original composition/arrangement of mine, and that "Deputy of Jah" is a melody (and arrangement) that I created over a bass line provided by Dennis. This information has, to my knowledge, only been given on the label of the original LP release, and in the case of "Deputy of Jah", only given as a co-composer credit on said label.

A little more discographic info - The two tunes mentioned above were recorded at the KERA (the local PBS/NPR outlet) studios in Dallas, and "'Clajoma" (actually a performance of "Oklahoma" w/the heads edited out for copyright reasons) was recorded at Tango on 12/11/83 as per the original liner insert. Tango was a club that was also the original home of the giant frogs now residing at the Carl's Corner truck stop in Carl's Corner, Tx). I'm pretty sure that the KERA dates were done at roughly the same time, because I was living in Albuquerque, NM at the time, and Dennis had me come to town for the concert/recording session, a very generous gesture on his part. Not sure about any of the other cuts on that album, as I was not involved in them, but I do know that Dennis had hooked up with Purcell earlier, and some recording had transpired, either live or in Dennis's living room (aka Medio Dia Studios).

If you want more information than you really need, I wrote "Fat Butt" while having dinner w/Dennis & his family at Ninfa's Restaurant, and "Deputy Of Jah" in Dennis' living room. Dates are at this point lost in the fog of memory, but both were composed specifically for the recording session. I think we might have done "Deputy" at the concert, prior to the studio session, but I'm pretty sure that "Fat Butt" got it's first reading in the studio, because Alex & Gerard both were thrown for a loop by my request for a "Chicago shuffle, like on a Little Walter record". The results came out a lot more rock-ish than I wanted, but time was tight, and I was just glad to have the thing recorded so I could hear (and learn from) my attempts at a Ray Charles-esque four-piece horn arrangement. The soloing, though, was fine.

Dennis used to have (and probably still does) a rather large cache of unissued concert and Medio Dia recordings from the daagnim era, some involving me, some not. A particularly interesting one involves Kelvyn Bell playing with a local crew. I wasn't in town for that one, but I heard the tapes, and they are quite good. Dennis planned on releasing it at one point, but one of the participants (not Bell) objected for "political/career" reasons, and the project was shelved (this whole thing being a "labor of love" at the time, nobody except the "stars" got paid for recordings, concerts, etc., so Dennis, much to his credit, respected everybody's wishes in such matters). More than that I won't say, except that it's a shame. Bell was playing REALLY well on that tape.

Edited June 18, 2005 by JSngry

[kh1958]

Tango--saw the Heath Brothers play there in late 1983.

[JSngry]

Tango was run by Angus Wynne, iirc.

Two of the Tango frogs at their adopted home:

There were 5 or 6 of them originally. HUGE fuckers, all lined up above the club entrance, on a theatre-style marquee or some such, as I recall. Understand that all the frog's found a home when the club closed, but the ones in Carl's Corner are the only ones still on public display.

Carl's Corner itself is a rather, uh, "colorful" dot on the Texas landscape> read all about it!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A156430

http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily.../printstory.jsp

That's the "official" news. Unofficially, rumor has it that you can get anything you want at Carl's Corner.

[Jazzmoose]

The kind of cat who would (and did) bring in an incredibly difficult tune called "Nigeria" which tuned out to be "nothing more" than "Airegin" played backwards.

←

Hmmm...anyone want to buy the song "Horace"? I'll have it finished in just a bit...

[JSngry]

Hey - Gerard didn't just reverse the melody. He reversed the changes as well. All the way down to ii-Vs becoming V-iis.

And I thought that "Giant Steps" was a bitch...

[Guest]

Gerard Bendiks would be the correct name. Drummer, percussionist, conmposer/conceptualist, all-around freakinagoodway. The kind of cat who would (and did) bring in an incredibly difficult tune called "Nigeria" which tuned out to be "nothing more" than "Airegin" played backwards. Also a guy who has one of the most jaw-drobbing commands of odd-meter superimpositions I've ever come across. You want to hear one hand play a septuplet, the other play a nontuplet, one foot play 15, the other 13, all over a 3/4 beat? Gerard's you man. He's spent a lifetime figuring out and perfecting stuff like this, and transferring it to his compositions, which of course freaks everybody (myself included) out when trying to make sense of it.

Gerard was also one of the first in our area to not just recognize, but actually actively and avidly pursue the post-Ayler innovations of the AACM & the European free improv movements. He studied w/Alan Silva for a while in Paris, and also brought a unique-for-the-area "global" perspective, much of it due to having a French (iirc) mother and a father who had a job working for a major oil company, a job which sent him and his family to different countries for extended periods.

Gerard is also one of the few local drummers who know how to tune his kit. The guy's drums sound incredible, speaking with a distinction and fullness of tone that many confuse with "volume". This attention to duning no doubt somes from his deep devotion to studying the playing Sonny Greer & Max Roach.

Needless to say, a person with an outlook such as Gerard's stuck out like a sore thumb in the "jazz community" at NTSU in the mid-1970s, where the 60s Blue Note sound was considered the "ultimate" in modern music. But you'd go to Gerard's crib, & he'd lay some Art Ensemble, Lacy, Braxton, Frank Wright, etc. on you, as well as tons of Max, Ellington, Mingus, etc. A guy after my own heart!

Gerard's still active, still playing, still doing what he does in the face of what can best be described as a befuddled marketplace (as well as a too-large group of befuddled musicians). I'll shoot his a link to this thread and see if he wants to contribute some of his unique verbal gymnastics, which are every bit the equal of his musical ones.

As for Bob Ackerman, yes, he and  his wife (singer Pam Puvis) both lived and gigged (and in Bob's case, plyed his trade as mouthpiece technician/deal-broker) in these parts from the late 70s through the early 1980s, before moving back home to Jersey. Bob was one of those cats who tryed to have a foot in both (many, actually) musical "camps", which in the deeply factionalized DFW jazz scene of those (and, to a great extent, these) days, made him a "man without a country", so to speak. But he put forth a valliant effort while he was here!

←

[Guest]

I'd like to thank Jim S. for his kind words for a kind bud, so to speak. Yes, I'm still very active (Dallas/Ft.Worth/Texas) since leaving the fertile prairie grasses of U. of North Texas where, as Jim mentioned, Jazz was often a one-letter word. But that's OK cuz I learned a lot during my time up there; things like never put yer hi-hat on 1 & 3 during the bridge of a tune cuz Bird's rhythm-a-tists didn't (proving once again that forward motion - Time - stands still for some folks. How do they do it?) , that it's easy to "outwork" most students/folks, that good teachers will always give an encouraging word if the student doesn't waste time on BS. Shout out to Rick Latham and the marimba grad teacher wot's his name?, Henry Okstel who constantly challenged my mental & physical techniques and opinions (...and he still does!), and to Robert Schietroma (Perc. Dept. Head) who led by example...

Haven't been involved with Dennis Gonzalez/daagnim for over 10 years. We cross paths now & then, exchange news, compare cutting-edge designs for tooth picks, blah-blah-blah. Discounting "commercial gigs" and private teaching, my creative music/Jazz endeavors mostly center on SWIRVE, the pierced TIDBITS, some SHANGHAI 5 subbing, some MONKS OF SATURNALIA subbing, and eternally still-borne projects like MAGGA (2 drumkits, bs,. 2 gtrs, keys-or a 3rd gtr)... SHANGHAI 5 is nice-paying gig kinda like PORTISHEAD/MORSHEEBA. MONKS OF SATURNALIA is Greg Prickett's baby in the Mingus etc direction.

SWIRVE is Chris Curiel (trpt/colorful electronic boxes on the floor), sometimes Tamitha Curiel (poems), and Gerard Bendiks (drumkit con additions-du-jour). SWIRVE has 2 CD's out, the latest is "Music For Inconsequential Behavior". SWIRVE performs "tunes" and also improvizes. The exagerated TIDBITS, (an All-improvizing/all-the-time group) is Kenny Withrow, of NEW BOHEMIANS fame (gtrs,drum machines, gizmos, samples, gtr rig flagrante), Kim Corbet, of BL LACERTA fame, S.M.U. prof (keyboards, occasional trombone, MC, perc, drum machine, electronic hubba-hubbas), and me - the same G.Bendiks (drum kit tutto giardino, assistant MC). The glazed TIDBITS has lousy mangement (me) but we've managed to record 3 CD's, all live, with a studio recording a-waiting some tweakings. The first CD is "Impossible Music". One person described it as, "A bunch of cows farting in a field with some drum machines". Another person's description was that it was the best make-out music she'd ever had the pleasure to make-out to. The Spirit moves in mysterious ways...

"Bobbing For Fries" and "Bunk As Pitch" round out the current snarling TIDBITS catalogue. SWIRVE has a website, I think. The gelatinous TIDBITS are waiting for me to learn web-design or manna from heaven so we can pay someone to do it. If anyone needs a TIDBITS recording or three, try e-mailing --- gerardbendiks@sbcglobal.net---- and we'll "hook you up". Cool guy insider prices, of course.

Pleased to meet y'all.

That's all, folks.

[7/4]

Pleased to meet y'all.

←

Welcome to town.