Fathead....

[sheldonm]

...a few photos of Fathead performing in Indy tonight.

[sheldonm]

...a few photos of Fathead performing in Indy tonight.

[sheldonm]

...a few photos of Fathead performing in Indy tonight.

[White Lightning]

[Free For All]

Nice pics, Mark! How did you manage to get that incredibly huge head in frame so well?

[JSngry]

We still love the Fathead here!

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Terrific! How was the gig?

MG

[sheldonm]

Terrific! How was the gig?

MG

The show was excellent; primarily standards/classic by Ellington, Coltrane and so on but the guy can still play.. David switched between tenor and alto often...first time I can recall him not playing flute at least once. The club was packed during the 1st set...a little less so during the second. David is a classy guy!

m~

[Larry Kart]

That third shot is especially nice. Lovely mood to it, lots of unobtrusive skill on your part.

[sheldonm]

That third shot is especially nice. Lovely mood to it, lots of unobtrusive skill on your part.

Thanks Larry, I will put that on the cover of my upcoming book...... Actually I love the cover of your book!

m

[Larry Kart]

That third shot is especially nice. Lovely mood to it, lots of unobtrusive skill on your part.

Thanks Larry, I will put that on the cover of my upcoming book...... Actually I love the cover of your book!

m

I do, too

http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Search-Itself-L...3609&sr=1-1

which I can say because I had nothing to do with taking this picture of Ira Sullivan, Johnny Griffin, and bassist Nevin Wilson (don't even know who took it), though it came into my possession years ago, and the publisher said they could use it (as I recall, being prepared to pay something if the photographer later showed up and could show that he/she took it). I love it in part because it looks like it was shot from the same front table at the Gate of Horn where I used to sit to hear/see Ira and Griffin at Monday night Joe Segal-run sessions circa 1957, where you could get in while in your teens because in Chicago at that time Monday was a so-called "off night" for clubs, and no alcohol could be served. Actually, I think this shot was taken somewhere else, maybe the Pink Poodle, because I have no memory of ever seeing or hearing Nevin Wilson. The usual bass player at the Gate sessions was Victor Sproles, with people like Jim Atlas, Bob Cranshaw and others sitting in. Wilbur Ware was in New York by then, I'm sure, didn't hear him "live" until later on. Usual first-call drummer was Wilbur Campbell, pianist was Jodie Christian. Heard Chris Anderson there; he was magical but was terribly frail, had to be lifted onto the stand and IIRC placed on the piano bench. Very high-intensity atmosphere at those sessions, a fast track. I remember being impressed by the way the young Stu Katz (piano and vibes) handled himself under those conditions. Other frequent visitors included, tenormen Nicky Hill, Dick Kroll (Mobley-esque), and Haig Tchian (sp?) -- it was pronounced "Tich-ee-an -- who also played alto, tackling both horns in an abrupt, "pecking" Shafi Hadi-like manner, though Tchian developed independently, had been playing this way before Hadi became known outside Philadelphia. Didn't know it at the time, but Tchian was celebrated for the large size of his organ; he carried a photo of it (in a flacid state, I believe, a la the famous magazine ad shot of Joe Maini) in his wallet; when he saw a woman he was interested in, he would show her the photo. Apparently, this worked often enough. Other pianists I recall sitting-in were Eddie Baker and the young Denny Zeitlin, who was pretty amazing -- not yet under the thrall of Bill Evans, blending his own stuff with Bud Powell and Tristano strains, as Evans himself was at that time, but Zeitlin's own early stuff was something else, almost Dick Twardzik-like IIRC. Drummers included Walter Perkins. It was a bit odd in retrospect being restricted at the time to only those local musicians who showed up at the Gate sessions, but you just couldn't get into ny another club if you were a teenager, unless maybe your parents or some other adult took you, and I didn't see my parents taking me to the Crown Propeller Lounge. The Blue Note, a few times -- to see Woody Herman, and Mulligan with Art Farmer -- and there were JATP concerts and the Basie Band-Birdland All Stars tour. I remember seeing Maynard Ferguson's band on one of those Birdland-linked tours, and during a heated solo altoist Jimmy Ford had some kind of spasm onstage -- one arm flew off the horn and began to flap around uncontrollably for about four bars. Don't know Ford in action well enough to say whether that was a mannerism or some genuine physical-mental problem, but at the time I assumed it was latter. Kind of scary, I thought.

Edited December 9, 2007 by Larry Kart

[Larry Kart]

Willie Pickens at the Gate sessions, too, I believe, certainly Donald Garrett; in fact, he played bass as often as Victor Sproles; and Dorel Anderson on drums. No Von Freeman, not when I was there. No John Gilmore or Clifford Jordan or John Jenkins (all probably in New York by that time) or Andrew Hill either. Julian Priester must have been on the road then with Hampton or Dinah Washington. No Richard Abrams, I think, or Eddie Harris. Trying to think of other Chicagoans who should have/could have been there but were not and why, aside from their being on the road or at other regular gigs. The clique (though "clique" probably would be too strong a way to put it) no doubt centered around Ira musically and Joe Segal as the man at the door (at the least). Also, the Gate was located on the North Side -- on Chicago Ave. (800 North, at the corner of Wabash) for whatever that's worth; the racial composition of the players was mostly Af-Am, to use some shorthand, and I never sensed that there was any hint of a "draft" in any direction. The standard that shaped things there seemed to have been stylistic comfort/compatibility and level of skill within that. Later on, when Ornette made his first records, Ira and Nicky Hill were playing Ornette's pieces (e.g. "When Will the Blues Leave") right away. Nicky, always a melodic thinker, really seemed to get what was going on there, but sadly he would be gone much too soon.

[Jim Alfredson]

Beautiful photos, Mark. I never get tired of hearing Fathead. Wish I could've been at the show.

[sheldonm]

Willie Pickens at the Gate sessions, too, I believe, certainly Donald Garrett; in fact, he played bass as often as Victor Sproles; and Dorel Anderson on drums. No Von Freeman, not when I was there. No John Gilmore or Clifford Jordan or John Jenkins (all probably in New York by that time) or Andrew Hill either. Julian Priester must have been on the road then with Hampton or Dinah Washington. No Richard Abrams, I think, or Eddie Harris. Trying to think of other Chicagoans who should have/could have been there but were not and why, aside from their being on the road or at other regular gigs. The clique (though "clique" probably would be too strong a way to put it) no doubt centered around Ira musically and Joe Segal as the man at the door (at the least). Also, the Gate was located on the North Side -- on Chicago Ave. (800 North, at the corner of Wabash) for whatever that's worth; the racial composition of the players was mostly Af-Am, to use some shorthand, and I never sensed that there was any hint of a "draft" in any direction. The standard that shaped things there seemed to have been stylistic comfort/compatibility and level of skill within that. Later on, when Ornette made his first records, Ira and Nicky Hill were playing Ornette's pieces (e.g. "When Will the Blues Leave") right away. Nicky, always a melodic thinker, really seemed to get what was going on there, but sadly he would be gone much too soon.

Larry, thanks for the trip dowm memory lane....wish I could have seen some of that but I'll take what I can get. Stu Katz is a great guy and very good player of both vibes and piano...told me some nice stories of when he bought his first bebop records.

Funny about the "organ" story as well. I wonder of b3er carries a photo of his organ around?