Soul Stream Posted January 24, 2009 Report Share Posted January 24, 2009 Does anybody know what brand of vibes Lem played? Perhaps Chris would know? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soul Stream Posted January 24, 2009 Report Share Posted January 24, 2009 Sorry, SS, I don't have that info. Hey Chris, any other memories of Lem you could share? Did you get a chance to see him play often at the time? Hard to imagine he was a full time policeman at the beginning of his recording career. That's a lot of after work practicing! Speaking of vibraphonists Chris, wondered if you knew Freddie McCoy.... He seems to be someone who completely disappeared. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted January 24, 2009 Report Share Posted January 24, 2009 Not certain but I think I remember Deagan ads featuring him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christiern Posted January 24, 2009 Report Share Posted January 24, 2009 I read the AAJ posts and there is a lot of imagination there. Here is the NY Times item from the January 14, 1961 issue. It confirms what I heard at the time, Lem was playing Russian Roulette, which is something he was known to do and thought to have mastered. No nephew. Besides, from what I knew of Lem, personally, he loved kids too much to have even thought of having a gun around them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christiern Posted January 25, 2009 Report Share Posted January 25, 2009 Just came across your last post, SS. "Hey Chris, any other memories of Lem you could share? Did you get a chance to see him play often at the time? Hard to imagine he was a full time policeman at the beginning of his recording career. That's a lot of after work practicing! Speaking of vibraphonists Chris, wondered if you knew Freddie McCoy.... He seems to be someone who completely disappeared." Lem was still a policeman when I met him and, as I recall, he had been paying locally for some time. I only heard him in person on 3 or 4 occasions. As I recall, I met him because he called me several times when I was on the air at WHAT. He wanted me to meet his grandfather, so that's how he first came to my apartment. I think that's how it went down—it was a half century ago! No, I never met Freddie McCoy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soul Stream Posted January 25, 2009 Report Share Posted January 25, 2009 Thanks a lot Chris for the insight. It's amazing that he somehow seemed to know some sort of trick as to not get the loaded shell in the chamber of a certain make/model of pistol..., a trick that seemed to have cost him his life. When people say Russian Roulette, it brings to mind someone with a death wish. That's not the picture that you seemed to have painted. More of a gun trick gone bad. Anyway, thanks for the Deagan ad memory too. To me, he sounds like he's playing Deagans on those recordings as they have a certain ring to them. I know Freddie McCoy played Deagans as well and their recordings have a similar ring, although the playing is different. Lem was a real master and I love hearing him play. Do you have/or have heard his recording at the Birmingham Jazz Festival? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Late Posted February 4, 2023 Report Share Posted February 4, 2023 Lem's Beat Some fine Oliver Nelson here. Curtis Peagler reminds me of Clarence Sharpe. I wonder if Milt Jackson ever heard Winchester, and, if so, what his impressions were. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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