Blue suede shoes revisited

[Christiern]

A bassist friend (Ben Brown) sent me

Don't quite know what to make of it—Jim?

But wait!.......

Edited August 29, 2008 by Christiern

[Rooster_Ties]

A bassist friend (Ben Brown) sent me

LOL, until the 'Manhattan Transfer' kicked in at 2:30, where I promptly was ROTFLMAO!!

[Rooster_Ties]

Distant cousins??

[Shawn]

I'm scared of any thread that starts with "Check out this guy's organ".

[Christiern]

But you overcame your fear to check it out.

Disappointed?

[marcello]

A little off post here but, what's Ben Brown doing these days?

Here a photo of mine with him and Dizzy:

[Christiern]

Ben spent a lot of time w. Lena Horne and Gregory Hines, and has been with the Sesame Street band for a few years. Like many jazz player who wish or ned to stay near home (NYC) he frequently plays in Broadway pit bands, but most of his time these days is taken up by attending to his wife (they met in Dizzy's band, she was the vocalist), who is confined to a wheel chair. They are a great couple and rank very high among my friends.

I'll pass your picture on to Ben, he will appreciate it.

I gather that you haven't seen Ben in a while, so here's a very recent photo of him—we switched cameras and snapped each other:

Edited August 30, 2008 by Christiern

[JSngry]

Chester Smith's website: http://www.feetnfingers.com/index.html

Looks like a serious cat to me, if a somewhat specialized one.

I like it. Don't know how much of it I could take at any one time, but I like it.

[Christiern]

Interesting. Thanks for the link, Jim.

[marcello]

I'm glad Ben Brown is alive and well.

So he and Rodney Joenes both played with Lena Horn, huh?

And he follows Bob Cranshaw as the bass player in Sesame Street!

A couple of weeks ago, a kind soul sent me a recording of that Dizzy Gillespie group playing in Boston.

Send this one to Ben too. From the next night:

By the way, I have to say I couldn't stand to listen and watch that video to the end.

Call me a snob.

Edited August 31, 2008 by marcello

[Christiern]

Rodney Jones used to live in my building, that's how I met Ben, years ago—we were all Mac fanatics (along with JJ Johnson, Jimmy Heath, Akira Tana, and Mike Longo). Yes, Ben and Cranshaw sub for each other in the pit bands.

I sent your photo to Ben, he thanks you. I'll send the photo of Diz, too.

I think Ben's good sense of humor made him send me the video link.

[Jim Alfredson]

There's no doubt the guy can play. That rig is enormous; I'd hate to try and gig with that. Not sure about the overall vibe, but the guy has great technique.

I noticed he has the pedals monophonic, meaning only one note can be triggered at once. That would make things easier in some ways, I suppose. Still, good heel & toe technique.

EDIT: Just stopped by his website. Interesting stuff... he'd be a neat guy to talk with.

[Jim Alfredson]

Distant cousins??

That guy, on the other hand, is terrible.

[JSngry]

Still, good heel & toe technique.

I don't know about the specifics of all this, but the thing that struck me was how he was almost literally dancing on the pedals, which would mean that the better he danced, the better the groove, which seems more than a little "as it should be" to me, if you know what I mean...

[AllenLowe]

Chris, didn't realize you were friends with Ben Brown - I used to see him all the time when he played with Al Haig - and I'm sure he won't remember but I played with him once (a benefit, circa 1978, for a group that was trying yo get rid of Ed Koch) - also, sorry to hear about his wife (Chevonne?) she was a good singer -

Edited August 31, 2008 by AllenLowe

[Christiern]

I asked Ben if he remembers you. He says that he thinks so, at One Fifth Ave. Is that where it was?

BTW, he got eh YouTube link from Mike Longo.

[AllenLowe]

that was one of a bunch of places - last gig they worked was at the Angry Squire, and he also worked one of Haig's last gigs at a club over on the East Side, around 37th street - I'm sure he doesn't remember, but on the way up to that Koch gig he had to stop to get his amp from Sonny Fortune's apartment on the upper West Side someplace - and they did an impromptu duo - yes, those WERE the days -