PHILLYQ Posted June 30, 2009 Report Share Posted June 30, 2009 I have a story to start with and I'm sure everyone else has some good ones, so lets hear them! Around 1972/3 I went to a concert at Central Park in NYC(The concerts were sponsored by Schaeffer beer) and I actually can't remember who was the headliner but the story is about the opener who was quite dissimilar musically to the headliner. The opener was Brownsville Station, and they came out full of energy but sorely lacking in musical ability. Sure, the drummer had one of these massive setups with double bass drums, double this and that, but everytime I looked at him he was playing snare, 1 bass drum and hihat. So they play a few numbers, and after every tune they were met with loud booing(New Yorkers are maybe second only to Philadelphia in booing ability) and people yelling "You suck". After aboiut the fourth number the bassist/singer actually said something about it. "Hey we hear you guys yelling you suck, but you know what, we're going to keep on playing". Of course this led to even more chants of "You suck", and even more voiciferous booing. I'm sitting about 20 rows back and I'm just laughing myself silly at the huge faux pas the singer just made when this guy gets up about two rows in front of me and hurls an apple at the satge while the band's playing. I don't know if this guy later became a pro, but the apple hit the massive drum set, split in half and half nailed the drummer right between the eyes!!! Of course this led to a standing ovation that had nothing to do with music and everything to do with this guy's great arm! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Gould Posted June 30, 2009 Report Share Posted June 30, 2009 I saw Roy Haynes' Charlie Parker band in Fort Lauderdale a few years ago and at the end of the first set, he lined up the musicians to introduce themselves. Nicholas Payton said his name was Chuck Mangione. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted June 30, 2009 Report Share Posted June 30, 2009 Keith. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Kart Posted June 30, 2009 Report Share Posted June 30, 2009 It wasn't exactly funny, but watching Maynard's band on a Birdland All-Stars tour in (probably) 1956 or '57 I saw altoist Jimmy Ford have a brief fit in the middle of a solo, one arm suddenly flying away from the horn and well above his head while he continued to play -- all in all like the leg of spasm-struck flamingo. In fact, Ford may in that moment have been seeing flamingos or have thought that he was one. In any case -- and this reminds me of an incident that Chuck witnessed in college that he mentioned here recently and that I don't recall right now -- at that moment a certain door of experience began to crack open speculatively for me. It helped, too, that Ford sounded the way he did -- hot, drenched in Bird and kind of wild/anguished. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardbopjazz Posted June 30, 2009 Report Share Posted June 30, 2009 (edited) In 2004, I saw Jimmy Smith at the Iridium in NYC. My wife and I were sitting up against the stage. I was smiling and digging the music. Jimmy Stops and yells out, "What the fuck are you smiling at? I'll come down there and kick your ass." My wife leaned over and asked if he was talking to me. Jimmy was still staring, and he then said, "I'll kick your bitches ass too." I use to think it was funny, but now I think that it was sort of sad. I ended speaking with someone who was working with Jimmy. I'm not sure if it was his road manager, but he said Jimmy is angry that he still had to work this late in life, please excuse him. I guess he didn't write too many tunes to get the publishing rights. His albums did sell like hot cakes for Blue Note and Verve, so he should have made some money from them. Edited June 30, 2009 by Hardbopjazz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardbopjazz Posted June 30, 2009 Report Share Posted June 30, 2009 Another one. Lou Donaldson chatting with a women in the front at the Vanguard during a set. He tells her he has his blue pill in his pokcet.(Viagra). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheldonm Posted June 30, 2009 Report Share Posted June 30, 2009 ...probably not the funniest thing I've seen but Lou D played the Portland Jazz Fest earlier this year and when he entered the venue, the promoter introduced himself and said "Hi Mr. Donaldson, I'm so and so... this is my festival"....Lou looked at him and said "thanks, at least you'll have one jazz musician here this year". Not sure he meant it but it was funny at the time....not sure the promoter thought so. m Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7/4 Posted June 30, 2009 Report Share Posted June 30, 2009 I have a story to start with and I'm sure everyone else has some good ones, so lets hear them! Around 1972/3 I went to a concert at Central Park in NYC(The concerts were sponsored by Schaeffer beer) and I actually can't remember who was the headliner but the story is about the opener who was quite dissimilar musically to the headliner. The opener was Brownsville Station, and they came out full of energy but sorely lacking in musical ability. The headliner was ZZ Top, I was there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aggie87 Posted June 30, 2009 Report Share Posted June 30, 2009 (edited) The headliner was ZZ Top, I was there. ...apple thrower. Edited June 30, 2009 by Aggie87 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe G Posted June 30, 2009 Report Share Posted June 30, 2009 I've seen many more things at concerts that I'd describe as crazy or even scary, as opposed to funny. Though Michael Wolff kept us in stitches whenever he took the mic. Arsenio had nothing on him! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Van Basten II Posted July 1, 2009 Report Share Posted July 1, 2009 (edited) Remember a America Funniest Video kind of a moment when singer Dawn Tyler Watson tripped during a gig and landed on her keester, fortunately only thing hurted was her ego. Also saw a gig last year where the drummer used a baguette to play drums, when it crumbled in pieces, he started a food fight with musicians and the audience. More tasteless than funny, during a gig Jimmy Smith started playing the theme of Jaws and took out his dentures, to imitate the shark. Edited July 1, 2009 by Van Basten II Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdavenport Posted July 1, 2009 Report Share Posted July 1, 2009 I remember a Scott Hamilton gig in a Northern English town in the mid-90s. One got the feeling his heart wasn't really in it, and at one point he rather pointedly inroduced the tune "What Am I Here For?" I suspect Scott had had a drink or two, and later on he sat down on a chair out front while the pianist took his solo, and promptly nodded off. After several choruses and "what the..." glances between the band, an old man (I think he was the promoter) got on stage with a cup of coffee and woke him up. At this point, Scott shook his fist angrily and shooed the old man away. He put his horn to his lips, then gave a "fuck it" look and fell asleep again. You couldn't help but be impressed by the panache. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.L.M Posted July 1, 2009 Report Share Posted July 1, 2009 (edited) Around 1976/77 there was free concerts of free jazz organised in the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels every friday evening (we have seen there Steve Lacy Sextet, Misha Mengelberg, ICP, Peter Brötzman and alike). One Evening, during a concert of the ICP, Han Bennink decides to throw on his drums some table tennis (ping pong) balls. Of course the balls bounce in the public who were sitting on the floor around the musicians. The public was laughing a lot when suddenly two three spectators decided to throw the ball back to Han quickly following by all the crowd, at least by those who could find a ball. Under attack, The drummer take off his cymbal and try to protect himself from the bombing and, also redirecting the balls in the direction of the public with this improvising Shield... A great moment of total non-sense (if not of great music). Edited July 1, 2009 by P.L.M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted July 1, 2009 Report Share Posted July 1, 2009 In April 1961 I saw Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and the Thelonious Monk Quartet on a double bill at Manchester's Free Trade Hall. Early in a Rouse solo Monk decided as he so often did to lay out. He strode slowly round the stage as Rouse and the rhythm section played, lighting a cigarette as he went. As Rouse approached the end of his solo, Monk moved quickly to the front of the stage and handed the cigarette to a astounded fan on the front row. Monk returned to the piano, and the youthful fan carefully extinguished the cigarette and put it away in his wallet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffcrom Posted July 1, 2009 Report Share Posted July 1, 2009 Maybe more uncomfortable than funny, at least at the time: 1988 at Carlos I in NYC; the Hamiet Bluiett Orchestra (about nine pieces) is playing. Young Don Byron is manning the tenor sax/clarinet chair. (This is four years before his own first album came out.) Byron makes the mistake of talking to the alto player during one of Bluiett's solos. Bluiett waves the music to a stop and goes into a sermon: "Everyone one of them (pointing to the six or so people in the audience) is more into the music than you are!" He relates the big names everyone has played with; I still remember that part of the sermon: "Ron Burton - Rahsaan Roland Kirk! Victor Bailey - Weather Report! You (pointing to Byron) - NOBODY!" About halfway through the sermon Burton started playing gospel licks behind it. When Bluiett was through, he stormed off, leaving the band members looking at each other in confusion. Byron slowly packed up his horns and left. We waited for about thirty minutes to see what would happen. I talked to Joe Daley, who was on tuba, and he was as confused as the audience. We left, and don't know whether they played anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Gould Posted July 1, 2009 Report Share Posted July 1, 2009 We have a second nominee for "Least Professional Performance" but I think Hamilton still wins the award. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Van Basten II Posted July 1, 2009 Report Share Posted July 1, 2009 Think Chet Baker still wins the award for his now infamous prestation in Montreal with Paul Bley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Van Basten II Posted July 1, 2009 Report Share Posted July 1, 2009 Maybe more uncomfortable than funny, at least at the time: 1988 at Carlos I in NYC; the Hamiet Bluiett Orchestra (about nine pieces) is playing. Young Don Byron is manning the tenor sax/clarinet chair. (This is four years before his own first album came out.) Byron makes the mistake of talking to the alto player during one of Bluiett's solos. Bluiett waves the music to a stop and goes into a sermon: "Everyone one of them (pointing to the six or so people in the audience) is more into the music than you are!" He relates the big names everyone has played with; I still remember that part of the sermon: "Ron Burton - Rahsaan Roland Kirk! Victor Bailey - Weather Report! You (pointing to Byron) - NOBODY!" About halfway through the sermon Burton started playing gospel licks behind it. When Bluiett was through, he stormed off, leaving the band members looking at each other in confusion. Byron slowly packed up his horns and left. We waited for about thirty minutes to see what would happen. I talked to Joe Daley, who was on tuba, and he was as confused as the audience. We left, and don't know whether they played anymore. Would have love to see Hamiet with this crew http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...st&p=929718 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hot Ptah Posted July 1, 2009 Report Share Posted July 1, 2009 I found this funny on some level. I saw Sun Ra and his Arkestra at Parody Hall in Kansas City in 1985. In the middle of the concert, a young man stood up near us. He had a look of great anxiety on his face. He let out an anguished non-verbal snort, and shouted ,"there's something wrong with this music! there's something wrong with this music!" and ran out of the club as fast as he could. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Van Basten II Posted July 1, 2009 Report Share Posted July 1, 2009 It always brings me great joy to see people buying blindly to concerts which will be on the wild side and then trying to figure out a way to get the heck out of there Remember a gig with an italian duet Salis & Satta which was quite wild, the pianist, put stuff in the piano and started banging away, the whole was on the free side, after a few minutes of this a old lady who was seaten in a crowded section of the room basically climbed over people to get out of there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted July 1, 2009 Report Share Posted July 1, 2009 I found this funny on some level. I saw Sun Ra and his Arkestra at Parody Hall in Kansas City in 1985. In the middle of the concert, a young man stood up near us. He had a look of great anxiety on his face. He let out an anguished non-verbal snort, and shouted ,"there's something wrong with this music! there's something wrong with this music!" and ran out of the club as fast as he could. Acid. Been there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted July 1, 2009 Report Share Posted July 1, 2009 I don't know if this is funny, or just odd. Probably just odd. I saw Foreigner in Savannah, Georgia...had to be '77 or '78. During one song, one of the musicians, I don't know who (I'm not a Foreigner fan; you just didn't get that many concerts in south Georgia at that time), performed a flute solo. It was okay, kinda monotonous, and certainly nothing Ian Anderson couldn't top by sticking the instrument up his ass and farting. At the end: dead silence. No reaction from the crowd at all. The flute player makes an overdramatical bow to the audience, and the band spent the rest of the concert insulting the audience. Good times... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted July 1, 2009 Report Share Posted July 1, 2009 Holy shit; I just checked...it was Ian McDonald. I feel bad now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fasstrack Posted July 1, 2009 Report Share Posted July 1, 2009 I have a story to start with and I'm sure everyone else has some good ones, so lets hear them! Around 1972/3 I went to a concert at Central Park in NYC(The concerts were sponsored by Schaeffer beer) and I actually can't remember who was the headliner but the story is about the opener who was quite dissimilar musically to the headliner. The opener was Brownsville Station, and they came out full of energy but sorely lacking in musical ability. Sure, the drummer had one of these massive setups with double bass drums, double this and that, but everytime I looked at him he was playing snare, 1 bass drum and hihat. So they play a few numbers, and after every tune they were met with loud booing(New Yorkers are maybe second only to Philadelphia in booing ability) and people yelling "You suck". After aboiut the fourth number the bassist/singer actually said something about it. "Hey we hear you guys yelling you suck, but you know what, we're going to keep on playing". Of course this led to even more chants of "You suck", and even more voiciferous booing. I'm sitting about 20 rows back and I'm just laughing myself silly at the huge faux pas the singer just made when this guy gets up about two rows in front of me and hurls an apple at the satge while the band's playing. I don't know if this guy later became a pro, but the apple hit the massive drum set, split in half and half nailed the drummer right between the eyes!!! Of course this led to a standing ovation that had nothing to do with music and everything to do with this guy's great arm! Speaking of 1972 or thereabouts, in National Lampoon there used to be a regular feature called True Facts. It was reported there that a singer in Argentina named Waldick Soriano was singing a song called I am not a Dog when a dog wandered on stage wearing a sign: 'I am not Waldick Soriano'. Everyone started laughing and throwing things and the guy finally fled in horror. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rostasi Posted July 1, 2009 Report Share Posted July 1, 2009 Speaking of 1972 or thereabouts, in National Lampoon there used to be a regular feature called True Facts. It was reported there that a singer in Argentina named Waldick Soriano was singing a song called I am not a Dog when a dog wandered on stage wearing a sign: 'I am not Waldick Soriano'. Everyone started laughing and throwing things and the guy finally fled in horror. Waldick Soriano & Falcão. It's one of his most popular songs. I even have a couple of DJ remixes of that song. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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