Buddy Collette Passes

[mikeweil]

Very sad news - R.I.P. a helluva professional player mastering all the reeds and flutes ... always enjoyed his playing. Fascinating body of work. 

[mikefok]

R.I.P Buddy....

[brownie]

Very sad news - R.I.P. a helluva professional player mastering all the reeds and flutes ... always enjoyed his playing. Fascinating body of work. 

My feelings too...

[JSngry]

I developed an affection for Collette's playing within the first year of my exposure to jazz, thanks to a budget-bin finding of the late 60s reissue of the first Chico quintet album (it was entitled Spectacular, and it sure struck me as such!). I was 14 or 15, lived in a small town in Texas, and had a band director who used to be a gigging musician in the LA area for a little while. I asked him if he knew these guys and how to get in touch with them, to which he relied, "No, but if you write Local 47, they'll send you a directory...". So I wrote Local 47...didn't even have an address, but my dad said don't worry about that, because the Post Office would definitely see to it that anything involving a union would get delivered - and in this case, anyway, he was right, because I got my directory, and...WHOA...names, addresses, phone numbers, everything right there.

So I wrote separate - and incredibly naive - letters to Frank Zappa & Buddy Collete saying "hi" & that I was a high school freshman in Gladewater, Texas, that I was interested in learning about the specifics of their music, and asking if they had "arrangements that I could study" of "Who Needs The Peace Corps?", "Buddy Boo", * "A Nice Day". Zappa,s office sent back a photocopied rudimentary lead sheet of his tune, and Buddy Collete sent back a very nice letter explaining that "Buddy Boo" was just a head chart blues & that, sorry, he no longer had the parts for "A Nice Day", but that it would benefit me as a musician to use my ears and learn the parts from the record, that this was something that was an essential part of becoming a good musician, something he himself had done over and over as a kid my age, thanking me for appreciating his work, and wishing me nothing but the best in my pursuit of music. He also enclosed a press release announcing his being named to a position at some L.A. college as a director of some kind of program and autographed it "To Jim, Good Luck In Music, Buddy Collette".

It probably took him no more than five minutes to do the whole thing, but it was (and remains) an awesomely....personal gesture where none was even remotely necessary. Of course, I didn't realize that then, I mean, I was from a small town where "friendliness" wasn't just the norm, it was expected, but...the guy didn't even have to respond, ya know? But he did, and he bothered to put a little "personal touch" in there, like he knew that it would mean something for a kid in BFE Texas - and he was right.

Also mentioned in that press release - some of you fellow old folk might remember a commercial for AT&T back in the early 70s that showed a "professor" welcoming his class, only his class was all over the country, and he was teaching it over AT& T phone lines. Well, that "professor" was played by none other than Buddy Collette. Who knew?

I got real lucky a few years ago and found a copy of Mr. Collette's A Jazz Audio Biography http://www.allmusic....10:apftxqlhldte It's a spellbinding document, I think, and should not be allowed to start off in obscurity and fall furhter therein as currently appears its fate. Look for it, and carpe diem should you find it.

R.I.P., Buddy Collette, and thank you, more than you know.

Edited September 26, 2010 by JSngry

[Hoppy T. Frog]

will pay tribute to Buddy by playing a track from the greatest album ever made.

Ah yes, who can forget Buddy's flute solos in Black Sabbath's "Paranoid"?

[mikeweil]

 

I got real lucky a few years ago and found a copy of Mr. Collette's A Jazz Audio Biography http://www.allmusic....10:apftxqlhldte It's a spellbinding document, I think, and should not be allowed to start off in obscurity and fall furhter therein as currently appears its fate. Look for it, and carpe diem should you find it.

I found a copy on ebay for a mere two bucks several years ago - he has such a charming, nonchalant way of narrating ...

[ValerieB]

although confined to a wheelchair for the last 12 years of his life due to a stroke, Buddy never stopped giving, teaching, supporting and being an allround nice guy.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

i bet you Mr. B.C. was completely clean too, i serously seriously dont see him goofin up w/ art pepper, i bet you he was a healthy cat. and re- that buddy-history cd set, the night i found my copy, i also met Steve Howe, and i asked steve howe, when he mentioned jim hall as an inflence, in what context did you 1st hear jim hall, and he said in chico hamilton quartet and i said oh really, look what i just found (fumbled thru my pocket to find it i was not planning on this happeneing at the start of the interaction) and i showed him my copy, how it came w/ a kodak actual photo of buddy in LA, and then my copys also autographed, and steve howe is all: very cool, buddy collette is a great instrumentalist and im all: u know it! steve howe was totally impressed

[AndrewHill]

Man, it seemed like he was a cool cat. RIP. It also seems he's flown under the radar for me, so this thread has inspired me to check him out. Thanks.

[king ubu]

Thanks for sharing that great story about Collette, Jim!

[brownie]

Obituary in The New York Times today.

[jeffcrom]

Thanks for sharing that great story about Collette, Jim!

I second that.

[JSngry]

It's always nice to be able to be involved in the dissemination of honest positivity.

[clifford_thornton]

I developed an affection for Collette's playing within the first year of my exposure to jazz, thanks to a budget-bin finding of the late 60s reissue of the first Chico quintet album (it was entitled Spectacular, and it sure struck me as such!). I was 14 or 15, lived in a small town in Texas, and had a band director who used to be a gigging musician in the LA area for a little while. I asked him if he knew these guys and how to get in touch with them, to which he relied, "No, but if you write Local 47, they'll send you a directory...". So I wrote Local 47...didn't even have an address, but my dad said don't worry about that, because the Post Office would definitely see to it that anything involving a union would get delivered - and in this case, anyway, he was right, because I got my directory, and...WHOA...names, addresses, phone numbers, everything right there.

So I wrote separate - and incredibly naive - letters to Frank Zappa & Buddy Collete saying "hi" & that I was a high school freshman in Gladewater, Texas, that I was interested in learning about the specifics of their music, and asking if they had "arrangements that I could study" of "Who Needs The Peace Corps?", "Buddy Boo", * "A Nice Day". Zappa,s office sent back a photocopied rudimentary lead sheet of his tune, and Buddy Collete sent back a very nice letter explaining that "Buddy Boo" was just a head chart blues & that, sorry, he no longer had the parts for "A Nice Day", but that it would benefit me as a musician to use my ears and learn the parts from the record, that this was something that was an essential part of becoming a good musician, something he himself had done over and over as a kid my age, thanking me for appreciating his work, and wishing me nothing but the best in my pursuit of music. He also enclosed a press release announcing his being named to a position at some L.A. college as a director of some kind of program and autographed it "To Jim, Good Luck In Music, Buddy Collette".

It probably took him no more than five minutes to do the whole thing, but it was (and remains) an awesomely....personal gesture where none was even remotely necessary. Of course, I didn't realize that then, I mean, I was from a small town where "friendliness" wasn't just the norm, it was expected, but...the guy didn't even have to respond, ya know? But he did, and he bothered to put a little "personal touch" in there, like he knew that it would mean something for a kid in BFE Texas - and he was right.

Also mentioned in that press release - some of you fellow old folk might remember a commercial for AT&T back in the early 70s that showed a "professor" welcoming his class, only his class was all over the country, and he was teaching it over AT& T phone lines. Well, that "professor" was played by none other than Buddy Collette. Who knew?

I got real lucky a few years ago and found a copy of Mr. Collette's A Jazz Audio Biography http://www.allmusic....10:apftxqlhldte It's a spellbinding document, I think, and should not be allowed to start off in obscurity and fall furhter therein as currently appears its fate. Look for it, and carpe diem should you find it.

R.I.P., Buddy Collette, and thank you, more than you know.

:tup