ghost of miles Posted October 6, 2011 Report Posted October 6, 2011 (edited) I know there are some fellow Mickey Roker fans around this joint (Weizen, calling Weizen!); you might be interested in checking this out: Ethan Iverson interviews Mickey Roker Edited October 6, 2011 by ghost of miles Quote
Hot Ptah Posted October 6, 2011 Report Posted October 6, 2011 There are some interesting comments by Roker about Ray Brown and Richard Davis. Also, some interesting naming of names regarding bandleaders who paid well, and did not pay well. Quote
Justin V Posted October 6, 2011 Report Posted October 6, 2011 I'm looking forward to reading this. Mickey Roker is underappreciated. Quote
kh1958 Posted October 6, 2011 Report Posted October 6, 2011 The second jazz concert I saw, way back in 1974, was the Dizzy Gillespie Quartet, with Mickey Roker on drums (and Al Gafa on guitar). Quote
Chalupa Posted October 6, 2011 Report Posted October 6, 2011 Thank you so much for posting that. Mickey is one of my faves and living in Philly I've been fortunate to see him many times. I went to A LOT of those gigs at Ortlieb's in the early 90's. He backed up Von Freeman a few years ago when Von played here. Quote
Michael Weiss Posted October 6, 2011 Report Posted October 6, 2011 The second jazz concert I saw, way back in 1974, was the Dizzy Gillespie Quartet, with Mickey Roker on drums (and Al Gafa on guitar). In Dallas right? At a rock club? I was there for that. Olinga! Quote
kh1958 Posted October 6, 2011 Report Posted October 6, 2011 The second jazz concert I saw, way back in 1974, was the Dizzy Gillespie Quartet, with Mickey Roker on drums (and Al Gafa on guitar). In Dallas right? At a rock club? I was there for that. Olinga! Small world! Yes, that was at Mother Blues, where I also saw Freddie King. Quote
Hot Ptah Posted October 6, 2011 Report Posted October 6, 2011 (edited) I like Mickey Roker's comments about Richard Davis: "MR: Man, let me tell you about Richard Davis. When he plays pizzicato he can be kind of avant garde like Jymie Merritt. But when he plays with the bow, hell put tears in your eyes. Its so beautiful, it sounds like he can sit in a symphony orchestra. He is very advanced musician. He is a hell of a musician but some people are trying to find something different. There ain't nothing different! What ever you do has been done a million times. Hes a hell of a bass player. In fact he was in Thad Jones' first big band with Roland Hanna." Edited October 6, 2011 by Hot Ptah Quote
AllenLowe Posted October 6, 2011 Report Posted October 6, 2011 very interesting on Ray Brown - years ago Al Haig worked with the guitarist who was in the group with Roker/Dizzy/Ray Brown, and he gave me an earful one night on Ray Brown. He did not like him, musically OR personally. I always wondered about that. Quote
Dan Gould Posted October 6, 2011 Report Posted October 6, 2011 I can't imagine how someone could not like Ray Brown from a musical perspective. Personality wise I have no idea but I'll always appreciate Ray Brown for helping to bring Gene Harris out of retirement. Thanks for the post I will be reading this closely tonight. Quote
AllenLowe Posted October 6, 2011 Report Posted October 6, 2011 the complaint, musically, was that Brown didn't leave any space for the rest of the rhythm section - that he filled in all the holes, hogged things. Quote
Dan Gould Posted October 6, 2011 Report Posted October 6, 2011 Well I can't claim to have listened to a huge exhaustive proportion of his recordings but I can say I've heard all of the trio recordings from the Gene Harris-Jeff Hamilton band to the years after Benny Green took over and I don't believe your description has any validity for those groups. Quote
marcello Posted October 7, 2011 Report Posted October 7, 2011 Thanks very much for this! I love Mickey. I saw him so many times with Dizzy in the 70's. It was great to know him when he was working with Joe Locke and the Milt Jackson Tribute Band. He and Bob Cranshaw had some great tales to tell. I have a funny out take from the Rev-Elation recordings, which were recorded live at Ronnie Scott's. Mickey was having a hard time coming in at the right spot out of the chorus, so when on this take he finally gets it, you can hear him laughing: "Ha Ha! I got that Motherfucker!". Here's one of mu photos of the Band: Quote
JSngry Posted October 7, 2011 Report Posted October 7, 2011 The second jazz concert I saw, way back in 1974, was the Dizzy Gillespie Quartet, with Mickey Roker on drums (and Al Gafa on guitar). In Dallas right? At a rock club? I was there for that. Olinga! Small world! Yes, that was at Mother Blues, where I also saw Freddie King. Believe it or not, I caught that gig too! Quote
Justin V Posted October 7, 2011 Report Posted October 7, 2011 Thanks very much for this! I love Mickey. I saw him so many times with Dizzy in the 70's. It was great to know him when he was working with Joe Locke and the Milt Jackson Tribute Band. He and Bob Cranshaw had some great tales to tell. I have a funny out take from the Rev-Elation recordings, which were recorded live at Ronnie Scott's. Mickey was having a hard time coming in at the right spot out of the chorus, so when on this take he finally gets it, you can hear him laughing: "Ha Ha! I got that Motherfucker!". Here's one of mu photos of the Band: That's funny. I downloaded Rev-elation from emusic specifically because Mickey Roker was on it... Quote
MomsMobley Posted October 7, 2011 Report Posted October 7, 2011 The second jazz concert I saw, way back in 1974, was the Dizzy Gillespie Quartet, with Mickey Roker on drums (and Al Gafa on guitar). In Dallas right? At a rock club? I was there for that. Olinga! Small world! Yes, that was at Mother Blues, where I also saw Freddie King. Believe it or not, I caught that gig too! got-damn, ya'll too?! Dallas wasn't just the Soft Machine. first time I saw Freddie was when a friend's father got me a ticket to The!!! Beat-- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f13OyN_KrVg it's not Clapton or Scofield but what the eff is? hep Mickey Roker solo-- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dq0jRumMJG4 Quote
marcello Posted October 7, 2011 Report Posted October 7, 2011 Justin, the song is called "Big Town" ( remember Mickey's name is "Granville"), so you can imagine where he put the "mutherfucker" in! Here's another photo of mine for you all who saw one of those Gillespie groups Mickey was in: Quote
AllenLowe Posted October 7, 2011 Report Posted October 7, 2011 anybody know what happened to Al Gafa? Nice guy, great guitarist. Quote
king ubu Posted October 7, 2011 Report Posted October 7, 2011 A most interesting read - thanks for pointing it out! Seen Mickey once - roughly around 2000 - in an all star band including Ray Brown (and Hank Jones, Kenny Burrell and Booby at his most demonstratively desinterested). Was weird, somehow the tempos didn't gel and back then I figured it might mostly have been due to Roker rushing it all the time... might have been something else, in the light of his comments on Ray Brown, though... Quote
Hot Ptah Posted October 7, 2011 Report Posted October 7, 2011 (edited) I saw Mickey Roker several times with Dizzy Gillespie, once on Dizzy's birthday at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago. Dizzy was to play three sets that night. He had Jon Faddis with him, and Rodney Jones, Ben Brown and Mickey Roker. The one set we purchased a ticket for, Dizzy hardly played. The audience grumbled audibly when Dizzy said that he was finished with the set, because he had to save his lip for the next set. So Dizzy said, "OK, we'll play one more then." All of the musicians got ready, and on Dizzy's cue, played one unison note and left the stage. I saw Dizzy and Mickey Roker again in May, 1978, at the Jazz Showcase, this time with Rodney Jones and Ben Brown only. That was a great performance by all. Dizzy played great--it was the only time I saw Dizzy live when he was really at a great level. Mickey played well every time I saw him live. Edited October 7, 2011 by Hot Ptah Quote
kh1958 Posted October 7, 2011 Report Posted October 7, 2011 The second jazz concert I saw, way back in 1974, was the Dizzy Gillespie Quartet, with Mickey Roker on drums (and Al Gafa on guitar). In Dallas right? At a rock club? I was there for that. Olinga! Small world! Yes, that was at Mother Blues, where I also saw Freddie King. Believe it or not, I caught that gig too! got-damn, ya'll too?! Dallas wasn't just the Soft Machine. first time I saw Freddie was when a friend's father got me a ticket to The!!! Beat-- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f13OyN_KrVg it's not Clapton or Scofield but what the eff is? hep Mickey Roker solo-- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dq0jRumMJG4 There's a terrific DVD of Freddie King on the Beat. http://www.amazon.com/Freddie-King-Beat-1966/dp/B00005NC52/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1317990989&sr=1-1 Quote
jazztrain Posted October 7, 2011 Report Posted October 7, 2011 anybody know what happened to Al Gafa? Nice guy, great guitarist. Allen: Looks like there might be something here: Al Gafa interview??? Too busy to check it out. Let us know. Quote
marcello Posted October 7, 2011 Report Posted October 7, 2011 (edited) Al Gafa has always been a favorite since then, but there is only one recording ( not on cd) that I know of: "Leblon Beach" on Pablo. Great music! A couple of years ago I saw that he was playing at a Village restaurant during the dinner hour, so I tried to find it. When I finally got there, it was closed! This is a recent interview. I'm listening to it now. Al Gafa (guitar), Kenny Barron (piano), Al Foster (drums), Azzedin Weston (percussions), Ben Brown Edited October 7, 2011 by marcello Quote
ValerieB Posted October 8, 2011 Report Posted October 8, 2011 thank you so much for that interview!! i enjoyed it immensely. i have been a big fan of Mickey's since the '60s. used to hear him play a lot in NY. then in CA, i heard him with Dizzy, Bags and Lee Morgan. he's a sweet, funny cat. does the best imitations. i'm so sorry for his recent loss of his son. didn't know that. Quote
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