tag:tristan4.org,2005:/blogs/blog?p=1Blog2022-04-25T01:58:27-04:00Bob Arthursfalsetag:tristan4.org,2005:Post/60502702014-04-30T20:00:00-04:002019-12-29T11:40:36-05:00Satchmo at the Waldorf
<p>The other afternoon in the pouring rain Meta and I took the subway downtown to the Westside Theater/Upstairs on 43rd Street to see the one-man show, <em>Satchmo at the Waldorf</em>, staring the great actor John Douglas Thompson. I recommend it to anyone who loves Louis or is interested in his life in music and his life in show business. It takes place in Louis' dressing room at the Waldorf Astoria where he was appearing and where he was also staying in a suite during his engagement. We, the audience, are visiting him after the show and he basically tells us his life story. As a trumpet player who has loved Louis Armstrong since I first saw him on television back in the 1950s, I knew much of the chronology, but to watch Mr. Thompson transform himself into the 71 year old Louis, his manager Joe Glaser, a young newspaper reporter and vignettes of Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis is to watch a great artist at work. By the end of the play Mr. Thompson <em>was</em> Louis Armstrong, and we the audience had been shoveled great heaps of deep insights into the when, why, wherefore and how a dirt-poor Black kid from the Storeyville section of New Orleans became a virtuoso trumpet player, a superb musician, a great jazz soloist, an original vocalist, and a world renown entertainer. Go see it, but because of the language, don't bring the kids.</p>
Bob Arthurstag:tristan4.org,2005:Post/60502692014-03-05T19:00:00-05:002019-12-29T11:40:34-05:00Thank you.
<p>I would like to thank everyone who came out for our gig at Somethin' Jazz Club on Feb. 28 and last night's gig at the Cornelia Street Cafe. Working hard to hone one's craft has its own rewards, but playing for appreciative audiences who recognize and acknowledge that craftsmanship (and hopefully even artistry) is a real treat. Thanks for braving the freezing temperatures. We sincerely appreciate it. <span style="background-color:#888888"></span></p>
Bob Arthurstag:tristan4.org,2005:Post/60502682013-10-05T20:00:00-04:002019-12-29T11:40:33-05:00Grateful
<p>On Friday, Oct 4, we had another great gig at <strong>Somethin' Jazz Club</strong> on 52nd Street in NYC (somethinjazz.com/ny). Dave Frank on tenor sounded exceptionally inspired. Every solo was a keeper. Jon Easton on piano and Joe Solomon on bass were also outdoing themselves. Our guest vocalist, Alexa Fila, was outstanding and our two first-time-ever vocal duets, one on <em>Rockin' Chair</em> and the other on <em>Every Time We Say Goodbye,</em> were enthusiastically received. There are times when musicians experience grave doubts about what they are doing: chops feel like crap; can't learn the tune; uninspired solos; no work; who cares anyway?; etc. Then there are times when you get to play with wonderful musicians like those listed above; when the music just keeps cooking; when the audience is with your every note and thoroughly enjoying themselves. That's when you know why you are a musician and why you keep going. There ain't nothin' like it!</p>
Bob Arthurstag:tristan4.org,2005:Post/60502672013-05-07T20:00:00-04:002019-12-29T11:40:32-05:00For those of you who were not there...
<p><em>Elements</em> is a club on Mamaroneck Ave. in White Plains, NY. It's had the courage to have a Tuesday night jazz policy for over a year and a half now. Our trio has been featured there monthly almost since the beginning. That's a pretty long gig. I love playing there for three reasons: the first is getting to play (and sing) regularly with Steve LaMattina, guitar, and Lou Stelluti, bass. Like me, these guys grew up in Westchester and have been active in its jazz scene for decades. If Westchester was a couple hundred miles from NYC it would probably be legendary for the quality of jazz it has produced. But understandably it is overshadowed by the Big Apple. Steve and Lou are world class players, who believe it or not, prefer the more laid back musical atmosphere in Westchester than the competitive New York scene. The second reason I really enjoy playing at Elements is the room itself. Most places are either too "dead" or too "live" acoustically. Somehow, the space is just right for trumpet. The third reason is the management. We play what we want how we want. No pressure. That allows for a lot of creativity and musical fun. Brian, the manager can look a little stressed at times. Last night, at 6:30 when we were about to start, there wasn't a soul in the place. Brian looked worried and I felt bad for him. Since the spring weather has arrived it's been harder to get people inside. After a few minutes our friends and other customers starting arriving. Individuals went to the bar. Couples and groups took tables. Before you knew it we had a respectable crowd and I was relieved to feel that our group would not be responsible for the demise of the jazz policy at Elements due to a lack of paying customers. After a short discussion about keys, we opened with "Stella by Starlight" in Bb (I had called G, but was out-voted). From there we romped through several standards and a few vocals, getting looser as we progressed. In the second set an English friend, Julian, sat in and sang a swinging version of "Another You," and a little later the excellent flutist Pam Sklar joined us on a few tunes. The audience was with us all the way, which I guess is another reason I love playing at Elements. People actually listen and enjoy what we're doing. In short, the gig is a gas. Tuesday night is jazz night, at least for now. It would be a shame if it died do to a lack of support by Westchester jazz fans, unless they actually prefer driving into Manhattan, paying tolls, finding a parking space, being charged an arm and a leg and then driving home through that toll again.</p>
Bob Arthurstag:tristan4.org,2005:Post/60502662013-04-12T20:00:00-04:002013-04-13T03:22:12-04:00Artistic supporter? What size?
<p>Most of us would admit to supporting the arts, either through donations to NPR, or to our favorite museum, or to our local chamber music society or even to our kids' bake sale to raise money for costumes for the high school musical. Supporting the arts is a little like participating in our democracy: "Hey, I voted! What else do yo want from me?" In the arts its, "Hey, I wrote a check. What else do you want from me?" Well, I'll tell you: we need your behind in a chair; not your living room sofa, but a chair in a performance venue; a chair that you got dressed for, drove to, parked for, paid for and selected to sit in so that you could participate as an audience member. We are all being fed canned entertainment via our TVs and computers. Go out and see or hear or even participate in a live performance at a venue where you'll even see other people and maybe even talk to them and express your opinions about the art form you just enjoyed (or not). Painters, musicians, actors, dancers, all artists, whether they admit it or not, need audiences. Write the check, but go out once in a while, or you'll start to lose your chops as a discerning audience member! </p>
Bob Arthurstag:tristan4.org,2005:Post/60502652013-02-06T19:00:00-05:002019-12-29T11:40:31-05:00Once upon a time...
<p>Once upon a time not so very long ago there was a land where shiny musical instruments of all shapes and sizes were seen and heard everywhere. They were seen in movies, on TV, in musical shows, on the radio, in clubs and restaurants and dance halls. If you walked around in the middle of the great city in the days when air conditioning wasn't ubiquitous, you'd here their sounds coming out of the windows of rooms where people were practicing them. You could see men and women walking along the streets of the great city carrying these instruments in brown or black or leather or canvas cases on their way to places where they were actually going to get paid for playing these instruments. Indeed, many players of these fantastic instruments were even able to make a living and support families playing them. It was a magical time. There were several blocks of streets where stores in this great city were dedicated to selling, renting, and repairing these marvelous instruments, and if you entered one of these stores it was possible to stand next to or pass by or listen to one of the great players of these instruments discussing its merits or its problems with the proprietor. Of course none of these many players of these wonderful instruments knew that their days were numbered, and that little by little the people seen carrying those brown or black or leather or canvas cases around the great city would be fewer and fewer and concentrated in only a few areas around the concert halls. An invasion was being mounted across the sea that would forever disrupt this world. No one knew about the invasion, not even the people who were planning it, but it happened, and before long all those shiny instruments in all the windows of all the instrument stores of the great city began to disappear. The many-shaped and many-size black or brown or leather or canvas cases that people were carrying around the great city on their way to play them for money were fewer and fewer. Players of these instruments who were one day so busy they hardly had time to go home, were now watching daytime TV and wondering how they were going to pay their rent. Players of jazz on these instruments became theater musicians. Theater musicians did whatever they could to keep their jobs. Classical musicians began to compete for fewer and fewer places in orchestras, and everyone began to teach. Now as we walk along the streets of the great city we can still spot a few individuals who still carry one of those black or brown or leather or canvas cases of different sizes, but more often than not, most of the cases are all shaped the same and are all carrying the same instrument. The mania for it began with the invasion, and it has to this day never let up.</p>
Bob Arthurstag:tristan4.org,2005:Post/60502642013-01-23T19:00:00-05:002019-12-29T11:40:30-05:00Call me crazy...
<p>Well, call me crazy, but I actually sympathize with jazz club owners. I mean, I would never get in that position myself, but you have to hand it to people who open clubs and restaurants and try to present jazz groups. Their expenses never take a vacation: rent; electricity; heat; insurance; drink; food; salaries for cooks, bartenders, servers, housekeeping and themselves. Then on top of all that they have to pay bands. Some popular bands pay for themselves. Less popular ones don't. It's a lousy system. I believe Thelonious Monk played for a couple of months at the Five Spot Club in Greenwich Village back in the 1960s. The rent was probably really cheap and the club owners expenses were relatively low. Monk had a chance to build an audience, get reviewed, create (as they say today) a "buzz" about himself and his band. Today, if a major club gives you a chance and you don't bring in a respectable number of people on your first night, your first gig is your last. I don't believe jazz can flourish in an upscale market. The pressure for receipts is too great. Louis Armstrong came up in the red-light district of New Orleans. Jazz flourished in the gangster era of Chicago and the bohemian era of New York City. I don't know how to end this piece, except to say that we are lacking the fertile environment that jazz needs to seed, sprout, grow and flourish. What that does to our culture is still not known. Perhaps the lip-sinking of the National Anthem, a song that should not be relegated to some "virtuoso" performance but sung by us all, for better or worse, en mass at patriotic occasions is a sign.</p>
Bob Arthurstag:tristan4.org,2005:Post/60502632013-01-01T19:00:00-05:002019-12-29T11:40:29-05:00Kick outa' You
<p>I was listening to Sinatra's "I Get a Kick Out of You" a little while ago. It really is an amazing example of what so called "pop" music used to be. From the top down or the bottom up it is a masterpiece: The great, great Cole Porter's song and lyrics; some of the best musicians around playing the amazingly superb arrangement; state of the art recording technology; Sinatra in his prime. Every aspect of the recording is excellent. How did we get from the most sophisticated musical culture the world has ever known to three chords and a capo? </p>
Bob Arthurstag:tristan4.org,2005:Post/60502622012-12-15T19:00:00-05:002019-12-29T11:40:29-05:00Who was Sal Mosca?
<p>Who was Sal Mosca? Are you ready for this (those who have no idea who he was)? Sal was arguably the greatest jazz pianist of his generation. Born in 1927 and professionally active from the mid-1940s until his death in 2007, Sal never stopped developing. His first jazz recordings were with Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh, and he continued to record into the 21st Century. He has a very impressive and extensive discography, which you can see on his website, salmosca.com </p>
<p>Sal came from the era of skill over hype. He was a marginal self-promoter at best. He believed that music speaks for itself, and if a musician isn't recognized for his playing, then any other type of recognition isn't worth having. The jazz world, such as it is, basically ignored him. They still ignore him, although his recordings show him to be a world class pianist and improviser who could hold his own with or indeed surpass any of the established and fully recognized jazz pianists. Young players of all instruments would do well to listen to his recordings and to take note of his completely non-commercial approach to music. </p>
Bob Arthurstag:tristan4.org,2005:Post/60502612012-12-09T19:00:00-05:002020-09-09T23:04:30-04:00Pete LaRoca Sims 2004 Interview
<p>Click on the link below to read a very interesting interview with the late drummer Pete LaRoca. His comments on Fusion, Free Jazz, & and the music business are especially interesting.</p>
<p><a style="font-size: medium;" href="http://www.tomajazz.com/perfiles/sims_peter_eng.htm" data-imported="1">www.tomajazz.com/perfiles/sims_peter_eng.htm</a></p>
Bob Arthurstag:tristan4.org,2005:Post/60502602012-11-21T19:00:00-05:002020-06-06T23:36:36-04:00A Naive Proposal
<p>This post has to do with war, bombs and Al Capone. It has nothing to do with music or musicians except for the fact that musicians also live on planet Earth. Years ago when Al Capone's mob ruled Chicago it was very difficult for law enforcers to make any arrests stick. (I get my facts from the movies and TV.) Bootlegging, theft, extortion, prostitution and even murder were all being carried on, but the Feds could not make a solid case against Al Capone, so they couldn't put him in jail. Finally they figured out they could get him on tax evasion. That stuck, and he went to jail. Well, how about this proposal: Any country or government or rebel group, etc., that shoots off large weapons or bombs has to pay huge air pollution fines. I can get a fine for littering if I throw a piece of paper in the street, or put a used container in the wrong recycling bin. These guys can total pollute the atmosphere and the air that we all breathe and contribute to greenhouse gases and they don't even get a ticket! Since we don't seem to able to stop war directly, how about the Al Capone approach with a twist: Get 'em on air pollution statutes! Of course the international community would have to come together to work out all the details, (that's not my job) and they'd have to fight back the large weapons manufactures and dealers, but hey, that's what they're paid for isn't it, to make the world a better place.</p>
Bob Arthurstag:tristan4.org,2005:Post/60502592012-11-08T19:00:00-05:002012-11-12T04:00:18-05:00Through hell and high water...
<p>Another great gig last night, but we drove through hell and high water to get to it. We (myself, Steve LaMattina on guitar and Joe Solomon on bass) had a gig right near the stock exchange in lower Manhattan. Because of the recent hurricane and the nor'easter that followed a few days later, much of the electricity was still out in that area. Streets were closed; Con Ed trucks were everywhere; generators were humming away; traffic cops were on almost every corner directing traffic; subway stations were closed. Because of the recent high water, driving was hell. When we finally reached Broad Street (almost totally by accident) we had to go through barriers and the car had to be sniffed by a bomb-sniffing dog. A ride that should have taken about 30 minutes took us two hours! I was keeping it together, but I was in a very bad mood when we got to the gig. Was all this really worth it? Joe Solomon showed up 30 minutes later with similar tales of chaos. Well, we made it; we set up; we began to play. That was it. All the discomfort of getting there disappeared when the music started. We played are tales off. The people liked our music, and we went home tired but happy men. The power of music! </p>
Bob Arthurstag:tristan4.org,2005:Post/60502582012-10-31T20:00:00-04:002012-11-01T16:57:55-04:00Home from the gig...
<p>Just returned home from a great gig with my friend the guitarist, Steve LaMattina. I once told another good friend of mine, Jimmy Hill, that what I'm going to dislike the most about dying is not being able to play my horn. Tonight's gig was a gem; not from a financial point of view or from the point of view of fame and recognition. It was a gem musically. Steve and I played some great music tonight and I believe the listeners were conscious of something special going on. We were not trying to blaze new trails or set the world on fire. We played standard tunes and standard chord changes, but it was the navigation of these tunes and changes that was pleasurable, and just about everything we did we did in a way that we never quite did before. We improvised. We played jazz. We swung. We conversed. We expressed warmth, love, sadness, joy and humor with our music, and we tried to convey our deep love and respect for the material that we were improvising on. My horn was my friend tonight. It did pretty much what I wanted it to do, which is not always the case. Actually it is seldom the case. So, even though we weren't in Carnegie Hall or the Village Vanguard, our music was alive, vibrant, and a lot of fun to play and hopefully to listen to. What more could a musician want? </p>
Bob Arthurstag:tristan4.org,2005:Post/60502572012-10-24T20:00:00-04:002012-10-25T09:25:47-04:00The Nod
<p>One of the first jazz concerts I booked for the Music Conservatory of Westchester back in the early 1990's featured the late Buddy Tate. Buddy was elderly, but he still had a beautiful sound on his tenor sax and he was a dapper dresser and a very cool cat. Buddy played with the Count Basie Band for many years and also led many of his own groups and appeared as a sideman on many, many recordings. He was a master and had been there almost from the beginning. Anyway, he knew I played trumpet and invited me to come up and sit in on a tune or two in his second set. I was delighted but also nervous. Buddy had played with <span style="text-decoration:underline">all</span> the great trumpet players, including Pops, Roy, Dizzy, and a host of others. Well, I played my chorus or two on some standard (I can't remember which one), and when I was done Buddy just looked over at me and gave me one slow nod of his head. Man, at the time, that nod from Buddy Tate meant more to me than a standing ovation from the audience. </p>
Bob Arthurstag:tristan4.org,2005:Post/60502562012-08-31T20:00:00-04:002012-09-11T06:19:16-04:00Jazz is like...
<p>Some judge once said that he couldn't really define pornography, but he knew it when he saw it. That's how I feel about jazz. I know it when I hear it. Jazz is very hard to describe to people who don't listen to it. I know when I'm listening to it and I know when I'm not. I went to a "jazz" concert last night, but I didn't hear much jazz. I heard talented people playing improvised music on traditional instruments, but what I call jazz only showed up in spurts in certain sections of these improvisations. When it did show up it was like a fresh breeze blowing through the room, but unfortunately it blew right out the back window almost as soon as it came in. There's a feeling in jazz that comes up and goes right through the line of Louis Armstrong, Bix, Bessie Smith, Roy, Charlie Christian, Prez, Billie, Basie, Ellington, Bird, Bud Powell, Max, Klook, Sassy, early Miles, early Trane, Tristano, Konitz and Marsh, early Freddie Hubbard, Wes, and some others. Is it swing? Is it warmth? Maybe even just heat? Musical story line? Deep broad sounds? The feeling of time slowed down no matter what the tempo of the piece? Definitely time. I guess it's all of these and also a personal stamp the musician puts on the music like a royal seal; no apology! I believe jazz is taken in through the whole body; not just your ears and your mind. It enters your pores and gets under your skin. If your susceptible you don't have much choice in the matter. It's like love: If it's not happening, you can't force it. But try to describe it!?</p>
Bob Arthurstag:tristan4.org,2005:Post/60502552012-08-17T20:00:00-04:002022-04-25T01:58:27-04:00Wynton's Mom
<p>Today on WNYC AM Radio I listened to Wynton Marsalis being interviewed about his early days and his career. He's been head of the Lincoln Center Jazz Program for 25 years. That's amazing. Anyway, the interview was very moving. We usually hear about Wynton's father and brothers. In the interview he talks about his mom. I recommend it highly. It was broadcast on August 18 on WNYC at 2:00 PM. Hopefully that will help you find it in the station's archive.</p>
<p>Back in the early 90's I had the very intense pleasure of booking Wynton and his quintet to perform at the Cab Colloway Memorial Concert the Music Conservatory of Westchester was producing at SUNY Purchase. As head of the Conservatory's jazz department it was my job to line up all the musicians. In addition to Wynton's band, I booked many of the Cab Colloway alumni plus Cab's dancers. Back stage was literally crawling with jazz greats. Initially I interacted with Wynton's handlers, who of course said that Mr. Marsalis would need so many dressing rooms, so many bottles of water, etc., etc. I figured I was dealing with a prima donna who had to be handled with kit gloves. Just the opposite was true. As soon as Wynton saw all of the old timers from Cab's bands backstage I don't think he ever went to his dressing room. He hung with all the cats for the duration; played a great set and was a gas to work with. After the concert he of course was invited to hang with all the V.I.P.'s, donors, guests and the Board of Directors of the Conservatory at their fancy reception. He thanked me graciously, but said he was going to stay with his band until the van was ready to take them back to Manhattan. </p>
Bob Arthurs