Yeah, I bookmarked this mentally before I was “done” tonight (business and family) to come back to.
My thought is I’d have to think more.
My Weird X-mas Eve gig was kind of fun – made a train wreck as a duo backing up two people who wanted to do a “naughty” pantomime version of “Jingle Bells” which I’de never played before. Asked her if she knew her key, she got in my face, and I’m like, “you start, we’ll follow you,” but then she gave pitch and I screwed it up – she gave an Eb, and I just went ahead and started (pretending) the tune in Eb, which probably threw her way off.
Glad I brought along (!?) and remembered to flip through this Methodist Hymnal and remembered the Jimmy Smith version of “Greensleeves,” which morphed into an odd version of “The Green Leaves of Summer,” “Happy Birthday to Sgt. Gunnery Hartman,” “My Favorite Things,” “When Johnny Comes Marchin’ Home,” and all in that Cm-EbM thing. Weird job – two hours, no break (didn’t need one), for a few people who just wanted some chill live music for their apartment and didn’t mind shelling out.
Good to be back home, and glad I saw some of my own family before eight o’clock and drank some Irish coffees (erm, made with [good] Scotch) and had some excellent wines.
It is good to be back at “my” place (well, the common area of my condo complex where I get WiFi) though.
What did I miss in the link? You’re always a straight shooter, WordMan, so I’m guessing it was something worth hearing.
Flying without a net amongst the civilians? You are a brave man and should be proud to live and tell the tale.
The thread I linked to…I started it in response to a request in a thread where we were discussing the hate-ability of jazz. I think you’d find it up your alley. Long-ish.
Epic thread – I read it at home this morning offline. What I meant by “I need to think about it” is “it should be made a permanent sticky in Cafe Society.” What a labor of love the composition of your OP is in that thread – a must read for the OP in this thread here.
Total hi-jack, but my favorite writing on jazz is a book by one of the greatest living American poets, Clark Coolidge, called *Now It’s Jazz: Writings on Kerouac and The Sounds." I wish there were more recommendations I could give the OP, but probably a good way to explore is by checking out the work Mingus’s “sidemen” recorded as leaders. Booker Ervin, for one – Horace Parlan’s one hell of a groovy piano player as well. Eric Dolphy for his own records. I like Mingus’s piano album a lot, but maybe it’s not for everybody – it’s a deep record, makes you really pay attention to what he’s doing musically.
For a Tatum person, I’d say check out Bud Powell’s records as a solo or trio (“Oblivion,” “Parisian Thoroughfare,” “Tempus Fugit”) and Monk’s solo work, like his Ellington record or “Live in San Francisco.” That all comes out of Tatum, even though it can be hard to hear the direct relationship. Later essentially bop or hard bop piano guys like Wynton Kelly and Sonny Clark had a little bit sparer texture, but still refining those ideas a few years later.