Take Your Tomorrow

[bloke]

If you search youtube, you will find where the band that I played with in the 1980s, the Hot Cotton Jazz Band, recorded - pretty much - a recreation of this song (with mostly similar dialogue). What I want you to notice about the original is the bass saxophone. It changes everything, and that's why I recently acquired one.

[Charlie C Chowder]

Ok, as a follow sax player, which one?

CCC

[bloke]

Ok, as a follow sax player, which one?

CCC

It's a 101-year-old Buescher which has never been overhauled (never refinisfhed) and has never suffered any serious accidents. It even has the original mouthpiece with no chips, which is amazing. I haven't gone over it and taken out all of the little dents, gently put a new lacquer finish on it, nor replaced the 101-year-old Buescher snap-in pads with new pads yet, so it doesn't play very strong. I have to use a very soft reed to blow past all the leaks. This winter, Mrs. bloke and I will get it going.

[Mary Ann]

And you found this where? I'm guessing you're not telling.

[donn]

Pretty restrained performance for Rollini, if that was him.

[bloke]

Pretty restrained performance for Rollini, if that was him.

For a pretty good while, they were using a young man who was also tall but didn't appear to be as tall just because of his build, and he owned both a Buescher 4/4 sousaphone and a Buescher bass sax. I might suspect that it's that person instead. The person I'm thinking of played on the widely loved recording "Rhythm King".

Both he and Rollini died fairly young, but this one more of illnesses than due to dubious reasons.

[Mikelynch]

For anyone seeking to increase their daily/monthly intake of bass sax content while waiting for Bloke to get his running, there are several compilations of Adrian Rollini out there. But for high density doses of bass sax, check out the Uptown Lowdown Jazz Band recordings, such as Apostles of Sax, that feature 3 bass saxes.

The band is no longer going, but there are quite a few CDs out there, and some videos on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DzigRQQkN0

[bloke]

I remember one time (early 1980s) walking past a venue where the Fulton Street Jazz Band was playing at the Sacramento Dixieland Jubilee. We didn't have a set for two or three hours, and I was strolling freely - as my bass and tuba were in the van, and someone else was in charge of the van.
Bob Ringwald was the bandleader/pianist, and they had an elderly virtuoso player bass saxophonist with them, rather than their regular bass player. I wish I knew who he was - with wire rim glasses and sort of elongated head. They featured him on a solo that had tons of notes and moved quickly. It was a tune I'd not heard before, but that fella could really play. Some of you may know that Bob was Molly's father. I believe he was the talent in the family. I don't have anything against her at all, but I just don't believe that she could act and I certainly never thought she could sing.

I guess I really didn't mean to throw shade on Molly, with the main point being wondering if anyone else might know who that amazing bass saxophonist was.

[MikeS]

I guess I really didn't mean to throw shade on Molly, with the main point being wondering if anyone else might know who that amazing bass saxophonist was.

I gave this a try, and I failed to find @bloke’s mystery man. Along the way I did find a couple things I thought would be fun to share.

Brian Landrus teaches at Berklee and has made a number of recordings. He specializes in the lower members of the woodwind family; bass clarinet, bass flute, and baritone/bass sax. I love this guy’s sound.



The Uptown Lowdown Jazz Band played in the Seattle area from the early 1970’s until 2018. In this video they break out a pair of bass saxes at around 3:25.

[bloke]

Thank you for looking around the internet. I don't believe the gentleman who impressed me so much playing with Mr Ringwald that day would have been alive in 2010.

[Yorkboy]

Pretty restrained performance for Rollini, if that was him.

For a pretty good while, they were using a young man who was also tall but didn't appear to be as tall just because of his build, and he owned both a Buescher 4/4 sousaphone and a Buescher bass sax. I might suspect that it's that person instead. The person I'm thinking of played on the widely loved recording "Rhythm King".

Both he and Rollini died fairly young, but this one more of illnesses than due to dubious reasons.

Min Leibrook

[bloke]

Thank-you. Yes.



tuba/bass/bass-and-other saxes.

Died at age 40 (meningitis).

[arpthark]

^ nice Bisher

[donn]

I forgot about him, was thinking of Spencer Clark.

[bloke]

I received a couple of p.m.'s asking for the version we recorded.

I've probably not linked it here before, because I figure no one here is interested in me playing bass.
(I never had an acoustic upright, and I can't remember whether this was the Ampeg "baby" or a Chinese "stick" bass - onto which I fastened a Schaller magnetic pick-up (I just can't tolerate feedback.) On tours and at festivals I took the Fender (duh).

The guitar that you hear is a 4-string "tenor" guitar (tuned in 5ths as are tenor banjos).
I did develop the habit - in this band - of dropping my left hand - so the the length of my sounds was about the same as the lengths of the banjo or tenor guitar sounds.

All of the tunes from this "Take Your Tomorrow" (Jazzology) l.p./c.d. - as well as the "Riverboat Shuffle" l.p./c.d. were recorded with all of us together in the studio and all playing at once (ie. basically "live yet studio"). We recorded all the tunes for both l.p.'s in one take and in one 3-hour session (which was all we could afford at Ardent, which wasn't cheap, particularly with John Hampton at the board). This l.p. featured a couple of tacked on tunes (from a jam session at a Memphis jazz festival - Milt Hinton on bass, fwiw) because Jazzology told us that we weren't selling them enough tunes to make up an l.p.

[Three Valves]

If there is ever a bass sax revival it will put us all out of bidness….