old friends - old tracks
Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2022 10:19 pm
Back in 2007 one of us (banjo/tenor guitar player) realized that a bunch of us "old music" guys were - indeed - getting fairly old, and he decided to make a c.d. (remember those?) of a bunch of tunes played by a bunch of people who played gigs with each other...
...so there were more than one bass player, more than one woodwind player, more than one cornet player, more than one vocalist, etc...
The person who sang the ballad (former drummer) was literally picked up from his nursing home to sing that tune. His voice wasn't what is was 60 years earlier - when he was touring, singing, and playing drums with various bands (age/throat cancer surgery), but you can hear the music in him.
The trombonist was stricken with dementia just a few years later. He could still play gigs for a year or two, but only had a sort-term memory of a couple of minutes. He died shortly thereafter.
The rest of us are still around - ages ranging from 66 to 93, and all still making music.
The guy who owned this hole-in-the-wall studio put us in several booths (yuk), but we managed anyway.
NOTHING was rehearsed.
NOTHING was discussed.
NO chord changes nor sheet music were distributed.
(There was a music stand over which a pair of headphones was hanging. There was nothing on the stand, and I didn't use the headphones...maybe I should have...??)
There was a cheap-@$$ electric bass in the control booth. I thought about getting it and using it on the ballad, but
- I had no idea if it even worked
- I didn't see a bass amp
- I didn't really wish to interrupt the flow.
I wish I'd known ahead of time that someone decided that we were going to play "Everybody Loves My Baby" (quite obviously, someone wanted to "sort-of...??" sing it), and that the banjo/guitar guy would be gesturing (through the glass) for me to play a chorus. I REALLY would have liked to have fooled around with those changes (at least) five minutes prior to recording that tune - so as to have played better junk over those changes...but whatev'...
Linked below are the three tracks (from that c.d.) in which I participated:
The other musicians were mostly those who had played in the - by then: defunct -"Hot Cotton Jazz Band" (of which I was a member from c. 1980 - 1984, until touring became ramped up beyond that which I could manage into my schedule). The thing is that this little session was recorded thirteen years after I left that band, and several years after the band had been dissolved.
The other musicians on these three tracks were
cornets - George Ryan, Paul Monat (vocal on ELMB)
vocal - Gardner Hitchcock (GOAC) [d]
woodwinds - Jim Mahannah
trombone - Emil Orth [d]
Dan Wilkinson - banjo/tenor guitar
Rene Koopman - piano
Larry Gooch - drums
I used this instrument - which I "built" - on all three tracks.
Some of you may have seen pictures of it on the web.
A guy in the PNW is now enjoying this instrument...
...so there were more than one bass player, more than one woodwind player, more than one cornet player, more than one vocalist, etc...
The person who sang the ballad (former drummer) was literally picked up from his nursing home to sing that tune. His voice wasn't what is was 60 years earlier - when he was touring, singing, and playing drums with various bands (age/throat cancer surgery), but you can hear the music in him.
The trombonist was stricken with dementia just a few years later. He could still play gigs for a year or two, but only had a sort-term memory of a couple of minutes. He died shortly thereafter.
The rest of us are still around - ages ranging from 66 to 93, and all still making music.
The guy who owned this hole-in-the-wall studio put us in several booths (yuk), but we managed anyway.
NOTHING was rehearsed.
NOTHING was discussed.
NO chord changes nor sheet music were distributed.
(There was a music stand over which a pair of headphones was hanging. There was nothing on the stand, and I didn't use the headphones...maybe I should have...??)
There was a cheap-@$$ electric bass in the control booth. I thought about getting it and using it on the ballad, but
- I had no idea if it even worked
- I didn't see a bass amp
- I didn't really wish to interrupt the flow.
I wish I'd known ahead of time that someone decided that we were going to play "Everybody Loves My Baby" (quite obviously, someone wanted to "sort-of...??" sing it), and that the banjo/guitar guy would be gesturing (through the glass) for me to play a chorus. I REALLY would have liked to have fooled around with those changes (at least) five minutes prior to recording that tune - so as to have played better junk over those changes...but whatev'...
Linked below are the three tracks (from that c.d.) in which I participated:
The other musicians were mostly those who had played in the - by then: defunct -"Hot Cotton Jazz Band" (of which I was a member from c. 1980 - 1984, until touring became ramped up beyond that which I could manage into my schedule). The thing is that this little session was recorded thirteen years after I left that band, and several years after the band had been dissolved.
The other musicians on these three tracks were
cornets - George Ryan, Paul Monat (vocal on ELMB)
vocal - Gardner Hitchcock (GOAC) [d]
woodwinds - Jim Mahannah
trombone - Emil Orth [d]
Dan Wilkinson - banjo/tenor guitar
Rene Koopman - piano
Larry Gooch - drums
I used this instrument - which I "built" - on all three tracks.
Some of you may have seen pictures of it on the web.
A guy in the PNW is now enjoying this instrument...
in a pinch, but not anywhere as well as with your group.