Permeable

Here I am in my old house in the alley in Upland California, age 27 -- August 1981 -- Note my photo of Malachi Favors on wall behind AND on the floor Connie Crothers first album PERCEPTION which was in constant rotation those days ----- I had only known Connie's name in association with Lennie Tristano but as wyrd weaves its ways into your life, one day I'm in a supermarket and there's a box up by the cash register that has only about 50 various albums all for 99 cents ---- Now, let me explain: Record albums are not sold in supermarkets in Southern California (except during the Tijuana Brass craze of the early 60s and you'd find those in supermarkets) mostly supermarkets are for food (or as food industry observer Michael Pollan says: Never venture into the aisles, that's where the horror begins, where all the processed "foods" are, just stick to the edges of supermarkets where the vegetable department is, and the meat, and the dairy) ---------- SO, I'm standing in line and there's these albums, and here's this Connie Crothers, and it's a reputable label --Inner City-- and what's it doing here? It must have been an insurance recoup from a truck accident? and so I bought one, took it home: a Saturday near Noon, put it on the stereo and it blew my mind, completely unexpected actually (I was somewhat jaded those years after the onslaught of music I'd been tearing through -- I was, as Bob Dylan calls it: a musical expeditionary, still am) ---- and this trio of Connie's was like someone crawled inside my head and played music the way I always wanted to hear it --- I was Los Angeles correspondent to CODA and the next annual Writers Choice I listed it in my ten favorite records of 1982 ---- Wyrd is Anglo-Saxon/Northern European concept of Fate ---- little did I know at the time how much the music of Connie Crothers would intertwine with my future. (we'll be at The Stone on August 23, 2o14)

Here I am in my old house in the alley in Upland California, age 27 — August 1981 — Note my photo of Malachi Favors on wall behind AND on the floor Connie Crothers first album PERCEPTION which was in constant rotation those days —– I had only known Connie’s name in association with Lennie Tristano but as wyrd weaves its ways into your life, one day I’m in a supermarket and there’s a box up by the cash register that has only about 50 various albums all for 99 cents —- Now, let me explain: Record albums are not sold in supermarkets in Southern California (except during the Tijuana Brass craze of the early 60s and you’d find those in supermarkets) mostly supermarkets are for food (or as food industry observer Michael Pollan says: Never venture into the aisles, that’s where the horror begins, where all the processed “foods” are, just stick to the edges of supermarkets where the vegetable department is, and the meat, and the dairy) ———- SO, I’m standing in line and there’s these albums, and here’s this Connie Crothers, and it’s a reputable label –Inner City– and what’s it doing here? It must have been an insurance recoup from a truck accident? and so I bought one, took it home: a Saturday near Noon, put it on the stereo and it blew my mind, completely unexpected actually (I was somewhat jaded those years after the onslaught of music I’d been tearing through — I was, as Bob Dylan calls it: a musical expeditionary, still am) —- and this trio of Connie’s was like someone crawled inside my head and played music the way I always wanted to hear it — I was Los Angeles correspondent to CODA and the next annual Writers Choice I listed it in my ten favorite records of 1982 —- Wyrd is Anglo-Saxon/Northern European concept of Fate —- little did I know at the time how much the music of Connie Crothers would intertwine with my future. (we’ll be at The Stone on August 23, 2o14)

THE ELITE SYNCOPATIONS JAZZ RADIO SHOW

July 10, 2o14 – Jazz @ Noon every Thursday (starts at 12:07 after the satellite news) Host MARK WEBER – KUNM Albuquerque, USA – 89.9 FM (Mountain Standard Time) also streaming on the web > KUNM.org – Current time zone offset: UTC*/GMT -6 hours (*Coordinated Universal Time)/Greenwich Mean Time)

PERMEABLE

Air, sound, starlight
all flow through us
zing right through our molecules
we are vibrations ourselves
music shakes down into our bones
birds in trees sing to us all
……the songs that are coming through them
I go to record stores and buy round black flat spheres of energy vibrations
so shonan nango ngliacto monnan sended
tree bird sky

That’s all a radio show is: treebirdsky energy & spinning spheres

5&7july14

I lived in this alley house 1972-1985 --  this photo by me circa 1981 on a foggy day, Southern California gets those dense pea soup fog coverings ---- Frank Zappa has an extended work "Little House I Used to Live In" and it always reminds me of my little house at 400 1/2 Laurel Avenue, Upland, about 40 miles east of downtown Los Angeles

I lived in this alley house 1972-1985 — this photo by me circa 1981 on a foggy day, Southern California gets those dense pea soup fog coverings —- Frank Zappa has an extended work “Little House I Used to Live In” and it always reminds me of my little house at 400 1/2 Laurel Avenue, Upland, about 40 miles east of downtown Los Angeles

It was just me & James Booker & the fan & that Out of Order Cigarette machine & a few inattentive tourists, one afternoon in the French Quarter -- July 9, 1982 -- Crescent City Cafe, 601 Chartres Street -- I remember James Booker finished directly at 5 o'clock stood straight up and walked right out the door, didn't even grab the green in his tip jar -- a ghost, he disappeared.

It was just me & James Booker & the fan & that Out of Order Cigarette machine & a few inattentive tourists, one afternoon in the French Quarter — July 9, 1982 — Crescent City Cafe, 601 Chartres Street — I remember James Booker finished directly at 5 o’clock stood straight up and walked right out the door, didn’t even grab the green in his tip jar — a ghost, he disappeared.

Horace Silver playing for Blue Mitchell's Memorial at Local 47, Hollywood -- June 10, 1979 -- note Milcho Leviev standing behind Silver -- photo by Mark Weber

Horace Silver playing for Blue Mitchell’s Memorial at Local 47, Hollywood — June 10, 1979 — note Milcho Leviev standing behind Silver — photo by Mark Weber

Nels Cline at Rhino Records, Los Angeles -- June 1983 ---- His day job before he got famous! ----  Photo by Mark Weber ---- We caught him with Wilco on Austin City Limits the other night on TV and I mentioned to Nels how his gold top Les Paul sliced right through that Nick Lowe guest spot, and Nels said: "That's not my Les Paul -- it was Duane Allman's!! The one from the first two Allman Bros records/Derek & The Dominos!  My friend from the Allman Brothers Museum in Macon brought it for me -- I had played it a couple times before, incredible . . ." [email 6july14]

Nels Cline at Rhino Records, Los Angeles — June 1983 —- His day job before he got famous! —- Photo by Mark Weber —- We caught him with Wilco on Austin City Limits the other night on TV and I mentioned to Nels how his gold top Les Paul sliced right through that Nick Lowe guest spot, and Nels said: “That’s not my Les Paul — it was Duane Allman’s!! The one from the first two Allman Bros records/Derek & The Dominos! My friend from the Allman Brothers Museum in Macon brought it for me — I had played it a couple times before, incredible . . .” [email 6july14]

I have "better" photos of Dick Hyman but I just like his body language in this one, sitting on our couch here at Studio 725 while I interview him -- September 20, 2o10 Albuquerque ---- one of the masters of jazz we talked for 3 or 4 hours!   I still have to edit the recordings down for radio play someday! ----- on today's radio show I'll probably spin Dick's rendition of Jelly Roll Morton's "The Crave" which flew up in memory only last Saturday night at the Outpost in the hands of the New Orleans professor Tom McDermott ---- Dick's version is with his New York Jazz Repertory Company w/Joe Wilder, Kenny Davern, Dick Hyman, Vic Dickenson, Milt Hinton, and Ali Ryerson's father Art Ryerson on guitar!  a 15-piece orchestra ---- Kenny told me that the band uniform had NYJRC as a sewn insignia above the pocket and he joked that they all said it stood for: New York Jewish Rowing Squad   (don't quote me on the "Squad" it was something like that)

I have “better” photos of Dick Hyman but I just like his body language in this one, sitting on our couch here at Studio 725 while I interview him — September 20, 2o10 Albuquerque —- one of the masters of jazz we talked for 3 or 4 hours! I still have to edit the recordings down for radio play someday! —– on today’s radio show I’ll probably spin Dick’s rendition of Jelly Roll Morton’s “The Crave” which flew up in memory only last Saturday night at the Outpost in the hands of the New Orleans professor Tom McDermott —- Dick’s version is with his New York Jazz Repertory Company w/Joe Wilder, Kenny Davern, Dick Hyman, Vic Dickenson, Milt Hinton, and Ali Ryerson’s father Art Ryerson on guitar! a 15-piece orchestra —- Kenny told me that the band uniform had NYJRC as a sewn insignia above the pocket and he joked that they all said it stood for: New York Jewish Rowing Squad (don’t quote me on the “Squad” it was something like that)

Pianist Henry Butler sideman with Papa John Creach -- Long Beach Blues Festival -- September 15, 1985 California ---- photo by Mark Weber

Pianist Henry Butler sideman with Papa John Creach — Long Beach Blues Festival — September 15, 1985 California —- photo by Mark Weber

17 Comments

  1. Cuzzin' Patsy aka Lillie White

    Ahh Cuz’ great stories, great pictures and wowsers.. what a nifty pair of shoes you are wearing in that first pic!

    Love,

    Patsy

  2. Supriti

    I so enjoy the juxtaposition of poem and black and white prints. It’s so moody and (back) in the moment. Thanks for including me in sacred circle.
    Supriti

  3. Janet Feder

    Oh Mark ~ Thank you, thank you.

  4. Marty Krystall

    Your little house reminds me of the first house Trini and I rented before we were married in 1975 on Howland Canal in Venice. We saw the ad in the paper for a 1 bd $150 per month and raced over, only to see 15 people in line filling out applications. When the owner asked what i did for a living, my heart sank. I admitted I was a musician, but also mentioned that I was in Peter Ivers’ band. Then the owner’s eyes got hard and he said, “Peter Ivers! He’s my favorite songwriter! You can have it! Just pay me the first month and you’re in! A few years later on he offered to sell us that house for $18,000 but we couldn’t raise the $5,000 down payment.

  5. Mark Weber

    5 or 6 THINGS, maybe 7

    1) I believe that’s Plas Johnson standing to Milcho’s right!

    2) That’s a microphone (Shure 78) with a pop filter obscuring the venerable Dick Hyman

    3) I can see in the 1981 interior photo my 11-volume Jepsen Discography; next to the Connie LP is the ESP William Burroughs LP; and on the wall behind turntable is photo of William Jeffery & John Carter duet; also, missing from my pinky finger is my silver Zuni ring I wore for years, that I mistakenly left on a bathroom sink counter at a Bell Telephone central office (a switch in industry terms) and only 5 people work in switches but none of them fessed up to where it went . . . . a drag; also, obscured by papers is my old portable Corona typewriter standing on that white stool

    4) “Elite Syncopations” is a Joplin rag

    5) I went back to that supermarket and bought all the remaining copies of PERCEPTION — about ten copies! — and circulated them among friends

    6) that black spot on hood of my 1963 Volks is a primer spot —-how Southern Cal is that!

    7) I still use the Jepsen but I’m more of a Tom Lord nowadays

  6. Rick DiZENzo

    27 year old, musical expeditionary! . . . the shoes, the pants, the hair . . . absolutely love it!

  7. Joan Jobe Smith

    HOW cool, that young cool dude… mark, you shd’a tried to be a
    movie star… but jazz and music prevailed, carried you away
    to another more lovely galaxy of shining stars and koans
    and smooth piano and low saxophone and shadow-toned trombone . . .

    Keep in mind, or perhaps let it out of your mind during
    meditation, the Gaelic word HIRAETH (pronounced heer-eyeth) . . .
    which means a longing, a homesickness, for another time and place . . .
    long gone.. if I got tattoos, i’d have HIRAETH placed someplace near my vision
    on my skin . . . my thigh perhaps or in middle of forearm . . . or maybe I wdn’t . . .

    Sorry about your mom… June 2014, not a good one for you . . .
    love to you . . . god bless your mother . . .

  8. Charley Krachy

    Mark,

    I think last week was the 40th anniversary of Perception..her first recording..!!!

    Charley

  9. Mark Weber

    Dear Joan,
    There’s one little problem with your proposal and that is that I can’t act.

  10. Carol Tristano

    Hi Mark,

    Bravo! Your living a life with a myriad of details all streaming together to make poetry. I love your poem and your language. Your poetry draws the reader in so easily to discover a universe of feelings and awareness – I really dig that.
    I remember vividly the first time I heard “Perception”. Charley says it’s the 40th anniversary so that would make me 12 or 13. We were living in the backwoods of Pennsylvania when Connie sent it to us. I met Connie when I was 4! Bud and I listened to it together – we had both had an intuition about Connie’s music before we heard it. It wasn’t till years later that we could do anything about it, but I think Connie’s free playing in particular resounded in our cores.
    I’m sorry I’ll miss your concert in New York this August! Or maybe something beautifully poetic will happen and we’ll get to New York!

  11. Carol Tristano

    Hello Joan Jobe Smith,

    Thank you for introducing me to the word “Hiraeth”. What it immediately made me think about was what I believe is one of Einstein’s theories. That all of time is happening at the same time. I think that’s why when I listen to Charlie Christian (the great jazz guitarist) at Minton’s, I am there – literally! It’s so vivid that I’ve often wondered if I was actually there in another life even though I have no particular beliefs concerning reincarnation. Einstein’s theory is a comforting thought. We don’t have to feel we’re missing out on anything!

    Carol

  12. Bud Tristano

    Mark, that is such a great picture of you! Nothing ever sounded as good as vinyl on those old stereo receivers the way they made ’em in the 60s and 70s. (With the large tuning and volume knobs and the old VU meters.) Regarding the last photo, Henry Butler used to open for blues players at McCabe’s Guitar Shop in Santa Monica back then, I saw several concerts there. Makes me wonder if we crossed paths, as I lived in Long Beach 1985-87.

  13. Mark Weber

    Am I going to have to fly to Paris to finally hear Carol Tristano play in her amazing confluential drumset? New York City will be sweltering in August but that sure would be mind-blowing if you’d make it. I’ll be at every show for Connie’s week-long residency!

    Joan Jobe Smith is one of America’s great narrative poets. And a person who has taught me a lot ! When you hear me blabbering on about the concept of Parataxis in writing, I got all that from Joan — we were at a poetry conference in Great Bend, Kansas, about twenty years ago, and after she’d made reference to this technique, I asked, “Joan, what’s Parataxis, can I take it orally or do I have to shoot it up?” (Joan has known me a long time) She said, “Mark, you employ it all the time!” and then explained the approach. Among other things I was dumb to.

    Joan was a Go-Go dancer all over Southern California in the 1960s —- she go-go’d at The Whisky A-Go-Go for Jim Morrison & The Doors ( ! ) among others. Her poems about that life are astonishing (to use a Connie word!) She lives in Long Beach, California, with America’s greatest poet Fred Voss.

  14. Kevin Norton

    Hi Mark,

    greetings from the great state of Maine … I must go back to sleep soon, I have a LONG day of teaching ahead of me …

    Thanks for the great photos and memories of how important music is in your life!
    I will try to send you similar thoughts from Maine this summer …

    Peace and love,
    Kevin

  15. Joan Jobe Smith

    well, cool, mark, that’s some fascinating chat exchange
    with your music mavens.. I happened to be steeping a
    pot o’ Earl as I read this this morning. Yes, we are tea tipsy-ers
    each morning, you in Alb, me in LB, so near, so far away,
    verifying, edifying,
    signifying a shared Einstein theory of reality in our separate
    pockets of time and space that your pal Carol Tristano quoted:
    “all of time is happening at the same time” … sure, you can
    act, mark; you’re a fine, heartfelt, soulful and poised-natural Protaxis Man
    of well spoken, laid back words..

  16. Mark Weber

    ———–playlist————–
    July 10, 2o14 — KUNM Albuquerque

    1. Nels Cline Singers “The Wedding Band” 2013 cd MACROSCOPE
    2. Connie Crothers Trio “Lennie’s Scene” summer 1974 cd PERCEPTION
    3. Dick Hyman & the New York Jazz Repertory Orchestra “The Crave”(Jelly Roll Morton)– 3dec73
    4. Bucky Pizzarelli & Red Norvo “Sweet Georgia Brown”—August 1983
    5. Bobby Byrd in-studio guest “What Was Suppose to
    Happen Didn’t Happen” poem
    6. Connie Crothers Trio “Three-Way” PERCEPTION
    7. James Booker “Blues Minuet” —February 1976
    8. Bobby Byrd “I Make a Good Pot of Beans” poem
    9. Art Lewis Quartet “Sabor a Mi” —1997 cd EL PASO ART
    10. James Booker solo “Black Minute Waltz” —Feb.1976
    11. Henry Butler solo “St Louis Blues” —June 1995 cd FOR ALL SEASONS
    12.Henry Butler-Steven Bernstein Hot 9 “Wolverine Blues” (Jelly Roll Morton) new cd
    13. Bucky Pizzarelli “My Old Flame” op. cit.
    14. Horace Silver Quintet “Pretty Eyes” —-1oct65

  17. Andy Fite

    Hi Mark!

    So, I have a Perception story too.

    In the summer of 1984, a friend of mine had an invitation to dinner at the home of a couple of women, and invited me along. As the musician in the party, I was asked to peruse the record collection and choose some music.

    They had a clear focus: every artist represented was female. I sighed. Would have wanted some instrumental jazz, didn’t see where it would be coming from in this collection of singer-songwriters. And then, like you, I spotted the Inner City logo, so I looked. And here is Connie Crothers at the piano with her quiet vibe, and in truth, I wasn’t too intrigued. But when I flipped it over and saw the quote from Lennie Tristano (can I still quote from memory? “Connie Crothers is the most original musician it has ever been my privilege to work with” I believe it was), I freaked! I put that one on of course, probably to everyone’s bemusement. I don’t remember any of the conversation after that, except that I asked at the end of the evening if I could borrow the album, and I did, and god forgive me, I never gave it back.

    First impressions I can recall: Those first wild chords on Lennie’s Scene! What is this?? And I recall so well, and still love so much, the last four bars of the first chorus of Hillside Avenue. A moment of pure perfection. And then the inversion of the melody on All the Things You Are. And her unfathomable time feeling; that had an immediate effect on my own playing.

    In 1984, I thought you either had to embrace Miles, Coltrane and the fusion thing, or else relegate yourself to retro status, bop-cum-Lennie re-creations. Perception was my first clue that there was a way forward in jazz from the roots I cared about, loved and respected, because in Connie’s playing those roots were so apparent, and whither she’d grown so utterly unexpected!

    A year later I moved to New York, started studying with Connie, and stayed over 10 years.

Leave a Reply to Carol TristanoCancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

© 2024 Mark Weber

Theme by Anders Noren adapted for M.etropolis by RavanHUp ↑