Bobby Bradford Actually

Bobby Bradford and Vinny Golia have assembled a quartet to carry from California to Albuquerque to play Outpost Performance Space on March 30, 2o17 -- Rhythm section will be Tina Raymond(drums) and David Tranchina(bass) -- photo of Bobby by Mark Weber -- May 17, 1975

Bobby Bradford and Vinny Golia have assembled a quartet to carry from California to Albuquerque to play Outpost Performance Space on March 30, 2o17 — Rhythm section will be Tina Raymond(drums) and David Tranchina(bass) — photo of Bobby by Mark Weber — May 17, 1975

The Thursday Jazz Radio Show

March 30, 2o17 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)

Bobby Bradford is situated historically in a very unique camp: Musicians of his generation could go two different directions. They all grew up as beboppers and most of them went into straight-ahead bop-derived jazz (for instance, Cedar Walton and BB went to the same high school in Dallas at the same time), whereas, this other bunch went into Out music having sensed that that was where Charlie Parker would have eventually arrived had he lived longer: the free music philosophy certainly implied in Parker’s music.

What we have with this generation of artists who went Out (also labeled avant-garde, new music, free jazz) is a select group who knew chord changes and bebop and had that as part of their genetic make-up but took it into further realms of harmony and rhythm. Even free rhythm. This select group with this sensibility includes Don Cherry, Ornette, John Carter, Edward Blackwell, Dewey Redman, Paul Bley, Horace Tapscott, Coltrane, Bruz Freeman, John Gilmore, Sheila Jordan, Buell Neidlinger, Henry Grimes, Albert Ayler, Sonny Simmons, Dolphy, Wilber Morris — all born between 1928 and 1936 and like Bradford, as a teenager in Dallas picked up every bop 78 as they came out.

One also should add that most of these guys were sidemen in R&B bands very prevalent in the South and Southwest in the 1950s. Bebop + R&B = Out? We’ll ask. Is Bull Moose Jackson the precursor of Fred Anderson?

I was so lucky to grow up around Bobby Bradford and John Carter as I was subjected to good ear training. There was none of this avant posturing of: Let’s throw a bunch of notes at the wall and see if anything sticks. Bobby and John were investigating harmony not randomness. Not that there’s anything wrong with randomness but I wouldn’t want a steady diet of it.

Today on the All That Jazz radio show Thursday Edition we have the good fortune to have Bobby Bradford sitting in with us Live in studio along with whoever in the quartet care to join us for conversation and elucidation. Bobby has been one of my main advisors on the Thursday jazz show for 20 years as well as a frequent telephone guest BUT this will be the first time he is actually in-studio. The Bobby Bradford – Vinny Golia Quartet will be at the Outpost this night.

Charlie Haden and Bobby Bradford -- February 17, 1980 Los Angeles (at Century City Playhouse) -- photo by Mark Weber

Charlie Haden and Bobby Bradford — February 17, 1980 Los Angeles (at Century City Playhouse) – photo by Mark Weber

Sunday early evening jam session (it gets dark early this time of year) at The Little Big Horn, 34 N. Mentor, Pasadena, California -- November 28, 1976 -- Glenn Ferris (trombone, his back to camera), Bobby Bradford(cornet), James Newton(flute), Vinny Golia(bass clarinet), and on-stage but not in photo: Roberto Miranda & Richard Rehwald (basses), William Jeffrey(drums), John Carter(clarinet) -- photo by Mark Weber

Sunday early evening jam session (it gets dark early this time of year) at The Little Big Horn, 34 N. Mentor, Pasadena, California — November 28, 1976 — Glenn Ferris (trombone, his back to camera), Bobby Bradford(cornet), James Newton(flute), Vinny Golia(bass clarinet), and on-stage but not in photo: Roberto Miranda & Richard Rehwald (basses), William Jeffrey(drums), John Carter(clarinet) — photo by Mark Weber

Bobby Bradford (Roberto Miranda on bass) -- February 25, 1977 -- photo by Mark Weber -- The Bradford Archive has a marvelous recording from this evening we're hoping to entice some nice record company to release someday (quartet with BB, Glenn Ferris, Kim Calkins, Roberto) -- Recorded on big ten-inch reel-to-reels by master recordist Bruce Bidlack subsequently professionally transferred into digital format -- Line drawing by MW July 24, 1986

Bobby Bradford (Roberto Miranda on bass) — February 25, 1977 — photo by Mark Weber — The Bradford Archive has a marvelous recording from this evening we’re hoping to entice some nice record company to release someday (quartet with BB, Glenn Ferris, Kim Calkins, Roberto) — Recorded on big ten-inch reel-to-reels by master recordist Bruce Bidlack subsequently professionally transferred into digital format — Line drawing by MW July 24, 1986

Bobby Bradford on John Breckow's Friday night jazz radio show on KPFK Los Angeles -- January 14, 1977 -- photo by Mark Weber -- You can see that they have Bobby's albums on Flying Dutchman on the desk -- Bobby will be on the Thursday jazz show at KUNM Albuquerque March 30th and hopefully some of his quartet also, who will be unpacking their gear at the Outpost Performance Space that same evening

Bobby Bradford on John Breckow’s Friday night jazz radio show on KPFK Los Angeles — January 14, 1977 — photo by Mark Weber — You can see that they have Bobby’s albums on Flying Dutchman on the desk — Bobby will be on the Thursday jazz show at KUNM Albuquerque March 30th and hopefully some of his quartet also, who will be unpacking their gear at the Outpost Performance Space that same evening

Bobby Bradford Mo'tet (trio)( BB has always maintained that "Mo" means the more money available then the more tet you get) -- October 21, 1979 (my 26th birthday coincidentally) at Century City Playhouse, Los Angeles -- Bert Karl (drums, who is still in the mix out in L.A.) and the late Noah Young (aka Richard Youngstein and was on the downtown scene in NY certainly between 1967-1973 as he made records with Roswell Rudd, Carla Bley, Paul Bley, Bobby Naughton those years -- Not sure when exactly he relocated to L.A.) -- photo by Mark Weber

Bobby Bradford Mo’tet (trio)( BB has always maintained that “Mo” means the more money available then the more tet you get) — October 21, 1979 (my 26th birthday coincidentally) at Century City Playhouse, Los Angeles — Bert Karl (drums, who is still in the mix out in L.A.) and the late Noah Young (aka Richard Youngstein and was on the downtown scene in NY certainly between 1967-1973 as he made records with Roswell Rudd, Carla Bley, Paul Bley, Bobby Naughton those years — Not sure when exactly he relocated to L.A.) — photo by Mark Weber

The Obihiro Cowboys under the direction of William Roper (tuba, percussion, and cowboy hat), Michael Vlatkovich (trombone &percussion), Bobby Bradford (cornet &percussion), and Joseph Mitchell (drums) at The Blue Whale, Japantown, Los Angeles -- June 21, 2015 -- I was in town to bury my mom and these guys played such incredible spontaneously improvised music this night, it was off the map, just the perfect bath I needed ---- photo by Mark Weber

The Obihiro Cowboys under the direction of William Roper (tuba, percussion, and cowboy hat), Michael Vlatkovich (trombone &percussion), Bobby Bradford (cornet &percussion), and Joseph Mitchell (drums) at The Blue Whale, Japantown, Los Angeles — June 21, 2015 — I was in town to bury my mom and these guys played such incredible spontaneously improvised music this night, it was off the map, just the perfect bath I needed —- photo by Mark Weber

Stanley Crouch backstage at Schoenberg Hall, UCLA -- October 20, 1979 ---- Stanley says of Bobby in his book CONSIDERING GENIUS (2006) regarding his years teaching at Claremont Colleges (1968-1973) "Bradford had a very detailed overview of the entire music, from New Orleans to what we were trying to do [in Stanley's band Black Music Infinity] . . . Bradford was one of the most intelligent men I had ever known and his sophistication was greater than that of any musician I had ever known to that point." -- photo by Mark Weber

Stanley Crouch backstage at Schoenberg Hall, UCLA — October 20, 1979 —- Stanley says of Bobby in his book CONSIDERING GENIUS (2006) regarding his years teaching at Claremont Colleges (1968-1973) “Bradford had a very detailed overview of the entire music, from New Orleans to what we were trying to do [in Stanley’s band Black Music Infinity] . . . Bradford was one of the most intelligent men I had ever known and his sophistication was greater than that of any musician I had ever known to that point.” — photo by Mark Weber

Vinny Golia Chamber Trio -- February 7, 1981 -- Wayne Peet (piano), John Rapson (trombone), Vinny (woodwinds) at Storie-Crawford Studio, Santa Monica, California -- photo by Mark Weber

Vinny Golia Chamber Trio — February 7, 1981 — Wayne Peet (piano), John Rapson (trombone), Vinny (woodwinds) at Storie-Crawford Studio, Santa Monica, California — photo by Mark Weber

Steven Isoardi and Vinny Golia -- August 14, 2o15 LACMA -- photo by Mark Weber -- Steven is a scholar of Los Angeles jazz with 3 books out on that subject, two of which on Horace Tapscott -- He is also a contributor to the on-going Bobby Bradford TimeLine project (Thanks Steve you're a gentleman AND a scholar)

Steven Isoardi and Vinny Golia — August 14, 2o15 LACMA — photo by Mark Weber — Steven is a scholar of Los Angeles jazz with 3 books out on that subject, two of which on Horace Tapscott — He is also a contributor to the on-going Bobby Bradford TimeLine project (Thanks Steve you’re a gentleman AND a scholar)

Tina Raymond (August 14, 2o15) and Vinny Golia (February 17, 1980) – — photos by Mark Weber

Tina Raymond (August 14, 2o15) and Vinny Golia (February 17, 1980) – — photos by Mark Weber

Tina Raymond's drum kit (and Tina) -- August 14, 2o15 at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Angelinos just call it: LACMA) ----- photo by Mark Weber

Tina Raymond’s drum kit (and Tina) — August 14, 2o15 at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Angelinos just call it: LACMA) —– photo by Mark Weber

The heroic Tom Guralnick, who runs the Outpost Performance Space in Albuquerque, against all odds, and is producing the Bradford concert tonight (March 30, 2o17) -- photo by Mark Weber -- October 10, 1999 -- for this shot I asked Tom to look very very serious straight into the lens

The heroic Tom Guralnick, who runs the Outpost Performance Space in Albuquerque, against all odds, and is producing the Bradford concert tonight (March 30, 2o17) — photo by Mark Weber — October 10, 1999 — for this shot I asked Tom to look very very serious straight into the lens

I didn't own a camera at this time -- May 17, 1975 -- This shot was done with a plastic point & shoot Brownie that I think belonged to my Mom ------ Stanley Crouch & Black Music Infinity: David Murray(tenor), Bobby Bradford(cornet & suspenders), Roberto Miranda (subbing for Mark Dresser on bass), James Newton(flute -- he's sitting on that balustrade) and Stanley on drumset -- photo by Mark Weber -- Claremont Colleges, California

I didn’t own a camera at this time — May 17, 1975 — This shot was done with a plastic point & shoot Brownie that I think belonged to my Mom —— Stanley Crouch & Black Music Infinity: David Murray(tenor), Bobby Bradford(cornet & suspenders), Roberto Miranda (subbing for Mark Dresser on bass), James Newton(flute — he’s sitting on that balustrade) and Stanley on drumset — photo by Mark Weber — Claremont Colleges, California

Haiku & line drawings by Ronald Baatz -- August 1996 -- collection of Mark Weber

Haiku & line drawings by Ronald Baatz — August 1996 — collection of Mark Weber

Collage by Mark Weber -- March 29, 1994

Collage by Mark Weber — March 29, 1994

10 Comments

  1. Mark Weber

    1) Bobby is pretty sure that’s Butch Morris wearing straw hat in the 1975 photo at top

    2) Cal (Haines)(the photo tech for this website and one of the top jazz drummers this side of the Mississippi)) says that Tina’s drumset is a “Stop Sign Gretsch, great sounding” made from 1972-1979 “I have a similar set — Mine is the Revised Stop Sign — Gretsch changed the icon badge that was on each drum series — the early drums were the Round Badge.” This fascinating history of Gretsch > http://www.gretschdrums.com/history

  2. billy the celloist

    Charlie looks as ripped as i’ve ever seen him in that pic, and i’ve seen him ripped hundreds of times.
    too bad, but i just have to say, stanley crouch is full of shit, and the WORST drummer i have ever played with.
    also, very sorry you don’t see fit to include me in that NYC hip musician list.
    but i love you anyhow
    billy the celloist

  3. Mark Weber

    We didn’t put Billy the Celloist BUT we now have the indispensable Buell Neidlinger in there! and who else did I inadvertently forget in my haste? This list was hardcore Parker beboppers in their youth who then went all the way Out. That fascinating “half-generation” (in anthropology a generation is 25 years) who learned the science of bebop before further explorations of harmony.

  4. Tom Guralnick

    Nice article Mark. And great photos. I am really looking forward to the concert on thursday. So happy Bobby and Vinny are coming back to town. That picture of me… nice… I should look serious more often : ) whoops. I mean : | there, that’s better

  5. Mark Weber

    Telcon w/ Buell Neidlinger yesterday —- he wanted to express that Roswell Rudd should be included in my list of original free jazz players of the early 60s and I said I don’t think he exactly fits my thesis of someone who came out of a youth filled with Charlie Parker and he said “That’s true, but I’m not sure it’s correct to say that free jazz came out of Charlie Parker exclusively” ————- Which gave me a LOT to think about: Have I been thinking of jazz history in a linear progression, from early to current?

    He said that the first guy he heard play free was (1951) a tenor saxophonist who had a studio on 119th Street where jam sessions were held regularly and his name was Andy Kirk Jr (“Yes, the son of Andy Kirk”) “He was a big inspiration to me” and during that same time another guy Lin Halliday on tenor “who used to walk around New York in the snow with no soles on his shoes because he had no soles on his shoes” because he was broke — I asked if the same Lin Halliday that worked in Chicago for years and made records on Delmark in the 80s “Yes, the very same except he became more of a Sonny Rollins imitator by then” He was one of the earliest free players.

    I think of Charlie Parker’s blue tunes that left the middle 4 bars open and his songs that left the B section open——– Buell says “I saw Charlie Parker play free, it was at Cafe Bohemia before it became a jazz club, and a bunch of teenage kids used to play there and Charlie spent all afternoon playing nothing that had any reference to a tune, but, not all free music came out of bebop.”

    Another guy was Lowell Davidson the pianist in Boston when I was there. (He relates that somewhere there are many hours of tapes of Lowell and himself playing that he’d like to locate and release.) “Another guy was Dick Twardzik, he played free, in Boston. The first time I played with Cecil the first thing that popped into my head was that he sounds like Twardzik, and remember, Cecil was in Boston those same years.” He added, in reference to my opening thesis, “and Paul Bley never played free in his life and I played a lot with him.” “I don’t know who invented free. Cecil wasn’t really free.”

    I asked about Lennie Tristano and his 1949 free recordings. “I knew Lennie and I knew how his brain worked. Lennie fired me after 2 nights because I didn’t play enough like a metronome, which was strange coming from him.” He had doubts that free could be traced to Lennie. He did say how much he liked Connie Crothers’ playing and wished he had played with her, “I used to see her at a little shop on the corner of 8th Street and 2nd Avenue that sold egg creams, and we’d talk. She’d come to see Cecil at the 5 Spot.”

    He had a lot of thoughts about the genesis of Ornette’s music which I’ll save for later. Ultimately, he said about free music, “We weren’t really avant-garde, we were just a bunch of guys trying to play like ourselves, I mean, how long can you play like Tommy Potter or Wilbur Ware?”

  6. Mark Weber

    ————————————–playlist———————————
    The Woodshedetude Jazz Radio Show
    March 30, 2o17
    KUNM Albuquerque
    Host MARK WEBER
    1. Charlie Parker “Quasimodo” –17dec47 (Savoy)
    2. Bird & Diz “Dizzy Atmosphere” — 28feb45 (orig. Guild — now Savoy box)
    3. In-studio guest BOBBY BRADFORD
    4. BB-David Murray “The Gates of Hell” –Oct. 1991 cd DEATH OF A SIDEMAN (DIW) *BB explains the origin of the title, (all tunes on that CD are composed by BB)
    5. Tutankhamun’s trumpet — 1939 BBC recording/broadcast — Tutankhamun reigned c. 1332-1323 BC in the 18th Dynasty, Egypt, I believe in Luxor —- of the two trumpets found by Howard Carter in 1922 in King Tutankhamun’s tomb this was the silver trumpet
    6. Patti Littlefield & Michael Anthony (voice + guitar) demo of Bobby’s lyrics to “Goodbye Porkpie Hat” –24may2o14 at Studio 725
    7. Vinny Golia Quartet w/BB, Ken Filiano, Alex Cline “That Was For Albert — 11” –3july2007 cd TAKE YOUR TIME (Relative Pitch Records) — Vinny explained later: “Everybody thinks that tune is for Albert Ayler, but it’s actually from the John Wayne western THE SHOOTIST (1976) his best movie” and goes on to
    explain that before a certain character is gunned down he yells “and that was for Albert!” * The numbering
    on the title is because VG has recorded the composition a number of times
    8. King Perry “Things Ain’t What They Used to Be” –1954 with a 20-year-old BB on trumpet — cd KING PERRY 1950-1954 (Classics, France)
    9. Bobby Bradford Mo’tet live at LACMA “A Little Pain” — 14aug2o15

    *Note: “Woodshedetude” is a Bradford composition found on DEATH OF A SIDEMAN

  7. Carol Tristano

    “I asked about Lennie Tristano and his 1949 free recordings. “I knew Lennie and I knew how his brain worked. Lennie fired me after 2 nights because I didn’t play enough like a metronome, which was strange coming from him.” He had doubts that free could be traced to Lennie.”

    Wow – well since Billy the celloist didn’t hold back, I won’t either. This is one of the biggest piles of bullshit I’ve come across in awhile. This is one arrogant statement! He knew how Lennie’s brain worked????? I almost have no words. Lennie Tristano, one of our greatest innovators on too many levels to count, and this guy thinks he knows how his brain works. He obviously didn’t really know Lennie or he wouldn’t have said those things. Lennie never told anyone to play like a metronome. Name a record where the drummer sounds like a metronome! He’s rehashing myths to serve himself. About free playing – I don’t doubt that the musicians you’re talking about did not come from the way Lennie and his band played free. For the record, Lennie’s band not only recorded it, they were playing free in clubs. What they got to was innovative for starters. Even Miles credited Lennie. In my opinion, what they got to as a band, through musical intuition is unmatched to date. And then there’s L.T.’s “Descent into the Maelstrom” – a free masterpiece.
    So I can’t help wonder, if L.T. did in fact hire him, and I’m dubious, what was the real reason he let him go.
    Also, I’m not sure I believe his story about Connie – maybe he’s looking to cultivate a new myth.

    • Carol Tristano

      So I see now that Buell is a bass player, not a drummer. This is the first time I’ve heard the metronome thing expressed by a bass player.

  8. Carol Tristano

    Mark, as long as you’re theorizing about Bird and free, how ’bout this. In an interview, Lennie Tristano said that Bird wanted to do something different, and that he (Bird), thought they could do it together. L.T. follows that with, “I don’t expect anyone to believe that, but he said it.” So there you go. For me, the musicians who were deeply influenced by Bird AND Lennie (among others), are the ones who continued the natural progression of jazz. Certain musicians and critics put Lennie down for so many years – to what end? To turn their back on real jazz feeling in service to something else.

  9. Mark Weber

    Today at Studio 725: David Murray (on tour — duets with Kahil El’Zabar passing through Albuquerque — concert last night at Outpost) confirmed that the guy wearing straw hat in the May 17, 1975 photo of Bobby Bradford (at top of post) is indeed “Of course, that’s Butch” Morris

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