I don’t know if you can see it clearly but that street sign says Charlie Parker Place / Avenue B and that guy in the yellow cap is about to cross 7th Street heading north — July 1, 1997 —- photo by Mark Weber —- In 1992 Avenue B between 7th and 10th Streets was rechristened Charlie Parker Place as Bird & Chan lived at 151 Avenue B the years 1950-1954 facing Tompkins Square Park
The Thursday Jazz Radio Show
June 29, 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)
A MOTHER’S WISDOM
My mom used to say: “Markie, it’s none of your businesswhat other people think about you”That’s pretty deep, if you think about it —-I think she picked that up in AA —- I’d tease her backand say: “Well, it’s kinda nice to know what your bossis thinking” what with expenses and allyou might need to be looking for a new jobAnother thing she used to tipwas regarding “fair-weather friends”when the shit hits the fan they’re goneBlack void swirling vortextit all awaits us somedayIt was the genius of the ancient Vedantic peopleof Indiawho out-smarted Deathunveiling reincarnation:We are all our ancestorsSome part of us is listening backMitochondrial EveAND TO THINK THAT I SAWa book the other day where a scientist waspurporting to “prove” that telepathy doesn’t existAND TO THINK THAT I SAW IT ON MULBERRY STREETa book my mom gave me when I was a child andI read and read and read this book with all of it’s crazyexaggerating pictures(and many many years later I made a point of visitingMulberry Street in Little Italy, Manhattan, to seewhere maestro Suess was coming from)There’s too much talking in the worldand not enough telepathy
The Gene Russell Trio at the Maiden Voyage, downtown Los Angeles — August 23, 1980 —- Whenever you got caught in L.A. around rush hour, rather than jump on whatever freeway it is you take to get home (there are ten different freeways that converge downtown), and sit in rush hour traffic and let your car over-heat (V8 engines need flowing air to cool them), I’d pop into the Maiden Voyage and kill an hour or two before jumping on the San Bernardino Frwy (10) back to Upland, one of the hundreds of “bedroom communities” that surround L.A. ———— Here’s Gene on piano (a great guy, I always had a good laugh with him); and fellow photographer Clarence Johnston on drums (he tipped me off that taking pictures at the boxing matches at the Olympic was a good score; and our man on bass: HENRY FRANKLIN the Skipper aka Nyimbo, who’s still all over Southern California playing that bass and who I just saw in the 2017 restored version of MONTEREY POP (1967) on my favorite set of that flick with Hugh Masekela —– I’ll tell you, when I first saw this film back in 1969 at a little art house on Sunset Blvd, and that huge black African face of Mr Masekela came on the screen like 14-feet across it scorched my white butt back into my seat as he shouted that wordless healing chant, still one of the strongest parts of that documentary, and Henry pulsing and swaying the time like a wave
SUPERSAX recital for music students at Cal Poly, Pomona — June 6, 1980 —- At one time I had a dream that Charles McPherson would be featured with this group (never happened) —- How cool would that be, whew —- Lou Levy (piano), Conte Candoli (trumpet), Frank DeLaRosa (bass), John Dentz (drums), saxophones Left to Right: Jay Migliori, Ray Reed, Med Flory, Lanny Morgan, Jack Nimitz —- photo by Mark Weber
Freddie Hubbard — October 1, 1979 — photo by Mark Weber
Art Blakey Jazz Messengers at Howard Rumsey’s Concerts by the Sea — January 17, 1980 — James Williams (piano), David Schnitter (tenor), Valerie Ponomarev (trumpet), Bobby Watson (alto), Dennis Irwin (bass) — photo by Mark Weber
Delmar Evans and Johnny Otis — October 14, 1979 — photo by Mark Weber — (Delmar aka Mighty Mouth) —-Johnny Otis had the hippest radio show on the planet every Saturday afternoon on KPFK in the 80s always LIVE and with guests ——— There’s something electric about live guests, over the telephone or visiting in the studio that can’t be matched with pre-recorded edited canned and drained of the blood of being in the moment visiting with a fellow human over the airwaves
Charles McPherson one of the great alto saxophonists of jazz — October 17, 1979 — We will be talking with the maestro this Thursday LIVE via telephone from his home in San Diego, California — He will bringing a quartet to the Albuquerque Museum July 29 ————- Besides being such a great musician I think of Charles McPherson and Bobby Bradford as the two most hip & articulate scholars on the music of Charlie Parker —— This will be Mr McPherson’s third telephone visit with us on KUNM and we’ll ask him about Barry Harris, CHARLES MINGUS, Lincoln Center Jazz Band, Toshiko Akiyoshi (I still haven’t heard this hard to find album!), Eddie Jefferson, Jaki Byard, Booker Ervin, Kenny Drew, Duke Jordan, Eric Dolphy, Paul Bley, Pepper Adams, Don Patterson, Pat Martino, and on & on, all the artists he’s recorded with over the years . . . .
That’s Todd Moore and James Crumley at a book signing in Albuquerque October 19, 1993 — photo by Mark Weber —– We went to pay our respects to this great author of hardboiled crime fiction set in the West with masterpieces THE WRONG CASE (1975), DANCING BEAR (1983), THE LAST GOOD KISS (1978) that opens with a couple drunks at a bar along with an alcoholic bulldog who is working out a hangover with a bowl of beer —- I don’t recommend his first novel (ONE TO COUNT CADENCE) but after that you owe it to yourself to read these from one of the best —– He didn’t write many books (he was a hard boozer) and I dropped off when his 1993 novel MEXICAN TREE DUCK opened with a recovering alcoholic returning to the bottle and being glad of it, too sad . . . . .
Claire deBrunner at soundcheck for Connie’s Memorial at Roulette, Brooklyn — November 13, 2o16 — my digital file says that it was 2:06 in the afternoon — photo by Mark Weber —- At Claire’s Facebook page she posted a photo she took in Barcelona on a recent trip showing a bassoonist on Gaudi’s cathedral, kinda where you’d normally see a gargoyle, there’s a bassoon player!
1976 —— When giants walked the earth — handbill from the collection of Mark Weber
2 THINGS
1) It was old buddy & dear friend Dwain Kaiser of Magic Door Bookshop in Upland, California, who pulled my coat about James Crumley and gave me THE LAST GOOD KISS many moons ago (see Magic Door’s website)
2) for my in-depth study on the music of Supersax go to Cal Haines webpage >
http://www.calhaines.com/supersax2.htm
Mark, Thanks for somehow managing to keep all these documents from your trip through your jazz love and for sharing them with the rest of us in your blogs and on your radio show. Most people, myself included, don’t have the ability to maintain our lives and also document our passing through so completely.
When Giants Walked the Earth, you just happened to be there with your camera. This is one of your best yet and your Mama was right, it’s none of our business what people think of us, a sometimes awkward and painful truth; and you are right, there’s too much talking in the world and not enough telepathy. You aced the gamut today my friend. Love
Looking forward to your Charles McPherson interview!!!
In the early ’70s, changes were afoot in Los Angeles jazz. Lighthouse owner John Levine died in the spring of ’71, leaving his business partner, Howard Rumsey a free agent. The Milt Jackson-Ray Brown band closed Shelly’s Manne-Hole on Labor Day weekend ’72 in its original Cahuenga Boulevard site. Manne-Hole manager Rudy Onderwyzer bought the Lighthouse and took it over, while Rumsey found an investor and opened up Concrete By The Sea in Redondo Beach in October ’72 with Sarah Vaughan. Shelly’s reopened on Wilshire near La Cienega in October ’73 with Cannonball Adderley and Carmen McRae; Lee Wilder managed the room and jazz scribe Patricia Willard handled publicity. Unfortunately the Manne-Hole proved to be an awkward fit in the Bank Plaza where it was housed, and more awkward still when Shelly found that his Japanese landlords weren’t playing square with him. Shelly’s lasted two years in its second home, if it lasted that long.
Mark, your Lighthouse flyer is a reminder that while Rudy booked great talent, he didn’t always get the correct spellings of the musicians’ names. Dolo Coker was, of course Dexter’s pianist (they had played together in the 1960 production of “The Connection” at Hollywood’s LeGrand Theatre) and drummer Jimmie Smith used that spelling to distinguish himself from the jazz organ icon who was living in L.A. by that time. Rudy had his eye on a warehouse in Marina Del Rey for an eclectic music policy club. It finally opened in ’81 but not before he teased us mercilessly for years with Hop Singh’s references on his fliers and his newspaper ads. Thanks for all of the music over the years–John and Howard, Shelly and Rudy–wherever you are.
An incredible collection of photo and brings back memories of some of my friends; The Skipper, Clarence Johnson and Coker among the few. Thanks for sharing…..washington rucker
Thanks for your wonderful photos and the beautiful poem for your Mom. I loved your comment on Charlie Parker Place. When they had the festival and renamed that street for Bird, I sang at it and they gave me a replica of the street sign which is posted my barn upstate. I call my little hide out “Charlie Parker Place” because it was the music that bought me the house and had I not heard Bird, I probably would have never continued singing. Love and Best always…Sheila
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The Lonely Little Chimes Jazz Radio Show
June 29, 2o16
KUNM Albuquerque USA
Host MARK WEBER
1. Charles McPherson tentet “Charisma”(C.McPherson) 1973 Lp TODAY’S MAN (Maintstream) w/ Frank Wess (tenor), Billy Higgins (drums), Barry Harris (piano), Cecil Bridgewater & Richard Williams (trumpets), Julius Watkins (Fr-horn), Charles (alto)
2. Charles McPherson in quartet “Lonely Little Chimes” –March 2, 1995 cd COME PLAY WITH ME (Arabesque) w/ Mulgrew Miller (piano), Santi Debriano (bass), Lewis Nash (drums)
3. Red Rodney Quintet “Chasing the Bird” — 9july73 Lp BIRD LIVES (Muse) w/ Barry Harris, Sam Jones,
Roy Brooks, & Charles McPherson
4. Telcon w/ CHARLES McPHERSON Live from San Diego — 30 minutes
5. Charles McPherson “Embraceable You” –27 April 2o15 cd LOVE WALKED IN (Quadrant Records)
6. Charles McPherson w/strings A TRIBUTE TO CHARLIE PARKER Live in Cleveland, November 5, 2001 “Everything Happens to Me” (Clarion Jazz)
7. Charles McPherson Quintet “Nostalgia in Times Square”(Mingus) cd FIRST FLIGHT OUT (Arabesque) recorded January 1994 w/ Michael Weiss (very hip piano), Tom Harrell (trumpet), Peter Washington (bass), Victor Lewis (drums), Charles McPherson (alto)
8. title track to McPherson cd FOLLOW THE BOUNCING BALL (Discovery) –27july89 w/ Alan Broadbent (also, very hip piano), Jeffery Littleton (bass) and his son Charles McPherson (drums — who we found out in the interview now lives in Teaneck, New Jersey, and will be on the upcoming CM Quartet date July 29 at Albuquerque Museum)
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The Snapdragons Jazz Radio Show
July 7, 2o17
KUNM Albuquerque USA
Host MARK WEBER
1. Bud Shank Quartet “Going My Wave” –18apr59 L.A.—- soundtrack for SLIPPERY WHEN WET
w/ Billy Bean(guitar), Gary Peacock(bass), Chuck Flores(drums)
2. Kanoa Kaluhiwa Trio “Power to the Trip” –14june2000 w/ Diego Arencon(drums), Jon Gagan(bass) —
recorded at KUNM Studio A — from cd ALBUZERXQUE Vol. 3 (Zerx)
3. Dave Burrell Trio “Margie Pargie” –6feb68 Lp HIGH WON HIGH TWO (Arista)
4. Stan Getz Quartet “Lover Come Back to Me” — 10apr60 cd LIVE IN AMSTERDAM (Fresh Sound)
5. Andrea Wolper “Blue Wind” cd PARALLEL LIVES (Jazzed Media) –2011 w/ Kris Davis(piano), Ken
Filiano(bass), Michael Howell(guitar), Michael TA Thompson(soundrhythm ie drums) *Andrea & Ken appearing at the Outpost Performance Space tonight ———-
“Blue Wind” by Duncan Sheik ——– from the musical Spring Awakening she caught on Broadway
and had a feeling for the song
6. Kris Davis solo piano “Intermission Music” from 2o13 cd MASSIVE THREADS (Thirsty Ear)
7. Bud Shank Quartet “The Surf and I” — Bud on alto — ibid.
8. John Rangel w/ Tribute Trio “Ouroboros” (composed by M. Glynn –built on the chords of “What is this thing”) w/ Cal Haines(drums), Michael Glynn(bass), John Rangel(piano)– 27feb2o11 cd DEDICATIONS
9. Pat LaBarbera-Kirk MacDonald Quartet “Walk the Talk” July 2016 cd SILENT VOICES (Jazz Compass)
2 tenors + bass & drums — unison playing — smokin
10. Geri Allen Trio “Scorpio”(Mary Lou Williams) w/ Buster Williams(bass), Billy Hart(drums) 2006 cd ZODIAC SUITE REVISITED — Rest in Peace Geri, died June 27: cancer
11. Andrea Wolper “Song to a Seagull”(Joni Mitchell) –2o11 cd PARALLEL LIVES —- Almost got Andrea & Ken on the show today but external forces conspired to intervene
12. Joni Mitchell “Both Sides Now” — c.2000 recorded at George Martin’s AIR Studio, London, with 87-piece orchestra + Wayne Shorter(soprano saxophone) —– this about a 6 kleenex version
13. Ken Filiano – Thomas Heberer – Achim Kaufmann Trio — bass, trumpet, piano — March 2o15 cd INTERSTICES “Passagg Amnesia”