Strange Bedfellows of Memory

This year I was given a comedy CD called "Teen Comedy Party" which included a cut that I was involved with by singing the part of the character "Tony Rosatoni" in a commercial about his appearance in the econolodge behind the airport . It featured clips from some of his "big tunes" , almost as if it were a commercial that was selling a CD. Listening this morning I remembered playing a place on Long Island called "Foxes and Hounds" where I sold Sinatra songs . It seemed I was thrust into this character back then in 1972. I have often said that I don't "play by ear" but "for fear" and this is an example of one of those occasions where I was trying to continue to support myself by singing though I wasn't really the character I was portraying . The "Foxes and Hounds" was a trip in itself which brings memories of sounds and taste , the taste of the bacon cheeseburgers I couldn't pass up as I drove across the bridge out of Manhattan's upper East Side toward Long Island and a town called "Rockville Center" , another recurring name for me . I drove a lot of the days of the week out there ,including Sunday when I had a weekly afternoon job during that time playing at the "Village Vanguard" with Noah Howard and his band . The contrast of the two identities from the piano might have brought about a deep schizophrenia in other , more susceptible pianist but I played by fear , anyway . I would drive to Long Island after playing the Village gig many times already spent by the music played there .

Noah has been consistent as recognisable a free jazz alto sax player . His work on ESP Records in the mid-sixties is still a classic representation of that era and genre . The construct of the tunes were quite loose and brought about a creativity that is still exciting when you listen to the live recording that was eventually done from the location . It is hard to believe that I would pull in the reins and sing on Long Island after playing such abstract music that was outside the box . One of the drummers that played the Long Island job with me was Joe Gallavan , another free jazz , outside player in his day gig . Driving back from that job I was pulled over by the police who went through all things in search of drugs that weren't found . He said that the reason he pulled me over was that I was speeding away fro the light though the car really didn't have much power with the organ and amps in it . It was a 1964 Dodge Dart with that push button transmission . It was painted brown by hand with a brush and not very attractive like the police car which happened to be a brand new Cadillac with no markings . I had Pennsylvania tags which got me around the exorbitant price of insurance in New York City and that was probably what really got the Long Island cop's attention at three in the morning .

From 1972 on I seemed to have a different band every night . I couldn't keep men together but did get work from agents and by knocking on doors . I had a lot of "Rock" work as well playing top forty or pop songs . I tried to keep the same drummers as long as I could but the world kept on turning and there was no solid ground for me for several years of this madness . Playing in Teaneck New Jersey where there were trees reminded me of Silver Spring Maryland and I eventually moved down here only to find that the Silver Spring in my memory didn't exist any more . Silver Spring reminded me of Teaneck and I am sure that Teaneck has gone the same way as Silver Spring .

I don't remember when I did the initial recording of the "Tony Rosatoni" character for Dave Nuttycomb but it was quite a while ago . It might have been as far back as the late eighties while the CD itself was released in 2000 which included material written by Dave and his witty friends . There are forty cuts on the side and "Tony" is only one of the characters . I really wasn't aware that there was a CD made and there was a lot of water over the dam since then . This was also the case with Noah Howard , in a way . I knew when the recording was originally made at the "Village Vanguard" and heard the playback that night which was supposed to be released someday but I never saw it in record form . In about 1998 my friend ,Len Cohen ,who was a web master among his many talents , contacted Noah Howard in Brussels . Noah was friendly and eventually came to New York to play the " Knitting Factory ", a Free jazz television show , among his gigs in the US . He promised to burn me a CD copy of the record and left the copy with a friend of his in NY but I never got a copy . The CD of "Noah Howard Live at the Village Vanguard" was made and released in end of 2004 by a fellow in Chicago who sent me a copy and I was able to hear it after thirty years or so . The recording did hit the spot though I had remembered it a little different . The listing has one drummer , Rashid Ali , while I thought we had two drummers , the other guy being the guy who was with us week after week , Bobo something ... sorry , I can't remember his name anymore at all even though it was unusual . I also remember a third horn ,Benny Maupin , playing the bass clarinet with Noah Howard on alto and Frank Wright on tenor . I wondered if the CD had been edited to exclude Maupin but I keep forgetting to ask Noah . The music is out of print again and just more baggage to worry with if you dwell upon the incidentals .

In the last ten years I have gotten involved with a computer and found out more about communications online .I am happy to be in touch with Noah again as well as Dave Nuttycomb . Perhaps some of the blanks will be filled in and perhaps it is better to look forward and not backward . Len Cohen died in March 2003 but he initiated me into the Internet . When I play "My Man's Gone Now" sometimes I think of Len but today I realised that sometimes I am thinking of myself ,looking back . My grandmother told me not to look back too much because I would probably bump or trip over something as I was walking forward in life. Memories are not what they appear . Impressions of the past can be better or worse than they really were at the time .Things aren't what the seem to be right under your nose day to day . Whatever happens , you have to take one step at a time to go forward.

Tripping

It is funny to me when I hear the phrase "I'm trippin'" and the people aren't trippin' at all , in fact they are really straight guys using drug codes . It is amazing to me how so much drug and jail vernacular has infiltrated the every day language of the straight folks , the hard workin' Christian folks , as if the rest of the world is just sitting on their thumbs . The politicians have played this phrase so often so, bitterly often , almost like the phrase "The silent majority" which represented the people supposedly backing the Viet Nam War ,or whatever the the Nixon administration was pushing . we have gotten so used to spin that we , as a people , can't see what anything means anymore . But " I'm Trippin' " . Yea right !

I looked around Facebook and didn't see any music from the musicians so I deleted my posts , my links , my music . It is nice that I feel rich enough to give away my efforts but , gee, if I am a sore thumb , why stick out ? No, I am withdrawing . I remember having a friend . My friend said, "Don't betray yourself ." He also told me not to apologise for being human and exposing my tears as well as my joy . He was the one who said , "Don't be let down by the lack of response on the Internet ,most people just don't have anything to say ." I know that some people hunt and peck but , then again , I know that some people have no problem typing , they just really don't have anything to say . It is a mystery to me when I look in the mirror as I am driving and there is a car five feet behind me with a driver who is rapt in conversation on the cell phone . I have to wonder , "Is this one of the people with something to say ?" "Why does he have to be so close behind me ?" It is like Moby Dick driving behind me and beckoning in a way from my mirror at sixty miles an hour . With all the tools , the Internet , the cell phone , and the familiar vernacular from jail and drugs , I am fooled into thinking that there are other people who understand something about anything other than the party line and I forget that I am in Washington DC , another version of Hollywood . Is there anything real here at all ?

Last week I remembered a joy of singing , of playing , of being alive . My expression of the recognition fell on the pavement like an executive in the crash of 1929 . Maybe the garage bands still have some semblance of joy , maybe not . A lot of the bands really were just copying what was already done , performing in public the material of other bands . A lot of the bands just did the same show night after night even though the show was original . I mean playing the same tune over and over again and all it became was money , a job . Some people think this was adulthood . How many times have I heard the phrase , "Well, I used to play but , you know , I have a family ..." Was this an excuse or and explanation for the lack of commitment or the lack of joy , or the lack of actual ability ? I don't know . I do know that when I send a message and get no response to the message , it reminds me of my friends warning and the "Adult" nature of what became of the musicians , the pseudo artist who went into work , hammering away , with all the tools and no soul . I don't mean soul in the sense of "Soul music" or the vernacular where now only black people can use the word , another jailhouse , drug phrase that is watered down , I mean " Where is the beef?" Where is the essence of the craft of Bach , of Stravinsky , of Charlie Parker , Dizzy Gillespie , and the call that brought the modern musicians into playing in the first place ?

We are faced with irony . Wynton Marsalis is Mr. Jazz and the guy doesn't even swing . He is the darling trumpet player in the same tradition of Chet Baker , Miles Davis , and Freddy Hubbard , used by Columbia and eventually set aside for another darling . Marsalis can spout lies and bigotry and be respected in the world of spin . After all he is Black , that makes it all OK , right ? He does play classical trumpet too, doesn't he ? Wait a minute ! The guy doesn't swing ! The emperor has no clothes ! Marsalis is just the tip of the iceberg. It is like blaming the entire economic crisis on "AIG" . "AIG" is only part of the whole . We , as a people have sanctioned the entire climate that brought about a decline . We have accepted "Spin" ,lies as a way of life.

I saw a comment on "Youtube" yesterday as I visited an old video of Frank Sinatra singing . The comment below the video included "Sinatra was the most over-rated singer ...." . This smug remark might be an opinion or it might be someone trying to be accepted in a climate where it has become fashionable to criticize ,Ala MTV ,and not recognise.Seeing this remark reminded me of Sinatra with the Tommy Dorsey band traveling the country in one night stands , a way of life that wasn't easy. Musicians used to make a living in this country . We moved from town to town and not just the big acts . It occurred to me that while Sinatra's singing might have changed , especially at the end of his life , he still was a character that was interesting to a generation because he was among those who were subjected to public scrutiny ,living his life in the camera , revealing his talents and flaws . Still it seemed easier to criticize Sinatra than Marsalis . Marsalis has defenders who spout the party line like a Jehovah's Witness at the door , like ditto heads for Limbaugh . Where is the beef? What happened to the essence of American music ? Where is the soul ?

We have accepted music as a contest on television , a contest that has commercials , a corrupt contest that smugly says "This poetry is not as good as that poetry because it doesn't sell soap as well ." So the sacred cow of capitalism is now running the entire show . A singer can't be a singer and sing the melody written by the composer , the singer must add the current appoggiatura , sometimes entire phrases that are not the melody . The current Southern Baptist Church cliches were fun when Ray Charles introduced them into popular music 1956 but now they are monsters , evil monsters , embellishments added and endorsed by capitalism and not art . Art was never a contest like football . A contest with all the people singing loud ,emotional high notes doesn't show a culture that is aware of the the variations necessary to create art . Music is soft and loud , joy and sadness as is life . It can be a painting , a depiction of the experience of the artist . It isn't going through the motions , showing up for work , using the current appoggiatura, or what the sponsor directs . Art exist because it has to exist not because it is told to exist or because an audience is directed to recognise that it exist . The sacred cow is naked . Capitalism has brought us to the current lack of charm , the current economic crisis , and the illusion of popular art . Greed wasn't the catalyst of the troubadours yet the troubadour brought changes in society like the idea of choosing ones own mate or marrying for love . This concept wasn't a universal quest . The poetry brought forth the question of the possibility to an entire world . The church may have supported organist and composers but it never supported questions . The current church of Capitalism also doesn't support questions in fact what it endorses and supports is conformity and acceptance in favor of the product .

The Emperor is naked ! Doesn't he know? He might be busy on the cell or texting a message even though he really doesn't have anything to say . Maybe he's just "Trippin" .