Hello from Kyoto! Powerful and inspiring post. Like you said: ‘It happens in the moment. You don’t choose these things. They choose you.’ It’s similar for me when it comes to a transformative tea experience I encountered two years ago.
Great read Ted. Back in day (mid 50's) at 17 I would escape the suburbs and head into Washington, DC for a bit os drinking. Musically I was listening to pretty much every other teenager listened to. I found a small bar/club on Dupont Circle and wondered and got my drink. On stage was Mose Allison. Didn't have a clue but what was going on of course and had never heard this sort of music. i returned several weeks later probably knowing they would serve but maybe something more. This night it was Charlie Bird with Keter Betts on bass. Some 68 years later I picked up the acoustic bass and undertook the study of jazz. Got almost ten years under my belt and still working on it and playing out as much as I can. Never know I guess when the seed sprouts.
Ted, your reminiscence took me back to 1971 when a couple friends and I made our pilgrimage to our first "live jazz" show at the VV in Greenwich Village...Imagine our delight after seeing Rahsaan Roland Kirk ands "exotic" performance! I was hooked, too!
Thanks for this! I got to study with Kenny for 6 years and it was a truly wonderful experience (and he held Yusef in such high esteem). He actually still plays that tune on his own gigs, but with the name he recorded it under, “Lemuria.” (his version of that with Ben Riley and the recently departed Ray Drummond is lovely).
What an article! What a moment! Congratulations for taking that ball and running with it and for following through on that moment... My similar experience was going to see Leon Russell as a 15 year old at the Fillmore West and Miles opened (!)... And it was the Bitches Brew tour... Honestly, I've never been the same musically, socially or spiritually. I never had your discipline but still employ the vibe from that night with the jamming I do.
My experience was in high school. I was ed in chief of our literary magazine, which got us a trip to Columbia to learn about--well, I don't remember what the point was, the agenda or the means of our going (besides a school bus). I was in a class about poetry, and the prof read John O'Hara's "The Day Lady Died," and at the end I also stopped breathing. I want to do that, I thought. I will write poetry.
Nice track, Ted. Impressive that you were inspired and not daunted by the task ahead. My ONE …a coworker, house pianist at Mr Kelley’s in Chicago, sat me arms length of the keyboard for Oscar Peterson. He commanded those keys. Godlike. I envy good jazzers. They speak a universal language. I’ve worked with a few legends and studied with one early days, who described jazz as a series of miraculous recoveries… most are smart and accomplished in multiple arenas, like Ted here. I coulda shoulda BUT the girls dug guitar ballads back then so…
Great to read this. the The End Of The Open Road album is beautiful!
Your trio was top shelf. Great players. It must be fulfilling to relish that work.
IMO the organic immediacy of jazz can be an opportunity for us to sense a very powerful aspect of musical performance; the living and emotional engagement it creates between the performers and listeners. It could be as primal to us as gathering around fires. The resulting experience is truly unique and one of a kind.
I can't remember when I learned to love jazz. A lot of what was popular on my local radio station when I was a kid in the early 60s was what I call jazz-infused--Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Tony Bennett, etc. But the first exposure to real jazz that I can remember was the Stan Getz soundtrack to the movie Mickey One, directed by Arthur Penn and starring Warren Beatty, their warm-up to Bonnie and Clyde. The look of the movie and the score seemed so ultra-cool to me then.
Lovely article!
I went to clubs in NY, SF and NY till I started my own record label and managed Jazz, Hip Hop and Rock Artists. Great article
Hello from Kyoto! Powerful and inspiring post. Like you said: ‘It happens in the moment. You don’t choose these things. They choose you.’ It’s similar for me when it comes to a transformative tea experience I encountered two years ago.
Great read Ted. Back in day (mid 50's) at 17 I would escape the suburbs and head into Washington, DC for a bit os drinking. Musically I was listening to pretty much every other teenager listened to. I found a small bar/club on Dupont Circle and wondered and got my drink. On stage was Mose Allison. Didn't have a clue but what was going on of course and had never heard this sort of music. i returned several weeks later probably knowing they would serve but maybe something more. This night it was Charlie Bird with Keter Betts on bass. Some 68 years later I picked up the acoustic bass and undertook the study of jazz. Got almost ten years under my belt and still working on it and playing out as much as I can. Never know I guess when the seed sprouts.
Ted, your reminiscence took me back to 1971 when a couple friends and I made our pilgrimage to our first "live jazz" show at the VV in Greenwich Village...Imagine our delight after seeing Rahsaan Roland Kirk ands "exotic" performance! I was hooked, too!
Beautiful. I wrote about a similar moment that I had in high school when Victor Wooten played Amazing Grace on solo bass next to me:
https://yearofbach.substack.com/p/an-interlude-aging-alongside-the?r=s8ze
Thanks for posting and for all the accompanying links, I read/listened to them all. Your stories have so much resonance for all musicians I think.
Thanks for this! I got to study with Kenny for 6 years and it was a truly wonderful experience (and he held Yusef in such high esteem). He actually still plays that tune on his own gigs, but with the name he recorded it under, “Lemuria.” (his version of that with Ben Riley and the recently departed Ray Drummond is lovely).
Ted, if Jazz was meant to be your vocation, then that was the Substack you were meant to write.
We've been waiting for it, and here it is!
Not everybody gets such a day in their life. You are a fortunate one.
What an article! What a moment! Congratulations for taking that ball and running with it and for following through on that moment... My similar experience was going to see Leon Russell as a 15 year old at the Fillmore West and Miles opened (!)... And it was the Bitches Brew tour... Honestly, I've never been the same musically, socially or spiritually. I never had your discipline but still employ the vibe from that night with the jamming I do.
This article deserves many more likes!
My experience was in high school. I was ed in chief of our literary magazine, which got us a trip to Columbia to learn about--well, I don't remember what the point was, the agenda or the means of our going (besides a school bus). I was in a class about poetry, and the prof read John O'Hara's "The Day Lady Died," and at the end I also stopped breathing. I want to do that, I thought. I will write poetry.
Liked: "At the end I also stopped breathing."
and
"I will write poetry."
Nice track, Ted. Impressive that you were inspired and not daunted by the task ahead. My ONE …a coworker, house pianist at Mr Kelley’s in Chicago, sat me arms length of the keyboard for Oscar Peterson. He commanded those keys. Godlike. I envy good jazzers. They speak a universal language. I’ve worked with a few legends and studied with one early days, who described jazz as a series of miraculous recoveries… most are smart and accomplished in multiple arenas, like Ted here. I coulda shoulda BUT the girls dug guitar ballads back then so…
Great to read this. the The End Of The Open Road album is beautiful!
Your trio was top shelf. Great players. It must be fulfilling to relish that work.
IMO the organic immediacy of jazz can be an opportunity for us to sense a very powerful aspect of musical performance; the living and emotional engagement it creates between the performers and listeners. It could be as primal to us as gathering around fires. The resulting experience is truly unique and one of a kind.
I can't remember when I learned to love jazz. A lot of what was popular on my local radio station when I was a kid in the early 60s was what I call jazz-infused--Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Tony Bennett, etc. But the first exposure to real jazz that I can remember was the Stan Getz soundtrack to the movie Mickey One, directed by Arthur Penn and starring Warren Beatty, their warm-up to Bonnie and Clyde. The look of the movie and the score seemed so ultra-cool to me then.
Wow what an incredible piece you have written merci , love your writing .