Ornette Coleman on Nov. 14 Sunday, not Nov. 19

[Gerry Storm]

<<But gee, Gerry, you really knew a hell of a lot of
musicians!<<

My father was a swing fan. It played all the time in the house I grew up in.
Sometimes my parents hosted parties or attended same and took the kids
along...always swing music. Sometimes on Sundays, after picnics at the lake,
we would wind up in a honky-tonk called the Brass Rail which had a juke box
which we kids were allowed to feed dimes into. And then there was radio, it
always played in our house and when the others were asleep I secretly
listened with my ear up close to the speaker.

Started collecting records when I was 12, big band swing. I knew all the
parts of all swing chestnuts, Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, Harry
James, etc. Joined the junior high band the same year, playing trumpet. My
favorites were Louie Armstrong and Harry James. Had a paper route through
"nigger town" (ages 12 and 13) where I heard the church music including
witnesssing a holy roller ceremony, and R&B from joints. Started reading
Downbeat and Metronome around age 14 and all the books on jazz in the local
library.

The trumpet broke and I picked up baritone horn, family too poor to buy
another trumpet. Became first chair baritone horn player in high school, won
lots of medals, I could soar above the band, no jive. Loved playing marches.
Had job at record store and memorized the catalogue, private collection
swelled. Met real live jazz musicians who adopted me 'cause I knew more
about jazz history and gossip than they did.

Good buddy's parents bought him a drum set and we learned together under the
guidance of excellent teacher. Started sitting in with Black group at honky
tonks, The Dizzy Lee Trio, almost a reguolar in the group. Joined swing
orchestra playing valve trombone.

Sold joints from childhood buddy who had become a criminial (hood) to jazz
musician friends and was admitted into fraternity of tokers/swingers (the
best players). Put down the trombone and started playing drums with swing
orchestra 'cause I was the only one who could cut a groove. Also learnd the
tuba at school and thought about switching to string bass but high school
ran out and there wasn't time. Did learn the bari sax well enough to play
marches.

Saw every band that came through Waco including Kenton, Herman, Bill
Monroe,Lester Young, R&B groups like Coasters, Midnighters, etc. At one time
knew all the words to the songs on the straight hit parade, the swing hit
parade, and the hillbilly hit parade.

Graduated from HS (now 17 and 6-6) and immediately hitched to LA to see the
cool jazz players like Shorty Rogers, Shelly Manne, Lord Buckley, Chet
Baker, Gerry Mulligan (changed the way I spelled my name after Geru), the
Kenton alumni who hung out at Zardi's, et al. Returned to Texas after a
wondrous summer and continued to study drums, playing a few gigs and meeting
more musicians including western swing cats who were also "vipers".

Joined Air Force and was stationed in New Haven which made weekend trips to
Birdland, Cafe Bohemia, Basin St. East, Hickory House, etc. part of routine.
Met lots of cats at Charlie's Tavern (where all the jazz players hung out)
and often accompanied them to gigs where I was put on the guest list. Must
have seen Count Basie a hundred times (had befriended Marshall Royal, lead
alto player in the band). Greatest band I ever heard (the late '50's
version).

During a year in Tokyo met all the best Japanese players and got seriously
into Hard Bop which remains my favorite music and in my eyes the best
America has produced. Had a girlfriend who called herself Stella (a very
classy whore) who loved jazz as much as me and we made the rounds together.
Stella was the love of my life and I have never met another woman who was
her equal.

Returned to states and was stationed in Washington DC ('59). Soon was making
all the rounds of the DC clubs. Met Charlie Byrd, a local musician who was
playing Brazilian music which entranced me. With a Black girl friend named
Mamie whom I met at a Jimmy Smith gig, saw every group who came to town and
met lots of them including Max, Monk, Philly Joe, Jimmy Smith, Stanley
Turrentine, Shirley Scott, Sonny Stitt, Johnny Griffin, et al. This was the
late '50's when Ray Charles was starting to come on strong and his music was
played at all the parties. During this period I was, except for skin color
and genes, Black.

Discharged and returned to Waco where I put together a group which included
Luiz, a Mulato Brazilian, and Ike, a Mexican buddy from childhood who was
one hell of a jazz trumpet player. We played in the Black joints and the
country clubs but mostly in officers clubs at Ft. Hood and James Conally
AFB.

When you guys were doing the folk sings I was enrolled at North Texas State
and playing dixieland on weekends and wishing I could play like the cats at
Luann's where all the heavies jammed on Sundays (Fathead Newman, James Clay,
Leroy Coper, Dude Cahn, Billy Harper, etc).

So when I finally arrived in Austin in '65 and put together The Blue Crew
with Luiz, James Polk and Fred Smith, I was rather well rehearsed. You know
most of the rest of the story which had me playing with the Conqueroo and
Freddy King in the late '60's and starting a career with the union when I
returned from SF in '76. Of course the union gig put me into many more
situations to meet and hear musicians including many a classical concert. I
can tell you that all the good players share a common thread, a Neptunian
connection. Without it you can scream your head off, dance, jive, posture,
act out many a role, and still fall short of musician hood.

I loved musicians, Pepe, from the first time I heard a swinging band...and
still do. A good musician is the finest creation of the great maker. I still
listen, via the internet mostly, and still play and am better than ever and
enjoying having become what I always wanted to be, a jazz sage.

In my old age, however, I tend to listen more to the great romantic
composers whose material is the good book of jazz, Cole Porter, Gershwin,
Arlen, Rogers, and especially Jobim of whom I do not seem to be able to get
enough.

Love,
G



----- Original Message -----
From: "Pepi Plowman" <pepstoil@yahoo.com>
To: <austin-ghetto-list@pairlist.net>
Sent: Saturday, November 06, 2004 10:59 PM
Subject: Re: Ornette Coleman on Nov. 14 Sunday, not Nov. 19


> I saw Ornette Coleman AND Thelonius Monk at the Jazz
> Workshop on North Beach, way back when.  I never got
> to hear Miles play, but saw him at some place on
> Fillmore where John Handy was playing.  He was sitting
> alone a couple of tables away from the stage, and the
> whole area was cordoned off--a very isolated guy.
>
> But gee, Gerry, you really knew a hell of a lot of
> musicians!
>
> pep
> --- Harry Edwards <laughingwolf@ev1.net> wrote:
>
> > oops. Meant to say he probably was in that band.
> > twisty
> >
> >
> >
> > On Nov 4, 2004, at 1:48 PM, Michael Eisenstadt
> > wrote:
> >
> > > We used to have all the early Ornette LP albums.
> > To our
> > > ear his early stuff is as classic as Coltrane. The
> > sidemen
> > > I remember from him playing at the Five Spot were
> > Don
> > > Cherry on trumpet and Charlie Haden on bass. I
> > dont
> > > remember the drummer which according to the
> > Internet
> > > would have to have been Ed Blackwell or Billy
> > Higgins,
> > > at least on the records but maybe, just maybe
> > there was
> > > NO drummer in the live sets. Seems hard to believe
> > but
> > > Coleman did everything differently. I gotta check
> > on this.
> > >
> > > I do seem to remember Coleman playing a weird
> > white
> > > colored plastic saxophone. This would have been
> > around
> > > 1968.
> > >
> > > As for Miles in the 1958 period, I count myself
> > blessed
> > > or at least very lucky to have heard him that
> > winter at a
> > > black night club on Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn. I
> > do
> > > remember our table as being the only white table
> > there
> > > and I remember the perfectly fitted tan fawn
> > colored 3
> > > piece suit he wore. He didnt look at the audience
> > there
> > > either. That band  would have probably had John
> > > Coltrane on tenor but as I didnt know squat about
> > jazz at
> > > the time, I will never know if I heard Coltrane
> > live or not.
> > >
> > > As for $45, it isnt $45, its $20 which in these
> > days
> > > seems pretty cheap. As the house wont be full
> > > (who the hell knows from Ornette Coleman in
> > Austin?)
> > > it will be my pleasure to infiltrate from the $20
> > section
> > > to the $35 or $45 sections or win a free pair from
> > KUT.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
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