FLUX,

A while back you asked me what it was like playing to a crowd that size.
(http://www.prince.org/msg/15/117467)

As I mentioned, I hadn't thought about that gig in quite some time. But
after you brought it up, and there's another good TD gig coming up in February,
I gave it some serious thought and a flood of memories came back.
It's taken some time to get it all in order and has become quite long so i'm doing it in 2 parts.
What led up to the gig and then the gig itself.

Get a vat of coffee, you're gonna need it.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=.

Where do I start without making this a novel?
(I obviously couldn't)


Probably how I got to do the gig in the 1st place.

The Background:
This goes back to my best friend and master trumpet player Longineu Parsons.
We met in Florida decades ago, played in bands together and became good friends beyond the music.
The most notable band was a 10 piece unit (4 piece horn section)
consisting of Music Majors from Florida A&M University (most were part of
the Marching 100 , symphonic and jazz orchestras). These cats were the
best players at school and some serious precision freaks. When I say
precision freaks, imagine cats that could play a tune like Oakland
Stroke at 5X speed retaining the groove and horn lines with supreme
accuracy. Outside of normal 4 days a week full band rehearsals, there
would be separate section rehearsals (horns, rhythm section,
percussion). On the rare occasions when no gigs were booked on the
weekends, rehearsals were also scheduled. The reason the band stay booked
on a regular basis was because we could do straight-ahead jazz, pop, rock
and funk gigs. The band was booked as an opening act for Rufus, Bootsy's
Rubber Band, The Brides of Funkenstein, The Manhattans and when Ramsey
Lewis had to cancel, Earth, Wind and Fire.

After a few years with this group, Longineu moved to NYC and I came to
L.A. We lost contact for quite a few years. During this time Longineu did
gigs for the King of Morocco, the President of Gabon, the Royal Family of
the Netherlands, the President of Austria, the U.S. Ambassador to France,
the Royal Family of Monaco as well as artists like Cab Calloway, Nat
Adderley, Cecil Taylor, Nancy Wilson, Joe Williams, Herbie Mann, Philly
Joe Jones, Archie Shepp, Sun Ra, Sam Rivers, David Murray,
Billy Harper, Jimmy Witherspoon, Manu Dibongo, Sugar Blue, and many others.

In 2000, I decided to try to restablish contact with him just to see how he was doing.
His Mom informed me that he was back in Tallahassee and gave me his
current number. As luck would have it, he was coming to L.A. in a few
weeks to do the Playboy Jazz Festival as part of a Cannonball
Adderley Tribute Band consisting of Nancy Wilson (vocals), Vincent
Herring (sax), Roy McCurdy (drums), Walter Booker (bass), George Duke and
Michael Wolf (piano). With the exception of Longineu and Vincent, these
players were all part of Cannonball's band at some point.

He arranged backstage passes/tickets for myself and my son and we met him
at his hotel the day of the performance. Even though a few decades had
passed, our conversation picked up as if we'd just seen each other a few
days ago. There was a rehearsal scheduled so we rode to the Hollywood Bowl
with Walter Booker via a shuttle service (this will be interesting later)
arranged by the show promoters. Got to watch this great band rehearse
(imagine sitting 3 feet away from George Duke listening to him "warm up")
and needless to say the actual performance was stellar (Airto being added
at last minute on percussion).

On the shuttle ride back to the hotel, we were joined by the Escovedo family who also performed.
Guess who I sat next to?

Longineu and I continued revisiting the past. Old band incidents and the like.
At some point in the conversation it was decided that we should somehow
get together and play again.

About a week or two after the Playboy Jazz Festival. I got a call at work
from Longineu that went something like this:

L: Hey, how's it going? How'd you like to do a gig with me next month?
Me: Of course. What's the deal.
L: It's a Jazz festival.
Me: Cool. Somewhere in Florida?
L: No. It's in Bogota, Columbia.
Me: (stunned silence) Ah...great. What tunes are in the set.
L: All originals. I'll send you a CD with the tunes.
Me: Any rehearsals?
L: Nah, we'll just discuss the arrangements once we get there.
Me: What about equipment?
L: You'll have to bring your guitar but just specify what kind of amp
you'll need. You're also gonna have to get a Passport and a Visa for
Bogota.

In any case this well-paying gig was obtained via a "sister-school"
relationship between a university in Bogota and FAMU where Longineu
maintains an artist-in-residence/Asst. Prof. of Trumpet position. My
transportation (from L.A. to Bogota and back), food/lodging and payment
were all taken care of by the Bogota government. The contractual
conditions were that the day after we arrived in the city, we would
perform at a music seminar for the university and the following day
perform at the festival. I won't bore you with the Passport/Visa
aqcuisition. Let's just say that the process was drawn out to the point
where it almost looked like I wouldn't have them in time.

The band consisted of Longineu (trumpet), *Sam Rivers (sax), Lindsey
Sarjeant (piano), LP (drums), Von Barlow (percussion), Jeff Handley (bass)
and myself on guitar.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
*(Sidebar)
Sam Rivers is well known in avant-garde jazz cirles.
But in his 50+ year career he's played with Billie Holiday, Jimmy
Witherspoon, Wilson Pickett, B.B. King, Maxine Brown, T-Bone Walker,
Charles Mingus, Cecil Taylor, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis among many
others along with heading his own trio and orchestra.


This photo is from a Miles Davis gig in Tokyo (1964) featuring Sam (in
photo), Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams. He on the Columbia
release "Miles in Tokyo".

I just discovered that Sam is rumored to have jammed with Hendrix around
the time of Woodstock.
The next time I speak with him this is one of the 1st questions on my list.
www.rivbea.com (under partial construction)
(you can also check out his write up on www.allmusic.com)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Bathroom break.

To be continued...

tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm
[Edited 12/12/04 17:07pm]
[Edited 12/12/04 18:18pm]

I'm obviously speachless... , please excuse. The list of who's who has me feeling like, o.k. , i've heard all these muso's play through my stereo , but as you've met them they seem so much more real. Not fictional characters hiding in my record collection .
Wierd , i can kinda see the whole thing, like a clarification of reality. Very grateful & honored for the time and effort you've gone to to share this, with me, and the Org. Community.


Really ! 'Sheila' ....?
The call to go to Bogota, Columbia. That must have been fantastic; but totally overwhelming I suspect ? Somewhat like being struck in the guts by an Iron Butterfly !
To be thrown that oppurtunity ; and have to learn the material and get yourself up to the task , Yeh, I don't know what more to say...


Just back from the bathroom Were you shit scared ?

Looking forward to Part 2.
[Edited 12/13/04 11:17am]

It's stories like this that make me shake my head. As in "we're not worthy", on my knees like Wayne and Garth.

I can't wait for Pt II

Slave2daGroove said:

It's not even about that Slave.
Everybody is worthy. You'll see when you read Pt.II

tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm

FLUX said:

Well I just hope the real reason for all this is understood.


Really ! 'Sheila' ....?

The one and only. Man is she fine. And a great musician.
Folks should catch her in a musical setting like that to see what she's really capable of.



Oh yeah. But not for the reasons you might think.

tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm