Much respect to Hanah Jon Taylor and friends for organizing and delivering such a successful jazz event, dubbed “Freedom Fest,” a three day jazz festival right here in Madison.
Happy 3rd birthday to the Madison Center for the Creative and Cultural Arts at 306 W. Dayton Street.
SUPPORT LOCAL MUSIC! And support more jazz music in Madison, please!!!
http://www.downbeat.com/jamesbrown.asp
This article offers a surprisingly candid peek into the experiences that some of the key members of James Brown’s band enjoyed (or not) during their years with JB. Pee Wee Ellis, Fred Wesley, Maceo Parker, Clyde Stubblefield and John “Jabo” Starks all reflect back on the early days, what it was like at the time and how those formative experiences shaped their musical and personal lives. It’s especially nice to hear Clyde speak with appreciation for James Brown. I always have known he didn’t really hate JB or hold serious hard feelings against him, but he often doesn’t like to talk much about the past. This is a nice read…
Ain’t it funky now! I just love these guys, especially Clyde. Special people, special music and fun as hell to listen to and even more fun to play. Thanks, Clyde, and the rest of the James Brown music family!
Hey Alex,
Chew on this…Cuban-born pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba and his band performing Giant Steps at the Mt. Fuji Jazz Festival in 1992. Long before there were Japanese robots playing Coltrane, these guys were rockin’ Japan!!!
And I have to add a link to this YouTube clip for the SOUL factor. It’s not a cerebral as Coltrane’s Giant Steps, but….So What?!?!
Ironic that I would follow up my last blog post congratulating Alex on his new job by posting a new entry about a YouTube movie he just sent me with a short message saying “…just to rub it in.” All in good humor, of course.
Here’s the context for his message. For the past few weeks, I’ve been stumbling through John Coltrane’s Giant Steps changes while we’ve been warming up at the Monday night King Club gig. I never sound as good at it then as I can occassionally achieve after hours of playing at home. It’s a challenge to play and internalize these chordal patterns. They are as enigmatic to comprehend and master as they are beautiful to hear and study.
Alex is great and we enjoy ribbing each other in a good-hearted effort to prod each other to play, grow and expand. Well, at least that’s how I look at it. 
So “just to rub it in,” Alex sent me this YouTube movie of a Japanese robot playing John Coltrane’s Giant Steps at full tempo with no mistakes, nary even a squeek.
But where’s the soul, brother, where’s the SOUL??? 
Still, I feel a little bit like Yoshimi from The Flaming Lips album. Thanks, Alex, for reminding me to keep practicing! lol!
I just noticed that the last two posts to my blog are eulogies to fallen musicians, so I thought it would be good to post something new and lively.
Well, at least this is new…
Alex (a.k.a “Chintzy” on trombone in the Clyde Stubblefield Band) has accepted a new job as “Head of Music Engraving” at musicnotes.com. A youthful 24 and a fairly recent college grad, he is excited to finally land a gig with health insurance and other modern benefits. I guess musicnotes.com specializes in providing online, downloadable sheet music for its customers. They have been around for some time now and I hear the business is doing well, which isn’t always the case for online businesses (remember the dot com bubble?).
Congratulations, Alex. You were due for a nice career break. Now all you need to do is explain to us how “engraving” is part of the online sheet music-making process…
