Laid back late night music

John Watt

Member
stu! That was one of the best things to come out of my full time band days,
and that's sleeping when I'm tired, getting out of bed when I feel like it,
eating what I want when I want, and soaking in hot tubs.
I had all day to act like a tourist, and visit audience members at their jobs,
happy to canoe for free, or play tennis, pool, just visiting people,
and then I had to be ready for stage time at nine, where it was at for me.
I miss those six-nighters, a nicer gig than being a big star with a big show,
and too much time waiting around to get onstage.
The bigger the stage, the further away it was, the more inaccessible it was,
the more liabilities there were, and concert crowds bored me compared to dance floors.

Late one night on a long distance bike hike, pedalling along Chippawa Creek,
I heard two big birds with their mating calls, thinking geese, Canada geese, or swans,
more beautiful than any human vocals I ever heard,
an interplay of voices rising and falling, for almost half an hour.
That's one of the beauties about riding late at night in the dark, around the Niagara Peninsula,
still a major north american migration route for many species.
I get to see and hear many creatures that avoid humans by day.

There was a rider, a bicycle rider, who came from far awa, and in the dark he brought,
his heart was sighin', his eyes were cryin', for all the green fields that were lost.
And there was seaweed all along the shore, he had more miles to walk like a long loofah sponge,
and with the skirlin' of his voice he sang, of those broad-brick'd moon-lick'd nights ashore.

I...could...wait...a...million...years....noo.

It's nice to riff one off in the jazz forum.
 
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Dorsetmike

Member
of those broad-brick'd moon-lick'd nights
And I thought you claimed Scots ancestry, what you mean is

"A braw bricht moonlicht nicht" with the "ch" being hard as in charisma or the Scots och or German ach; translates as "A brave, bright, moonlight night"
 

John Watt

Member
Dorsetmike! I don't just claim Scottish ancestry, that's all I have.
What you've typed is closer to Gaelic than the Germanic spelling,
and I was thinking a broad bricked road, like the old industrial road I passed over,
what makes it riffing offa font in the jazz forum.
You might see this as disrespect for my own culture,
but my parents wouldn't let my grandparents, aunts and uncles,
speak Gaelic in front of me, saying I had to learn proper English.
I don't have an accent and still don't understand the last words my father spake.

I hope you're not the kind of listener who hears the singer make spelling mistakes.

HansZimmerIsaBro! I listened to your link, hearing some 30's art deco big band jazz.
The sound and style of a clarinet is an important aspect of my guitar playing.
Artie Shaw is my biggest jazz influence, and my amplified metal clarinet playing friend is another.
 
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stu

New member
Never had a laid back nicht, last nicht. To busy mowing grass and cleaning out the garden shed. Found stuff in there I hadn't seen for a hundred years. This proved time consuming, especially when I came across an old manual push mower. I cleaned it up, oiled it, sharpened the blades and would you believe... I found it to be more efficient and time saving than the electric mower! Had to rake up the grass but even then it took half the time including plugging in, rolling out the cable, and emptying the other mower bin. It ran like a rolls royce mower, as I just strolled behind it without breaking sweat. There's no mower like an old mower. I will never use the other mower any mower. What mower can I say? What has all this to do with laid back jazz I hear you ask...well nothing really. I just don't care anymower.:)

Here's Chet Baker, playing and singing......The Mower I See You.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=_eelPdIB2eI

This one was from a concert I recently attended by the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra with trumpeter Paola Fresu -'Plays Miles Davis'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=3TwpOuxMNK0

Och Aye the noo!
Stu.
 
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OLDUDE

New member
Hi stu, "Och Aye the Noo" to you too. My own Scottish roots are a mere 2 generations away,
(but my Yorkshire roots are only one generation adrift). Therefore not much right to call
myself a "Geordie", until you hear me talking.

Does Billy Eckstine sound relaxing enough?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLFD491E95B6A08348&v=z-3GZJ-1XE0&feature=player_detailpage

By the way stu with regard to your trumpet/orchestra track, it has occurred to me that
many Orchestral lead trumpeters are probably jazzmen on the side.
What do you think?
 
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stu

New member
Right John, I believe quite a few lead trumpet players were jazz improvisors. At the time of writing this I can come up with two, Buddy Childers (Stan Kenton lead), and Bobby Shew. There are many others but got to think about it.

In the meantime and just for fun though here's a comedy turn by Pete Barbutti, sometime fourth trumpet player, pianist, and comedian on the Tonight Show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=FnsEZ9q2hOc.

And Pete on piano.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=2alzCrOm7zY
 
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stu

New member
After a longish hiatus I have edged back into the late night listening club.
I got me a new dog and a new cat, and after some improvising lessons they now dig jazz- the 'Sounds Of Surprise'.
The dog barks a good B flat and the cat can hit a Maynard Fergusonish high C, while I just scat around the edges.
Just as well that the neighbours don't hear us or they would all want a piece of the action.
We three all listened to Roy Eldridge and Budd Johnson wail on The Nifty Cat, and dug Count Basie's Doggin' Around.
 

OLDUDE

New member
Hi Stu,
I have just realised that at the time of your shewhorn "comment",
although I was amazed and intrigued by the Shew performance,
I forgot to comment on it.
Well never too late.
I thought it was an extraordinary and interesting incident. Have you any additional
info on the shewhorn instrument?
 

stu

New member
John, All I know is that he is thought to have had much input on the design and got someone to work on the idea and to manufacture the instrument.
 
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