Copenhagen Pops

Some old Pops videos for your Tuesday. Good Gravy!

Dinah. Dig the band all tapping their feet. So cool.

And from the same concert – Tiger Rag.

Side story: When I was in first grade the music teacher played for the class a Louis Armstrong tune. I didn’t know at the time that it was Pops but I remember very clearly that there was a man with a gravelly voice yelling “Hold That Tiger” over and over again. And then there was the trumpet, singing over the riffing band. I remember really enjoying that song (years later I’ve pieced together that that recording was probably a Louis Armstrong All-Stars recording of Tiger Rag – probably from the late 50’s or early 60’s). Then in second grade (and again in third) I read E.B. White’s “The Trumpet of the Swan.” Between that book (the swan’s name was Louis) and my first grade memory of hearing Armstrong’s “Tiger Rag” I think that the trumpet became imprinted on my mind. So when fourth grade rolled around and they asked me what instrument I wanted to play I said “trumpet.” Pops is still the greatest. My oldest son’s middle name is Armstrong. My youngest son’s middle name is Louis.

Another one from that same Copenhagen concert (why did the Europeans have the sense to record these masters when we didn’t?? Stupid Americans didn’t even realize their own riches!) I Cover the Waterfront – I love how he swings the lyrics. For me, this is THE performance of this tune:

Guess The Trumpet Player Winner

Thanks to all who listened to Thursday’s track and to those who ventured a guess. A couple people knew before even listening. I guess my hint was a dead giveaway for some. Well, the winner of the sixteenth edition of the Outside Pants Guess The Trumpet Player contest is…….my mom. Good work, Mom! The correct answer is Jack Sheldon and the tune was “On Green Dolphin Street” off of the 1958 album “Jack’s Groove.”

Millions of people have heard Jack Sheldon’s voice and his trumpet although most don’t know the name Jack Sheldon. He was one the main voices behind the legendary kids educational series Schoolhouse Rock.

But by the time the 70’s rolled around and Jack was a Schoolhouse Rock-star, Jack had already had a long and colorful career. He was one of the key “West Coast Jazz” players and recorded on tons of albums both as a leader and as a sideman. He was also a comedian and an accomplished actor – movies and lots of television. He was legendary at making people laugh, often with some seriously crude humor. But while everyone else was laughing, Jack was fighting some demons. Drugs, alcohol, family tragedies. His life appeared to be amazing but inside he was a wreck. If you want to see a good movie, check out the 2008 Jack Sheldon documentary “Trying To Get Good: The Jazz Odyssey of Jack Sheldon.” It’s a really well-done look into Jack’s life and celebrity. Jack is honest in his words and even more honest in his music. Really worth watching.

But the point behind picking Sheldon for last week’s contest is to highlight his trumpet playing which really is excellent. I get the feeling that, at least for the first part of his career, Jack Sheldon found himself often in the shadow of Chet Baker. Chet was prettier. Chet got more ladies. Chet didn’t have to work to be a great jazz trumpet player. Chet had that natural, effortless sound. Jack had to work hard to get to the level he had attained. I actually like Jack’s playing more than Chet’s. Jack has more junk and dirt in his sound (although, as he got older, I feel like his sound got more clear and focused and he actually got a more big band kind of sound). Jack plays hipper lines than Chet (Jack knew much more harmony than Chet who played totally by ear). Jack was, at least for the first part of his career, more reliable than Chet. If you hired Jack as a sideman, he’d show up and play great. This didn’t always happen with Chet. Jack could really burn on uptempo tunes and he could melt you with a ballad. And he could play some blues too.  He was the full package and it really would not be fair or accurate to just call him a “West Coast” trumpeter. You could pin that on Shorty Rogers maybe, but Jack had more to offer than that. He was a really multi-dimensional showbiz figure.

As for this recording, it features a mini-big band with arrangements, I am guessing, by Lennie Niehaus. Check out this transcription of Jack’s solo. It’s not the most badass solo of all-time but it fits with the arrangement and it has some tasty and sneaky lines in it. But the key to the solo is Jack’s sound. It’s kinda dirty and spitty but at the same time his tone is open, big, and warm. It’s not easy to get a balance like that. Jack was a master.

He’s still alive, but I don’t think he plays much in public anymore. At least we have his records. And Schoolhouse Rock DVDs.

Guess The Trumpet Player

Hello Readers, it’s time for the sixteenth installment of “Guess The Trumpet Player.” Here’s a hint about this week’s featured player. He doesn’t have a household name (unless you live in a house of trumpet players), but anyone who grew up in the US in the 70’s and 80’s has heard his voice. Remember “Conjunction Junction?” That’s your hint. If you don’t recognize the playing, a quick Google search should turn up the correct answer. But listen to the tune anyway. It’s a short but tasty little trumpet solo.

Click the link (it’s safe), click play, listen, guess the trumpet player. The first person to leave the correct name of this trumpet player in the comments section of this post wins a CD – your choice of Outside Pants Vol. 1 – Old School Players or Outside Pants Vol. 2 – Ron Miles Mix or Outside Pants Vol. 3 – Brownie Mix or Outside Pants Vol.4 – Dave Douglas Mix. The contest ends with Monday’s post.

Here’s the tune: http://www.box.net/shared/u94n9cb7l0

Not Music Related: Broad Street Run Recap and Fighting Cancer

This past Sunday I participated in Philadelphia’s 10 mile Broad Street Run with over 30,000 other runners. It was an amazing experience for me. I am not, nor have I ever been a runner, but I became a runner on Sunday. I finished the race without walking – which honestly was my main goal – but I also managed to somehow finish ahead of 20,000 people and beat my time goal by six minutes (I ran nine minute twenty second miles). Not too bad of a performance considering that the day before I was laid up in bed all day suffering from a crippling migraine. My headache caused me to miss my older sons’ Little League games (something I never like to miss) and also a really sweet gig with PhillyBloco (ironically that gig was outside on Broad Street in front of thousands). Not only could I not handle light or noise that whole day, but I barely was able to eat anything. Aren’t runners supposed to eat lots of carbs the night before a big race?? That didn’t happen for me. But I did make it out of the house Saturday evening – for an important event. More about the Run experience in a minute, but first, the reason why I ran.

One year ago my wife Sara was finishing up treatments for Acute Leukemia at Fox Chase Cancer Center. Yesterday, by the way, marks the official one year mark for Sara being in remission. We are more than grateful to be where we are right now. Back to a year ago – Sara was really looking forward to coming home after seven months of Hell. We were also looking forward to getting away as a family on a week-long, all expenses-paid vacation in Sea Isle City, NJ. This week at the shore was graciously given to us by a group called Jimbo’s Squad. You can find out more about them here, but basically here’s their deal: The patriarch of the family, Jim beat lymphoma but then he got esophageal cancer and was treated at Fox Chase Cancer Center. Unfortunately Jim did not make it. But his family was touched by their experience at Fox Chase so they set up Jimbo’s Squad in his honor. The organization fundraises for Fox Chase and their contributions go towards things that make patients and their families more comfortable while they are undergoing treatments. Things like comfortable blankets, chairs, recliners (like the ones I slept on so many nights in the hospital), laptops, DVDs, boomboxes, etc. In short, they make a difference in people’s lives. Jimbo’s Squad also sends a family stricken with cancer to the shore each summer. Our family was the family selected last year. Their big fundraiser each year is the Broad Street Run and the night before this year’s race Jimbo’s Squad held a big event on South Street and my wife Sara was asked to speak at the event. She was nervous but accepted. Even though I felt horrible, and the last place I needed to be was in a loud room with hundreds of people, I needed to be there with Sara to support her.

Sara stood up and told the room that she was a cancer survivor. A big ovation. She told the crowd about how hard it is to go through the treatment process and she thanked the Jimbo’s Squad members for their amazing contributions toward patient care at Fox Chase. Big ovation. She told everyone how meaningful it was for her and our family to know that she and we had something to look forward to after she came home. A family trip to the beach sounded like heaven. That vacation was not something we could have afforded on our own and to know that it was coming up served as a nice goal to work toward. Light at the end of the tunnel she called it. Sara told the audience that all of the Jimbo’s Squad runners – almost 120 this year - where running not only for themselves but also for those who didn’t win the battle with cancer, and also for those who are fighting right now. It was inspiring and I was really proud of her for being able to share her story. It was also great to be in a room with so many people who cared. And understood. And it was because of the kindness shown to us by Jimbo’s Squad last year I knew that I had to join them and participate in this year’s Broad Street Run. Just to say thanks.

The next morning I woke up at 6am still with a pounding headache and an upset stomache. I felt like crap. But I’d been preparing for this damn Run for months – both mentally and physically. It would feel like a letdown to not do it. I also would have felt like I had let Sara and the boys down. And let down the Jimbo’s Squad team. I couldn’t really eat, but I popped two aspirin/caffeine pills to open up the blood vessels in my head and I caught the bus to Broad and Olney for the start of the race. There were already thousands and thousands of people there. Stretching, walking, talking, warming up. The Broad Street Run is a huge affair but it is really well-organized. I was impressed with how smoothly everything went. There were tons of porta-potties everywhere with long lines of people hoping to empty their bladders before the race. My work friend and very experienced runner, Steve Hamilton told me in advance: skip the porta-potties and just find a dumpster or a wall somewhere. I did. And so did hundreds of other people. I peed next to men and women in a shady alley near the Olney bus station. Pretty surreal.

Then it was about time to line up in our corrals which were organized by the anticipated speed of the runners. Not being an experienced runner, I anticipated a slow race so I was in the yellow corral of fairly slow runners. Turns out I should have been ahead at least one corral as I spent the first 45 minutes of the race just trying to pass people. I’m not a great runner, but I knew that I couldn’t keep up a slow pace like that or I’d never make it. So, 22 minutes after the race officially began it was time for me to start. I said good luck to Lloyd the dude I met while waiting in my corral. Hope you made it, Lloyd. In front of us was a sea of over 20,000 runners who had started before us. What an amazing sight to see: this giant, amoebic organism sliming its way down Broad Street towards City Hall, which by the way looked so, so far away. The race had begun. And for me it was a mental game the whole way. Just don’t stop, whatever you do. But there were thousands of Philadelphians cheering us on the whole entire way. It was amazing and it felt good to be a citizen of Philly. I think I smiled for 75% of the race. And I heard some funny stuff along the way too.

Just after the 2 Mile marker:
Dude #1: Hey man, look, that lady pissed her shorts!
Dude #2: What?! Where??
Dude #1: Right there. The older lady in the green shorts.
Dude #2: Holy shit! She did, she totally pissed her shorts.
Dude #1 and Dude #2 simultaneously: That’s hard core!

After the 3 Mile Marker we saw this guy on the sidelines yelling “Come on, runners, get those knees up. Get those knees up!” A guy running next to me laughed and yelled back “You get your knees up!” Well a few miles later, right before City Hall, there was that same guy yelling “Get those knees up!” He had jumped a subway, gone down a few stops, and hopped out to yell at us some more. Hilarious.

There were bands playing on the sides of Broad Street for the whole ten miles. Some were pretty good. They made me keep running. But really I was just living for the 9 Mile marker. That’s where the Jimbo’s Squad supporters were going to be. And that’s where Sara and the boys were to cheer me on. I was so happy to see them. Sara and Julian (ten) had huge smiles. Gabriel, who’s just four looked a little confused by the whole thing. My middle son Miles (four) had a really intense look on his face like I was in some sort of battle. Well I guess I was. That last mile really sucked. I wanted to stop and walk but I knew that I couldn’t. The course ends only once you make it about a third of a mile into the Navy Yard. All of a sudden there was the finish line. I can’t tell you how relieved I was to finally see it and then step over it and stop. But that was a minor problem - there were hundreds of runners all stopped like a huge human traffic jam. No one could move. We all wanted to keep walking and get some water but it took another five minutes to get to the water. I grabbed a couple of bottles and started wading through the crowd of thousands to work my way back to Sara and the boys. It was so great to see them. To know that I had actually finished. No walking. I set a goal, worked hard, and achieved it (it felt good to set this example for  my sons). I wish life was more like that. To have a sense of completion sometimes is a great thing. It helps you set new goals. And speaking of, next year I’ll be back. Faster and leaner. I’ll plan to start in a faster corral and I’ll shoot for under nine minute miles. Shouldn’t be too hard. And at least next year I’ll know what to expect. And hopefully next year I’ll be running for Sara’s second year of remission. If you made it this far, thanks for reading.

Guess The Trumpet Player Winner

Thanks to all who listened to Thursday’s track and to those who ventured a guess. No one came up with the correct trumpet player which kinda surprised me. There were a few guesses of Nicholas Payton which was probably because of the New Orleans-ish shuffle beat the drummer played, but no, this was not Nick. So the winner of the fifteenth of the Outside Pants Guess The Trumpet Player contest is…….no one.

The correct answer is Roy Hargrove and the tune was of course, Thelonious Monk’s “Straight, No Chaser” and the track came from Roy’s 1991 album “The Tokyo Sessions” (Novus). When this album came out I was a Junior/Senior in high school just starting to listen to a little jazz and some jazz trumpet players. I would usually go to my local library to check out some records which is where I heard my first Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie. There was a girl in my school who was really into jazz. She made me some tapes of Cannonball Adderley and Charlie Parker. My trumpet teacher played me some Clifford Brown and a few other kids would play some Maynard Ferguson for me. I’m not really sure where I first heard of Roy Hargrove but soon I had a couple tapes of his. “The Tokyo Sessions” was the first one I bought. I bought it because the Japanese guys on the cover looked cool. But I also bought the album because it had a version of “Straight, No Chaser” and that was one of the only jazz tunes I knew (because my high school jazz band would play the head and warm up on that tune in our class).

Roy’s version of the tune has a real nice shuffle, almost Second Line-feel to it. It’s a got a bounce to it that I really enjoyed. Kinda funky. And the solos were all excellent. Antonio Hart had a kind of Cannonball fire to his playing (he's since moved on from sounding so Cannonball-influenced - that was twenty years ago, after all). And honestly, I always thought that Roy himself had some of the fire that Cannon’s brother Nat had on the cornet. Nat Adderley is a really underrated player (an upcoming contest trumpet player???) and he always played with a blues feeling that could light up at any second. Roy Hargrove has that power and sense too. It’s always simmering under the surface.  It doesn’t show all the time. He saves it for the right moments. And when that moment comes he lets it go. Then look out. Badass, fiery, bluesy, smokin’ hot stuff comes out of his bell. He’s a really exciting player. And the kicker is that Roy was only 22 years old when he made this record!

I like all eras of Roy. The early, Young Lions-staying-close-to-the-tradition Roy. The experimenting-with-larger-ensembles Roy. The RH Factor-D’Angelo-R&B Roy. He’s always got a gorgeous tone. He always sounds confident. His ideas are hip. He plays the stuff out of the instrument on all tempos. A pretty special cat. That said, I haven’t been crazy about his last two “straight ahead” albums. Part of me wants him to quit playing jazz and go back to the RH Factor stuff which feels like more of where his heart wants to be. But I also love his straight ahead jazz playing so if he wants to continue in that vein I’m cool with that too (and honestly who gives a crap what I think – it’s his career to do whatever he wants). So much promise and talent and attention at a young age can be difficult though. I do hope his path will include many more great records.

Guess The Trumpet Player

Hello Readers, it’s time for the fifteenth installment of “Guess The Trumpet Player.” Something fun this week. The album that this tune is taken from is the first album I ever purchased by this artist. I was in high school and just starting to check out jazz and jazz trumpet players.

Click the link (it’s safe), click play, listen, guess the trumpet player. The first person to leave the correct name of this trumpet player in the comments section of this post wins a CD – your choice of Outside Pants Vol. 1 – Old School Players or Outside Pants Vol. 2 – Ron Miles Mix or Outside Pants Vol. 3 – Brownie Mix or Outside Pants Vol.4 – Dave Douglas Mix. The contest ends with Monday’s post.

Here’s the tune: http://www.box.net/shared/sdzg3fdny2

Richter

“Listening to Bach now and then is good, if only for hygienic reasons.” Sviatoslav Richter (1915-1997)