Abdullah Ibrahim: “The Wedding” (1980), prob. Carlos Ward on alto
Jeremy and I were at Sweet Basil, the great jazz club in New York City, some time at the tail end of the ’80s. We were listening to pianist-composer Abdullah Ibrahim (former name, Dollar Brand) and his band, Ekare’. This far past, I don’t remember who played in it except for Ibrahim and baritone saxophonist Charles Davis, who had played on a Steve Lacy record I owned. People entered shortly after us and took the table in front of us. The drummer Max Roach was one of them.
I whispered to Jeremy: “That’s Max Roach!”
“Why don’t you say something to him?” Jeremy said. “Tell him how much you admire his playing.”
“Oh, I couldn’t do that,” I said. “He deserves his privacy.”
Some time later, I saw Roach and his quartet (Odeon Pope on sax) at Hamilton College as part of a package deal of New Music performances. I went back stage after Roach’s set ago shake his hand and tell him how excited I was to hear him live.
He said “Thanks.”
That was my intimate relationship with the great jazz drummer Max Roach.
***
Early in our marriage, Esther and I were sitting at a drug store soda counter. (They had such things in those days.) A man came in and sat on the other side of Esther, two seats away.
“That’s Cannonball Adderley!” I whispered to her. He was drinking a soda when we left.
That was my intimate relationship with the great alto sax player Cannonball Adderley.
***
I actually sat and talked with Art Blakey. His Jazz Messengers were playing a club in Pittsburgh. A bunch of Showboat people –we were docked in Pittsburgh– went over to hear him. Between sets, he stopped by our table to say hello. When he heard that Howie Taylor was a drummer, he sat and talked for ten-fifteen minutes. He was nice. A hell of a drummer.
That was my intimate relationship with the great jazz drummer Art Blakey.
***
Ellis Larkins-Ruby Braff: “Ain’t Misbehavin'” (1972)
Esther and I were in NYC and decided to go hear some jazz. I got to choose. Lee Konitz was in town with his nonette but I’d seen him once with Gerry Mulligan and at another club, pianist Ellis Larkins was playing –solo or trio, I forget which. He’d backed Ella on some of her best recordings. When we got there, the place wasn’t empty but it wasn’t crowded either, especially for a Friday night.
Maybe that’s why he noticed us, either that or I suppose my visible excitement when he came on to play and after he finished songs. Between sets, he stopped by our table and sat and chatted with us for fifteen minutes or so, until it was time to go back on the stand. He was really good, by the way.
That was my intimate relationship with the great jazz pianist Ellis Larkins
***
Dave McKenna: “Button Up Your Overcoat/Let It Snow”: bop and stride mixed
We were in New York celebrating Jeremy’s 21st or 22nd birthday, I don’t remember which. We ended the day at a Chinese restaurant cum jazz club in Manhattan, where pianist Dave McKenna was playing. On our way out, I stopped by his piano to tell him how excited I was to hear him live. He nodded.
That was my intimate relationship with the great jazz pianist Dave McKenna.
***
Oh, I’ve had encounters with many of the greats! Unfortunately, most were in my head.
***
When pianist Marian McPartland played at Wells College, we went to a reception afterwards where I got to shake her hand and say a few words to her drummer, Billy Hart, who had played on a Miles Davis album .
I saw Billy Hart perform a second time forty years later, at Nighttown in Cleveland, with the Cookers –Billy Harper (tenor), Cecil McBee (bass), Eddie Henderson (trumpet). Hart was in his mid-seventies by then but still playing with the joy and fervor of a young man. I didn’t talk to him but I did get to tell Cecil McBee how much I loved his work. A half year later, same place, I told guitarist Charlie Hunter the same.
***
One night at the Aurora Inn, in Aurora, NY, we ran into pianist John Ogden, whom we had heard play that evening at the college, solo Liszt.
Yes, I know he’s a classical musician, not a jazz musician. But he was great.
***
And one time in New York on business, I went to dinner at the Tavern on the Green in Central Park with a former student of mine from Wells College, Wendy Baker. The Illinois Jacquet Orchestra was playing. When I went to the restroom to recycle my coffee, one of the band members was using the next stall over.
ADDITIONAL LISTENING
John Ogden: Liszt: “Feux follets” (1972)
MUSIC & ME 