Blindfold Bootleg Series: Walter Smith III

I’ve maintained for years that Walter Smith III is the Wayne Shorter of my generation.  I say this of the Houston native because like Wayne Shorter, who’s played alongside the greatest trumpet players of his generation and above (Miles, Freddie Hubbard, and Lee Morgan immediately come to mind); Walter has also done the same with his generation, performing with the likes of Ambrose Akinmusire, Sean Jones, Darren Barrett, Terence Blanchard, and Dave Douglas.  Walter has one of the most seamless streams of music originality that you can imagine coming from and improvising music.  He’s dona ALL of his homework so he is at home in any style that’s laid before him.  Not only is he a great saxophonist, he’s also an excellent composer, arranger, and educator.  Here’s what Walter had to say after hearing the examples:

Example 1: Marcus Strickland live at the Regattabar Cambridge Ma 2008
Marcus Strickland (sounds like his tone and time feel)

Response:  I’ve been listening to Marcus for years…I met him at IAJE when I was in high school and he was playing a white LA Sax! He blew me away then and continues to be one of my favorites and a real torch bearer for our generation.

Example 2: Myron Walden live at Fat Cat NYC (year unknown)
Not really sure on this one ….if I had to guess I would say Myron Walden? Sounds like his alto phrasing and articulation a bit, but I don’t know his tenor playing quite as well as his alto playing.

Response:  It’s cool how you can hear someone’s nuance regardless of the instrument they are playing! His playing with fellowship was a huge inspiration to me and still is. Also “Like A Flower Seeking the Sun” is still on the desert island list…

Example 3: Logan Richardson live at the Duc du Lombards Paris 2013
Logan Richardson (pretty awesome sound and patience).

Response: One of the absolute trend setters on the saxophone these days who is always pushing and inspiring. Another dude that’s carrying the torch for the generation!

Example 4: Ravi Coltrane live at the Jazz Standard 2013
So familiar but i can’t place it! My guess is going to be J.D. Allen but it’s more Trane than Wayne here.

Response: I can’t believe I missed this one! Especially because I’m pretty sure that I was at this show one day that week! Ravi has great ideas and great phrasing and always brings the energy!

Example 5: George Garzone live at the Museum Boston (year unknown)
Again, super familiar but I can’t place it! great sound/taste.

Response: Wow! Garzone! He’s a bad dude and has taught just about everybody I know at some point. Always great to hear him.

Example 6:  Bill McHenry Live at the Village Vanguard Nyc (year unknown)

hmm…

Response: I only have “Roses” and the quartet record with Paul Motian so I’m not as familiar with his playing as the rest of the guys here but getting more of his stuff is definitely on my list of things to do. Great ideas and unique directions with his phrases. Very cool.

Example 7:  Tim Warfield live at Scullers (year unknown)
Tim Warfield? Sounds like his sound and inflection for sure.

The one thing that’s happening here is I’m realizing how small my sound is!
Response: Tim is my man! Fell in love with his playing from the Nicholas Payton records in high school and he’s definitely a powerful saxophone player. He has one of the most colorful tones and set of inflection of anybody. I’d also imagine it would be fun to play in a rhythm section behind him since he has so much energy all the time.

Do yourself a big favor if you haven’t already and pick up Walter’s latest record on his website!!

List of Upcoming Performances!

Hello everyone,

Here’s a list of performances for those who are interested:

1/11 SUNDAY 8:30pm
Patrick Cornelius Octet
Cornelia Street Cafe

1/13 TUESDAY 7pm
City of Poets
Joe’s Pub (APAP)

1/16 FRIDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

1/17 SATURDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

1/23 FRIDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

1/24 SATURDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

1/27 TUESDAY 8pm
Lee Fish Group
Beat Hotel (Music of Wayne Shorter)

1/30 FRIDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

1/31 SATURDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

2/6 FRIDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

2/7 SATURDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

2/20 FRIDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

2/21 SATURDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

2/27 FRIDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

2/28 SATURDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

3/6 FRIDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

3/7 SATURDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

3/13 FRIDAY 9:30pm
George Burton Quintet
Smalls NYC

3/14 SATURDAY 9:30pm
George Burton Quintet
Smalls NYC

3/20 FRIDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

3/21 SATURDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

3/27 FRIDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

3/28 SATURDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

4/2 THURSDAY TBA
Melissa Oliveira +JAM
Portugal

4/3 FRIDAY TBA
Melissa Oliveira +JAM
Portugal

4/4 SATURDAY TBA
Melissa Oliveira +JAM
Portugal

4/5 SUNDAY TBA
Melissa Oliveira +JAM
Portugal

4/6 MONDAY TBA
Melissa Oliveira +JAM (Recording)
Portugal

4/10 FRIDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

4/11 SATURDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

4/15 WEDNESDAY 8pm
Noah Preminger Band
The Beat Hotel, Cambridge

4/17 FRIDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

4/18 SATURDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

4/24 FRIDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

4/25 SATURDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

5/6 WEDNESDAY 10:30pm
Noah Preminger 5tet
NP, JP, Ben Monder, Kim Cass, and Rudy Royston
Smalls, NYC

5/8 FRIDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

5/9 SATURDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston
5/22 FRIDAY 9:30pm

5/15 FRIDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

5/16 SATURDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

5/22 FRIDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

5/23 SATURDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

5/29 FRIDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

5/30 SATURDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

6/5 FRIDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

6/6 SATURDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

6/12 FRIDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

6/13 SATURDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

6/19 FRIDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet Feat. The Cloudmakers Trio
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

6/20 SATURDAY 5pm
Jason Palmer Quartet Feat. The Cloudmakers Trio
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

6/23 TUESDAY 8pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
The Beehive, Boston

6/26 FRIDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

6/27 SATURDAY 9:30
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

7/3 FRIDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

7/4 SATURDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

7/10 FRIDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

7/11 SATURDAY 2pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Soular Jazz Festival

7/11 8pm
Godwin Louis Band
The Jazz Gallery, NYC

7/17 FRIDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

7/18 SATURDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

7/22 WEDNESDAY 8:15PM
Revolutionary Snake Ensemble
MFA, Boston

7/24 FRIDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

7/25 SATURDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

7/26 SUNDAY 12pm
The Toth Brothers
Cambridge Jazz Festival

7/31 FRIDAY TBA
Matana Robert’s Coin Coin
Newport Jazz Festival
Newport, RI

7/31 FRIDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

8/1 SATURDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

8/4 TUESDAY 8pm
Noah Preminger Band
The Beehive, Boston

8/7 FRIDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

8/8 SATURDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

8/12-23 TBA
Alexey Podymkin 5tet
TBA Russia

8/28 FRIDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

8/29 SATURDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

9/4 FRIDAY 8pm
Noah Preminger Band
The Side Door, CT

9/5 Saturday 7:10pm
Mark Turner Quartet
Chicago Jazz Festival
Jay Pritzker Pavilion

9/6 SUNDAY TBA
Darcy James Secret Society
Virginia Tech, VA

9/7 MONDAY TBA
Darcy James Secret Society
Virginia Tech, VA

9/8 TUESDAY TBA
Darcy James Secret Society
Virginia Tech, VA

9/9 WEDNESDAY TBA
Darcy James Secret Society
Virginia Tech, VA

9/10 THURSDAY TBA
Darcy James Secret Society
Virginia Tech, VA

9/11 FRIDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

9/12 SATURDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

9/16 WEDNESDAY TBA
Jamie Baum Septet
Jazz Expansions

Portland, ME
9/17 THURSDAY 8pm
Jamie Baum Septet

Scullers, Boston

9/18 FRIDAY TBA
Jamie Baum Septet
Vermont Jazz Center

9/19 SATURDAY TBA
Jamie Baum Septet
Lake George Jazz Fest, NY

9/22 TUESDAY 7pm
Bruno Raberg Group
Berklee DFH, Boston

9/24 THURSDAY
Ambrose Akinmusire BB (rehearsal)
Hyde Park, IL

9/25 FRIDAY
Ambrose Akinmusire BB (rehearsal)
Hyde Park, IL

9/26 SATURDAY
Ambrose Akinmusire BB
Hyde Park Jazz Festival, IL

9/30 WEDNESDAY TBA
Cheryl Bailey Sextet
Worcester, MA

10/1 THURSDAY TBA
Darcy James Secret Society
Stanford Live, Palo Alto, Ca

10/2 FRIDAY TBA
Darcy James Secret Society
Stanford Live, Palo Alto, Ca

10/3 SATURDAY TBA
Darcy James Secret Society
Stanford Live, Palo Alto, Ca

10/9 FRIDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

10/10 SATURDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

10/14 WEDNESDAY 10pm
Noah Preminger Quartet
Smalls, NYC (Live Recording)

10/16 FRIDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

10/17 SATURDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

10/23 FRIDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

10/24 SATURDAY 8pm
Coltrane Memorial Concert
Northeastern University

10/30 FRIDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

10/31 SATURDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

11/3 TUESDAY 8PM
Lee Fish Group
Sahara Club, Methuen, Ma

11/5 THURSDAY 8PM
Elan Meher (TJ and the Revenge)
The Beat Hotel, Cambridge

11/6 FRIDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

11/7 SATURDAY 6-9PM
Jason Palmer Quartet
Steppin Out, Boston

11/7 SATURDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

11/12 THURSDAY TBA
Darcy James Secret Society
Krannert Center, Urbana, Il

11/13 FRIDAY TBA
Darcy James Secret Society
Krannert Center, Urbana, Ill

11/14 SATURDAY TBA
Darcy James Secret Society
Krannert Center, Urbana, Il

11/20 FRIDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

11/21 SATURDAY 9:30pm
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

11/27 FRIDAY 10:30pm
George Burton Quintet
Small’s Jazz Club, NYC

11/28 SATURDAY 10:30pm
George Burton Quintet
Small’s Jazz Club, NYC

12/3 THURSDAY TBA
Recording w/Mike Moreno, Edward Perez, and Lee Fish
NJ

12/4 FRIDAY 9:30PM
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

12/6 SUNDAY 5PM
Guest w/NCCU Jazz Band
Greensboro, NC

12/9 WEDNESDAY TBA
Recording w/Noah Preminger
Side Door, CT

12/10 THURSDAY TBA
Recording w/Noah Preminger
Side Door, CT

12/11 FRIDAY 9:30PM
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

12/12 SATURDAY 9:30PM
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

12/16 WEDNESDAY 8PM
Noah Preminger Quartet
The Beehive, Boston

12/18 FRIDAY 9:30PM
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

12/19 SATURDAY 9:30PM
Jason Palmer Quartet
Wally’s Jazz Cafe, Boston

12/31 THURSDAY 8pm
Grace Kelly Quintet
Sculler’s Jazz Club, Boston

2/1 MONDAY TBA
Mark Turner Quartet
Univ. of New Hampshire

2/3 WEDNESDAY TBA
Mark Turner Quartet
Bucknell Univ., PA

I hope to see some of you all out there!

JP

Latest Recording News

Hey everybody,

Just a a heads up that my newest recording for SteepleChase Records entitled Wondaland: Jason Palmer Plays Janelle Monae is currently scheduled for an April 2015 release.  The cd will feature my re workings of music from Janelle Monae’s Archandroid and Electric Lady albums.   The recording will feature saxophonist Godwin Louis, guitarist Greg Duncan, Luke Marantz on Fender Rhodes, Dan Carpel on bass, and Lee Fish on drums.  This will be my sixth album as a leader and fifth for SteepleChase records.

Stay Tuned,

JP

Back in Action!

Hello everyone,

I know it’s been about two years since my last blog post , but I’m back in the new year and I’m about ready to get things heated up here in the new year!  At the end of this month I’ll be posting a small series of blindfold tests that I put together from bootleg recordings in my personal collection.  I currently have tests for trumpeters, saxophonists, pianists, and drummers.  I’ll be posting the responses from the musicians that sent me their answers along with a profile on each tested musician at the end of this month.

Stay tuned!

JP

All Keys Considered

This story takes place during my years in high school in North Carolina. In my junior year of high school I spent three nights a week studying at the Greensboro Music Academy. On one particular class we had the honor of having trombonist Fred Wesley at the school to present a clinic.

Sometime during the clinic Fred asked any of the students if they would like to play a tune with him and the rhythm section. I raised my hand and he called me up. I go up to the bandstand and Fred asked me what I would like to play and I told him that I would like to play Freddie Hubbard’s Red Clay. This was partly because I had just learned the tune from the record.

Fred agreed to play the tune and he pulls out a fake book. We start the tune up and all of a sudden I find myself sounding wayyyy sharp on the tune. I ended up pulling my tuning slide almost all the way out to match up with Fred’s intonation as well as the band’s. It was soo embarrassing for me at the time.

So we wrap the tune up and Fred mentions to the audience how out of tune I was. He then asked me to play the melody with him a capella so we could match up. So we play and find that we’re actually playing a ½ away from each other!! This was because the fakebook had the tune written in C minor and I had learned the tune in Db minor! That was my first introduction to the importance of learning tunes in all or as many keys as possible. Up until that point I, like many young students, have no concept of the idea of playing the same song in multiple keys. That became something that I had to consider in my practice….

J.P.

Upcoming Dates

Here’s a schedule of upcoming shows. Showtimes and dates are subject to change.

September 11 9:30-1am Jason Palmer and the Public Option at Wally’s Jazz Cafe

September 12 4:30-8pm Jason Palmer trio hosts the jam session at Wally’s Jazz Cafe

September 17 9:30-1am Jason Palmer and the Public Option at Wally’s Jazz Cafe

September 18 9:30-1am Jason Palmer and the Public Option at Wally’s Jazz Cafe

September 19 4:30-8pm Jason Palmer trio hosts the jam session at Wally’s Jazz Cafe

September 20 Time TBA Kansas City (Venue TBA) with Grace Kelly 5tet

September 23 7pm-8pm Birdland with Grace Kelly 5tet opening for Joe Lovano

September 23 Time 9pm-11:30pm NYC at the Tea Lounge with Brian Landrus Group

September 24 9:30-1am Jason Palmer and the Public Option at Wally’s Jazz Cafe

September 25 3:30pm Beantown Festival with Grace Kelly 5tet

September 25 9:30-1am Jason Palmer and the Public Option at Wally’s Jazz Cafe

September 26 4:30-8pm Jason Palmer trio hosts the jam session at Wally’s Jazz Cafe

September 29th 8:00pm Jason Palmer with Lewis Nash at Berklee Performance Center

October 1 9:30-1am Jason Palmer and the Public Option at Wally’s Jazz Cafe

October 2 9:30-1am Jason Palmer and the Public Option at Wally’s Jazz Cafe

October 3 6pm-9pm Pressroom in Portsmouth NH with Grace Kelly 5tet

October 8 9:30-1am Jason Palmer and the Public Option at Wally’s Jazz Cafe

October 9 9:30-1am Chan’s in Rhode Island with Grace Kelly 5tet

October 11 Time TBA Domicile Pforzheim Germany with Grace Kelly 5tet

October 13 Time TBA Burgerhaus Diagonal Ingolstadt Germany with Grace Kelly 5tet

October 14 Time TBA Enjoy Jazz Festival Heidelberg Germany with Grace Kelly 5tet

October 15th Time TBA Soundtheater Wels Austria with Grace Kelly 5tet

October 21 Time TBA Magic Mirrors Jazz Festival Toulouse, France with Grace Kelly 5tet

October 23 Time TBA Altstadt Festival Salzburg Austria with Grace Kelly 5tet

October 24 Time TBA 10er Haus Bad Radkersburg with Grace Kelly 5tet

October 29 9:30-1am Jason Palmer and the Public Option at Wally’s Jazz Cafe

October 30 Time TBA Clifford Brown Tribute Concert in Wilmington Delaware

October 31 7pm Jason Palmer with Doug Johnson @ First Parish in Dorchester, MA

November 5 Time TBA Rockport Music Hall (MA) with Grace Kelly 5tet

November 7-15 JazzUV Festival Residency in Xalapa Mexico

December 9 8pm Jason Palmer and the Public Option at the Jazz Gallery in NYC

December 11 8pm Center for the Arts in Natick Mass. with Grace Kelly 5tet

February 1-8 TBA European tour with Grace Kelly 5tet

March 15 8pm Sculler’s Jazz Club with my band

April 12 Time TBA Residency at the University of North Dakota

April 25-May 13 UK tour with Michael Janisch

Update

Hello All,

I know it’s been a while since my last post. Life’s been really busy for me lately and I believe that to be a good thing. I recently played my first gig with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra in a program entitled Basie and the Blues. It was a blast! I’ve also been busy prepping for a short series of concerts that I’ll be giving in London at the storied Pizza Express. On March 15th and 16th I’ll be presenting some original music with a special quartet that will feature:

JP-trumpet,compositions
Julian Siegel-tenor saxophone
Michael Janisch-bass, compositions
Jeff Ballard-drums

While I’m there I’ll also be working with students at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

I wanted to let you all know that I’ll be taking my working band into the studio for the first time this weekend. On Sunday Feb. 28 we’ll be recording at Knoop Studios in New Jersey for my debut release on Steeplechase Records. I’m really psyched and grateful to be be an artist on this label because much of my musical development is directly attributed to absorbing recordings from this label. Many of my favorite players recorded for this label, including Dexter Gordon, Kenny Dorham, Louis Smith, Chet Baker, Nat Adderley, my teacher John McNeil, and the lists goes on and on.

The premise of the project is that I took a handful of songs composed by trumpeters who have influenced me over the years and arranged them for my working quintet. On the docket I have tunes composed and played by Lee Morgan, Clifford Brown, Kenny Dorham, Freddie Hubbard, and Donald Byrd. I wish I had time to arrange more songs by various trumpeters but you know how life is. I’ll incorporate more on a future date perhaps. There will also be a few select originals on the record and we may record a very nice arrangement of Half Nelson penned by our drummer Lee Fish. The personel on the album will be:

JP-trumpet
Michael Thomas-alto saxophone
Greg Duncan-guitar
Lim Yang-bass
Lee Fish-drums

I haven’t come up with a title for the record, liners, design, etc. but I hope to have that done by the end of March.

To keep up with where I’ll be playing (maybe I’ll be performing in a city near you!), please don’t don’t forget to check my myspace page periodically. I think I’m one of the few that’s still active on that site.

All the best,

J.P.

If you Hear Something, Say Something

I’m sure many of you that read this blog are familiar with the Miles album My Funny Valentine Plus Four and More, the live one at Lincoln Center. On the track Stella by Starlight, during the top of one of Miles’ solo choruses he plays and F# on the E half-diminished chord and there’s a person in the crowd that screams yeah. Now I don’t about you, but to me that was a feel-good moment. That record was one of the first Miles records that I owned (thanks BMG, R.I.P.) when I was in high school. At the time I didn’t think that it was okay to voice sounds of approval at intimate concerts like this one. This one person made it okay to feel like it was okay. I remember rewinding that one particular moment and wondering what it was that Miles played which cause this person to call out. I just think that that note really resonated with him, causing him to speak uncontrollably. So my question is how many of us have experienced this? How many of us have experienced this but have held back in fear of disturbing the experience for others? Let me be the first to say that it’s not cool to ruin another audience members listening experience, but I think that it’s okay to aver a sound of joy to a performer if you hear something that touches you right at that moment.

If you know me as a concertgoer, you know that I can become quite vocal when I hear something that touches me. Throughout my years of doing this I don’t ever remember receiving any snide looks from anyone, so I think that it’s okay. I consider it to be a transfer of energy from the audience to the band. Bands, especially today, really need this. For me as a performer it’s a good feeling to hear these sounds every once in a while and I gain more inspiration to play my best at all times when I experience this. I don’t think that it’s an ego-stroke per se, but more of a subtle approval from someone that you are well on your way towards “speaking” in this music, as opposed to only playing the changes, etc.

So my plea to all of you is to speak up if you hear something that you like from a performer in real time. You don’t have to wait until their solo is over to do so. They’re probably going to take 30 more choruses after that special moment anyway, lol!!

Swing it out!

J.P.

Influence: Clifford Brown

I heard Clifford Brown’s playing for the first time when I was a teenager. I was on my way back home from a small group rehearsal at the Greensboro Music Academy (where I was a student at the time), and the pianist in the group, Branson Page, pops Study in Brown into the cd player. After hearing Brownie’s solo on Cherokee I was hooked. I hadn’t heard a trumpet sound like that up to that point. So I went out and bought that cd and learned his solo on Cherokee. I made it a point to check out as many of his records and through reading the liners to his records I was able to learn about his life and his tragic death in 1956. The life he led inspired me to stay “clean”.

During my senior year in high school, I met a vibes player by the name of Jon Metzger. I mentioned to him how much I admired Clifford and his playing. He suggested that I contact Clifford’s widow LaRue Watson Brown. He gave me her phone number but it took me about a year to gather up the courage to call her. I finally called her and we talked for a couple of hours about music, life, and Clifford. She told me that one of Clifford’s only addictions was doughnuts. He would eat an entire box of doughnuts in one sitting. I asked her about the Strings album and how it came about. She told me that Clifford wanted to have a child, but she didn’t want to have one just yet. So she told him that if he recorded a classical album they could have a child. He said what about a strings album and she agreed and a child was born.

Throughout the years I’ve been fortunate to acquire more rare recordings of Clifford’s artistry. From the people that I’ve met that played with him or heard him play, they all tell me that recordings don’t really do Brownie’s sound justice. They say that his sound was huge and warm in ALL registers. I learned a lot from hearing about that……

Ethics at Jam Session Insight #2

Alright this issue is for the players that lead the jam sessions. I am certainly not casting the first stone on this one because I have been guilty of this in the past, but I realized these faults and I’ve done my best to avoid them.


If you are regulating the session please be proactive. Communicate (vocally) with the audience and the musicians who have come to share to let them know what’s going on. If you are going to play a few songs out front before you open the bandstand up for players to sit in, let them know. If a very special guest shows up at the beginning of the session and you would like them to join the house band before you open it up, let everyone know. If you don’t use a sign-up list, be mindful of who arrives and in what order they arrive in, just in case drummers show up and you don’t know who entitled to sit in first.


When it’s time to open the session up, do your best to be cordial and stick around to check out your fellow musicians. Everyone that plays/ed in my band was first heard at the jam session at Wally’s…EVERYONE. When I get calls for recommendations for other gigs I recommend players that I have heard at the jam session (and sometimes from school). I went to a late night session in NY not too long ago and experienced the leader, after playing a long set out front, proceed to put on headphones and partake in some billiards, and didn’t come back until the session was over. I would not have known whom the leader was if I wasn’t there in the beginning. I know that some folks need to get away, but I think there are other ways and other times for this….

Keep Swinging,

J.P.