I hope everyone has a great 2008!
-Floyd Bishop

My good man Sean McCracken showed me a video of his called Birdworld yesterday. It’s a 50 second short, from start to finish created in 10 hours. It’s an interesting idea I think can be taken beyond these 50 seconds.
Watch Birdworld!

The video was created and submitted for an animation festival/contest, so please take a gander…..followingwitha5starratingandputtingsomenicecommentsinthecommentbox… *exhale*…if you please of coarse! It would be greatly appreciated if you do.

Enjoy!

SL

Joe Lee Wilson
Livin’ High Off Nickels and Dimes

1. The Theme/Aquarian Melody
2. It’s You Or No One
3. Strollin’
4. Jazz Ain’t Nothin’ But Soul
5. God Bless The Child
6. You Make Me Want To Dance

Arranged by Joe Lee Wilson

The selections on this record are excerpted from a live radio concert on Columbia University’s WKCR.FM.NYC.
Recorded on July 16, 1972.

Joe Lee Wilson. Vocals
Ray McKinley. Piano
Bob Ralston. Tenor saxophone
Stafford James. Bass
Napoleon Revels. Drums
…..
Click here for covers, photographs, and other printed ephemera.

Original LP credits and liner notes
Oblivion Records OD-5

Joe Lee Wilson
Livin’ High Off Nickels and Dimes

Joe Lee Wilson. Vocals, Ray McKinley. Piano, Bob Ralston. Tenor saxophone, Stafford James. Bass, Napoleon Revels. Drums

Produced by Fred Seibert

Production Consultant. Honest Tom Pomposello
Advice and Consent. Richard H. Pennington, Jr.
Engineering. Don Zimmerman
Editing. Fred Seibert
Rerecording. Bob Blank. 3.26.74
Mastering. John Bittner
Pressing. Wakefield Manufacturing

Cover design. Susan Rivoir
Graphics. the Oblivionettes
Photography. Bridget Deale, Fred Seibert, and Enea Cairati
Confucius, Nick Moy and Sherry Wolf*
*courtesy of Bonitza Melodies

Should this disk be unavailable at your local superior record store, send $5.98:

OBLIVION RECORDSs. incorporated
P.O. BOX X. ROSLYN HEIGHTS. N.Y. 11577

(P)© 1974, Oblivion Records. inc.
Printed in the USA
…..
Jazz is makin’ do with taters and grits
Standin’ up each time you get hit
Jazz ain’t nothin’ but soul.

Jazz is livin’ high off nickels and dimes
Tellin’ folks ‘bout what’s on your mind
Jazz, it ain’t nothin’ but soul.

Trumpets cussin’, saxophones, rhythm makin’ love,
Hustlers wearin’ fancy clothes
The voice of my people.

For me, it’s all the truth to be found
Never mind who’s puttin’ it down
Jazz ain’t nothin’ but soul.

© by Norman Mapp, Brian Music, BMI
…..
This recording of Joe Lee Wilson Plus Five (actually plus four here, due to a previous engagement on the part of percussionist Rashied Ali) grew out of a series of events comprising the first New York Musicians Jazz Festival. The Festival responded to the urgent need for presenting newer and more positive music and musicians in an organized context: a need which the Newport Jazz Festival in New York had largely failed to satisfy. To assist the New York musicians in their self-help effort, radio station WKCR-FM sponsored several live radio broadcasts; from one of those broadcast, these performances emerged.

The session took place on an extremely hot and sticky July evening, in a room that more resembled a steambox than a studio. But as you can hear, nothing – not even the sweltering heat – bothered Joe Lee Wilson and his group. Joe’s broadcast sparked a groundswell of calls and letters from astounded listeners – ample testimony, we think to the stature he has earned among knowing observers of new music.

Joe Lee Wilson truly represents an outstanding case of a musician whose original and considerable talents never found true recognition in more commericial media. In this respect, he is one among many. This recording attempts to support Joe and musicians like him in their efforts.

All praise is due to the Creator and the credit belongs to the musicians.

Ed Michael
WKCR.FM Columbia University
…..
I’m posting many of my out-of-print record productions from the 1970s. Travis Pomposello and I are the owners of these master recordings.

Hank Jones
Groovin’ High

Produced by Fred Seibert

1. Algo Bueno
2. Anthropology
3. Sippin’ at Bells
4. Blue Monk
5. Groovin’ High
6. I Mean You
7. Jackie-Ing

Hank Jones: Piano
Sam Jones: Bass
Mickey Roker: Drums
Thad Jones: Cornet
Charlie Rouse: Tenor Saxophone

As soon as we saw the incredible reaction to our first release with Hank Jones, Bop Redux , in 1977 it was clear to Muse Records’ founder Joe Fields and me we needed to record a sequel. Hank’s absence from the scene for 25 years (in the CBS Orchestra) had only made him better, and the yearning for the emotion and craft of originators of bebop was burning a hole in the hearts of 70s jazz fans. We moved recording from my base at CI Recording in Manhattan (the former Mercury Records studios) to Rudy Van Gelder’s in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, the most famous studio for jazz in the world.

The moment of discord with Hank came when I insisted he replace his choice of drummers (Billy Hart) with a more bop era specific pick (Mickey Roker could take the booking), in keeping with the tunes, and my interest in “authenticity.” (I still think that I was right, though in retrospect, I can’t believe I overrode the ultimate musician, HJ. I would never do it today.)

The moment of discord with the record company came when I casually mentioned Dizzy Gillespie had stopped by to groove on the session (Hank performed two of Dizzy’s tunes on the date).

“Why didn’t you have him play?!” Joe demanded. “He’d double the sales of the album.”

“Dizzy didn’t have a horn, only a Jew’s harp,” I protested.

“So?!!!”

Joe was right. 

–Fred Seibert

…..

Credits
Muse Records MR 5169
Hank Jones
Groovin’ High

Hank Jones: Piano, Sam Jones: Bass, Mickey Roker: Drums, Thad Jones: Cornet, Charlie Rouse: Tenor Saxophone

Produced by Fred Seibert
Engineered by Rudy VanGelder, VanGelder Studios, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
January 25, 1978

Original Release 1979, Cover Photograph by Carol Friedman, Cover Design by Ron Warwell

Muse Records Discography

LINER NOTES

From the 1997 reissue:
There are certain artists who are in complete command of their powers. They take the less obvious route, stunning you with nuance, suggestion and subtlety rather than relying on flash. The great English actor Paul Scofield comes to mind, so does the painter Mark Rothko. So, too, does Hank Jones.

Adjectives such as “elegant” and “immaculate” always pop up when Hank’s playing is discussed. Possessed of as much technique as any of the other gians of modern jazz piano, Hank has always dispensed it with restraint. When other pianists cite their favorite players, Hank Jones is always on everyone’s short list.

Because the songs on the two albums contained herein draw on the bebop tradition, they’re especially easy to listen to together. But in reality any two Hank Jones records go well together. Simply stated, he’s one of the ones.

Keep A Light In The Window
Joel Dorn
Spring ‘97

Copyrights and masters owned by their respective owners. I’m posting many of my out-of-print record productions from the 1970s. If any of them are re-released, or the copyright owners object, I’ll delete the posts.

check out this awesome fanmade trailer for The Meth Minute 39 by Youtuber inzaderfighter.
Thanks inzaderfighter!
-Jeaux Janovsky

Charles Walker & The New York City Blues Band
Blues From The Apple

Produced by Tom Pomposello with Fred Seibert
Engineering. Fred Seibert

Click the title to play.
1. Scratch My Back
2. Black Cat Bone
3. Gladly
4. Decoration Day
5. I’m A Good Man But A Poor Man
6. Juice Head Woman
7. Bluebird’s Blues
8. Fast, Fast, Women and A Slow Race Horse
9. It’s Changin’ Time
10. Meeting You

……
CHARLES WALKER & THE NEW YORK CITY BLUES BAND
Blues From The Apple
Oblivion Records
OD-4
1974

Click here for covers, photographs, lyrics, and other printed ephemera.

LINER NOTES:

New York City blues has been one of the Big Apple’s best kept secrets for the past decade and a half. While many local bluesmen have remained “active” at house parties with an occaisional gig at a small club, many others, veterans of a by-gone R&B era, have pawned their instruments and abandoned hopes of continuing a career that long ago abandoned them. In short the New York City blues scene has been so far underground that even to the avid aficianado it has remained invisible.

One of the principal reasons for the decline of much of New York’s music scnen has bo doubt been the gradual exodus of the industry from the East to the West coast. In the case of the blues, hoever, there are a few other less obviousl but crucial factors. On one level, blues, which used to have massive appeal to black audiences, has been replaced in the popular genre by contemporary soul music. On another level, New yOrk is undisputedly the center of modern jazz, with much of a potential blues audience absorded in listening to newer black music. And so while pop audiences stand on mile-long lines outside the Apollo, and the musical “intelligencia” flock to the city’s jazz clubs, blues has become the forgotten forebearer of the idiom. Combine all this with the fact that public taste is dicatated to a large extent by music entrepreneurs, who see little merit in booking anything besides the big draw rock groups and you’ve got some idea of New York. (There are exceptions, of course.)

You might say Blues from The Apple has been fifteen years in the making. It is the first album featuring New York City’s own urban blues artists issued in that lenfth of time. While the recording sessions were a year long study in frustration for all involved, this album more importantly settles for the artists more than a decade of the proverbial dead ends and rip-offs prevalent in the New York scene. It hopefully will bring Charles Walker and members of the band part of their deserved recognition.

CHARLES WALKER, 51 years of age, was born and raised in Macon, Georgia. He began his professional music career when he moved from Newark, New Jersey to New York. During the late fifties, Charles became one of the city’s best known blues musicians. Those were the days when you could walk into a club in Harlem and expect to hear a blues band fronted by Charles or Tarheel Slim or Hal Paige or Buster Borwn or maybe even Wilbert Harrison if you went on the right night. You could go into Bobby Robinson’s Record Shack on 125th Street and expect to come out with the latest blues releases on labels like Fury, Fire, Vest, Holiday, Atlas or a score of others. Charles can tell you, he recorded for them all back then. For a city that waas once bustling with blues, things sure seemed to change overnight. Charles weathered the “dry” period nicely however, and still kept trying to hold a band together through all those years.

One of the men who has played with Charles fairly regularly since 1959 is LEE ROY LITTLE, a 48 year old Virginia born and bred piano player and composer. Everybody knows him as “Bluebird” after his song of the same title. The name stuck when both Brownie McGhee and B.B. King picked up on the tune. Beside his records with Charles, Lee Roy has also recorded under his own name for the Cee Jay label. Together Charles and Lee Roy wrote and arranged much of the material on this album, with Charles providing the impetus for everything (including Bluebird’s solo numbers).

The credit for bringing Charles to our attention in the first place must go to LARRY JOHNSON, New York’s contribution to the country blues. Although Larry is best known for his fast, finger-picking guitar work (he currently has solo albums on Blue Goose and Biograph), here he backs Charles with some nicke, understated acoustic harmonica on Decoration Day. The tune was recorded quite spontaneously one evening when Larry had come up to do an interview for Honest Tom Pomposello’s blues show on WKCR-FM and he brought Charles along. Charles in turn reverted to his roots with some down home acoustic guitar work on Larry’s Martin.

All the other harp work on the album is handled by BILL DICEY and GOODY HUNT. Dicey has been playing since 1950. He met Charles in the late sixties and has played with him in between gigs with Louisiana Red and john Hammond. He’s done local club dates with Johnny Winter and Muddy Waters and just about anybody else who comes to town in need of a strong harp man. He currently fronts his own group, and the fact that he is not a name familiar to many people reallyl baffles all of us who know his musical abilities. Listen to his forceful solo lead work and beautiful phrasing on Scratch My Back as just one example.

Goody, the man with the big smile and the star-studded tooth, is a harp novice on the other hand. He’s been playing only a short while under the watchful eye of his crony, Charles Walker.

Charles always had an eye for the women and this has to be the first blues LP where female sidemen (how’s that for ambiquity: femal sidemen) play a major role. Foxy Ann Yancey is a guitarist who has gigged with many local bluesmen over the years. She co-authored one of the albums instrumentals, It’s Changin’ Time, and she contributed to the sessions in the early stages. OLA MAE DIXON runs a record store in the Bronx, and plays drums on the side. To say that her playing epitomizes the term “backbeat” would be an understatement.

Also appearing on drums is BOBBY KING. Originally from New Orleans, Bobby has spent a good deal of time n the road always looking for a gig. He has previously recorded with Charles and nowadays is associated with Larry Johnson. The fact that he works with a single instrument is as much a statement of the financial plight of a musician who makes his living from playing blues as it is a tribute to a percussionist who can create as much sound with a rigged snare and brushes as many drummers do with full paraphernalia.

Finally, there are the three men who shared the bass playing. SONNY HARDEN is a friend of Charles’ from the Bronx. His primary musical interest lies in helping to promote his son’s soul band. But he still finds time to fill in for Charles when the situation warrents. DAVID LEE REITMAN is a rock musician and former DJ, who has also written a number of articles on blues and rock for various music publications. Known as “Scarsdale Slim” to his friends and enemies alike, David just happened to be in the studio one night when we needed a bass player. HONEST TOM POMPOSELLO was on hand to produce the album and coordinate the whole project. Tom was drafted into service when a snafu arose at the final sission and we were left bassless, but he is not inexperienced in these matters having played and recorded with the late Mississippi Fred McDowell.

Perhaps Charles voiced the best summation for this whole endeavor: “All I know is that I want the world to hear me nw, ‘cause I’m deeper in the blues now than I’ve ever been before.”

¿Comprende?
– Richard H. Pennington, Jr.
………………………………….
BLUES FROM THE APPLE
CHARLES WALKER
AND THE NEW YORK CITY BLUES BAND

Side One

1. Scratch My Back (3:23)
(J.Moore [Slim Harpo]; Excellorec Music Co., BMI)
Bill Dicey. Harmonica
Charles Walker. Guitar
Ann Yancey. Guitar
Goody Hunt. Harmonica
Sonny Harden. Bass guitar
Ola Dixon. Drums
Recorded July 29, 1973

2. Black Cat Bone (2:36)
(L.R.Little; By Full Co., BMI)
Lee Roy Little. Piano and vocal
Recorded April 6, 1974

3. Gladly (2:40)
(C.Walker; By Full Co., BMI)
Charles Walker. Vocal and guitar
Ann Yancey. Guitar
Bill Dicey. Harmonica
Goody Hunt. Harmonica
Sonny Harden. Bass guitar
Ola Dixon. Drums
Recorded July 29, 1973

4. Decoration Day 3:10
(Sonny Boy Williamson; Arc Music, BMI)
Charles Walker. Vocal and acoustic guitar
Larry Johnson. Acoustic harmonica
Recorded April 25, 1973

5. I’m A Good Man But A Poor Man (2:18)
(Cecil Gant/L.R.Little; By Full Co., BMI)
Lee Roy Little. Vocal & piano
Charles Walker. Guitar
Foxy Ann Yancey. Guitar
David Lee Reitman. Bass guitar
Ola Mae Dixon. Drums
Recorded May 17, 1973

6. Juice Head Woman (4:09)
(E. Vinson, L. Zito; Pamco/LZMC, BMI)
Charles Walker. Vocal and guitar
Bill Dicey. Harmonica
Lee Roy Little. Piano
Tom Pomposello. Bass guitar
Bobby King. Rigged snare drum
Recorded May 5, 1974

Side Two

1.Bluebird’s Blues (Medley) (7:23)
(L.R. Little; By Full Co., BMI)

a.Bluebird
b.Don’t You Ever Get Tired of Hurting Poor Me
c.Your Evil Thoughts
d.Hurry Baby, Please Come Home
Lee Roy Little. Vocals and piano
Recorded April 6, 1974

2. Fast, Fast, Women and A Slow Race Horse (3:43)
(C. Walker/Sonny Moore; By Full Co., BMI)
Charles Walker. Vocal and guitar
Bill Dicey. Harmonica
Lee Roy Little. Piano
Tom Pomposello. Bass guitar
Bobbby King. Rigged snare drums
Recorded May 30, 1974

3.It’s Changin’ Time (4:32)
(A.Yancey and B.Dicey; By Full Co., BMI)
Arranged by Tom Pomposello
Bill Dicey. Harmonica
Ann Yancey. Guitar
Charles Walker. Guitar
David Lee Reitman. Bass guitar
Ola Dixon. Drums
Recorded May 17, 1973

4.Meeting You (5:40)
(C. Walker; By Full Co., BMI)
Charles Walker. Vocals and guitar
Lee Roy Little. Piano
Ann Yancey. Guitar
David Lee Reitman. Bass guitar
Ola Dixon. Drums
Recorded May 17, 1973
………………………………….

Production Credits:

Produced by Honest Tom Pomposello with Fred Seibert
Recorded at WKCR.FM. Columbia University. NYC
Engineering: Fred Seibert
Rerecording: Kevin Behrman. Echo Sound Studio. Levittown.NY
Editing. Fred Seibert and Tom Pomposello
Cover Design. Frank Olinksky
Graphics. The Oblivionettes
Photography: Christine Pomposello, Tom Pomposello, Roy Langbord, John Dunn and Fred Seibert
Photo processing. Dave Cicale

The producers would like to acknowledge the special assistance of Rob Witter, Mike Bifulco and Ms. Josephine Walker who “made our burden so much lighter and our future so much brighter.”

Should this disk be unavailable at your local superior record store, send $5.98:

OBLIVION RECORDS.incorporated
P.O. BOX X. ROSLYN HEIGHTS.NY.11577

(P)1974, Oblivion Records, inc.
Printed in the USA
…..
I’m posting many of my out-of-print record productions from the 1970s. Travis Pomposello and I are the owners of these master recordings.

While doing some research on short subject animation, I found these promos on YouTube.

Does anyone know who did the stop motion ones with the Eskimo on the dinner platter?
-Floyd Bishop

We’ve all had days like this. With The Struggle, Frank Forte reminds us about the spirit of the human condition. We follow a poor guy who gets knocked around by life. Like Rocky, if he wereJerry Lewis.
I first heard of Frank Forte through his artwork and stories in the comics industry, when I was working for my mentor in the comics field, The Most Dangerous Man In Comics: Hart Fisher of Boneyard Press. It was always fun to see what of Frank’s Hart would publish next…

1) You got your career started in Comics Frank. How long were you in the Comics game, and when and how did you break into the animation field?
I had a small one pager published in Cerebus Weekly. It was a contest Dave Sim was having. Years later I got published with Cry For Dawn. I talked with Joe Monks about self-publishing and he gave me the inspiration to start my own company Studio Insidio, where we published four issues of From Beyonde, a horror anthology. After that I did some short horror tales for CFD, before going back into self-publishing with Asylum Press. We’ve got some great boks coming out this year: Warlash:Dark Noir, Undead Evil, The Asylum of Horrors, DTOX, Steve Mannion’s THE BOMB and maybe a few others.

1a)How long have you been animating?
I’ve worked in animation since 1997. I did some 2D work in interactive, before moving to L.A. to work in feature and broadcast. I’ve worked on L’il Pimp (Revolution Studios), Kid Notorious (Comedy Central), HIHI Puffy Ami Yumi; The Mr. Men Show (Renegade Animation), I’ve done various commercials for KA-CHEW. I also worked on the new BEWITCHED movie. We re-did the classic animated intro for the TV show at Toonacious. I did some animation and clean-up for that.

2) Where did you get the inspiration for The Struggle?
It was just something I was thinking about for years. It’s a take on life and how you just keep hitting obstacles no matter what you are doing. And no matter how far you get, more keep coming. You can’t get away from them. A loy of people can really relate to the short.

3) What has been your biggest struggle in life?
Waking up in the morning is tough. Trying to get my comics published has always been a challenge. Trying to get my partner, Gene McGuckin, to do some new 2D animation for The Cletus and Floyd Show. That’s tough. Trying to advance in my professional life. That’s what the film The Struggle is about.

4) How long did it take you to produce and animate The Struggle, from start to finish?
It was hand drawn on a Wacom tablet in Flash. I reused the run cycles, but I wanted a rough pencil test type look. I used stock sound effects for most of it. I would say all in all about two weeks total. That’s with retakes, and adding sound, editorial, etc. Then I submitted to film festivals to get some exposure. It was an official selection at The Boston Cinema Census, The Staten Island International Film Festival, The Comicon International Film Festival, and The Big Bear International Film Festival.

5) What are you working on Currently, and what’s next for you Frank?
I am currently working on my next short film entitled “The Alphabet”. It’s going to be a bit more refined. It will have more slapstick. More impacts and hits to the head. All in good fun. I am also updating my GOON CARTOONS channel on You Tube. http://www.youtube.com/GoonCartoons. I working on a bunch of shorts, but I am also posting the process; pencil tests, storyboards, animatics etc. Gene McGuckin and I are almost done with the Cletus and Floyd short. Besides that I run my publishing house Asylum Press. I am gong to put out four books this year. And I recently got into the apparel business. www.atomicmadhouse.com. Check it out.

6) Where can we find your films on the web?
http://www.youtube.com/GoonCartoons
http://www.youtube.com/asylumpress
www.frankforte.com
www.asylumpress.com
www.warlash.com

Thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions Frank! We’ll keep our eyes peeled for more of your work!
Cheers!
To learn more about my comic book Past, Click Here.
-Jeaux Janovsky

Our pals at Club Cocoanut Animation show us that smoking, in some cases, may be good for your health with their short, Dougal & The Rat. Dougal’s a mouse that would make Mickey Mouse hang his head in shame and cancer and Channel Frederator sat down to talk with him in another exclusive installment of Channel Frederator’s In-Depth Interview.

1) Dougal, thanks for being a guest on the Fredblogs. We are very excited to have an exclusive interview with you. Was this your first lead acting role?
Yeah, but acting’s just a fancy word for bullshitting… I learned how to do that out on the streets…

How was it working on a ClubCocoanuts feature film?
The food was good, but the director was kind of a moron.

2) Who are some of your Heroes in the Mice Actor World?
Mickey?
Don’t get me started on that freak. He’s the Micheal Jackson of the performing mouse world. How many face lifts has that poncey old hack had by now? I don’t think he even had irises until the mid-50’s… Fah!

Minnie?
I have to say she was pretty hot back in the 30’s — but stuck up. And now she’s as bad as “Mr. Bigshot Mouse” with the plastic surgery — Yikes!

Jerry?
I’m a big fan of a lot of Jerry’s work, but it depends on the director…
He had a way with a frying pan though…

Mighty?
Well of course I’m a fan, but I could do without the singing.

Stuart Little?
Honestly? Kinda creepy. More like a very tiny human in a mouse suit…

Ratatouille?
Besides the fact that Remy is a rat and not a mouse, I loved the movie. Of course when they had me read the script, I suggested that they call the film “Mousse”… but they saw it going another way so I backed out.
But really, the rat did pretty good.
For a rat.

3) What is your favorite type of Cheese?
Never met a cheese I didn’t like.

Which one do you indulge in the most?
The one that’s in front of me.

Is there any cheese you stay away from?
Fromage D’Mousetrap-bait

4) Did you use a stuntman in this film for the smoking scene, or was that all you?
Nah, that was me! I smoke a nice cigar or cigarette butt each and every day… Light’em up kiddies! I got’cher role model right here!

5) What’s next on the plate for you Dougal? Where will the road to stardom take you next?
I know that Club Cocoanut is working on more stories about me and my friends and family, and I’m a — whatcha call it — consultant on the project. Yeah, that’s it.
I don’t know what it means but they seem to have plenty of food around so I guess I’ll chill…

Thanks for taking the time to answer these. I appreciate it.
No problem. And one more thing for the viewers out there… It’s pronounced “DOOG-al” not “DUG-all”. Next person that calls me “dug-all” is asking for it…

Thanks Dougal! We look forward to seeing more of you and ClubCocoanut Animation!
-Jeaux Janovsky

The CD reissue from 2000

The original cover from 1978

Jaki Byard
Family Man
Produced by Frederick Seibert

Click the titles to play.
1. Just Rollin’ Along
2. Mood Indigo/Chelsea Bridge
3. L.H. Gatewalk Rag
4. Ballad to Louise
Excerpts from Family Suite
5. Prelude No.16
6. Gaeta
7. Garr
8. Emil
9. John Arthur

Jaki Byard: piano, tenor saxophone, alto saxophone
Major Holley: bass, tuba, Fender bass
Warren Smith: drums, tympani, vibraphone
J.R. Mitchell: drums
…..
Jaki Byard was one of my great heroes and inspirations when I started listening to jazz in earnest in the early 70s. “Eclectic” was the word that best described him since he recorded in styles directly linked to stride, swing, bop and the avant-garde, all with authenticity and enthusiasm. When Muse Records’ owner Joe Fields asked me to suggest a suitable recording project Jaki immediately came to mind.

–Fred Seibert
…..
Muse Records MR 5173
Jaki Byard
Family Man

Produced by Frederick Seibert
Engineered by Chuck Irwin & Elvin Campbell, CI Recording (110 W57th Street, NYC)
April 28 & May 1, 1978

Muse Records Discography

…..
Liner notes by Fred Bouchard:

Jaki Byard - pianist, composer, family man. Family man? Yes, indeed.

Whatever paradoxes and inconsistencies may surround Byard’s career, his roles as husband and father have been steady, certain, and rewarding. The family center has a sure, clear light that has burned through Byard’s life with love and commitment for over thirty years. It has brought peace and solace to a career that has been less than meteoric and well-rewarded, often because of its own exigencies (Byard cut short travels with Maynard Ferguson and Charles Mingus preferring, like his old compeer, drummer Alan Dawson, to work at home.) It has also provided a well-spring of inspiration for a whole area of Byard compositions named in honor of family members.

Byard’s unique musical genius made him at home with Willie “The Lion” as with Eric Dolphy, allowed him to draw from Ives and Ellington, “Fats” and “Bird,” Nat Cole and Art Tatum. He is a musician of no school, whose genius, like Whitman’s encompasses multitudes, spans generations, and expresses uncompromising romanticism. A rare individual, on his instrument and in life, Byard perceives and digs, quite naturally, the diversity of personality in those around him, and frequently celebrates it in composition. Byard has thus expressed his affection and appreciation for his family, and extended family: “Diane’s Melody” for his second daughter (Serge Chaloff, Capitol); “Ode to Charlie Parker” (Dolphy/Carter, Prestige); “Darryl” for his eldest grandson (a trombone whoop-up for his big band of New England Conservatory students, The Apollo Stompers); “To Bob Vatel of Paris” and “Blues for Jennie” for a couple of Wallerphiles; “Tribute to Jimmy Slide” for a wonderful Boston-bred tap-dancer (Byard Solo, Muse MR 5007).

Byard has said recently of his recorded output: “All my sessions are records of my attempts to document music as it is, through its different ages. These are my portraits of musical and personal history.” If Jaki Byard is a portrait painter, this then could be called his Family Album, as it contains five sections of The Family Suite and a piece to his wife.

The Familiy Suite is a series of sketches of several members of the Byard family. Here Byard shows us only the first and latest wall of the portrait gallery. Chronologically arranged with a misty, ancestral introduction, portraits of his and his wife Louise’s mothers’ families, and those of his youngest grandchildren. When Byard’s grandchildren have kiddies, he’ll add an ell, or maybe mural the ceiling.

Jaki adds some verbal highlights to the portraits, which seem to emerge from all but the opening track.

“Just Rollin’ Along”: Tight snare rolls and Major Holley’s unique jaw-and-saw kick in this easy-going pacesetter. “I used this as a theme,” says Jaki, “when my quarter with Joe Farrell played at Lennie’s-on-the-Turnpike, up in Peabody, Massachusetts back in 1964. It has never been recorded full-length before, and a lot of people asked m to do it.” The rollicking block chords and willing tremolos that Byard strikes might make some want to count his fingers.

“Mood Indigo/Chelsea Bridge”: “Dedicate this one,” asks Jaki, “to the Fellows who gave me the Duke Ellington Fellowship award at Yale in 1977. For this album I felt like doing a cross-section of my own tunes, but I wanted to include this medley as a tribute to Duke and his alter ego, Billy Strayhorn. Ellington was one of my greatest inspirations, socially and harmonically. He’d ignore mistakes band members made, and make people feel generally very comfortable in his presence. He was also steeped in the knowledge of impressionistic music.” Jaki’s blood affinity for Duke comes out with this deft, lush pairing, played with great feeling. Ellington himself was aware of it; he called in Jaki to cover piano during his final illness.

“L.H. Gatewalk Rag”: Major Jolley unbags his tuba for this lighthearted rag that runs on different speeds and colors. Jaki gives programmatic background: “I wrote this in 1975 for the Springfield Symphony at the request of their conductor, Robert Gutter. They were doing some movie themes, and they planned a surprise for the audience halfway through the concert. The orchestra went into a stride, see, and they showed a short of Laurel and Hardy playing clarinet and French Horn. They asked me for some ragtime, but instead of taking an old one, I composed a new one, orchestration and all.” The cackles halfway herald the arrivals of the villains for the rent!

“Ballad for Louise”: This thoughtful study is one of many compositions Byard has dedicated to his wife, Louise (Romano) of Everett, Massachusetts. Warren Smith plays the melody tenderly on vibes, with Byard’s oblique obbligato on huffy tenor, then goes it solo and closes with a slick glissando. The mood created is a very different one, for example, than the jolly, extroverted one that Byard’s New England Conservatory student band, The Apollo Stompers, achieves on another piece to Louise, “One Note To My Wife.” This ode to prayerlike gratitude is footnoted by Jaki: “Any interracial marriage is hard for society to accept, but ours was and has been accepted by our families for thirty years. To me this is one of the greatest acts of God.”

“Prelude #16″ (Time Machine): Byard rarely dabbles with electronics, but here he laces his alto sax with metallic echo, which he plays in unison with piano while Holley boys high harmonics. The effect is eerie and drifting; “It’s a time machine,” explains Jaki, “that goes way back beyond the life of our families, back to all our family, Adam and Eve.”

“Gaeta”: Gorgeous swags of arpeggios pass by in a stately 3/8 as Byard celebrates the splendor of the impressionistic era surrounding Louise’s Italian family. Gaeta is her mother’s maiden name.

“Garr”: A stately, modal 6/8, still impressionistic but with some bluesy fair and a good deal of vigor draws for us Byard’s own mother, herself a pianist, nee Garr. J.R. Mitchell, a drummer whom Byard knew in Boston, until recently a teaching colleague for Jaki’s at Northeastern just down the block on Huntington Ave from NEC and now filling the drum chair of the New York Branch of the Apollo Stompers, provides tasty-cross rhythms.

Here we skip Jaki’s generations and that of his three children, Denise, Diane and Jerald.

“Emil”: Pounding tympani and slashing cymbal introduce Emil as a compelling soul.

FB: Is he wild and wooly?

JB: Damn right!

FB: He carries on a conversation readily, asks a lot of questions

JB: yeah, he’s learning piano at present, and he talks a lot.

Pounding latinesque block chords and octave runs well and fade.

“John Arthur”: A funky, whimsical kid. Good-natured stride. Monkey-see, monkey-do. “We call him Tagalong,” says Jaki. “He’s the youngest, and he tries to keep up with everyone.” As regards kids faced with this kind of music, Byard avers, “They love it. They’re exposed to the contemporary stuff and they’re in tune with those lyrics, but rhythmically, this is where they’re at. This is what they’ll listen to longer than anything else.”

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Copyrights and masters owned by their respective owners. I’m posting many of my out-of-print record productions from the 1970s. If any of them are re-released, or the copyright owners object, I’ll delete the posts.