So we're doing jazz tonight?

"Chariotoflove" (chariotoflove) 05/09/2020 at 00:48 • Filed to: jazzlopnik

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How about a little big band then? And if you were ever wondering what happened to him, a little bonus Doc Severinsen.

Skip to 4 minutes in for the music.

lone_liberal > Chariotoflove 05/09/2020 at 01:00

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I was listening to this the other day and it’s wonderful . Not only Bird and Diz but Thelonious Monk and Buddy Rich too.

Chariotoflove > lone_liberal 05/09/2020 at 01:03

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Sweet.

ttyymmnn > Chariotoflove 05/09/2020 at 01:20

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Doc Severinsen and my teacher, Ray Crisara, were the closest of friends. It was not unusual to be sitting in a lesson when the phone rang, and Mr. Crisara would answer and say, “Well hello, Doc, how are you?” Doc came to UT while I was there when he was engaged to play with the Austin symphony. He did a masterclass with the trumpet students and I got to meet and talk to him. What a fantastic person.

Some years ago, Doc moved to Mexico to live. He went to a small club somewhere, where the house band was playing. Doc asked if he could sit in, but the band guys didn’t know him, and thought, “Who’s this old gringo?” So they said no thanks. The wife of one of the guys recognized Doc and took her husband aside and said, “You know who that is, don’t you?” So they let him sit in, and then Doc hired them the next time he went on the road.

And one more Doc story. About 20 years ago, my friend was teaching at U Southern MS and the band director organized what they called Night of a 1000 Trumpets around a visit by Doc. Their goal was to have 1000 trumpets assembled. I drove down to MS with another trumpet friend, and I think they had about 800 when all was said and done. But the arrangements for the mass ensemble sucked, and included an arrangement of Send In The Clowns for 800 trumpets. The conductor kept berating the massive ensemble for playing too loud (!!!) and Doc finally had enough of it. He grabbed the mic during rehearsal and said, “Trumpets, you have my permission to play as loud as you want in this part.” So we did.

Doc is a major class act, and one hell of a trumpet player. Here he is with Buddy Rich, famous for being an insufferable asshole (I think it’s more complex than that) and the Tonight Show Band. That’s a double-G that Doc ends on. Amazingly tight performance from one of the world’s best bands.

Chariotoflove > ttyymmnn 05/09/2020 at 01:31

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I love those stories! A nd I loved hearing Doc.

Funny you mention Buddy Rich. I was just thinking of him and going through his old performances. My senior year in high school, I think a year or so before he died, Rich played at my school. He was famously short of temper, and that was on display that night. My director said later that the school wouldn’t allow beer for the green room refreshments, and that pissed him off. Whatever the reason, he came out after we had played our set and started off with one of our best tunes, I forget which one. Except, the tempo he set for his band was brutal. I was enthralled.

Afterward, I got onto his tour bus and got an autograph. I probably have it floating around somewhere.

I never once saw him smile. But you know the guy had a sense of humor, or he would never have made this:

ttyymmnn > Chariotoflove 05/09/2020 at 01:40

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There are some famous recordings of Rich on the band bus, cussing out and otherwise berating his band, threatening to fire everybody. But I don’t think he ever did. Rich has a well-earned reputation for being an asshole, but I think it’s more of a persona he cultivated than his actual self. I think he is arrogant, like many of the truly great performers are, but I also think he is extremely passionate, and he doesn’t have time nor patience for anybody who doesn’t play with the same level of passion.

When I was still a grad student at UT, we were supposed to have Henry Mancini come and play some high society concerts with the school orchestra, but he died and they hired Marvin Hamlisch instead. The conductor of the orchestra kind of blew off the rehearsals, and we were unprepared for Hamlisch when he arrived. He started rehearsing a medley from Chorus Line, and the piano player kept screwing up the opening. Finally, he said, “Look, I wrote this music, and if you can’t play it, we’ll find somebody who can.” When she screwed it up again, he said, “Forget it. I’ll play this on piano, and I’ll cue the orchestra to play at the very end.” After that , we managed to get through a medley from American in Paris and he said, “I’m glad we got through that. I didn’t think we’d have anything to play on this concert.”

Later in the rehearsal, he talked about playing with passion, and he asked the musicians to raise their hand if they wanted to be a professional player. Many raised their hand, and he said, “Probably only about 1/3 of you will make it.” I thought, what a dick. At the second rehearsal, he asked the orchestra, “What’s different today?” Some players offered that we were playing more passionately, and Hamlisch said, “No. The difference is that yesterday, that girl back there on the mallets couldn’t play her part. Today she came in and nailed it. That’s the person that will get a job one day.”

So while Hamlisch, like Rich, could be a real arrogant prick, I think it was more a matter of having no patience with people who were less passionate then they were. It doesn’t give them a pass for being assholes, but it at least helps to explain the way there were.

Chariotoflove > ttyymmnn 05/09/2020 at 01:56

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I real feel for that piano player. But really, we have become a culture of gold stars for effort, and that’s a culture that perfectionists like these two gents would not have tolerated. Sometimes I think getting in the face of someone and challenging them to rise to an occasion, like that mallet player, is just what they need. Sometimes. But some people have more gentle  personalities that require nurturing to realize their talent. I feel bad if comes in like a buzz saw and crushes them.

ttyymmnn > Chariotoflove 05/09/2020 at 02:11

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I took a thoroughly unscientific poll after the concert. I asked the first person what they thought of Hamlisch. They said, “He was a fucking asshole.” The second person I asked said, “He was awesome.” The first person was a string player, the second was a brass player. Despite the lack of preparation by the conductor, the brass players were all ready to play because we’re all basically soloists. String players (in college) tend to show up and learn their parts at rehearsal.

I came up understanding that when it’s time to play, it’s time to play, and you’d better know your part. In the real world, there’s no time to coddle the people who didn’t practice. And Hamlisch was a huge dose of the real world.  Maybe college should be a bit different, but that girl on the piano was way out of her league.

Chariotoflove > ttyymmnn 05/09/2020 at 02:23

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I never perceived that about string players. I do know that those many  times I showed up not ready to play, I payed a price, and even at that young age, I always knew I had no one to blame but myself. Of course, that turns out to be true of most things in life. College tends to shield us from that lesson though.

ttyymmnn > Chariotoflove 05/09/2020 at 02:29

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I certainly don’t see that from pro string players, but when you’re one of 12 or 14 all playing the same part, there is less incentive to know all our notes than when you are the only person playing your part. I may be third trumpet, but I’m a soloist every time I walk on stage.

farscythe - makin da cawfee! > Chariotoflove 05/09/2020 at 05:04

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i figures theres a 50% chance doc knew me uncle...lol

Chariotoflove > ttyymmnn 05/09/2020 at 13:36

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I see that.