Sunday, November 25, 2012

The Boston Jazz Chronicles


Jazz is New Orleans, Jazz is New York – beyond that it gets a little dicey. Is jazz Chicago? Montreux? LA? Paris? Philadelphia? Altoona? Fact is there are a number of places off the beaten track worth consideration, having raised individuals and aggregations that influenced the major American art form. My adopted home town of Boston is one of them.

Storyville, Lenny’s on the Turnpike, the Hi-Hat, Wally’s Paradise (still active) .. these were Boston jazz night clubs - stops along the way for musicians, jazz fans, party people and kitchen help. From the late 30s to the early 60s, all combined to make a moment. This moment in time is worth archiving.

I would like to give compliments to Richard Vacca writing The Boston Jazz Chronicles – Faces, Places, and Nightlife 1937-1962. He has rigorously sought out the facts, found the witnesses, and conveyed the feel of a night club jazz era that took place in Boston. [Full disclosure: Way back I set out to write a similar book, or more likely magazine article. Talked with Jaki Bayard and Tony Cinomo. Didnt get too far past that (met Sunnyland Slim about that time, and took on a different project). So was really glad to get and dig into this book by Richard Vacca.]

Got a chance to attend a lecture by Vacca at Wally’s. Engaging, dedicated to understatement, his portrayal of the pivotal Boston scene of jazz painted a prescient picture. You know, “Wally” was a friend of “Red” (Malcom X) when he lived in town in the 40s – role played by Spike Lee in the Spike Lee movie – showing the link between music, history, and Saturday night. I asked Vacca if there was a “sound” that could be defined as Boston jazz.

The basic answer was no. But Vacca noodled on the nuance.

It could be said that it was halfway between the hard bop sound and the cool school of the West Coast, he said. It was well-written, and well-arranged. It was, for most of its players, a step to New York, Jazz Central. The players who came up or passed through Boston included Johnny Hodges, Tony Williams, Serge Chaloff, Jaki Byard, Sam Rivers, Roy Hanes, Charlie Mariano, Herb Pomeroy, Sabby Lewis and many, many more.

Last night, while reading The Boston Jazz Chronicles, using the online music service Mog I was able to track some of the musicians Vacca calls out. Here is a link to a playlist of Boston’s Best Jazz. Also watched ND beat USC, and cooked some Savory Turkey pies. With Miller High Life .. well, I had a wonderful time. At least they tell me I did. All praise to Allah.


Shroudette: The mental state of dispatch





Dispatch was a mental state. Our fathers were most of them from the army, and the navy, and they insisted we handle things with dispatch. Even if they’d manned the home front, they were into assembly, time-and-motion - dispatch. It had different names. Telegraph, bulletin, flash. It had different names, but one beat: staccato. But dispatch was the concept. Dispatch, thy name was news in Molina. 




Each day around 4pm a Chevrolet delivery truck would drop off bundled papers next door for Jimmy Tegan, the neighborhood's Moon Traveller Herald newsboy. I could go out and sit with Jimmy on his steps as he would roll out the news. We would talk. He'd try to teach me to roll the newspapers. Like the news, the craft was mysterious to me. I was all thumbs and no brain. The papers were rolled to become missiles, they would go in his orange canvas bag. 



He’d go off on his bike, and they lobbed like grenades on the door steps. Over long years, the Derby morning line, the president’s resignation, my father’s death, all were in a bale of news hitting the sidewalk. Sometimes I’d ride my bike along with Jimmy, maybe retrieving a rare doorstep miss. The news was the future, one day late. And I’d think on the next day. I remember as well the man of tomorrow: Dr. Stienle Shroudette who’d drive the street we biked, passing in an Avanti, a Stingray, or a Maserati - he was the head of research at Waxworks, and a serial auto enthusiast - with a New York newspaper on the passenger seat.

Friday, November 23, 2012

Dr Mog Bop says: Drone on my child!

In the 60s there was  the idea of drone. Not the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) kind. I think it was the Beatles that put it out there for us. - but  the Velvets had it via Cage. It was coupled often with the notion of neon. cut to the future: nice to see a whole cd is out dedicated to the notion. Roots of Drone.

Why Edie Sedwick on the cover of roots of drone? Maybe when she talked, she'd just drone on. I say dont ask; dont tell. Be here now. Check out this consideration of drone. Not often you get a collection that goes from Sally Goodin to Shostakovich. and the Monks Of The Kume Tarsang Monastery Of Lhasa, Tibet. & Wagner. Khuda Box Mandrani. I am going to insert an alt John Lee Hooker number just for the heck of it in my Playlist below. it  has Rolf harris on ditchereedoo. Sleepwalk. That's the drone of CYO dance. Yknow.

Of course there are missives. Tomorrow never knows never probably got freed up by the living beatles and their estate. One big one for me would be On the road again by the Canned Heat Blues Band.So that is part of my highlight drone roots list. But they had the good sense to do Floyd Jones original, with Sunnyland Slim playing his most pensive ever. Drone on my child! 59 minutes!

Click to go to list.

https://mog.com/m#playlist/2149205
Then click on "Play all tracks" to play.  

posted by Jack Dr. Bop Mog.

Port of New York


1:14this is a warning to new york
1:16do a traveler bits of a measure amar impressive skyline
1:20the newcomer
1:21into a symbol of hope
1:23to the margins but it's the biggest busiest report on the world
1:28going to others in the battleground
1:30and the battle is constantly waged against elizabeth began contraband
1:35pentagon beyond all invoices will be on the most dangerous of all wonderland
1:39narcotics
1:41on the front line in this battle is the bureau customs of the united states
1:45treasury department
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8lVTnsY-sI&feature=g-all-u

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Dr Mog Bop Jamboree Nov 17 2012


 Click to go to list. https://mog.com/m#playlist/2126407  Then click on "Play all tracks" to play.  
CHINESE CHECKERS Mog has given me a chance to pick up on a lot of stuff, I hadn’t heard before, or it just once or twice. Been a great chance to pick up more on blues. Which, when you have the worldwideweb as oyster has a lot of nooks and crannies. (Nookies and crans?) Every half hour usta have an instrumental, to fill in the gap before the news. Such as this…this set kicks off with Chinese Checkers by Booker T and the MGs. Rock on Duck wherever you are! http://mog.com/m/track/7068543?ci=40000


WOMAN BE WISE Sippie Wallace came to the broad world attention through her champion Bonnie Raiit. Here she is with her  signature song. Woman Be Wise. From the school of think twice and speak once. “Woman be Wise, keep your moth shut and don’t advertise your man.” Sippie could not have a more excellent accompanist than she has here; Little Brother Montgomery on the piano. http://mog.com/m/track/1140931?ci=40000





WHY DONT WE DO IT IN THE ROAD don’t know how this happened. A lot of people will say it’s a travesty for Lowell Fulson to be forced to do Why Don’t We Do It in the Road? But I get a kick out of it. Its different for Lowell…sounds like the Black Keys, really. But the funny thing is he keeps moving the love making back to more comfortable places. Why don’t we do it in the road? Why don’t we do it in the car? Why don’t we do it in the house? Finding his own song, really. From the soundtrack of American Gangsta- No one will be watching us! http://mog.com/m/track/11791203?ci=40000



SICK AND TIRED Found a great David Bartholome argosy. On it many key Crescent City numbers. I knew this song from the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Its got a drone Nawlins pno. Hot sax. Crazy back beat. (Dave invented the Big Beat.) Sea Cruise Horns. And a crying vocal. Stop that jive or find yourself outside! Asking the musical question:  Oh baby, whatcha gonna do?! http://mog.com/m/track/32878381?ci=40000






GIRLISH WAYS David Johansson did this. He was a Doll? You know what I am talking about? Who did it first? Take a guess. Yes, Mr. Jones, it’s a girl! The original stands immortal. It’s Memphis Minnie the  guitar Cleopatra. Listen to the words…Memphis Minnie was just trying to play her hand from through the window came a man. And things got weird.She was learning. Had to travel before she got wise. She was thinking back to 1917 when she did this. Which is like now if we were thinking back to 1996. Come in ze here fact checker, but Lord Master play it for me now! It’s Minnie doing In my Girlish Days. http://mog.com/m/track/37609911?ci=40000


LOVE HAVE MERCY One of my favorites all time is Otis Redding’s Dictionary of Soul LP. Came across in a bin around 1969. Otis looks a little like Groucho on the cover. This aint the strongest number on that LP, but it hit me while I was dressing for work one day in 2012. What a group. I like the double beat. Keep your eye on the drummer and Watch for the double beat!The professer says Lord have mercy on my soul, how many (chickens) have I stole! Love Have Mercy! http://mog.com/m/track/460059?ci=40000



CHICKEN SHACK There is a damn lot of variety to the blues. Don’t let anyone tell you different. That’s one thing this deck is about. Ok every friggin band did Chicken Shack, that’s true. But what if we went back to first  principles? Fading out to the news now… Dr Mog Bop says adew. From Philly to the world Jimmy  BFree B3 Smith..Chicken Shack! http://mog.com/m/track/11353437?ci=40000

 Click to go to list. https://mog.com/m#playlist/2126407  Then click on "Play all tracks" to play.  
posted by Jack Dr. Bop Mog.

Friday, November 02, 2012

Dr Bop Mog on Broadway Folk




There was drama in the day. In the shadow of Broadway. TV was just aborning. The Internet was two mainframes and a phone in a coupler cup. And in New York the folkistas had the drama of the day. Sometimes the comedy too. If you look at these folk, if you listen you hear…a different time. Stick to Rum by Eric Von Schmidt. Many a mile by Patrick Sky. The Other Side to This Life by Fred Neil Guabi Gabi by Rambin Jack Elliot. Phil Och’s Birmingham Sunday by Joan Baez. All forged as set pieces, ready for the stage.  Posted by Jack Dr Bop Mog Vaughan. To play, if you are on Mog, go to link, and click Playalltracks.

Thursday, November 01, 2012