ChavezSpeakstheTruth keeps giving jazz polls.

[Whitacre D_WI]

Who is cooler than Mongo Santamaria?

[Blue-Jay]

1. Didn't he play for the Bears?

Seriously, NO-FUCKING-BODY is (was) cooler than Dizzy Gillespie. I met him way back when, and felt like I was in the presence of the Buddha himself.

[Whitacre D_WI]

2. You met Diz?

I met you.

That means, I'm once-removed from shaking like a baby and kissing Diz's ass like a pathetic wuss-boy.

COOL! :bounce:

[Blue-Jay]

5. I met Diz, alright.

He was playing at the (get this) North High Auditorium when I was a junior music major in college. I went to the show, and as I was leaving, my old mentor Johnny Lytle (godresthissoul) grabbed me and asked if I wanted to go backstage to say hi to the great one.

So we go backstage, and Johnny introduces me to Diz. He was the warmest, kindest "famous" person that you could ever imagine. He spent close to a half-hour just asking me about what I was studying, who I liked to listen to, etc... and actually listening to my stupid prattling answers.

He also answered my dumb questions. It turns out that the story of his signature bent trumpet is apocryphal: He didn't drop it or fall on it. He just had an idea that the sound would carry better if the bell was angled, due to his habit of slouching and looking at the ground. Who knew?

Here's a pic, for those who aren't familiar with his trumpet:


Anyhow, he was cooler than Mongo.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

3. Mongo was cool...

"Watermelon Man" is a great tune. But I like Cannonball Adderley better.

[Whitacre D_WI]

4. Here's the thing:

My all-time favorite jazz musician is Trane. My all-time favorite Trane performance is his version of "Afro Blue" live in Japan.

"Afro Blue" was written by Mongo. Hence....

[Blue-Jay]

6. Trane, Bird, and Paul Desmond. The holy trinity.

Don't laugh about Desmond. Sure, he was a geeky white guy, but he was much more than a good improviser. He was one of those few guys who was a "composer" on stage. I've had to analyze his improvised solos, and that guy was a friggin genius at laying down a motif and building on it. His sense of "composition' was second to none. Every solo (albeit understated) was the jazz equivalent of a sonata. He was almost baroque in his returns to his original musical statements.

Listen to his solo on Brubeck's version of "Take The A-Train". It's perfect and beautiful. I had to transcribe it, and offer up a theoretical analysis for an assignment.

[OneBlueSky]

7. didn't Alex Karas play him in "Blazing Saddles?" . . . n/t

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