Prestons Model A boattail roadster.
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Everything you are doing is adding to the great look of this build Quentin.
Start with a piece and let it grow from there.
Of all the things that I am no longer able to do. Playing “Jazz” as a musician is the one that I miss the most.
I’m in need of some shop therapy as well…..
Carry on.
Torchie
Torchie made mention of his jazz band. Jazz and creative customizing. Improvizing. Not so far removed, are they.
Thanks Quentin.
And you are right Larry…..
I love this clip and I used to play this tune with my Sextet all the time. Now for a quick back story.
First time I brought home a Monk album to listen to was back in the early 70’s while still in High School. I put it on the only stereo in the house which was in our living room.(Back then stereos were treated like a piece of fine furniture.)
Halfway thru the first cut my Mother(Who was a huge Jazz lover) comes into the room and proceeds to tell me that”I’m not ready to listen to THAT yet.” To which I reply. “Do you even know who THAT is.”
As she took a long drag off of her Pall Mall my Mother replied. “I saw Monk play live in 1948 at Todds Sway lounge in Detroit.”
I think that is what the kids today would call a “Mic Drop.”
Torchie
Funny, every Thursday night Dotti and I go to a craft brewery located in an old tire shop to listen to “Jazz night”. Blue Monk is one of their favorites, and some nights the garage really swings. Some of the same young folks also have formed the “Rimrock Hot Club”, playing 1940’s Gypsy Swing from the Django Reinhardt/Stephan Grapelli era in War-time Paris. What a treat. Cheers, guys.
Not to hijack Quentins thread….
I have listened to jazz since before I was born as I stated earlier my mother was a huge fan of the genre as well as all arts in general.
Growing up in the Detroit area in the late 50’s and early 60’s I was lucky enough to see and hear many greats perform live.
I started out listening to swing(as that was the primary focus of my Moms record collection). Worked my way forward towards Bop then did a complete U-turn and went to the sources of most of it. Traditional New Orleans and then Louis Armstrong.
I have played in or led groups that have encompassed everything from Traditional to Hot to swing (Big Band and small group) to Bop and Hard Bop. Free form and fusion. And just for shits and giggles I had a 8 piece Funk band. I even went so far as to re-open a long closed Ballroom so my Big Band would have a place to play and the dancers would have a great dance floor.
I enjoyed it all.
Now back to our regularly scheduled program…..
Torchie
No, no go right ahead. This is what it’s all about. Sitting round the CCC campfire telling tall stories and true.
My mum worked for EMI in NZ and chaperoned the likes of Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald, Pete Jolly amongst others. Ray actually propositioned her, apparently? just from the smell of her perfume, though years later my dad always countered that he must have been blind. I can assure you that my mum was a “looker” in 1962. . . .and must have smelled alright too.
In fact my mum and dad met on Christmas Eve 1962 when my dad entered into the Palmerston North record store to buy a Ray Charles album. . . . Tell me what I say. . . . .!
Must be some sort of cosmic alignment happening. I was just driving home, turned on the radio: Blue Monk!
Growing up, I worked in my Dad’s dry cleaning shop. He was WWII generation and loved big band music. Living about 30 miles from New York City, my Dad always had WNEW on the radio when he worked. As late as the 1970s, WNEW still played Big Band Swing and jazz. When he would go to lunch, I turned on WABC for rock ‘n roll. He’d come back, shake his head and smile and turn WNEW back on.
One summer Saturday afternoon I was working in the store and looked in the back to see my old man pressing clothes to the beat of a Big Band instrumental. I walked back and turned to me and said,
“Dave – if you can tell me the name of this song, you can have the rest of the day off.”Without missing a beat, I replied, “One O’Clock Jump.”
His jaw hit the floor and I was out the door! How I knew that, I’ll never know. Musical osmosis, I guess. I have a lot to thank him for, my love of swing and jazz especially. He’s been gone two years now and I really miss him.
Glad you have those memories Dave. I was just reminiscing this predawn morn of my happy childhood. Memories of my mum cutting cow cane by hand down at the creek for her horses and then piling the Holden HT station wagon and VW Microbus high. I can smell the grass seeds now. Just fleeting moments that have long evaporated but are still strong in my mind. My job was feeding the goats. . . . I hated feeding the goats. They make great curry tho. . .
It’s funny what triggers our memories..
Great stories from you both Quentin and Dave. Saw Ray Charles around 1965 or so. And my kids grew up with their music as well but since I played a lot of Jazz around the house(as well as other styles) they learned by osmosis as well.
They still listen to Van Morrison. Joe Cocker. James Brown. John Prine. Billie Holiday………ect.
As my hero Duke Ellington used to say. “There is only two types of music. Good and the other kind.” I saw him play as well.
Torchie
p.s. Just a bit of trivia for you Dave. The bands working name for the song “One O’clock Jump” was “Blue Balls”. They had to come up with something different when they recorded it at one O’clock in the morning. Hence the name.
“Why am I so black and blue?” Hmmmm. Quentin, maybe there’s more to Torchie’s downbeat note.
As you see from my Neferteri confessionals, my dad played banjo and drums back in the day. Did crooner stints on the local radio station, before WWII. My mom swore when she was carrying me, I would kick inside her to the beat of his drumming at the dancehall. Close as I’d ever come to a musical ability. Bet my baby shrieks were even “pitchy”.
But my sister came to play the piano really well, and from her lessons and practice I had some music appreciation by osmosis, too. By junior high, 1953 (when I also discovered Trend Books” Custom Car Annual) I wanted to play the saxaphone. Instead, the music teacher stuck me with an euphonium. Damn brassy tasting mini-tuba.
That was the end of my participation beyond the osmosis part. I did get to see the Dave Brubeck Quartet in concert in Seattle in 1965. Peter, Paul and Mary were their “warm-up”. Later, in a small venue off Pike Street, I got to hear Cannonball Adderley and June Christy. Totally mesmerizing.
There is a point here, tho. When my son Jade was tiny, at his grandfather’s knee he was mesmerized by that banjo, and the songs grandpa sang to grandma. Jade would grow up to be really good at the guitar. He did some compositions on his own, and one time even laid down a CD for me to enjoy. Both my dad and my son Jade have passed away, but in my mind’s eye I still see that little boy staring up wide-eyed as grandpa played those jumpin’ tunes.
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