Jazz for aficionados

"Afro Blue"; here we see Alvin Jones in his favorite shirt; this was recorded in October of 1963; note Trane's progress on Soprano sax.

I saw Trane, McCoy Tyner, Alvin jones, and I'm not positively sure of who the bassist was, but we had a table close to the bandstand;  It was in the early Winter of 63.

Every jazz musician in St. Louis was there, without their girlfriends; they didn't want any distractions. Jazz drummer Kenny Rice sat at our table. It was nice to have a professional jazz musician at your table; he politely answered our questions.

"My Favorite Things" was the tune everybody came to hear, and Trane performed his very extended live version; it was as I recall 28 minutes long; much longer than what's on record.

Man, I was feeling good and in a fantastic groove on this one. After 25 minutes, I was ready for it to end, but Trane kept on; he had lost McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones. Tyner looked at Jones as if to say; "We'll hang together until the boss gets back".

Me and my date looked at Kenny Rice who was in heaven; this is what he came to hear; we were lost. Miles commented on these live extended trips to the outer galaxies that Trane made.

That was the most fantastic performance I have ever witnessed in my life, even if I was momentary lost.

nsp, thank you very much for that post, it affirms everything I said about the album "South Side Soul".

You could have taken photographs of those places mentioned on that album, or you could have filmed those places, but nothing captured the feeling and vibrancy of being alive at that time and experiencing the "aura" of those places like John Wright's music.

Orpheus10 I am really liking the stories of your experiences in the jazz clubs back when jazz was still very relevant and popular in American culture. Your trips down memory lane are like gold to me. 

Keep them coming. Do you take requests?

 Orpheus10

If the answer to my question is yes, do you have an example of a Miles Davis show you attended?

Pjw, only one; I was attending classes for the company I worked for in Chicago, (the classes were in Chicago) with other students from all over the country. That in itself was exciting. This was in 68, that's important.

As I recall, one of the guys I hooked up with was from "Bedford-Stuyvesant", another from Cleveland, and a third from Pittsburgh. We were all jazz fans, and heard Miles, Nina Simone, and Herbie Mann were all going to be on for one night at this auditorium.

We trusted Mr. New York to get the tickets, after all, he was the hippest. Was he a sight, in his sandals and Dashiki. (We wore suit and tie to class) The tickets as I remember were quite reasonable (that raised my suspicions). When we got to our seats, I have never been up so high inside of any building, I got airsick.

I think Miles was the first on. Now here is where I have to go to great length to put this into perspective; Miles was with tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter, pianist Chick Corea on electric piano, drummer Tony Williams, and bassist Ron Carter. This is the kind of music they were playing.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3Xjm-C1VS8

Miles came out on stage in a "Buckskin vest with long fringes"; I looked at Bed-Sty, who knew all things new and hip; he told me this was Miles new music, as well as new look. "I liked the old look and old music better", I responded.

The music and Miles new look was a complete shock to me.



Nina Simone and Herbie Mann were absolutely fantastic. There was a horrible storm raging outside, and many people who had seats didn't show, so we moved down 10 stories and sat in the good empty seats where we enjoyed Nina Simone who was followed by Herbie Mann.