Yesterday we offered a quote from an interview by Joe Goldberg with Sonny Rollins from Downbeat August 26, 1965. Here’s a second quote from the same article.

 “The thing to do is to work on myself, so I can play me. The audience can tell that. I remember one night, on the first tune, something went wrong with the rhythm section I was working with. They weren’t together at all, not with me, not with each other. We were playing Lover, I think, and there was this shambles behind me, and all I was trying to do was keep things from falling apart. I was playing as hard as I could, but I couldn’t get anything going; I didn’t play a thing. Finally we got through it, and I’ve never heard an audience applaud like that. I thought about it later, and I decided that they felt how hard I was trying, and they responded to that. It’s the same thing when an audience is talking and drinking while you’re playing. It’s a challenge to make them stop and listen. You can do it with tricks, but I’ve learned that it’s better to do it by playing something you really mean. Then they’ll listen. I can usually accomplish that, when I try.”

I must admit, I’m putting a lot of time into my regular gig these days, and not spending too much on eBay. So, this morning, looking for something quick and simple to write, I came upon an old Downbeat from August 26, 1965, with a cover story titled: “The Further Adventures of Sonny Rollins: A revealing conversation with the controversial tenor saxophonist, by Joe Goldberg.”

Without doing major analysis, I will offer a couple of revealing quotes: One today and one tomorrow. Here’s today’s:

“The average Joe knows just as much as I do – he knows more than I do. I’m the average Joe, and I think people recognize that. That’s why I play standards. Everybody knows Stardust. These guys who play only their own tunes, they can cover up a lot of things, but if you play the melody of Stardust, everybody can tell whether you’re doing it right or not. I’ve called tunes like that to guys who didn’t know them. How can you call yourself a professional musician if you don’t know all those songs?”

Quote of the Day:

      “What is soul in jazz? It’s what comes from within: It’s what happens when the inner part of you comes out. It’s the part of playing you can’t get out of the books and studies.  In my case, I believe that what I heard and felt in the music of my church was the most powerful influence on my musical career. Everyone wants to know where I got that funky style. Well, it came from the church. The music I heard there was open, relaxed, impromptu – soul music.” — Milt Jackson, from the liner notes to the LP Plenty, Plenty Soul, Atlantic 1269, liner notes by Nat Hentoff.

One of the criticisms of the Modern Jazz Quartet was that the structure of the band held back the playing of the brilliant vibist Milt Jackson. This was Jackson’s response when he was asked if, indeed, being in the MJQ held him down:

            “No, not actually. It may not sound or look like it when you’re listening out front because it’s all so well planned, but I still get to play more or less what I want to play. I’m relaxed. I’ve always been able to adjust myself to a situation. When I first joined the MIQ, there were times when I looked at the planning as a handicap, but now I’ve come to look on it as an asset. In terms of the business, and musically too. Discipline can be a good thing and having been under discipline can be a help when you do let loose.” — Source: Liner notes to the LP Milt Jackson, Plenty, Plenty Soul, Atlantic 1269. Liner notes by Nat Hentoff.

 “Lester was a one or two take man. He’d say, ‘I can’t do anything better than that,’ and usually that was it. His statements were emotional ones and when they were done, they were done.”

            Norman Granz on Lester Young. Liner notes from the album The Lester Young Story, Verve MG V-8308, 1960. Liner notes by Nat Hentoff.

Yesterday we answered some questions from readers. Today we have a question we would like to throw out to the community and see if anyone else has the answer. We’re starting to get a little action on the forums, so if you have questions like these please put them there and we can start building a clearinghouse of information for collectors.

On to today’s question, from Pete aka “Bongo Pete the Drummer”:

 “Hello. I have for years owned a 45-RPM EP on Clef Records called Introducing Barney Kessel and have never found any info on it. I also own the 10-inch LP Barney Kessel Volume 1 on Contemporary, which mentions in the liner notes that it is Barney’s first album – but that’s what it says on the back of the Clef 45. I know Barney just passed away on the 6^th of this month. Do you know anything about this Clef EP? I picked it up about 30 years ago when I was 14 years old for $1 or $2. It is in pretty nice shape. I have played it two times in 30 years, as I have it on tape.”

Can anybody out there help Pete?

eBaying

 Here are some of the interesting items that sold the past couple of days on eBay:

 Zoot Sims at Ronnie Scotts, Fontana 5176, in M- condition. Price: $660. The dealer described this as one of the rarest jazz LPs from the U.K. We’ve never seen it before and the price certainly justifies that description.

 Two Jackie McLean Blue Note LPs also went for high prices yesterday:

 Jackie’s Bag, Blue Note 4051, in M- condition. Price: $675

 New Soil, Blue Note 4013 in M- condition. Price: $325

Quotebook

“To me, reaching people is the most important thing. Otherwise, you just lock yourself in a room and play for yourself – that’s all. But if you’re going to work in a club and people are paying money to see and hear you, you should try to establish some kind of contact with them. What I try to do when playing in a club is to present different things, so that no matter who comes in, there’ll be something for everybody, rather than just playing one kind of thing and telling people: ‘If you don’t like it you can split!'” — Chet Baker from the liner notes to the album Baby Breeze, Limelight LM 82003, issued in 1964

Dan, if you’re watching today, Happy Birthday. See you all tomorrow with a newsletter. — Al

I couldn’t sleep again the other night so I went into my music room and started poring through the batch of 115 Downbeat and Metronome magazines I bought at the WFMU Record Show in New York last week. Most of the magazines are from the 1940s and 1950s, with a few Downbeats from the 1960s thrown in. I love these things because they give you a real view of the history of jazz as it was happening. I’m always surprised that so few people seem to be collecting the old magazines. It’s okay, because the prices are always reasonable and it would be nice if they stay that way. Anyway, over the next few weeks I’ll be sharing some of the interesting items I find as I go through the magazines. Here are a few snippets:

 In the Dec. 12, 1957 Downbeat Sonny Rollins was given The Blindfold Test by Leonard Feather. This is Feather on Rollins: “He was a very conscientious blindfoldee, taking copious notes and reading off his comments in the tape recorder after each number was played.”

 This was Rollins on Duke Ellington: “This record is immediately recognizable as having a Duke Ellington sound. It’s very important to have a sound that you can recognize immediately, and of course Duke is an institution now in music. He’s one of my particular favorites. Always has been a great inspiration to me.”

 In the August 10, 1955 Downbeat, Dave Brubeck fought back against what he said was unfair criticism based on his growing popularity and appearance on the cover of Time Magazine:

 “Just what do the critics want from me? In the first place, I can think of very, very few critics with the musical training to do their jobs properly. I don’t expect critics to be great musicians. But I do think they should have put in a number of years studying music and they should know what they’re trying to evaluate. They should know, for one thing, that our group is always improvising. They should know that we never play the same tune twice the same way.  The critics say I don’t swing. I say we always swing – sometimes we don’t swing very much, but it’s always enough to be considered jazz. That much I guarantee.”

 For the July 25, 1956 Downbeat, Thelonious Monk sat down with Nat Hentoff for an interview. Here’s an excerpt:

 “Do I think I’m difficult to understand? Well, like what? Tell me a particular number. Some of my pieces have melodies a nitwit could understand. Like, I’ve written one number staying on one note. A tone-deaf person could hum it.

”My system of composing? I compose as it comes, as I hear it. I have no foruma for composing. For people who’ve never heard any of my work before and would like to know where to start, I’d say just listen to the music in the order that I’ve recorded it. Get the records, sit down, and dig.”

That’s it for today. See you tomorrow with our newsletter. —