[Tradjazz] Sleepy Time Guy

[trevor rippingale]

Thanks Steve Barbone for the Ellington clip :  a real "sleeper".
             Also, your  hilarious account of a scratch jazz band at the 
Bronx Zoo reminds me of a Woody Allan-type New Year's gig which we were 
mis-cast here in Sydney, Australia, some years ago.
            As a last-minute reed-playing replacement for Bob Barnard in his 
Jazz Quartet at a Sydney private club, I experienced the following series of 
fascinating events :
(i) after playing a request for a nice quiet opener on flute (my party piece 
"Poinciana") an elderly gentleman approached the stage, pointed at the flute 
and asked "What do you call that instrument?" I happily answered : "Its a 
concert flute, did you like it ?" He angrily shot back : "No, I certainly do 
not !!! And my friends and I would be very pleased if you don't play it 
again tonight.!!!" , and stormed off . Naturally we were somewhat dismayed : 
but although the foldback sounded good to us,  unbeknown to us, the PA 
system had been set on maximum treble for the audience, resulting in almost 
total wind-rush and key rattles). But this was but the beinning of our 
troubles .
(ii) Then, after playing what we regarded as a very enjoyable and swinging 
first jazz set featuring tenor and clarinet and arguably Sydney's best 
mainstream rhythm section , the same angry patron  "directed us" to play 
Hava Nagila. Our pianist/leader remained calm and courteously replied "yes, 
certainly, but we normally play it at the end of the night during the 
midnight New Year festivities". Within minutes five angry men, including our 
nemesis, advanced line-abreast on the bandstand, demanding we play Hava 
Nagila, and "play it now" !!  Our leader courteously repeated his previous 
advice at which the five stormed off, yelling abuse. Once more we were 
dismayed and perhaps even a little concerned for our safety!
         Minutes later during our break sitting at a table having a drink, 
we were again somewhat dismayed to hear another band on our stage playing 
the requested Hava Nagila : all our instruments had been moved to the side 
of the stage without any notice to us. Our nemesis had brought up a folkband 
from the downstairs lounge ! "Dismayed" was putting it lightly !
(iii) Next, a professional singer pleaded with us to back her act, as the 
afore-mentioned folkband couldn't read music. We of course agreed, only to 
find hers was an Olivia Newton-John repertoire, with songs and a style far 
removed from our jazz ethos, including one classic lyric which simply 
repeated the inspiring confession "Im A Maniac" ad nauseam, to the 
accompaniment of heavy tom-toms. Needless to say, our dismay intensified.
(iii) By this time, suspecting that our "Jazz Quartet" may have been 
slightly mis-cast for this particular function, and with our morale lowered 
more than somewhat, some of us began drinking to excess ( funny that!). St 
the end of the evening we decided to play the much requested "Hava Nagila" 
(we'll show them ), but while waving his sticks about in a somewhat 
uncontrolled alcoholic fervour, our drummer accidentally became entangled in 
the stage curtains, bringing the lot down in toto to completely cover 
ourselves and our instruments : piano, bass, drums and reeds.....we couldn't 
see a thing....stop the music !!...we want to get off !!  Someone later 
observed that we resembled an undulating bedouin tent!
           We'd managed to really ring the curtain down........literally ! A 
fitting, almost orgasmic finale to a quite grotesque evening.  Surprisingly 
we've never been invited back........I wonder why ?. As someone said, some 
funny things can happen on the way to (and during ) the gig !
                                                  Trevor Rippingale

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Barbone" <barbonestreet at earthlink.net>
To: <tradjazz at list.okom.com>
Sent: Friday, October 13, 2006 11:52 AM
Subject: [Tradjazz] Sleepy Time Guy


> Take a look at this Duke Ellington clip on Youtube: Paul Gonsalves is on 
> the
> left side of the sax section as you look at the video. Also, dig Jimmy
> Hamilton's clarinet solo. IMO, one of the most underrated clarinet players
> in jazz. The song is Perdido, 7+ minutes.
>
> Gonsalves, has nodded off with his horn still in his mouth. Too big a hit?
> He stays that way for the entire song (7 minutes) Jimmy Hamilton fills in
> taking the Gonsalves' solo spot, though he plays the tenor seated. Also, 
> dig
> Johnny Hodges (next to Hamilton) giving staring at Paul. Duke carries on
> completely ignoring him . . . like "The Show Must Go On."
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUCj1jc9AuE
>
> Cheers,
> Steve Barbone
>
>
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