infrogmation: (Default)
Last month I mentioned using the phrase "far out" to describe something at a gig.

Well, the situation was when a sax player was invited to play a couple numbers in a band he used to play with.

I should mention he's had problems with alcohol.

He eagerly brought up his horn, but was confused and delusional, generally not being able to follow where in a tune the band was, but playing with considerable enthusiasm and volume.

As he took a vocal on a number that used to be a specialty of his, his arms started shaking severely.

He waundered away with his horn, then back to the band, playing things that didn't go with the music.

He wouldn't stop playing, so we ended the set a early.

He said he was glad to play with us. I told him "It was far out."

Afterwards, one band member wondered if he was having strokes right there on stage. I guessed it was Delirium tremens. It sounds like we were both close, I hear it was likely Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome.

This past week the poor fellow went into a coma. And now he's dead.

Bye, Frank.

It turns out Doc had supplied me with something nice to say to Frank the very last time he played.
infrogmation: (Default)
I had a chance to use something I learned from the late great Doc Cheatham at a gig the other night.

Not a riff, break, or musical phrase. Something else.

For those who don't know, Doc Cheatham (1905-1997) was a trumpeter who played with McKinney's Cotton Pickers, Cab Calloway, Benny Goodman, and many other luminaries and was still playing brilliantly past the age of 90, when his duet cd with Nicholas Payton won a Grammy. Doc was not only a splendid jazz musician but also, as anyone who knew him could vouch, one of of the nicest people one could ever care to meet.

At lunch once Doc told about some producer who flew him out to the West Coast to particpate in some sort of avante garde free jazz "experiment". As others banged out non complmentary rhythms and unrelated chords, Doc was urged to "just blow anything!", so he did, rapidly fingering his valves at random. He was given encouragement "Yeah, that's the stuff!". Doc himself didn't think it amounted to anything.

Afterwards, the sponsor came up and enthusiastically asked Doc, "So, how'd you like it?"

Doc replied, "Man, it was far out."

I had a chance to use that phrase the other night.

Far out.

It's a good one to keep handy.

[edited to add: The rest of the story]

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