When the spirits call they do so with the understanding that I understand that I am merely part of the wave of history and that if I am to do a decent job covering ethnomusicology in the states then it my job to push that boulder up the hill a little bit at a time until the next cat comes around to push it a little bit more.
I get to realizing that the real authenticity of my show is interviewing the guys who play for a tree of genies high above the clouds dropping radiant acoustic bombs at a black union house on a Sunday afternoon in Buffalo, NY with Wade Legey playing round midnight or the great drummer Frankie Dunlop scouting talent for the Aquarians.
Interviewing cats who fed off of a lifetime of Tony Williams and Art Blakey press roles and interwove their apparatus into an amalgamation of African rhythm and European swing.....melodic invention.
My guest is in the same master bass discussion as The Skipper Henry Franklin, Cecil McBee, Stafford James, Gene Perla Jamie Myritt, Earl May, Herbie Lewis and John Heard.
He has sought out different kinds of players because diversity in music and flow is that much more interesting. Be it Ohio, Pennsylvania, or the lower east side with Beaver Harris and Eddie Harris and Joe Chambers these brothers came of age at a time when there was no jazz curriculums in the schools.....if there were they were being made up by the students who were incorporating their sights and sounds from the bandstand, going five to a car and crisis crossing the country with the likes of McCoy Tyner Gary Bartz, Neal Creque ,Shelly Manne, Harold Land keeping time and the pocket but also advocating for odd time and songs of his fathers.
My guest knows his people and their music traditions. He remains steadfast in his approach to creationism believing that you create your own legacy....and that's the trick no matter how many different ways your name is has was will be spelled...
Juini Booth welcome to the JFS