RAT ON Rat on Rat on. My guest is not himself these days because if he was he would be settling in to the latter stages of life, winding down and having his larger family contingent pick up where he left off.
But that's not how this chapter is being written. My guest today is performing at a prolific clip criss crossing the country in an effort to be a link in the chain.
It could be doing the Hickey Burr with Cleveland Eaton raising money for Miles College in Alabama or any black college that supports education. It could be spoofing Barry White or James Brown while Melvin Wah Wah Ragin lays down those whammy bar hits.
But really my guest continues on in this hosts mind because he still wants people to find their true nature, go towards their strengths and be fearless because my guest is fearless.
He is a believer in humanity and helping those get ahead, thinking on the spot during the Original Jam Sessions with Quincy Jones and Ray Brown locking that groove with Monty Alexander.
Or maybe it was the time when Bobbye Porter Hall was living @ home with her mother in Detroit when my guest invited her out to Vegas and eventually LA to open up for him. It's the humanity shown to him back when he was slinging drinks @ a local Philly Bar during the burgeoning Folk Scene and to this day my guest is still showing up at the Newport Folk Festival doing renditions of the Car Song.....
He developed his comedy chops around the magical hard bop of the times....flutin the blues with James Moody, playing Bags Groove with Milt Jackson or bebopin with Dizzy, Eddie Bongo Brown and Mary Lou Williams.
He pushed people out of their comfort zone to get the most out of them. Like the Latin cat Johnny Pacheco or the Organ grinding Richard Groove Holmes who showed up on the comedy skits and sit coms.
Charles Lloyd called my show "a search of inner life." Dozens of musicians have told me that I changed their life because I rediscovered relic vinyl they were on, that they themselves had given up on as little more than a moment in time. For them to come around to the notion that their music put me on my trip is a revelation. A Love Supreme.
Dr. Bill Cosby welcome back to the JFS....