[Dixielandjazz] Wally Homes, Director of the Sweet and Hot Festival, on Jackie Coon.

[Stan Brager]

I second what Lowell and Wally have to say about Jackie Coon. His playing
was always tasty and lyrical. If you're interested in his music, check any
of the Arbors CDs he recorded for that label.

Stan
Stan Brager
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lowell Busching" <verbose at daktel.com>
To: <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Cc: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Monday, August 20, 2007 10:48 PM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Wally Homes, Director of the Sweet and Hot
Festival, on Jackie Coon.


> From the August 2007 American Rag by Wally Homes. (Additional comments
> at the end by Mad Dog.)
>
> Jackie Coon died at his home in Hawaii sometime near the end
> March, 2007. Congestive heart failure took him down and after
> a few weeks took him out.
>
> To say he was one of the great jazz players of the 20th century might be
> stretching it a little, but not by much. And to say he was one of the
> great classic jazz players is not stretching one bit.  Jackie, an
> absolute original, played with a thirties sense of swing so
> unobtrusively invigorating it gathered in every jazz musician he took
> the stand with. He could play with trad, swing bop or straight ahead
> musicians and fit in.  Why?  Because he always played Jackie Coon music,
> his music, and when you're blowing your own mind, your very own, nobody
> can take that away from you.
>
> I don't think anyone who ever played with him can describe exactly what
> it was that set him apart.  I know I can't. But whatever special elixir
> he gently mixed into every set, it was always there.  And a Jackie Coon
> chorus -man would I like to hear another one right now -one of those
> lilting floaters he always played.  Jackie's sound moving lightly over
> the top of the rhythm section, quietly creating a center, a focal point,
> a feeling of jazz tranquility that always managed to permeate the
> players as well as much of the audience.  One more thing about a Jackie
> Coon chorus: he'd be swinging along, making us all feel good when
> suddenly, from somewhere (maybe that Jazz Utopia all jazz players keep
> looking for) he'd play a phrase so fresh, so original, you'd have to
> shake your head in disbelief.  Maybe it was only four or five notes put
> together in some unusual way but it was enough to let you in on a moment
> of truth.
>
> And Jackie as a person: He was one of the most gentle people I've ever
> been around.  Find me anybody who ever heard Jackie say something
> negative, about anyone and I'll buy you a drink. And by the time you
> finish it I'll bet I can convince you Jackie didn't say it in the first
> place.
>
> Don't look for Jackie on the internet.  He never got famous, not even
> well known.  Every time he had a shot at becoming big (and their were
> several) he walked away from it.  But if you want to find out more just
> ask Jake Hanna, Eddie Erickson, Howard Alden or any musician who had the
> good fortune to be on the stand with him over the last forty years--and
> man will you hear some stories.
>
> The end. (unquote)
>
>
> If someone else has not posted the above to the DJML, I think it should
> be, for Jackies fans. There must be a few on the list that remember
> Jackie. I know I do. It has been a long time since I last saw and heard
> Jackie, but I always hoped I would again someday. Not just as a musician
> who was fun to listen to, but as a person. A true "gentle giant".
>
> My own remembrance is a personal one also, but I remember it like
> yesterday. At a time long before many of the musicians would condescend
> to even speak to a sound mixer or learn your name, Jackie would always
> act like a long lost friend when we saw each other. Of course as Wally
> says, he was that way with everyone he knew even casually. There are a
> few others like that. Eddie Erickson, for one, one of those mentioned by
> Wally as a friend of Jackies, is cut from the same cloth. Perhaps it
> rubs off! Or is part of the common area of Ca. they come from?
>
> You would often see Jackie even before it was his time to come on stage,
> something not true of all musicians. The last conversation I remember
> having with him, long ago now, was when he came into the Hangover Room
> at the LA festival for a set and said to me,  "You and I are the only
> ones in this room that never seem to look any older."   That was still
> at a time back when I still looked younger then my age. No longer the
> case. Jackie, of course, also always looked the same over the years.  He
> definitely was one of a kind as Wally said.
>
> The Hangover Room is still at the Marriott for the now "Sweet and Hot
> festival", and thanks to Wally, many of the faces are still the same
> over the years, but the likes of Jackie Coon will not be seen there again.
>
> As the probably tin pan alley Hawaiian Song says. "Farewell until we
> meet again."  Aloha Jackie.
>
> Lowell aka Mad Dog
>
>
>
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