[Dixielandjazz] More from the Central Plaza

Sun Jun 10 17:55:43 PDT 2012

 Dear Marek:  I did not mean nor say that Jon Fadis specifically left to New York in the 60's 
I said the exodus started around the 60's when the scene for Jazz was shriveling up in S.F.
consequently many players like Jon also felt they had to go to New York to play Jazz, and did.

In my opinion it did more damage to the S.F. scene by their exiting, and it was not long before we had guys showing up here again claiming to be Jazz Cats form New York, many of whom obviously could not make the or break into the New York scene so took the train out of town to go be New York famous somewhere else trying ti intimidate some of the locals as if they were not important since they had never played New York etc.

A definite attitude prevailed for a long time around here,  same kind of thing existed with a few  Las Vegas cats as well  but they were quickly dispatched when they learned that we knew there was no Jazz Scene in Las Vegas. ha ha.

And yes Jon is a Fabulous Blues player when he wishes to play it, melodic and swings his ass off and I agree his Jazz is mostly modern, which is what was no doubt expected of him in New York when he arrived upon that scene.  Steve Barbone would certainly know more about the NY scene around that time, than I do, as I had no exposure to it at all until the 70's  and even then it was minimal exposure as I was not into Jazz then, was cutting my teeth on Country & Western, Blues & R&B and Soul music.  Since I wanted no part of the S.F. Rock Scene as a musician anyway.  The Last time I got to see Jon and work on a festival with him was in Pori Finland, he was there with a tribute Show to Ella with Marlena Shaw, Slide Hampton, Frank Foster, and I want to say Lionel Hampton, but the photo of us is not readily available to be certain.    Gate Mouth Brown had his show there as well, And Rocker Phil Collins was headlining with his big 25 piece Jazz Band with him on Drums.   A great time was had by all.

Cheers,

Tom Wiggins

-----Original Message-----
From: Marek Boym <marekboym at gmail.com>
To: Dixiejazzdata <dixiejazzdata at aol.com>
Cc: Dixieland Jazz Mailing List <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Sun, Jun 10, 2012 12:52 am
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] More from the Central Plaza

Jon Faddis, Tom?  In the '60's?  He only graduated in 1971!
At the peril of losing my mouldy status I must say that he is a
wonderful musician.  A bit on the modern side as far as I am
concerned, but wonderful!  And one who did, in a way. what Lu Watters
had done before him - went back to the roots!  That is, not the roots
of jazz, but the roots of modern.  At a time when everybody tried to
be a Miles Davis, Faddis discovered Dizzy Gillespie, and took it from
there.  He started young.  And indeed moved to New York at an early
age.
I saw him in 1977 (I think) in Nice, playing with Gillespie, but,
perhaps more significant for OKOM fans, he subbed for the ailing
Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown with Lloye Glenn, and played fantastic -
and very traditional - blues.  Wow!
Often, his playing with the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band is quite
"conservative" (for lack of a better term - I don't think he can be
described as "traditional"), and would not offend the ears of most
listmates.  Actually, I have never heard him playing "modern" in the
meaning of, say, Freddie Hubbard or Roy Hargrove.  No Dixielander for
sure, but, at least to my ears, always melodic and playing with that
elusive quality called "hot."
Cheers

On 10 June 2012 05:23, Dixiejazzdata <dixiejazzdata at aol.com> wrote:
> I Recall clearly how the Jazz scene in San Francisco began to evaporate in the 
60's and many of our great local players migrated to New York
> to play Jazz,   Guys like John Fadis actually came into his own there, and did 
very well, far better than he could ever have done in Oakland, Ca. some other 
very fine Jazz players of his same age and skill bracket are still here playing 
two or three nights a week in the same restaurants and dive Bars John Left for 
greener pastures.    Some have since died after holding out for teaching jobs 
rather then the life of a Touring musician.  Several of them that I attempted to 
tour in their prime and early careers when somebody knew of them and actually 
would pay for them.  They refused to go, and opted to stay here with a steady 
teaching gig, then came to me 30 years later after they retired and boldly 
announced that NOW they were ready to go on tour and wanted me to book them on 
all the Big Jazz Festivals around the world.   So sad as I watched them sitting 
around locally playing small bars for $60.00 a night, dying of strokes and heart 
attacks still dreaming of being a Star performer.
>
> Time waits for No Man !!   Opportunity knocks every day  but if you don't get 
up and answer the door nothing changes.
>
> These are the same folks always screaming about SUPPORT LOCAL MUSICIANS and 
who get upset when Local Festivals bring in outside artists and bands that are 
not over exposed to the local market to sell tickets to the events and keep them 
in business so they can actually hire some of the locals and give them a larger 
audience to play to.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Tom Wiggins
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: M J (Mike) Logsdon <mjl at ix.netcom.com>
> To: B.B. Buffington <dixiejazzdata at aol.com>
> Cc: Dixieland Jazz Mailing List <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
> Sent: Sat, Jun 9, 2012 2:45 pm
> Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] More from the Central Plaza
>
>
> Steve:
>
> Since during the early days of R&R New York was a jazz Mecca for youth, first,
> what would you say was the impetus, and second, would you say that New York in
> the 50s is equivalent to San Francisco and environs in the 40s (via Watters)?
>
> Sent from my cOmputer
>
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