[Dixielandjazz] Clarinetist/whistler Brad Terry's book; a review

[Norman Vickers]

To: DJML;  Musicians & Jazzfans list

From: Norman Vickers, Jazz Society of Pensacola

There's an adage in medical research which seems to be applicable here.  It
states:  When you've done the work, then get the most mileage possible!

I have written this review for the website of the Jazz Society of Pensacola
www.jazzpensacola.com and also for consideration by The American Rag, a
traditional jazz monthly published in California.  Thanks to Brad Terry for
his effort in writing these vignettes of an interesting life.  I hope you'll
find the review of interest and perhaps some of you will even wish to obtain
the book for further exploration.

 

 

 

 

 

BOOK REVIEW

By

F. Norman Vickers

 

 

I FEEL MORE LIKE I DO NOW THAN I DID YESTERDAY:

A Collection of Remembered Stories

By

Brad Terry

pp. 386; soft cover; self-published

 

Brad Terry is a clarinetist and whistler, now is his 70s. I've been aware of
him since the 1980s. Initially,  he came to my attention through "The Living
Room Tapes" a CD made with guitarist Lenny Breau.   The CD was released
after Breau's tragic death by drowning and I understood that that the
proceeds from the recording, which Brad made in his living room-hence the
name, were donated to Breau's survivors.

 

I was attending a meeting of the American Federation of Jazz Societies and
during the break I heard this  distinctive whistling in the hall.  My
immediate reaction, "My God, but Lenny Breau is dead!"  Obviously, I had
mistakenly assumed that the whistling was by Breau instead of Brad Terry.
At that convention, I also got to hear Terry's clarinet performance. Brad
and I have had intermittent correspondence since that time, including
Dixieland Jazz Mailing list and my own list.

 

Now about the book.  As the author points out, this is not a definitive
autobiography but a series of vignettes about his experiences as a
clarinetist who doesn't read music, his life-long struggle with attention
deficit disorder (ADD), and his time running a camp for teen-aged boys.

 

Musician-readers likely will find Terry's recounting of his musical
adventures most engaging.  His struggle with ADD compounds the difficulties.
Terry's father was an international business executive and the family was
near-neighbors of Benny Goodman.  His mother confided to Goodman that Brad
did poorly in school, wouldn't complete his homework and just played on his
recorder (the musical instrument.) Goodman's recommendation: get him a
clarinet.    There were other encounters with Goodman throughout their
lives, including an event which makes Goodman look almost human.

 

At one point, Terry, because of his ADD, didn't finish high school, performs
with a group of musician students from Yale.  This group included bassist
Steve Swallow.  As this group graduated, Brad and Swallow moved to New York
and became involved in the music scene there.  While in NYC Brad came in
contact with reedman Buddy Tate who became a mentor and introduced him to
the jazz scene in Harlem.

 

There are sections in the book about trips to Poland and working with young
musicians there as well as some Polish students who came to the US to
perform and tour with him. There are other sections of the book which
involve his working as a youth counselor for older teenage boys

 

Sometimes life has been a struggle for Brad and he has worked as a
school-bus driver for a time.  There was a brief marriage and divorce, so
most of his life has been that of a single person.  The book also includes
photos of various aspects of Brad's life.

 

One incident which appealed to me was Terry's description of a Jazz-At-Noon
session in New York City.  This is a long-time tradition on Fridays directed
by Les Lieber, an advertising executive and amateur musician.   Brad was
invited to participate on a day when Toots Thielemans-guitarist, chromatic
harmonicist and whistler--was the musical star of the session.  Other
performers were businessmen-musicians.  After Toots had performed, Brad was
introduced and performed a whistling routine.  Lieber suggested that they
perform in duo but Toots declined and didn't appear too happy with the
session. (On a personal note, only time I had occasion to attend the Jazz at
Noon, bassist Milt Hinton was guest performer.  The drummer that day was
famous cardiac surgeon from Mt. Sinai Hospital who had delayed his trip to
London for a speaking engagement in order to play that gig.)

 

Purchasing information:  

>From the author:  send check for $30.00 to Brad Terry, 36 Willow St., Bath,
ME 04530 for autographed copy mailed anywhere in the US.

Or order from Lulu.com   Price is approximately the same except you don't
get autographed copy.

Also a number of Brad Terry's recordings are available for sale on
Amazon.com, but new and used.

 

 
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