Jeff Bond, drummer and great guy - RIP

I know that there are massive tragedies happening in the world - Syria, Israel/Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and on and on.  But tonight I want to talk about an individual human tragedy.  Even great disasters are just a mass accumulation of individual human tragedies.

I went to high school with a guy named Jeff Bond.  Jeff was the son of the choral music/drama teacher at our school.  Everyone in his family had talent.  His dad was an operatic baritone, his brother, Bill, played the tuba; his sister Claudia was an excellent violinist.  Jeff was a very high-energy drummer.  He could kick the high school jazz band and make that group of youngsters swing harder than teenagers are supposed to swing.  He could play funky drums that would make James Brown squeal.  He was a dancer and a trickster.  His sense of humor was infectious.   It was an honor to play in the jazz band with him; he was an exciting fireball of a percussionist.  Whenever I hear that old Todd Rundgren tune, "Bang on the Drum All Day, " I think of Jeff.  I found 2 pictures of Jeff - his high school yearbook pic from 1973 and another, more recent shot. I also found one of his drum solos on the web.  Jeff just wanted to play, man.

So Jeff graduated from Pacific High and headed out to beat the drums for a living.  He played with some very big names - Mel Torme' was one that I remember, but there were many others.  After doing the road thing for a while, Jeff settled in Reno and made a living playing drums in the casinos.  He married, had a couple of kids and worked at being a good family man.  Like most working musicians, Jeff felt the impact of the digital revolution and the  "music for free" cultural shift - the casino work became less plentiful.  He finally took a full-time non-musical job as a school bus driver in Carson City NV.

So we lost Jeff last Friday to cancer.  I thought of him often, and we communicated once in a while via email.  But I let the friendship slip away - I knew better, but Chicago is far away from Reno and I was wrapped up in my family and work. I didn't see Jeff much at all after I left California in 1976.   I heard that he was sick a little while ago; Jeff was not one to call old friends with his troubles, so the news had to come via third parties.  He died too goddamn young.  He left a wife and two daughters who loved him to pieces, I'm sure.   Jeff's death is another individual human tragedy.

Jeff, I am sorry you are gone, brother.  And I apologize for being a shitty friend.

Donaldson Toussaint L’Ouverture Byrd II (aka Donald Byrd) - we lose another great one

Donald Byrd was an extremely great hard bop trumpeter.  A brilliant man, he studied hard to become a professor and taught jazz at major universities.  He wrote and performed Cristo Redentor, a jazz standard that has been covered by dozens of great artists, including blues harmonica player Charlie Musselwhite. But he really grabbed me when he "crossed over" to funk in the 1970's and launched the Blackbyrds with a bunch of youngsters.  "Do It, Fluid" was my favorite party tune when I was a young man. I remember that LP well - there was a reproduction of Van Gogh's "Wheatfield with Crows" on the cover.  I wore that damn record out.

Donald Byrd changed the game and he is revered by many people (including quite a few hip hop artists, who have sampled the hell out of his music).  Here is the New York Times obit.

The giants fall.  Will others fill the void?

So Long, Phil Guy; So Long, Little Arthur

Oh, Lord, it has been a week of losses. Phil guy died at the age of 68 after his battle with prostate cancer. He was a kind, generous musician; deserving of far more recognition than he received. As Buddy Guy's brother, he faced the challenge of overcoming a close relative's fame. Phil was always pleasant to wannabe musicians like me. This is a recent picture of Phil, from the Chicago Blues Fest last June

I knew that Little Arthur was at death's door. Her had a seizure from a brain tumor in April and hasn't left the hospital since then. He was totally authentic and I had the honor of hanging out with him once in a while. The picture above is from the 2004 Chicago Blues Fest, backstage after Little Arthur's set and before my band's set. A very sweet guy...Here is what Bob Corritore had to say about him in his blues newsletter.

RIP Little Arthur Duncan 2/5/1934-8/20/2008: It is with great sadness that we report yet another passing in this terrible week of losses to our blues community. Chicago harmonica ace Little Arthur Duncan passed away Wednesday morning, August 20, 2008 at Kindred Hospital in Northlake, IL. He was 74. He had been incapacitated for months with little hope of recovery. Born February 5, 1934 in Indianola, Mississippi, Arthur moved to Chicago at age 16, where he heard and befriended Little Walter, who inspired him to take up the harmonica. While holding down a construction day job, he began performing around Chicago with John Brim, Floyd Jones, and Hip Lankchan. He would later own and operate the Artesia Lounge on Lake Street, which moved to West Madison Street and reopened as Backscratcher's Social Club. Owning a club gave Arthur a regular place to perform, and he became a popular neighborhood attraction on the West Side. Twist Turner produced some of Arthur's first recordings, which appeared first on cassette and then on Cannonball Records' Blues Across America series. As Arthur's stature grew in Chicago, he recorded more, cutting two beautiful CDs for Delmark (Singin' With The Sun and Live At Rosa's Blues Lounge), and one forRandom Chance (Live In Chicago). He was a simply great vocalist, with tremendous power and expressiveness; and his sparse harmonica was always on the money. He specialized in third position and chromatic harmonica. His final band included Illinois Slim, Rick Kreher,and Twist Turner. He had a warm and gracious personality, and his passing leaves a huge hole in the Chicago blues scene, as he was one of a handful of the dwindling old school harmonica masters. We will miss you, Arthur.

Gone Too Soon - Sean Costello

This is from the Bob Corritore Blues Newsletter:

RIP Sean Costello 4/16/79-4/15/08: This shocking and sad news just in from Steve Hecht of Piedmont Talent: Blues singer/guitarist Sean Costello was found today dead in his hotel room in Atlanta, Georgia. He would have been 29 tomorrow. Cause of death is not known at present but details will posted on the Piedmont Talent website as they are revealed. Sean had recently released his fourth CD, We Can Get Together on the Delta Groove Record Label, and was a featured guitarist on the acclaimed new Nappy Brown CD Long Time Coming on Blind Pig Records. A handsome young man with amazing guitar ability, a fine voice, and a strong sense of carrying forward the tradition of the blues, Sean was a rising star with a brilliant career in front of him. In a world where we sorrowfully watch so many elder statesman of the blues pass, the loss this youthful bright light is especially hard to take. Rest in peace, Sean.

This is a shocking loss - too soon, Sean, too soon.

Good Bye, Michael "Blue Stew" Miller

I lurk on "Blues-L," a list-serve devoted to blues music and blues people. One of the most prolific posters was a gentleman that went by the handle of "Blew Stew," which was the name of his band. Michael Miller had a wicked sense of humor and lots of interesting insights. He died a week ago; the word went out on the list and the members were pretty stunned - he was only 56 and no one knew about his health struggles. So we Blue-L members (aka 'Zellers) are coping with cyber-grief. Mike Miller was one of those musicians that worked hard, had serious talent, but did not gain wide fame - which is, of course, the lot of most musicians.

Here is Mike's obit, posted on his website.

Michael Paul Miller, lead guitarist, singer, and songwriter for Blue Stew, passed away at his home on April 8, 2008 at the age of 56 years.

Mike graduated from Oxnard High School in 1970 and began touring across the US performing in various bands. While at a gig in Minnesota he met his future wife Julie and moved back to California to start a more stable lifestyle. He graduated from the Guitar Institute of Technology in Hollywood in 1981 with the goal of becoming a studio musician, but as he had difficulty reading sheet music this goal never came to fruition. Instead he continued with bands and eventually joined Blue Stew. In 1983 he married Julie and they had one son, Justin.

Blue Stew became a key focus for Mike and allowed him to write and play numerous songs in his 14 years with the band. Mike and the band originally enjoyed local success before getting recognition further afield, with the last recognition winning the Santa Barbara IBC and traveling to Memphis to compete in the 2008 International Blues Challenge Final.

Mike's life and musical inspiration came from many sources, but his struggle with living with Tourette's Syndrome, which is a genetic disease that manifests itself by vocal and motor tics, severe headaches, A.D.D., and severe depression, was a key factor in many of his songs and lyrics. Mike kept his struggles with Tourette's Syndrome private, but spent many hours on the internet helping other families deal with the disease. The Tourette's made him unable to maintain a normal job, so he found his solace in drawing, songwriting, singing, and playing guitar. Besides constant writing and listening to music, he also enjoyed music trivia, watching movies, playing with his dogs, and anything that included his son Justin.

Mike believed in the power of music and the ability it had on changing people's lives, including his own. With Blue Stew he wrote numerous songs for their four albums in addition to performing. In 2002, Mike set up recording equipment in his bedroom and for months he would be alone in his room recording every instrument and every vocal on his own and the result was his very personal album, Homeward.
Mike lived for the feedback from others and just wanted to have his music heard and although to many he was a star, his depression would always make him feel less worthy. As a way to have his music spread, we would like to offer his Homeward album available for download with your donation. Your contribution will go directly to the family with a portion donated to the Tourettes Association to raise awareness of the disease. The family thanks you all for your love and support.

May our memories of Mike be an inspiration for all and may his spirit live on through his music.

Frank Morgan - Heir to Charlie Parker - RIP

Be careful who you idolize, and how you idolize them. That is the message of Frank Morgan's life. He had an all-consuming admiration for Charlie Parker, and learned how to blow be-bop alto like the Bird. He also took up the Bird's bad habits, and ended up in and out of prison due to his use of heroin. From the late '50's through the mid'80's, Frank was off the scene due to incarceration - robbery, drug posssession, etc. He would get out, do another crime, and go right back in. He finally played his first New York club engagement in 1986; he got clean and stayed clean.

Frank gave us 20 years of great jazz; he found out he had cancer just last month and he went down quick. here is the Washington Post obit.....

Frank Morgan: 1933 - 2007
Noted jazzman who made a comeback

Heir to the hard-bop style of Charlie Parker had 30-year hiatus caused by addiction
By Adam Bernstein

The Washington Post

December 19, 2007

Frank Morgan, 73, a jazz saxophonist of impeccable ability, whose claim to the mantle of the celebrated Charlie Parker was clouded by his heroin addiction, died Dec. 14 at his home in Minneapolis. He had colon cancer and kidney failure.

Mr. Morgan, whose father was a guitarist with the vocal group the Ink Spots, was considered in his teens a promising interpreter of hard bop, a swing style of lightning pace.

Despite a 30-year absence from performing caused by addiction, he was remembered as someone who could bring emotion to the frantic sound in a way few had mastered since Parker. Parker, one of the great geniuses of saxophone, died from drug abuse at 34 in 1955.

Trumpeter Wynton Marsalis once said of Mr. Morgan's playing: "What comes out of his horn is soulful, full of fire and timeless."

In 1955, Mr. Morgan debuted as a solo artist with a beautifully made hard bop collection, but for the next three decades he was sidelined by heroin addiction and arrests. He served prison terms in California penitentiaries and formed a small ensemble at San Quentin prison in the 1960s with another addict and sax player, Art Pepper.

He credited a conversion to Islam during the end of what he called his "prison career" as a turning point for the better as well as an acclaimed series of performances at New York's Village Vanguard jazz club in 1986. A year earlier, he cut his second album, "Easy Living," which won praise.

With a bebop revival under way in jazz, Mr. Morgan made the most of his second chance. He said he was able to wean himself off drugs through methadone.

He was leader on more than a dozen albums. Among those he played with were Marsalis, pianists McCoy Tyner and Hank Jones, guitarist Kenny Burrell and singer Abbey Lincoln.

As a youth, he played the guitar but switched to alto saxophone after his father took him to hear Charlie Parker in Detroit. The younger Mr. Morgan said he began copying Parker's drug habit in hopes of channeling his talent. He was a full-blown addict when they met again a few years later.

In 1987, New Yorker writer George Trow collaborated with Mr. Morgan on a musical about his life, "Prison-Made Tuxedos," that ran off-Broadway in 1987. But Mr. Morgan, who performed in the show, expressed ambivalence about having to relive those years every night.

"I mean, I want to remember it, but I didn't want to dwell on it and deal with it again every night," he said. "I saw a lot of people killed. I'm out of that now."

Once asked why so many jazz musicians became addicts, he replied: "It's about being hip. Jazz musicians would rather be dead than not be hip."