COXTALK
"For six year, beginning in high school, rather than sleep, I would listen to Moonglow with Martin from 12-2 am every night. Turns out those nightly sessions began my life-long love affair with jazz. I learned a lot. I heard from the best!
COXTALK is about what I listen for and hear in great performances, and about the musicians that have consistently thrilled me over the years".
- Steve Cox
Steve's 5 Desert Island Discs
Urbie Green "Let's Face the Music and Dance" - Stan Kenton Presents - Maynard Ferguson and "Prologue" - The complete Four Freshman Collection - Sammy Nestico and Dae Wolpe's "Greatest Arrangements".
"Cox's Greatest Hit's" featuring Dennis Dotson and Larry Slezak, with Steve playing solos on the 300 tapes he has playing with 200 some odd bands over the last 50 years. "I just threw in Dennis and Larry because they may be the only two people who will ever see this! (sorry about the other 300 great players in Houston that I probably teed off!)
Favorite arrangers include Kenton, Brubeck, Nestico, Wolpe, Holman, Brookmeyer, and May. All great big band arrangers.
Bill Watrous - Some of Willys better 'long ago' work
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RL3Va8qnQtM&feature=related
Ray Sims - Second solo on this is Ray Sims, the guy I most emulated and liked on bone for ballad work. This is before he went with Les Brown for twenty plus years and was featured on practically all of Les's recordings. One of the best ballad players ever. Big ballsy tone, great combination lip and slide vibrato. Holds his slide the way I learned from Urbie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVtxquJ19oY
Warren Durrett - Rummaging through old tapes and records I came across a 1973 recording of the Warren Durrett Orchestra from Kansas City, Missouri. I played in Warren’s band from 1964 through 1970 before leaving Kansas City for California. Kansas City had some of the finest jazz and big band musicians in thttp://www.jazzmasters.nl/dicknash.htmhe country, many of whom dropped off territory bands as they came through the Midwest. Warren had the #1 big band in Kansas City and the band included many of the finest players in Kansas City and the nation. In 1973 Warren brought many of his key players from Kansas City to Studio A at Capital records in L.A. to record arrangements that represented his style and vision. Many of LA’s finest musicians were combined with Kansas City’s best and the ultimate recording was truly sensational. Warren included arrangements by Sammy Nestico, Dave Zoller, John Pope and himself. Recording giants such as Dick Nash http://www.jazzmasters.nl/dicknash.htm, Bud Brisbois, Ted Nash, Conti Condoli, Kai Winding http://bjbear71.com/Winding/Kai.html, John Audino, Earl Palmer http://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Earl_Palmer.html, and Carol Kaye http://www.carolkaye.com melded perfectly with Kansas City stalwarts Sherman Gibson, Richard Wilson, Bob Ousley, and Marilyn Maye http://www.marilynmaye.com – resulting in a true “West meets Mid-West” synergistic collaboration.
Warren was kind enough to invite me to the recording session as I was living in LA at the time. The selection of “Who’s Sorry Now”, which was commissioned for the recording by Nestico, and is now in every big band library in the country, features Arch Martin on the trombone solo and Nestico’s big band genius.
Enjoy!
James Morrison - This guy is a real force in the music business. I first caught his act 10 or 15 years ago, playing trombone in the upper register like my friend Dave Steinmeyer of the Airmen of Note. Dave plays Tommy Dorseys theme song, "Getting Sentimental Over You" UP AN OCTAVE (an octave over the range of the horn) and this guy could duplicate the range with power, which was very unusual. He admitted that Steinmeyer was his idol, and had memorized a lot of Dave's technique and signature licks.
The next thing I hear is him on the TRUMPET sounding like MAYNARD FERGUSON. Same range, power, he does it all. Then he came out with THIS thing, and I have seen many other people do the one man band thing, but nobody does it better. I saw him in a four-way trumpet thing with Arturo Sandoval, John Faddiss and Wynton Marsalis. Morrison blew them all away. Incredible range, great jazz interpretation, and incredible technique. He is truly a musical phenomenon.
If you have never heard of James Morrison, you are in for a treat. Plays bone like Steinmeyer and trumpet like Maynard.
Dave Brubeck - Brubeck is unbelievable on this...........constantly pushing the tempo........the other cats can't keep up........circa '77
John Allred
This is a litlle long, but bear with it til the trombone solo. This is John Allred, whom in my opinion, may be the best jazz trombonist ever. It is hard to hear everything he is doing because he is poorly miked and EQ'd, but you will get the idea of the energy, and his facility, creativity and fire. Notice the applause for him. Incredible talent. Last time I saw him in '91, he was playing a King 2B - about six serial #'s away from my original horn which was bought used in 1950, serial # in the 286,000 range. The horn I'm playing now is 206,000. Got no idea how old that is. Must be early '40's. - The guy is freaking unbelievable.
Maniacal 4 Trombones - Carry On My Wayward
Wow!! I'm greatly relieved to see that there is a hope and a future. These kids are great. And are they into it, or what? Check out all the sound batts they have taped up all over the room. Hilarious.That lead player from the first note has the first great lead sound I've heard in the past twenty five years. I've never heard a kid his generation even come close to getting it, never mind understand the concept and actually do it. And that kid with the electronic mute - freakin' awesome. That bass trombone player is a total stud. Just fantastic. I couldn't tell what kind of gear they were playing. Bachs? The camera may have distorted the images, but the bells look large. Could be Bach 16's - like Watrous plays. But they sure didn't sound like big horns. Sounded like my Martin or 2B's.
Just great.
Kenny Faulk - I know Kenny Faulk. May have played with him along with Paully Cohen, or on a show for Regis Philbin at Mar Lago. Didn't know he was from Salina. Most of my good musician friends were much older than I. Some are still around like "Red" Hawley, drummer with Dukes of Dixieland for years in Vero Beach. Played with him on the Parke Frankenfield big band and dixie for ten years. Also Billy Mure, 90, at NBC studio with Arthur Godfrey. Played with Parke. Still playing at "Squid Lips" in Sebastian Florida, Bunny Carfagno, 90, jazz trumpet who's still playing and doin' great. John Williams, my Vero buddy and incredible piano player ( Getz, Zoot, Brookmeyer - when he was a teenager in NYC), still ticklin' the ivories at the Moorings and John's Island in Vero. At one time or another, I probably played with just about everyone in South Florida.
Cut my "society" chops with Mike Carney and Gene Donati in Washington DC. Donati was the number one society band in Washington. Flew all over the country. Three trumpets, two bones, him on clarinet, NO SAXES, accordian, piano, guitar, electric bass, two or three singers - Bach to Rock. Five hours continuous and NO MUSIC! That'll get your attention. Hardwick and Denny La Rue were a piece of cake after that! Carney did the same thing for years, then he finally had a book written when all the "old" heads that knew the drill started dying off. I still have the bone book, the most left handed "eighth note" writing I have ever seen. Some of the syncopated bars using eighth note rests were a half page long! Forgot to mention - that arrangement of "Watch What Happens" that Vince played the triangle on, was probably an old Warren Durrett arrangement and could have been written by Warren or more likely John Pope - a wonderful arranger. A genius.
Four Freshmen -
I could write a BOOK on "STRAIGHT TONE NO VIBRATO" singing ............when I was playing in Matt Betton's band at K-State, in '57 and '58, we did several Four Freshmen tunes. ALL STRAIGHT TONE, with NO VIBRATO, and PHONETICS! Try singing the 3rd part on "The Day Isn't Long Enough" sometime if you want to sing in tune and hold major 7th's in pitch. I had to sing the 3rd part, and by ITSELF it has no adherence or coherence to ANYTHING! Can't even recognize the tune when you sing it. Ain't no Barbershop in THOSE TUNES! It was so hard to memorize, I can STILL sing it from memory after 55 years, and never sang the whole arrangement since. Sang my part for Bob Flanagan one night and he almost fell over. (He always got to sing the MELODY!)
The next thing I hear is him on the TRUMPET sounding like MAYNARD FERGUSON. Same range, power, he does it all. Then he came out with THIS thing, and I have seen many other people do the one man band thing, but nobody does it better. I saw him in a four-way trumpet thing with Arturo Sandoval, John Faddiss and Wynton Marsalis. Morrison blew them all away. Incredible range, great jazz interpretation, and incredible technique. He is truly a musical phenomenon.
If you have never heard of James Morrison, you are in for a treat. Plays bone like Steinmeyer and trumpet like Maynard.
Dave Brubeck - Brubeck is unbelievable on this...........constantly pushing the tempo........the other cats can't keep up........circa '77
John Allred
This is a litlle long, but bear with it til the trombone solo. This is John Allred, whom in my opinion, may be the best jazz trombonist ever. It is hard to hear everything he is doing because he is poorly miked and EQ'd, but you will get the idea of the energy, and his facility, creativity and fire. Notice the applause for him. Incredible talent. Last time I saw him in '91, he was playing a King 2B - about six serial #'s away from my original horn which was bought used in 1950, serial # in the 286,000 range. The horn I'm playing now is 206,000. Got no idea how old that is. Must be early '40's. - The guy is freaking unbelievable.
Maniacal 4 Trombones - Carry On My Wayward
Wow!! I'm greatly relieved to see that there is a hope and a future. These kids are great. And are they into it, or what? Check out all the sound batts they have taped up all over the room. Hilarious.That lead player from the first note has the first great lead sound I've heard in the past twenty five years. I've never heard a kid his generation even come close to getting it, never mind understand the concept and actually do it. And that kid with the electronic mute - freakin' awesome. That bass trombone player is a total stud. Just fantastic. I couldn't tell what kind of gear they were playing. Bachs? The camera may have distorted the images, but the bells look large. Could be Bach 16's - like Watrous plays. But they sure didn't sound like big horns. Sounded like my Martin or 2B's.
Just great.
Kenny Faulk - I know Kenny Faulk. May have played with him along with Paully Cohen, or on a show for Regis Philbin at Mar Lago. Didn't know he was from Salina. Most of my good musician friends were much older than I. Some are still around like "Red" Hawley, drummer with Dukes of Dixieland for years in Vero Beach. Played with him on the Parke Frankenfield big band and dixie for ten years. Also Billy Mure, 90, at NBC studio with Arthur Godfrey. Played with Parke. Still playing at "Squid Lips" in Sebastian Florida, Bunny Carfagno, 90, jazz trumpet who's still playing and doin' great. John Williams, my Vero buddy and incredible piano player ( Getz, Zoot, Brookmeyer - when he was a teenager in NYC), still ticklin' the ivories at the Moorings and John's Island in Vero. At one time or another, I probably played with just about everyone in South Florida.
Cut my "society" chops with Mike Carney and Gene Donati in Washington DC. Donati was the number one society band in Washington. Flew all over the country. Three trumpets, two bones, him on clarinet, NO SAXES, accordian, piano, guitar, electric bass, two or three singers - Bach to Rock. Five hours continuous and NO MUSIC! That'll get your attention. Hardwick and Denny La Rue were a piece of cake after that! Carney did the same thing for years, then he finally had a book written when all the "old" heads that knew the drill started dying off. I still have the bone book, the most left handed "eighth note" writing I have ever seen. Some of the syncopated bars using eighth note rests were a half page long! Forgot to mention - that arrangement of "Watch What Happens" that Vince played the triangle on, was probably an old Warren Durrett arrangement and could have been written by Warren or more likely John Pope - a wonderful arranger. A genius.
Four Freshmen -
I could write a BOOK on "STRAIGHT TONE NO VIBRATO" singing ............when I was playing in Matt Betton's band at K-State, in '57 and '58, we did several Four Freshmen tunes. ALL STRAIGHT TONE, with NO VIBRATO, and PHONETICS! Try singing the 3rd part on "The Day Isn't Long Enough" sometime if you want to sing in tune and hold major 7th's in pitch. I had to sing the 3rd part, and by ITSELF it has no adherence or coherence to ANYTHING! Can't even recognize the tune when you sing it. Ain't no Barbershop in THOSE TUNES! It was so hard to memorize, I can STILL sing it from memory after 55 years, and never sang the whole arrangement since. Sang my part for Bob Flanagan one night and he almost fell over. (He always got to sing the MELODY!)
Hi Lo's - In MY humble opinion the Hi Lo's were a little TOO perfect ( no "balls" ) mainly because Gene Puerling NEVER made a mistake, and probably was a teetotaler, which I guarantee you Flanagin was NOT - nothing ventured, nothing gained. Sometimes you got to let it all hang out and go for it to find out what you've got and be willing to take the consequences of "Stepping on it" - kind of like the difference between a studio player and a "live" player, not to say that the good studio players can't do both, but the mentality is different. You make a mistake in the studio, and you don't get called back if anyone hears it - so many times they "suck" when in doubt, rather than letting it all hang out. There are a few who do both consumately. It ieputed that Conrad Gazzo's card read: "If I miss........you don't pay". Could be an urban legend, but probably true anyway.
"Better a mistake of COMMISSION, THAN OMISSION".............thank you HARRY TROTMAN, my old band leader buddy from Kansas City, Mo. that had 5,000 hours in B-24's in WWll, which is one in a million survival rate, played trombone, wrote GREAT Russ Garcia charts for one TPT, 3 Bones, and Bari sax, that covered ALL the bases, and who had a clock over his basement "rehearsal listening" area that had ALL 5'S ON IT! "GOTTA BE FIVE O'CLOCK' SOMEWHERE" - RIP HARRY. UNSUNG HERO!
"Better a mistake of COMMISSION, THAN OMISSION".............thank you HARRY TROTMAN, my old band leader buddy from Kansas City, Mo. that had 5,000 hours in B-24's in WWll, which is one in a million survival rate, played trombone, wrote GREAT Russ Garcia charts for one TPT, 3 Bones, and Bari sax, that covered ALL the bases, and who had a clock over his basement "rehearsal listening" area that had ALL 5'S ON IT! "GOTTA BE FIVE O'CLOCK' SOMEWHERE" - RIP HARRY. UNSUNG HERO!