Thanks Marty, today we’re going to hear an original jazz song recorded right here, in Jonesboro.
In my sixties I started attending the Jazz Alliance concerts, enjoying the music and eventually recording an album of Ron Horton originals. Ron was on trumpet and Craig Collison played vibraphone. They were both teaching at ASU at the time so they were my gateway back into the Music Department where I took Marimba from Mr. C and Jazz Improv from Dr. Horton.
I already knew Craig Collison because he played drums on the Joe Lee album, “Boppin’ At The Forest”, that I recorded in 2001.
You’ve heard of one name celebrities like Cher or Drake. Well, Craig is a one letter celebrity known to all his students as Mr. C.
And I’m still playing with Mr. C. He played vibes on my 1625 Groove Street album and he is currently playing with my new band, #jazz #blues #fusion.
On June 30, 2001, the 1st Annual Tulsa Jamfest was at The Monkey Bar in Tulsa, Oklohoma. The headline act was Whirligig and after a few songs they brought on El Buho and Mike Gordon. El Bujo is Gary Gazaway’s festival act and Mike Gordon was bassist and a founding member of Phish, a band Gary has played with.
They played an amazing set, featuring songs Gary wrote. All of the songs I have picked from this show for this podcast and for the Something Blue show Saturday night are Gary Gazaway originals.
Songs 01 Tune-up Prelude in D major (Improvisation) - Shepherd 02 Let Us Break Bread Together - trad. 03 Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence - trad. 04 Be Thou My Vision - trad. 05 Let Thy Blood in Mercy Poured - trad. 06 Yesterday - Lennon/McCartney 07 Vaghe bellezze et bionde treccie d’oro (Prelude) - anon. A lute piece from the Italian Renaissance. The title loosely translates to “O vague, blonde beauties with golden braids” 08 Danza - anon. Another lute piece from the Italian Renaissance 09 Gagliarda - anon. Another renaissance lute piece which is also a lovey dance in ¾ time. Usually paired with a pavane to balance it out and make a little suite. 10 Se io m’accorgo - anon. Another Renaissance tune whose full title is actually “Se io m'accorgo ben mio d'un altro amante” loosely translates to “If I am well aware of another lover.” The tune uses a lot of imitative dialogue in the B section which is sometimes purely matched in style and sometimes in disagreement like the title seems to suggest. 11 Salterello - anon. A lively Italian dance originally from Tuscany. 12 Millennium Fair - Yasunori Mitsuda. This song was written for a Super Nintendo game called “Chrono Trigger” in 1995. I thought it appropriate since it shared the folklike, early music character of the previous renaissance tracks.
