SLAJO at Burt's

Last Thursday, the Salt Lake Alternative Jazz Orchestra played down at Burt's Tiki Lounge.  The performance was highlighted by an appearance from original group founder Dave Chisholm, who sat in on trumpet.  This group is amazing, a 14 piece big band held together for 7 years or more now.  Yes, lots of changes, but still an innovative jazz big band.

One interesting note, Comcast videoed the performance (along with two other jazz related groups playing that evening) for their public access channel.  I don't use Comcast, but apparently they've been doing this sort of thing for some time.  If you are a Comcast cable customer, look for this performance on their public access channel sometime in the next 6 weeks or so.

 

 

Tribute to a Local Jazz Icon

Last night the University of Utah large jazz ensembles held a recital, and a tribute to the head of jazz studies, Henry Wolking, who is retiring in July. Henry has been a huge influence on his students, and on the local jazz community, as an instructor, a composer, and a player (he held down a trombone slot with SLAJO for many years, but that role is just one of many over the years).

Marco Blackmore and David Halliday had the ensembles really cooking, perhaps the best U of U big band concert I've ever attended. A special treat for me was the appearance by guitarist Willis Clow, who was in town for a clinic with the U's guitar students. Willis played on a couple tunes, and especially excelled in a duet with David.

Stupidly, I didn't bring my recorder to capture the action, just a few photos...

First, with his bud Steve Lyman on drums...


Taking a solo...


The hot duet with Halliday...


A fine night of jazz. And best wishes to Henry in his retirement (I suspect a lot of great music will result from the extra time).

Another One Bites the Dust

I guess it's a function of age. As you get older, more friends seem to drop by the wayside. A weekly visit to Junior's is like reading the obits, someone else has passed away.

Rob Jensen is the latest. I guess we all saw it coming, he's been in a bad way for a year or so. Very sad. But then, as they say with lifestyle decisions, you pays your money and you takes your choice. He knew what he was doing.

But Rob was a great guy. Beneath that hard boiled, cynical exterior, was a very intelligent, creative, and witty person. It took me awhile, but I came to like him a great deal. He was a founding member of the Northenders, and Saturdays at Junior's will never be the same. He also was a regular at several other downtown bars. He had his route, and people who depended on him.

A larger establishment, the Twilight hosted a wake for Rob last Saturday. Quite the crowd, I'm lucky if I knew 25% of the folks who showed up. Here's some pics...

















Esther got a little group together (Free Range Capons?) and led the bar in a rousing rendition of Robbie's signature tune, Whiskey For Lunch... Rob was quite the songwriter in his time, I only wish he had done more of it. Here's a version of Whiskey For Lunch from a Dixon Line gig at the old Sabre Club. Rob was in typical form.


And to end the evening, the Rubbermaids delivered their Halleluia Chorus tribute to Rob.


It's sad that these wonderful get togethers only seem to happen when someone dies. We need more celebrations of life.

Anyway, to Rob... he will be missed. And to Cyd, who survives, with our hopes and best wishes for her future. And thanks to the Twi and everyone who helped with this event.

Detroit Blues

I'm drinking in this bar, empty except for an old guy down at the end, putting 'em a way pretty hard. A John Lee Hooker tune comes on the juke box, and this guy blurts out "I used to play that". Another round for both of us, and it started... Seems he and his buds were autoworkers in the Hamtramck plants during the fifties. They formed a small, proto-electric band and played in local bars on the weekends.


The Detroit area in those days was of course a hot bed of blues, with Hooker, Dr. Ross, and many others leading the way, so other groups often played in this "Detroit" style. Anyway, this guy in the bar claimed they also made a record, on the famous Vee-Jay label (Hooker's label at the time). Didn't sell much, didn't make them famous, but they didn't care. A steady job on the assembly line and decent pay kept them in a secure lifestyle, at least until the GM reorg screwed their pensions.

Suddenly, the guy gets up off his bar stool and heads for the door. I hear him mumble something about catching a bus to visit his grand kids in Oakland.

I did some searching online, checking out small Chicago and Detroit record stores. Eventually i found this:


They did a great job, hear it here...

Hayden Tract

I've always liked Culver City. From the surviving movie studios (Sony) to the jazz clubs, to the revived downtown area, this part of LA has always seemed comfortable. Yeah, I'm sure there are some dubious parts of Culver City, but that's the same in every urban area.

So I ran across an article in the New Yorker about an architectural renovation of an old warehouse district in CC called the Hayden Tract, a 2-3 block street surrounded by railroad tracks, freeways, and Baldwin Heights. Back in 1980, the developers (Samitaur-Smith), contracted with the architect Eric Owen Moss to renovate, well, more than renovate... to create around this area. As a result, the Hayden Tract is a most visually exciting district. Interestingly, Moss didn't just design one building, but many buildings in this district. So the whole area has his signature... as a testament to his design abilities. These days, the area is occupied by small tech companies, the Tennis Channel, and, in other buildings around this street, the UCLA art studios and many more small businesses. As the following pictures attest, this must be a very fun place to work. Moss has a very modern and even playful approach to these buildings, with very odd and obtuse angles, lots of steel and plexiglass, and yet it all fits over the old warehouse buildings.

First, a free standing staircase marks the beginning of Hayden Ave.


Here are three views of the Samitaur office building.




Here's the Tennis Channel building.


And some other structures...





Moss seems to have a particular fascination with stairwells.



There were some other Moss buildings in this area, but we couldn't figure out how to get to them... seems that for all the great work on the buildings, there are no green open spaces... the only common area for several structures is a parking lot! Curious... Anyway, this was a very fun diversion, reasonably easy to get to (except for all the street construction!) and yet another fascinating adventure found in the greater LA area.

Joshua Tree NP Redux

Back to Palm Springs for a long weekend and celebration of the Spring Equinox... and full moon! I also wanted to check out the northern section of Joshua Tree National Park, the loop from the town of Joshua Tree through the park and out to 29 Palms. First stop was the Keyes Overlook in hopes of getting the full view all the way to Mexico. No such luck... clouds building up and pollution from LA creeping into the Coachella Valley limited the view. However, focusing closer, the view from the Keyes Overlook did improve...

Then it was off for a short hike with my reluctant but intrepid hiking partner to Barker Dam. Early settlers in the area created this stone dam to provide water for stock. Now it's a refuge for birds and night time animals. A very nice short hike but, since it was a Saturday, quite crowded... Here's some pics of the dam and resulting lake.




Below the dam was an interesting construction, some sort of cistern?


Finally, a cool, bush of some sort and of some state... kinda mystical, actually...


That completes my overview of Joshua Tree NP. Next visits will require deeper hiking and/or better timing (for blooming cactus). I like this park (besides being free with my forever senior pass), and it is so convenient to Palm Springs.

Hot German Chicks