Chappell & Dave Holt Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Greetings 2012!

Our first big event of the year was putting together our spring tour with Cristina Seaborn (Violin), Francyl and Marvyn Gawryn (guitar and congas). We took our music collaboration on the road to Vista and Anaheim in Southern California, and Sebastopol up north, and shared some wonderful music moments with the communities there.

It has been a very full year for the Holts since Dave retired from Wells Fargo on May 1^st.  Immediately the spirit of music came to stay.  The Camp Meeker Players Reunion in July took a few months of preparation and rehearsal from May through July as we recreated the music and words for plays Three Penny Opera, Wizard of Oz, Caucasian Chalk Circle and others.  There were some old scores and programs people had squirreled away.  A couple of times we had to research through the Internet to reproduce what we had performed in the 1970s.  The day of performance arrived July 21^st. It was a wonderful show and we had a great opportunity to visit and catch up news with old friends.

Chappell and I reignited our original music act by returning to the open mic scenes, eventually earning the chance to feature our own performance evenings at venues in Martinez, Benicia, Berkeley, Occidental, and others. In October, we traveled to Irvine and Pasadena to participate in the Folk Alliance Region West Music Conference where we showcased in song circles, and enjoyed meeting many fellow singer-songwriters. We also visited with old friends in Los Angeles. We have new songs to share and began the process of recording our CD, “Stone and Fire.” This will be completed in the spring of 2013.

Kelsey is going great guns with her own hat business, Rose La Mer, doing many shows, fashion shoots, etc.  She also got a full time job at Nina’s (jewelry wholesaler) this year.  They like what she has to offer there, so she will be going to a trade show in Tucson Arizona in 2013 as a representative of the company.  Boyfriend Todd continues to work with Gizmo on museum installations, as well as picking up carpentry, painting and handyman work in the area.

Along with our upcoming CD release, Dave has completed his second book of poetry and is looking to have it published in the new year.  Thank you to everyone for your enthusiastic support in 2012. Please click on Reverbnation or Facebook below and listen to our new Christmas song "Another Christmas Song (Cause to Celebrate)," which we just recorded for radio airplay this month. Happy New Year to all of You!

Late winter sunlight softly burns like embers in a fire,

The hypnotizing glow and hum of candles and a Christmas choir.

Muted colours of the sky change as the planet turns,

Just like a stained glass window’s light, the memories return.

         

The hurry and flurry to get things done,

Hanging wreaths and holly,

This time of year evokes the moods,

Of both joy and melancholy.

 

Tattered recipes for foods,

Cooked only once a year,

Glasses lift in loving toasts,

To friends and family far and near.

A Christmas tree with sparkling lights,

A note tied to a gift,

Children’s faces lit up bright,

All give your heart a lift.

Another year has come and gone,

The toddler stands up straight.

Each one of us finds gratitude

And cause to celebrate.  

Peace on Earth & Goodwill to All Children, Women & Men,

with special thoughts for our families in Connecticut. 

              

Chappell & Dave    

http://www.reverbnation.com/chappelldaveholt 

https://www.facebook.com/ChappellandDaveHolt

(picture is Ledgewood Creek Winery in Suisun Valley, California)

THE DEVIL’S BLUE NOTE: What is “Americana?”

THE DEVIL’S BLUE NOTE: What is “Americana?”

“Why should the devil get all the good tunes,

The booze and the neon and Saturday night?”

A.E. Stallings

Several years ago Dave and I were on one of our day trips to Sonoma Co. We saw a poster for the Sonoma Jazz Festival featuring headliners Bonnie Raitt & Joe Cocker!

             

We have observed this trend over the years, a blurred understanding of musical forms. When Norah Jones burst on the scene she was referred to as a “jazz singer” just as Sade was a decade earlier. Norah is a natural country blues singer and Sade is a pop singer. Both have a grace and style that seem to evoke those reactions. Oddly, Joni Mitchell received withering criticism for her 1979 album, “Mingus,” a real jazz project with the big boys. She never did that again. When she won the Grammy for her 1994 album, “Turbulent Indigo,” a reporter asked, “Aren’t you that folksinger from the 60’s?”

The term “heritage music” started to take hold as a catch-all for jazz festivals losing audience and money, this seemed a good solution. But what has caught on instead is the term “Americana.” Everyone is using it.

What is Americana?

We went to an “Americana” show at a local songwriter’s venue featuring three different acts. A 50 year old white guy with an acoustic guitar chose to do “Fantasy” by Earth Wind & Fire and a couple of other odd pop songs. 

 Clearly the term means different things to different people and is well nigh impossible to define. BUT, I am going to take a stab at it, we’ll see if I can add anything to this discussion.

The birth of American culture was basically British and Irish, tightly administered by Christian sects with defined notions of music and its place in society. Over time the influx of more Europeans widened the scope, in addition to more and improved instruments, all still mostly European.

What, then, is the single most powerful element separating the Old World from the New World in terms of cultural influence? Slavery. The introduction of African and Caribbean rhythmic and melodic sensibilities. The blue note. It is the most identifiable difference. The flatted 5^th was called the Devil’s note. It both repelled and seduced white Americans. From the fields into the churches and into the brothels these blues inflected notes led the way into gospel, blues and jazz.

Eventually, poor white folks, who lived and worked closely with black folks, began to emulate the sounds in the fields changing the colors of their own folk music into country gospel, country blues and bluegrass. When Scott Joplin merged classical techniques with the blue note he invented ragtime changing the sound of popular music forever. The older white establishment was horrified but the young people couldn’t get enough and it couldn’t be stopped. A few years later a Jewish boy from Brooklyn, George Gershwin, would write the first important classical pieces incorporating complex jazz chordings and rhythms. At the same time, Duke Ellington, a black man, was composing reams of music dazzling audiences of all colors all over the world, taking “Americana” everywhere. Can we even imagine rhythm & blues, rock & roll, rockabilly, doo wop, folk rock, disco, or even rap, without jazz as the pre-curser?

Recently I contacted a Southern Californian venue booker we had met at the FAR-West conference. He said he did not book acts like ours. I asked what kind of music did he usually book?  His reply,” You are too jazzy and showy.” Hmmmm…is this the establishment once again afraid of the Devil’s note? There is nothing more deeply “Americana” than jazz, nothing more embedded in the roots of music that emerged from the soil of the cornfields and cottonfields of rural America.

           

What, then, is “Americana?”

I conclude it is the distinct and original music grown out of the gracefully dignified European study of controlled form with the wild improvisation of the encaptured African spirit struggling for freedom. These two seemingly opposing forces found a unification and strength that has all the world envious, still trying to find that Devil’s note.

Americana, then, is the blue note that made the world green with envy while bringing together black and white, free and slave, devils and angels.  

Chappell Holt, November 24, 2012

November Thoughts of “Thanksgiving and Families Uniting”

November Thoughts of “Thanksgiving and Families Uniting”

                      (from the song by Chappell Holt)

“Rain pours down like streamers of silver,

or tinsel on Christmas trees soon to be seen,

in windows with holly and spray-on snow.

Thoughts of Thanksgiving and families uniting,

warm me this cold afternoon in November.”

Music News

October started out grand with our Anniversary New Moon Show at Chester’s Bay View Café in Berkeley. Joining us were special guests Debbie and Doug Wendt (pictured above). Debbie, pianist/singer noted for her French love songs, also sang (at Chappell’s request) her own charming composition, “Song for Doug.” The restaurant crowd also got an unexpected treat when John Roy Zat and Dorcas Moulton showed up to sing a couple of John’s love songs. The audience swooned. Rumor has it that some romances caught fire that night.

We joined with many performers and concert promoters at The FAR-West Conference in Irvine, CA, Oct. 18^th through 22^nd to celebrate “roots” music and its enduring relevance and vitality.  We drove into town early the day before to showcase with other “out of towners” at the Firefly Bistro in Pasadena, hosted by Brad Colerick. It was a chance to meet several of the attendees, songwriters and performers like Dale Le Duke (with his great song “De Los Angeles”), Aireene Espiritu (tenor ukulele and a beautiful voice), Severin Browne (songwriter extraordinaire), and Britta Lee Shain (songwriter/comedienne).

FAR-West held official songwriter showcases in the Hyatt Regency Hotel’s Grand Ballroom in the evenings. But afterwards the upstairs hummed, rocked and swayed at the Private Guerilla Showcase (PGS) rooms on the third floor. The big highlight for us was the Mother Hen Promotions Song Circle. Performers joining us there were: Robert Morgan Fisher, Gary Stockdale, John M., Harry & Nancy Metsyanek (of Folding Mr. Lincoln), John Zipperer and others. Special thanks to Jeanette Lundgren of Mother Hen for providing this inspirational opportunity. It got us jazzed to write some new songs when we got back home. We also enjoyed having the chances to perform at the FAR-West New Voices Room (Gary & Kathy Lynch), Gates and Goodell’s “Simple Life Shack,” Chico Schwall’s “Cave of Wonders,” and the Suzanne Milsapps Memorial Coffeehouse in the Grand Ballroom among other locations. We volunteered as facilitators in some great seminars and especially enjoyed Chris Strachwitz (founder of Arhoolie Records).

We assisted John Roy Zat with the setup and hosting of his PGS room where John featured fine performances by L. K. Potts (who hails from our neck of the woods, Petaluma), Phil Christie (another transplanted Torontonian), and a full band, Moonshine, among others. We met so many good songwriter/performers, just too many to name. We’re talking a lot of high level quality acts here!  Many thought the music was so good because the conference was put on close to music city Los Angeles.

Poetry News

Two major poetry and public speaking events were on Dave’s schedule last month. He presented a talk about Indigenous Peoples’ views of the controversial October holiday, Columbus Day: A Meditation on Our Common Humanity, on October 8^th at the Café Arrivederci Salon in San Rafael (essay posted in examiner.com). He was also featured reader at the Poetry Hotel salon in San Francisco on October 28^th performing such hit poems as “Hoop of the World,” and “Casino Halloween,” which was later read on the Indie Showcase Mom Hen's Corner Halloween radio show that week (Thanks, Jeanette!).

Best Concert!

 

The month of October ended on a poignant and nostalgic note with the Rosalie Sorrels’ Raising the Roof Benefit Concert held at Freight and Salvage in Berkeley, CA.  Rosalie, despite frail health, was able to perform her memorable songs, including two from her first 1967 album, “Up is a Nice Place to Be,” “If I Could Be the Rain,” (see photo insert). Long time music partners Mayne Smith, on dobro, and Mitch Greenhill, on guitar, accompanied her. Dave, who toured and recorded with Rosalie in the 70s, was reunited with her after several years. Several Bay Area music stars came out to shine for Rosalie with fine singing and playing, and Bay Area clown Wavy Gravy showed up to tell a story.

How do you Harmonize Your Music Goals & Ambitions With a Meaningful Life?

How do you Harmonize Your Music Goals & Ambitions With a Meaningful Life?

Often a beginning songwriter will try to figure out how to follow the dictates of the commercial marketplace. I was uncertain about my goals when I was young, just starting out. As I learned the songwriting craft, I thought if you can write a hit (in the current mould of whatever that might mean) you would be repaid with a successful career and a great love life. In one songwriter’s chat group, a participant was overheard to ask, “Is it more important to be famous or to write good music?”

I remember, although I’m embarrassed to confess it now, that I wanted to be rich and famous. I’d heard John Lennon say the Beatles always wanted to be as big as Elvis and I emulated that attitude. So I tried to learn the formula for writing a hit song. I wanted to catch that wave that would lead me to the pot of gold beneath the rainbow. But it seemed I was trying to keep up with what my father warned me were fleeting trends. I began to feel like I was running to catch a bus that was always just pulling away from the curb before I could get on it. Because of the obsession with monetary rewards, the more time I spent at composing music, the less rewarding it was becoming, both financially and emotionally. I began to care much more about how well I was stating the message of the song that was trying to emerge. I aspired to create original melodies and words. I studied and wrote poetry to help my lyrics.

My dad’s warnings came true. I learned to write good songs but I didn’t make enough money at music to support myself. I had to get a “day job.” However, another life lesson happened: I learned that even if you aren’t doing the work (the music) you love, you can learn to love the work you are doing.

When I ended up in the financial services industry after my lack of commercial success as a songwriter, I learned about doing community service work using the financial knowledge I’d gained. I went out into poor urban communities and taught classes to young aspiring entrepreneurs. I learned how to share information and ideas to guide them in putting together their business plans—to answer questions about where to plan to reinvest the money made from the business. It’s helpful to have a practical perspective on your goals along with how to best use your talent and creativity.

What is Your Vision or Purpose?

 

Below from BMI.com Article

To make your life work more profound and effective, even for the economically minded artist/songwriter, I advise that you can include a mission statement as part of your business plan. I taught this in my entrepreneur classes. 

A statement of purpose (or mission) will be very different for each of us so here are some questions others have asked in considering a mission statement. I collected these from other writers and put them alongside my own questions.

So, perhaps you’ve had a spontaneous outpouring of ideas and haven’t looked that closely at the content. Do you ever stop to wonder what you believe a song, lyric, or poem should actually communicate? 

Do you want to speak for the masses, to reflect the concerns of “the people?” 

Do you want to help people slow down and relax, perhaps find an oasis of peace in your music in this fast moving world? An American Indian poet friend of mine wants to give her readers an experience of a peaceful world to help them cope with society’s mad dash. 

Adrienne Rich, poet, once said in an interview that she wanted “to express an expanded sense of what’s humanly possible.” 

One of my professors at San Francisco State made the dramatic suggestion to her class, “learn to use the power of your wounds” to make your writing successful.

Is the current political situation important to you, so much so that you want your art or music to communicate actions or policies that should be adopted? You might be inspired by the Occupy movement to write a political anthem.

Our local Poet Laureate from Alameda (SF Bay Area), Mary Rudge, was inspired to write an epic poem called Occupy about the recent protest movement in Oakland, California. Mary’s script, performed by 25 local poets, was filmed recently and the completed video will soon be shown on public access television. 

Of course, some objectives can be combined and you can accomplish a couple of goals at the same time. But if you’ve decided that your goal is to become rich and famous, you probably don’t want to read the rest of this article.

Actions That Correspond With Intentions

 

“If you play music with passion and love and honesty, then it will nourish your soul, heal your wounds and make your life worth living.” Sting 

Unless you have dedicated yourself exclusively to commercial success, there is a kind of experience that will be required to define your mission statement or your creative vision/purpose. It will be an experience found in exploring your “inner life” that helps you come to terms with your objectives as an artist.

It will be necessary to look at yourself and scrutinize your goals. This can be described as a philosophy of life question.  Or, perhaps your goals will be guided by a spiritual experience, something learned from a meditation session or from an “answer to prayers.” If you are a follower of an established religion, the church’s or synagogue’s message may be what becomes important to communicate in your work.

I like what the Cistercian (Catholic) monk, Thomas Merton, said about such inner experiences of self-examination: "We cannot be ourselves unless we know ourselves … We cannot begin to know ourselves until we can see the real reasons why we do the things we do, and we cannot be ourselves until our actions correspond to our intentions, and our intentions are appropriate to our own situation." (from No Man is an Island.)

If you explore these ideas, please write a comment and let me know what answers you discover for yourself. Sharing your vision is a helpful part of the process of developing goals that are important to you.

(Dave Holt)

‘Neath the Cover of October Skies

‘Neath the Cover of October Skies

"Well, it's a marvelous night for a Moondance
With the stars up above in your eyes
A fantabulous night to make romance
'Neath the cover of October skies.” -  Van Morrison, Moondance

Did you see that gorgeous Harvest Moon last week? The Harvest Moon makes a once a year appearance; it is the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox.

Our Chester’s Bayview Café show in September was a blast!  John Roy Zat with Dorcas Moulton came by to perform a few songs with Dave on piano, “Trouble Why Do You,” and the beautiful “Irish Waltz.”  Bob Loomis also joined us on flute and provided occasional back up on bass. 

We’re behind schedule but working on the CD project, Stone and Fire.  We have relocated to Randy Rood’s studio in El Cerrito, a beautiful and comfortable setting with a view of the Bay where we have completed most of three tracks. One day, we saw the Blue Angels fly over San Pablo Bay and heard their jets roar from Randy’s deck.

We have another date coming up at Chester's 7:30 - 9:30 in Berkeley, Sunday, October 7, where we will celebrate our 33^rd wedding anniversary. This will be our Anniversary New Moon Show. Joining us will be very special guests Debbie and Doug Wendt. Debbie is a pianist/singer, and she will perform the French love songs for which she is renowned. We will also hear Doug’s marvelous classical guitar solos. The food at Chester’s is excellent and there’s a full bar.  Please join us for dinner and a celebration of love.

Sunday October 28, Dave will be the featured poet at Clara Hsu’s Poetry Salon, 4 PM at 301 Gambier Street in San Francisco. Chappell will accompany his reading on guitar. This will be Clara’s last salon for a while. In order to care for her father, who will be 92 years old in January, she will be taking a hiatus from her poetry activities. The salon begins with a potluck dinner, followed by Dave’s reading, and the open mic round of poetry after the featured reader. If you’re planning to go, please make reservations early by e-mail to Clara Hsu, soullesswoman@gmail.com, no later than the Friday before the event to confirm that there is space left. 

We will be joining many performers and promoters at The FAR-West Conference in Irvine, CA from Oct 18^th through 22^nd.  Some of Mother Hen Promotions performers will be there, including John Roy Zat, Severin Browne, and Gary Stockdale. A special pre-conference showcase for out of town Far-West musicians is scheduled at the Firefly Bistro in Pasadena on Wednesday October 17, 7 pm., hosted by Brad Colerick. We will be one of the performers that evening. 

Some of the evening performances at FAR-West are open to the public. If you need information go to the link: http://www.far-west.org/conference-schedule-at-a-glance.html.

We have another date at Chester's on Sunday November 4, from 7:30 - 9:30 pm., program details to follow. We may make it a blues night.

Our big performance next month will be on Sunday, Nov. 11, 4 to 6 pm, at the Occidental Community Arts Center. We will feature a Celebration of the American Song: Old Timey to Jazz, Traditional to Original: featuring Chappell & Dave Holt with Karl Hartmann on bass, John Roy Zat & Dorcas Moulton, and special guest Bob Loomis on flutes. Come for music and enjoy dinner at one of the famous Occidental Italian restaurants after the show. 

We are also returning in November to entertain at Armando's Happy Hour (and a half) 4:30 - 6 pm Friday Nov. 16, with special guests.  

Andy Williams: a Gift of Great Timeless Songs

Andy Williams: a Gift of Great Timeless Songs

Many folks are remembering Andy William’s TV show today (Andy passed away September 25^th), how his Christmas specials brought their families close together on the holidays. Andy’s masterful singing popularized many great American songs. For me, being carried away downstream by the song, “Moon River,” which became the theme song of Andy’s show, is one of the good memories. What is the story behind this wonderful song?

The composer Henry Mancini selected the great lyricist, Johnny Mercer (1909-1976) to write the words for his melody. I was already a big Henry Mancini fan in 1961, in love with the Peter Gunn big band soundtracks that he composed for the detective TV series, and also where I learned my first jazz chords on piano.

The Academy Award winning song “Moon River” was first sung by Audrey Hepburn in the film Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Johnny’s career as a songwriter, dormant since the 50s, was reinvigorated by the success of this song.

Last year, our daughter’s boyfriend made a long truck delivery from the San Francisco Bay Area to a museum in Savannah, Georgia.  “I drove right across Moon River,” he told me.

“Really! I didn’t know it was a real river,” I said.

But of course, I immediately thought—Johnny Mercer was born and raised in Savannah, Georgia!  Those who’ve seen the 1997 movie (or read the book), In the Garden of Good and Evil, might recall it was filmed in the historic Mercer House in Savannah. Built for Johnny’s great grandfather General Hugh Mercer, the house had not actually been in the Mercer family for years although the family still lived in town.  Doing more research, I read that Johnny grew up in a different house overlooking Moon River.

After creating several hit songs with composers like Harold Arlen like “Ac-cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive,” (recently recorded by Paul McCartney) Johnny went on to Hollywood where he helped to found Capitol Records. Capitol built the famous round tower housing recording studios that became a hit factory for Nat Cole, Frank Sinatra, Diana Krall and many others (see previous blog item, The Legendary Capitol Studios and Engineering Legend, Al Schmitt).

Johnny Mercer was not just a lyric writer. He also wrote and recorded his own songs, great ones like “Blues in the Night,” “I’m An Old Cowhand,” and “Something’s Gotta Give.”

One of the “facts” I learned as I read up on Mercer’s career is that Moon River was formerly called Back River, and was renamed in honor of Savannah’s successful native son. I guess I had romanticized the origin of the song, visualizing Johnny dreaming wistfully out the window at the southern vista of his “Huckleberry friend” rolling by, romantic as Johnny must have felt in writing it. “We’re after the same rainbow’s end …” http://georgiamusicmag.com/moon-river-the-geography-of-a-timeless-song/

 Johnny Mercer and Henry Mancini teamed up again two years later (1963) to write two more hits for Andy Williams, songs from the movies, “The Days of Wine and Roses,” (another Best Music, Original Song Academy Award winner), and “Charade (an Academy Award nominee).”

(Dave Holt)

Happy Birthday Jon Hendricks! Part 2: The James Joyce of Jive

Happy Birthday Jon Hendricks!   

Part 2: The James Joyce of Jive

Two years and four months after sitting in with Charlie Bird Parker (1949), Jon Hendricks followed his music muse which took him to New York City. He walked into The Apollo Bar, where Bird was appearing. Bird was in the middle of a solo as Hendricks passed the bandstand.

   Bird said, “Hey, Jon!  How y’doin’, man?  You wanna’ sing some?”

   Hendricks held on to the wall to keep his knees from buckling then collapsed into a chair. 

“Gerry Mulligan was on baritone saxophone with his thick shock of blood-red hair, raggedy once-blue jeans and tennis shoes, no sox and playin’ pure Be-bop like a demon!” he remembered. “Bud Powell was on piano, inspiring the whole wide world.  Curley Russell, Bird’s buddy from Jay McShann and the K.C. days, was on bass and The Little Giant, Roy Haines, was on drums.”

Jon described what happened next. “After intermission, Bird called me up to sing. ‘Naw, Bird,’ yelled drummer, Roy Haines, ‘this is our last set. We don’t want no singers, man, we wanna’ play.’  I thought I was going to die from embarrassment, but Bird cooled Roy out and presented me.  After that night I knew everything was going to be cool because Bird was my PR Man, and I started giggin’ almost immediately all around the City.”

Not long after that, Hendricks heard “Moody’s Mood for Love” by King Pleasure and immediately recognized new possibilities for telling whole stories in poetry using great established Jazz big-band instrumentals. Listen to his lyric writing on “Four Brothers,” the Jimmy Guiffre composition for Woody Herman’s Third Herd:

   “We're in the modern school, we always play it cool, we never play the fool/ The honkers and the squeakers might be stealin' the show/ But we don't go for that, so while we blow Hi-ho, lackadaise, for it's a natural fact/ I ain't no kin, but I would like to get in the act!”

This led to a recording with singers organized by Dave Lambert, Bird’s favorite Be-bop singer. A partnership was born when the two men decided to arrange a vocal album of Count Basie’s music. Looking for someone to sing the higher trumpet parts, they found Annie Ross. This led to the formation of Lambert, Hendricks and Ross and the release of “Sing a Song of Basie,” in 1957. They became the Number One Jazz Vocal Group in the world and were together for five years from 1957-1962. They introduced what Jazz Critic, Leonard Feather, dubbed “Vocalese,” and changed jazz singing throughout the world. It is Americana as much as Appalachian fiddle music and old time country is, though still an unacknowledged part of the new genre.

Little Johnny had grown up to become Jon Hendricks, famous singer, lyricist and drummer, and now a founding father of the vocalese tradition.  Lambert Hendricks and Ross released their second tribute album to Basie’s music in 1958. This time, “Sing Along With Basie,” was recorded with the orchestra of the Count himself. Chappell and I sometimes perform one of the tunes, “Goin’ to Chicago Blues” in our live show.

 

Other jazz songs (non-vocalese) by Jon Hendricks that Chappell and Dave perform are “Gimme That Wine,” “Yeh Yeh,” (see photo, a hit for Georgie Fame & the Blue Flames in 1964) and we get our audiences to enjoy vocalese scat-singing on “Doodlin’” (Horace Silver and Jon Hendricks). 

1985 was a great year for vocalese. Hendricks wrote an album titled “Vocalese,” for The Manhattan Transfer. Here is some of Jon’s poetry from the song “Joy Spring”:

“Life is over in a minute an' they never dug it/ in it or enjoy a minute of it/ 'cause they put too much above it that was gross/ somethin' that was worth a couple bucks at mos'/ So there is the reason that the maker of man included there in his plan/ A certain fountain deep within' where there was laughter, youth 'n gold/ for human beings t'have 'n hold …”

   The album won a total of seven Grammys, including one each for Jon Hendricks and Bobby McFerrin, guests on the album.

Ninety one years old today, September 16^th, Jon is still be-bopping, creating jazz lyrics, and teaching master classes at the Jazz Jiversity, the University of Toledo.

This article is partly based on Jon’s recollections found at

http://www.gailboyd.com/index.php/roster/jon-hendricks

The Legendary Capitol Studios and Engineering Legend, Al Schmitt

The Legendary Capitol Studios and Engineering Legend, Al Schmitt

   The PBS broadcast of Great Performances of September 7 featured Paul McCartney’s new recording, Kisses On The Bottom, a newly released collection of pop standards and two originals. The TV program was filmed at the same Capitol Studios where much of the album was created. In the show, we were briefly introduced to the “dream team” that recorded Paul’s project, Engineer Al Schmitt with producer Tommy LiPuma (left, Al on right of Paul). 

Currently our Chappell and Dave Holt CD recording is being produced and engineered by Michael Peterson of Harvest Moon Studios (925-370-8718) whose hero/role model is the famous engineer, Al Schmitt. Michael starts to bow towards the East at the mention of his name.  He told us he met Al when he attended a one-time recording engineer seminar at Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco. Al gave the workshop as part of an NARAS conference.

   Mr. Schmitt has won 19 Grammys for Best Engineering, the first received in 1962 for Henry Mancini’s soundtrack album for Hatari, one of my favorite albums when I was a kid. Al also engineered Steely Dan’s Aja and won the Grammy for his work on this milestone album in 1977. He has worked on all Diana Krall’s albums and she was hired to be musical director of Paul McCartney’s project at the Capitol Studio where she recorded many of the tracks.

Speaking of the famous studio where Nat Cole and many others made their classic albums (the Capital Records Tower is nicknamed “The house that Nat built”), Al said, “All the tube gear is kept in great shape, and all the microphones. I still use the same mike they used on Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin on vocals.” He also later said in an interview, “We still have Nat Cole’s piano.”

   Michael Peterson told us about the tube preamps still used at Capitol Studios, and the vintage Neve console. Al Schmitt still mixes down to analog tape some of the time (per his interview with Larry Leblanc).

There is a new preamp in the industry, the UA 710 Twin-Finity, (UA stands for Universal Audio) that has a tone blending knob. This knob allows you to combine the vintage sounding classic warmth of UA tube design with the transient bite of solid state tones.

Al also said about Capitol studios:  “Very few choose to record in the open room with the orchestra, although Frank Sinatra and Natalie Cole come to mind.” Paul McCartney recorded in this very same way (pictured above) on the recent TV special, “Kisses on the Bottom.”

   Look for repeat showings of this studio concert as we are sure that it will be re-shown on PBS.

Photos from the special are from: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/may12/articles/mccartney.htm

The photo of Al with Natalie Cole is from web site: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan04/articles/classictracks.htm

 

Say Do You Remember Dancing in September?

Say Do You Remember Dancing in September? 

"Do you remember the 21st night of September?

Love was changing the minds of pretenders

while chasing the clouds away, our hearts were ringing

in the key that our souls were singing. 

As we danced in the night, remember how the stars stole the night away."

-  September, Lyrics by Maurice White, Charles Stemney and Verdine White (Earth, Wind & Fire)

August opened with a performance at Chester’s Bayview Cafe, Berkeley, CA, on August 2^nd.  This was a special evening where we experimented with presenting American Indian song and poetry as a mini-set within our regular music set of original songs and standards. One of Dave’s American Indian poems, Sky Gods are Weaving a Basket of Light, also included some Native-style singing with Chappell accompanying him on guitar.

We invited Nanette Deetz, Cherokee/Dakota poet, to read in English and also from the translations she has done in the Dakota language. She joined Chappell and Dave on drum as we sang the Chippewa Praise Song together (music collected by Frances Densmore, lyric by Dave Holt). Bob Loomis accompanied both poets with soulful performances on his Native American flutes (Bob performs with six different types of Native flutes). Bob also read his poetry. The show was very well received especially by local Berkeley poets who attended: John Rowe, President of BAPC, and Jan Dederick of Poetalk magazine (published by BAPC).

We will be returning to Chester’s Bayview Cafe on Sunday September 16. Dave will also be playing piano for the Unity Church, Center of Walnut Creek on Sunday, September 9. If you need some spiritual recharging, Unity Church offers an inviting, supportive and open community for individuals to freely pursue their own spiritual path. It is also a place of worship that values music highly. They have a fine choir, and an experienced band of musicians, Scott Towne on drums, Neill Castro on bass, budget permitting. 

We returned to Coffee Katz, Sebastopol, on August 26. We used this local coffeehouse hangout for our photo shoot because of the beautiful baby grand piano lit by an overhanging chandelier. Our daughter Kelsey was able to get some wonderful pictures. We had the additional delight of a soft afternoon Sonoma County light. It came in through the paned glass windows to add a wine country, honey chardonnay, hue to our photos. Those of you who follow our Facebook news have already been enjoying the ones we chose for new profile and cover pictures.

Bob Loomis stopped in to Coffee Katz on his way back from the California Bluegrass Association’s Golden Old Time Music gathering and campout at Lake Sonoma (http://www.cbaontheweb.org/). Bob is a very versatile musician and he played some decidedly non-bluegrass style flute with us on Horace Silver’s Doodlin’, Ellington’s In a Mellotone and others (see photo).

Happy Birthday to Jon Hendricks! Jon is a vocalese lyricist, composer of the song lyrics I mentioned above, and master jazz singer, former  member of Lambert, Hendricks and Ross!  He will be 91 this month, September 16th. (See our blog item on August 15th about Jon).