Memorable Jazz Concerts

moodman

Well-known Member
Buddy Rich at Fillmore West '73 (17pc big band Buddy kicked A. Ten Years After was on the bill with openers Seatrain. The story goes that Bill Graham didn't like Ric Lee's long drum solos, so he booked Buddy knowing Ric wouldn't want to follow Buddy, who went on second. This didn't stop Alvin from taking a solo guitar dump so long that I fell asleep before the band came back in)
Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Sun Ra at Keystone Korner, SF '73( Roland at full strength and Sun Ra put on an incredible show they led the whole place around in a huge conga line at one point)
Rahsaan Roland Kirk at The Frangipani Room 1977 Bloomington, IN (Had tickets for the first show, snuck in for the second. He died the next morning. At one point the mic fed back and Kirk stopped playing and berated the soundman "just turn it on and leave it alone" saying that he knew how to play to a mic and named contemporaries that did too. The band kept a dirge-like free form going while Kirk discussed the state of music "disco, duh-duh duh-duh' why you wanna play that?" He then said "IT IS THE MIDNIGHT HOUR AND SOMEBODY HAS TO GO!!" A baby girl in the band entourage, seated in front of us, let out a blood-curdling scream. They finished the show. I was shocked the next day to learn the sad news, on my birthday)
 
My most memorable jazz concert was my first jazz club show. John Scofield Quartet at Beefsteak Charlie's (yep, that's right) in Greenwich Village around 1977. Billy Hart on drums, Marc Johnson on bass (I think) and I can't recall the piano player. I was blown away as I was only 15. We had a table only about 10 feet from where they were playing. We ended up catching a second show on another night later that week or next. Second show was just as good. A young Scofield in his prime.
 
I got to see Dave Brubeck quartet at Oberlin College, but was real young...like 6 or 7...my mom's high school friend was a professor there, and got tickets for my parents and I....that was actually my 2nd concert ever. Take 5 was the first sing I ever learned on drums, so Brubeck is foundational to me

got to see Chick Corea Elektric Band in 1988...

tons of small, local and regional guys at Ohio State and all around the campus clubs
 
Pat Metheny w/ Antonio Sanchez on drums - Burlington, VT
Esperanza Spalding w/ Otis Brown on drums - Portland, OR
Esperanza Spalding w/ Terri Lyne Carrington on drums - Burlington, VT
Vijay Iyer Trio w/ Marcus Gilmore on drums - Portland, OR
Chick Corea Acoustic Band w/ Dave Weckl, John Pattitucci - Buffalo, NY
Chick Corea w/ Gary Burton - Glen Ellyn, IL
Antonio Sanchez's "Migration" - Portland, OR - 2015
Jane Bunnett & The Maqueques w/ Yissy Garcia on drums - Portland, OR - 2015
Wayne Shorter w/ Brian Blade - Portland, OR - 2015
Karla Harris - Portland, OR - 2015
Billy Cobham "Crosswinds" - Portland, OR - 2019
Vanguard Jazz Orchestra w/ John Riley on drums - Portland, OR - 2019
Aaron Diehl w/ Quincy Davis on drums - Portland, OR - 2019
Oz Noy w/ Dave Weckl on drums - Portland, OR - 2019
 
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Rebecka Törnquist, and Per «Texas» Johansson at Moldejazz in 1997.

Solveig Slettahjel in Kristiansand in 2007.
 
I saw B.R. several times but one night he & big band both were absolutely on fire at the El Morocco restaurant in Worcester Mass.

I saw Art Blakey and his jazz messengers in New Orleans, that was great to listen to and watch a legend play.
 
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I got to see Dave Brubeck quartet at Oberlin College, but was real young...like 6 or 7...my mom's high school friend was a professor there, and got tickets for my parents and I....that was actually my 2nd concert ever. Take 5 was the first sing I ever learned on drums, so Brubeck is foundational to me

got to see Chick Corea Elektric Band in 1988...

tons of small, local and regional guys at Ohio State and all around the campus clubs
Morello was a huge influence, I got 3rd place in drum solo competition, playing a 5/4 solo,1964, American Guild of Music, Louisville.
 
So many... for various reasons...I am sure I will have omitted some from this post because they don't come immediately to my mind..

Many (some) were simply in clubs and not in bigger halls.

A few that stick out as a kid in the early 80's..
- Sitting just a short distance from Buddy Rich's set for a night. Pretty much the front table. My Dad spoke with the club owner a few days before the show and 'hooked us up'.
- Benny Goodman quartet - at that time it was Benny - Lionel Hampton - Teddy Wilson and Louie Bellson
- Art Blakey & Messengers with Wynton and Bradford
- Count Basie Big Band with Duffy Jackson (with the Count himself - seen him about 3x actually)
- Lionel Hampton's Big Band with Frankie Dunlop
- Miles Davis with Kenwood
- Wynton and Bradford with various groups - all monster players..
- Joe LaBarbera with Joe Locke and others at a local small club
- Steve Gadd - too many times to mention in small local clubs (he came back home to get cleaned up and played a bunch here).
- David Garibaldi with TOP in small local clubs.
- Dave Weckl played a show with his band and there was only about 80 people of us in the joint. It was a crap hole place but the energy was amazing.
- Sonny Rollins with Steve Jordan playing drums.

So many in NYC clubs... Off the tip of my mind...
- Roy Haynes 90th Birthday Celebration at the Blue Note (2 sets a night for 3 nights)
- Steve Gadd with Chick Corea at the Blue Note (2 sets a night for 3 nights)
- Bill Stewart at Village Vanguard (2 sets)
- Brian Blade with Patitucci at Birdland

I'm forgetting many at the moment where if I sat thought about it for a while I'm sure more would pop into my memory.

That's what happens when you've seen a gazillion players over 45 years.
 
So many... for various reasons...I am sure I will have omitted some from this post because they don't come immediately to my mind..

Many (some) were simply in clubs and not in bigger halls.

A few that stick out as a kid in the early 80's..
- Sitting just a short distance from Buddy Rich's set for a night. Pretty much the front table. My Dad spoke with the club owner a few days before the show and 'hooked us up'.
- Benny Goodman quartet - at that time it was Benny - Lionel Hampton - Teddy Wilson and Louie Bellson
- Art Blakey & Messengers with Wynton and Bradford
- Count Basie Big Band with Duffy Jackson (with the Count himself - seen him about 3x actually)
- Lionel Hampton's Big Band with Frankie Dunlop
- Miles Davis with Kenwood
- Wynton and Bradford with various groups - all monster players..
- Joe LaBarbera with Joe Locke and others at a local small club
- Steve Gadd - too many times to mention in small local clubs (he came back home to get cleaned up and played a bunch here).
- David Garibaldi with TOP in small local clubs.
- Dave Weckl played a show with his band and there was only about 80 people of us in the joint. It was a crap hole place but the energy was amazing.
- Sonny Rollins with Steve Jordan playing drums.

So many in NYC clubs... Off the tip of my mind...
- Roy Haynes 90th Birthday Celebration at the Blue Note (2 sets a night for 3 nights)
- Steve Gadd with Chick Corea at the Blue Note (2 sets a night for 3 nights)
- Bill Stewart at Village Vanguard (2 sets)
- Brian Blade with Patitucci at Birdland

I'm forgetting many at the moment where if I sat thought about it for a while I'm sure more would pop into my memory.

That's what happens when you've seen a gazillion players over 45 years.
That's quite a dream list, and with a variety of influence. One wonders if that influence is a directive to hold up the mantle of jazz drumming in some way.
 
Chick Corea's Acoustic Band, with Dave Weckl on drums, back in 1990. In full disclosure, I'm not a jazz or fusion fan, but this performance was dazzling. I stood on a balcony overlooking Dave. Stunned is the only way to describe my response. He was something other than mortal, not quite a God but above the limits of common humanity. Because I'm not into jazz, I focused on the drumming throughout. Weckl made my attendance worthwhile, though I've haven't seen him play live since then, nor have I wanted to.
 
Most memorable was seeing my drummer Uncle Tony Mann headline The Jazz Cafe in London with fellow members of Chet Bakers band back in 2018.

Some of the same band members that played on Live in London and a packed out venue.

The next was a night back in 2016 at 'La Zorra y el Cuervo' jazz club in Havana watching a selection of local Cuban jazz artists. Absolutely spellbinding experience and a whole other level of musicianship.

A pleasure to witness.
 
Dave Brubeck in Ottawa in 2011. He was 91 years old at the time and the literal definition of a legend. I'm glad I got to see him because he left us one year later.
 
Weckl made my attendance worthwhile, though I've haven't seen him play live since then, nor have I wanted to.
I liked everything until you broke protocol. Why do you not want to?
 
Sonny Rollins
Marcus Miller
Jimmy Cobb
Herbie Hancock
Pat Metheny
George DukePattiticci/Dave Werkl

Can't remember a lot, they were Yamaha Jazz Enforcers when I was working for Yamaha Music. And some here in Winnipeg at the Jazz Festival, some at the Music Day in France...
 
Buddy Rich (Incredible),
Count Basie Orchestra with Butch Miles on drums (Fantastic!)
The Dave Weckl Band (Awesome)
John McLaughlin - Mahavishnu Orchestra
Billy Cobham
Chick Corea and RTF
Manteca
... one of my most memorable.. a sax player buddy of mine and I were stumbling around Toronto one evening in a snow storm looking for a jazz drummer I'd heard a lot about..I saw a sign on a street light for 'Mothers House of Invention' and we took a chance and found the place a block away and went upstairs to this small club... small but enthusiastic crowd, killer 5 piece band fronted by a sax player.. and on drums - the one and only Terry Clarke! The guy I'd been looking for..! He put on an incredible show and had a short chat after where I said I really like how he played polyrythmns.. and he claimed he knew Polly very well!
 
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