Victoria Jazz Musicians

[NoahBecker]

James Mcrae -Drums
Peter Jones- Bass
Kelby Mcnair- Drums
Peter Jones- Bass/Piano
Sean Drabitt- Bass
Josh Dixon- Drums
Brent Jarvis- Piano
Brooke Maxwell- Tenor Sax/ Piano
Nathan Gage- Bass

[NoahBecker]

Dan Tate- keyboards
jules charles- drums

let me know who i forgot...

[phildwyer]

I think you forgot everyone over 40.

[James Young]

Ya.....
Lots of people are here.
Victoria is a city of communities:
Here are some people who got left out of Noah's list::

Louise Rose piano/voice
Jon Miller drums
James Young bass
Alfonse Fear trumpet
Tom Ackerman sax
Gord Clements sax
Paul Wainright sax
James Pett guitar
Eric Hughes sax
Hugh Frasier trombone/piano
Dave Flello trumpet
Adam Dobres guitar
Dan Lapp violin/trumpet, voice
Mark Eisen.. guitar
Joey Smith bass/guitar
Don Leppard drums
How many more????

James Young

[NoahBecker]

You didn't mention Dave Keen, who has also fired everyone on this list from his band...

[Robin Jessome]

my wife and I are moving to Victoria in August, so you can add us to that list:
Natalie Robinson - trumpet/composer
Robin Jessome - trombone/composer

[NoahBecker]

Look closer, concentrate, do not make uniformed statements. It's a joke, lighten up dude...

[NoahBecker]

Dave Keen is one of my favorite people, and an amazing musician. I guess reading this from outside the context of Victoria jazz history might be a bit confusing for you being out of the loop. My suggestion is to check out some of the nasty stuff they say on the forum at http://www.branfordmarsalis.com

You might be surprised at how explicit it gets.

All I ask of you is to watch your trigger finger on the mouse, before you jump in over your head JT...sorry for any confusion

[James Young]

Hey Robin welcome. I hope your move is uneventful! Enjoy living here.
Victoria always needs more jazzers/composers...
Cheers
James Young

[NoahBecker]

Thanks James

[James Young]

Noah, Hi. Haven't seen you around lately. Hope you are good.
So what is in the Branford forum??? It is off line, so now I am curious. Does he personally get nasty to anybody in particular?
James

[NoahBecker]

James- It's like a warzone, a street fight. Jazz politics on a really deep level, 500 word rants in reply to 10 word threads! It's like Branford and Tain on there, very funny sometimes. I visit it about once a year, not surprised that it's down right now.

[Jesse Cahill]

Hey Noah,
I heard Terry Dean called Branford a little bitch and then check mated him in 5 moves. Is this true?

Jesse

Ps. You can add me to the list of people that "Wanker" fired

[Jesse Cahill]

Dave's okay...he just likes to call people wankers, or at least he used to.

[James Young]

Hey I just did a gig with "dave" last month. Seems he has some sort of reverb unit to hear himself. By the way I did get fired from his band 10 years ago. I guess he had a change of heart?
James Young

[NoahBecker]

Is this g-rock from trailer park boys? It's Terry Deane, J, not Terry Dean...and yes, it was a thread about Mark Turner, and how Branford (unfairly) said Mark couldn't play the blues, then someone called "Guardian of all things black" started yapping at Terry...George Colligan wrote something that if printed would be thicker than Herman Wouk's new novel...

[Booty]

Noah, your origianal comment about Keen made me laugh out loud. Too true.
But the rest of you folk are looking at this all wrong - if you are from Victoria and HAVEN'T played with Dave and his sweet little monitor then, who are you kidding, you are a no one.
Dave is an undeniable institution, a consumate professional of specific taste, a fine cook, and one hell of a ladies man with two or three of the best lines anywhere, and he blows a mean, inside, calssic Blue Note sort of horn.
Personally, my time with him was one heck of a learning experience and I gained a fine friend that I now see not often enough. Is he playing anywhere?

[NoahBecker]

Dear Friends,

I am playing sax in Zurich Switzerland as I write this (will be back in Victoria on June 27th)

I WANT TO MAKE IT CLEAR... I HAVE ALL THE RESPECT IN THE WORLD FOR DAVE KEEN. I LEARNED A GREAT DEAL ABOUT THE SAXOPHONE FROM DAVE KEEN.

But on another subject...

[neekamv8]

The only “Jesse” who ever played in my band was Jesse Cahill so I assume that’s you?????

I would point out you can’t be fired from a band that you were never a member of……. You played with me one night at Pags and you subbed for my regular Drummer at the time, Josh Dixon..

I would also point out you were still in high school at the time and wet behind the ears. Not only did I give you the opportunity to play with the best straight ahead hard bop band in town at the time. I also showed you a great deal of respect and kindness.. I gave you an opportunity to take drum solos on every straight ahead tune we played…..

I still have a tape of that evening….Jack Stafford, Jan Sterling and Dave Paulson were amongst the folks who packed into Pags that night to hear the band….

Suggesting I fired you is not only telling lies your remark about someone who gave you a chance to play is truly disingenuous. And that’s the trait of a true “wanker”

[neekamv8]

Correction: Hugh Fraser was never fired from my band he left the band cos he moved to Vancouver

[neekamv8]

James I never fired you.

Lets get the facts straight.

When you first came to town I hired you for two casual gigs. I didn’t like the way you played so I never called you again. The reason I called you twice was to give you the benifit of the doubt but I didn't like what I heard the second time either.....

That my friend is not firing someone..You were never a regular member of the band anyways, you were subbing on those gigs for Joey Smith who was the regular bass player..

When I hired you recently I told you that the way you played when you first came to town didn’t work for me ……..The last time I heard you, you seemed to have a much better concept of what a string bass is supposed to do in a rhythm section. And ya did a good job for me when we played at Herman’s and I’d hire ya again. So let’s not start spreading untruths..Please DK

[neekamv8]

You didn't mention Dave Keen, who has also fired everyone on this list from his band...

Not only do I not now most of the folks on these lists, I have not met them nor have I played with them....Nor have they been in my band....

Noah if yer gonna talk about someone on a Forum at least get your facts straight before you misrepresent them on the WWW.

I really don’t know where to begin with all this BS and frankly I should be practicing now instead of defending myself on a Forum..Which is what all you guys should be doing to………Practicing that is…

The only reason I’m not practicing and have time to respond to all this nonsense is cos I’m at home recovering from prostate surgery and can’t play or do anything else at the moment…..

I found this site by accident I was looking for Herman’s to try and find out who was playing…….. And then I find a whole bunch of lies and nonsense………

Smarten up Noah and while yer about it get rid of that stupid Zoot suit and the dark glasses, trying ta dress like a jazz musician outa the fifties won’t make ya sound like one…Didn’t ya learn anything from me????….dk

[neekamv8]

Noah, your origianal comment about Keen made me laugh out loud. Too true.
But the rest of you folk are looking at this all wrong - if you are from Victoria and HAVEN'T played with Dave and his sweet little monitor then, who are you kidding, you are a no one.
Dave is an undeniable institution, a consumate professional of specific taste, a fine cook, and one hell of a ladies man with two or three of the best lines anywhere, and he blows a mean, inside, calssic Blue Note sort of horn.
Personally, my time with him was one heck of a learning experience and I gained a fine friend that I now see not often enough. Is he playing anywhere?

Thank you for those few kind words whoever you are and I'm sure there are dozens of other gifted young players, who over the last 30 years went through my band, who think the same way. I hope???????dk

[neekamv8]

If this guy needs a unit to "hear" himself all of the time, is that not the definition of "wanker"? LOL

You obviously don't get outa the house much do ya coop.....

Jazz musicians specifically horn players have been using monitors systems for years...So they can hear themselves.....

The first time I saw Joe Henderson in the early 70's, who was not a loud tenor player….He was using the house monitor system...Cos Larry Hancock was burying him..By your definition a wanker????

Last time I saw Tony Williams, who was too loud to start off with, his whole kit was individually mic’d. He buried the band… Wallace Roney and Billy Pierce had ta use a monitior system….Again Wankers by your definition???????

The last time I saw Stanley Turrentine he was using a clip on mic and a personal monitor system through the house system and after the first tune he asked the sound guy to turn up his monitor cos in his words “ I’m having ta push an awful lot of air through this horn to hear myself” What a wanker by your definition…….

When I used to go and see Dexter back in the 60's some clubs didn't have house systems and quiet often he would put the horn through a guitar amp so he could hear himself. Dexter a wanker come on coop get ya shit tagether..

Get out of the house more cooper yer a JAMF…….And ya know why yer a JAMF???? cos ya judged somebody you have never met and know absolutely nothing about based on a bunch of lies that some other JAMF posted on a Forum .That makes you an even worse JAMF.dk

[JTCopper]

You obviously don't get outa the house much do ya coop.....

Jazz musicians specifically horn players have been using monitors systems for years...So they can hear themselves.....

The first time I saw Joe Henderson in the early 70's, who was not a loud tenor player….He was using the house monitor system...Cos Larry Hancock was burying him..By your definition a wanker????

Last time I saw Tony Williams, who was too loud to start off with, his whole kit was individually mic’d. He buried the band… Wallace Roney and Billy Pierce had ta use a monitior system….Again Wankers by your definition???????

The last time I saw Stanley Turrentine he was using a clip on mic and a personal monitor system through the house system and after the first tune he asked the sound guy to turn up his monitor cos in his words “ I’m having ta push an awful lot of air through this horn to hear myself” What a wanker by your definition…….

When I used to go and see Dexter back in the 60's some clubs didn't have house systems and quiet often he would put the horn through a guitar amp so he could hear himself. Dexter a wanker come on coop get ya shit tagether..

Get out of the house more cooper yer a JAMF…….And ya know why yer a JAMF???? cos ya judged somebody you have never met and know absolutely nothing about based on a bunch of lies that some other JAMF posted on a Forum .That makes you an even worse JAMF.dk
All of my apologies, meant no disrespect to you. I made the mistake of hopping on this "train" started by someone else. All of my best and hope that you have a speedy recovery. Take care and I will delete all of my posts that I made in response to this thread started by someone else. Everyone seemed to have the same response, so I was just poking a little fun....my apologies.

[phildwyer]

I don't think I was ever fired from the band, but I hope that my one summer at Pag's was enough to qualify as having played in the band. I certainly had a great time playing with Mr Keen, as well as Josh and Sean. What I dug about Dave was that he played great, and really was only doing it because he loves to play. The other thing that I really appreciated was that he invited me to his house for one of the best meals, Indian food (complete with breads and desert), that I had eaten up to that point. I can still taste the Vindaloo! I don't know about people getting fired, or not, or whatever but yes Dave I'm sure that there are more than a few people who appreciate what you were doing, and probably still are. Hope to see you one of these days. PD

[neekamv8]

Hi Phil,

Thanks fer the kind words....High praise comin from you, truly humbling..

No you didn't get fired. In fact I was real sorry ta see you leave..Yep that was a great musical summer..And that certainly qualifies you as an ex alumni of the band....

Not only were you a great piano player who truly understood the meaning of the word accompanist, you're also an outstanding horn player..And a consummate proffessional..Always on time, always clean and sober, always properly attired and you always took care of business..And inspite of your ability no attitude. And generous to a fault ..Ya gotta like that dont'cha..Ya don’t fire those kinda guys ya try and keep ‘em.

I was at your last concert at Esquimalt High.... what a collection of great players and a super program..Ya sounded like a million bucks as usual..I was expecting it ta be a showcase for your horn playing. How generous to give all the other guys so much space..And how great they all sounded..

I would have come up and said Hi ...However I know how I feel at the end of a gig these days I just wanna go home ta bed.. gettin olds a bitch.. And frankly ya probably wouldn't have recognized me anyways, It's been a long time, like I said gettin olds a bitch. Hugh walked right past me and obviously didn’t recognize me and frankly these days I like it that way. I can sorta wonder around anonymously. Interacting takes lotsa energy and I try and save as much of that as I can fer practicing . Ross did come up and say hi and I told him to say hi from me????

They used ta call Joe the shadow cos he always disappeared after a gig??? That’s kinda what I wanna do these days, disappear????

Yep I remember cookin Indian food for you, can't remember the details. Seems ta me the last time we had dinner together at my place I picked you up in the old Aston Martin on Brookliegh and made Greek food for you.. Next time yer in town if ya need a place ta kip and ya'd like some Indian Food get in touch... I'm told I still make the best Vindaloo this side of the Punjab....It would be great ta see ya again…

Sincerely David Keen

[neekamv8]

All of my apologies, meant no disrespect to you. I made the mistake of hopping on this "train" started by someone else. All of my best and hope that you have a speedy recovery. Take care and I will delete all of my posts that I made in response to this thread started by someone else. Everyone seemed to have the same response, so I was just poking a little fun....my apologies.

It takes strength of character ta apologize coop....

Apology accepted...............dk

[NoahBecker]

You didn't mention Dave Keen, who has also fired everyone on this list from his band... ;)

There, happy now? I put the bleeping smiley face after the original comment. Should have done that in the first place...

Hope you feel better Dave.

[neekamv8]

No frankly I'm not happy ya need ta apologize, retract the statement and the thread cos it's not true. That'll make me happy..

Read my original response...Ya can read can't ya?????

If ya gonna talk about me when I'm not around to defend myself ya better get it right.....dk

[Jesse Cahill]

Dave,

My appologies, I hadn't meant to offend you...I was trying to make a joke but I guess It came off as an insult. I Played w/ your band several times at pags and it was always fun. And as far as I know you never fired me.

I've just come back from the road so I'm sorry I could not address this sooner.

Jesse Cahill

[neekamv8]

Jesse,

Thanks for posting that, I appreciate the apology and your comments..

As you can probably tell the original post by Noah Becker really pissed me off. That kinda shit can really hurt a person, get you a bad rep and send a wrong message out there…At the risk of sounding self serving, the amount of time and effort I have put into young players over the years, I don't deserve that kinda shit either..

I used to post on the Aston Martin Owners Club Forum and the Sax on The Web Forum and there’s a fringe element out there who can latch on ta that kind shit and be really unpleasant..

On a positive note the last time I saw ya play was with Phil at Esquimalt High. Ya sounded great and what was really impressive was ya didn’t bury the band….Al Harewood would be proud… Keep the faith …Sincerely David Keen

[NoahBecker]

Ok Dave, now that you're around to defend yourself:

My comment rubbbed you the wrong way, and you are correct, it is unfair to talk about someone when they're not around. I listed "Victoria Jazz Musicians" then James Young entered in with " here are some others that Noah left out." Phil Dwyer' s comment about leaving out everybody over 40 was cute, and gave me the idea to mention you because of the controversial nature of your personality. If you want to turn this into a mock court room an attempt to intimidate me you'll lose. If you want to go gothic and start hurling insults I'll see you in the underworld, and I'm 1000 times more in tune with the ways of the dark lord than you are, and my bird is on the wing just like yours. Not only am I not afraid of you, I find your comments reactionary. If anyone is getting attacked here it's me. Meet me on my bandstand. I've never said anything like Dave you are a "Wanker" or JAMF or other low blows like that, my original comment was meant to make you look good. Yes you felt attacked and certainly your reaction and the timing of being in ill health is unfortunate and I'm sorry for that, and I wish you all the healing and good health possible. But don't you ever come at me like that, understand? It's important that you understand that you don't always rub everbody the right way. I know less than nothing about your history on the level of accurate detail. Your comments about my manner of dress does not affect me as I am a legendary for being an elegant raconteur. People talk about me all the time, it's part of being a performer or seeking out the public in a direct way. I'm not a household name, neither are you, so check your ego. You are at a point in life that I respect and do not intend to mock, I am simply speaking what I feel telling a story and throwing in some humor here and there. In the future will your retro 1950's fetish really move modern music forward in any significant way? I've been misrepresented by you Dave Keen. I'm about to say sorry again so you apologize to me you Jamf for not understanding the words I wrote about you (don't jive the jiver).

I'm retracting my statement, and I'm sorry for what this has mutated into, I'm sorry dave. I've always loved you and your

huge warm tenor sound. the biggest tenor sound around.
__________________
Noah Becker

[neekamv8]

Did you proof read your post before you posted it????

It would be laughable. If it wasn’t such a bunch of self serving, sanctimonious, psychotic, bullshit..

Anytime you make a statement about me that’s an out and out lie. I’ll come on at you when ever and how ever I like and you better believe that..

This has nothing to do with intimidation. You’re already intimidated.. Read yer post, you’re obviously so insecure I don’t need to intimidate you.

Read my lips don’t ever use my name in a post again.

If you had any class or sensitivity at all you wouldn’t have made the comment in the first place..Like I said yer a JAMF…….

At least Copper and Jesse had the decency to apologize. You can’t even do that without turning into a platform to tell everyone how great you are.

LEGENDARY/NEW YORK/RACONTUER……. Who are you Walter Mitty..Grow up get a fucking life…….

You’ve been spreading bullshit for so long you’re beginning to believe it yerself………

[james mcrae]

we all have one and the fact is, musicians talk about other musicians periodically and often when they aren't around...let him who hasn't throw the first stone! from what i read noah was joking and the joke got extended..now it has turned into a soap opera, and the only thing missing is the 50/60's bluenote sound track!!!! they say letting go{of the past and etc} is hard to do and i can attest to that too. cheers.

[james mcrae]

what ya been up to lately? drop by if you are headed up to lasquiti sometime, or over on the island.

[Jesse Cahill]

James,

I'll be over in Hictoria in August w/ PJ and Bobby Shew and up your way w/ Phil the week after. Maybe we can hang then.

Cheers,
Jesse

[RichardW]

Hi, Dave, Richard Whitehouse here. Sorry to hear about your prostate surgery, hope you recover quickly. Aside from that, I hope everything's good with you.

I just want to say thanks for not firing me when I were a young wanker lad back in Victoria! Maybe you did once or twice and I've forgotten, but I probably deserved it anyway, if you did.

In any case, as I've told you before, I learned a lot from working with you and I'm happy to call you a friend. And yes, I remember listening to Blue Note records, and eating chicken curry at your place, and how good it was.

I seem to recall you telling me I was too young to get married, too. Wish I'd listened.

Cheers, mate
Richard

[neekamv8]

Hi, Dave, Richard Whitehouse here. Sorry to hear about your prostate surgery, hope you recover quickly. Aside from that, I hope everything's good with you.

I just want to say thanks for not firing me when I were a young wanker lad back in Victoria! Maybe you did once or twice and I've forgotten, but I probably deserved it anyway, if you did.

In any case, as I've told you before, I learned a lot from working with you and I'm happy to call you a friend. And yes, I remember listening to Blue Note records, and eating chicken curry at your place, and how good it was.

I seem to recall you telling me I was too young to get married, too. Wish I'd listened.

Cheers, mate
Richard

Nope I never fired you.... We had our differences..but I still consider you a good friend.. and I always had and still do based on the CDs you've sent me the highest regard for you're musical abilities..If ya came back ta town I'd hire ya in a heartbeat notwithstanding that the piano chair has been Tony Genge's for over 25 years now and he hasn't been fired once either..However he ain't around for a good part of the year either. I appreciate you keeping in touch..

I just got the quiz by the way.......RED HAMMER GO FIGURE.. I sent it to a buddy and had him do it while I was on the phone. He came up with RED SPANNER......Still pretty close........Always good ta hear from ya..Keep in touch....d

[RichardW]

I came up with red hammer too, and so did my girlfriend. Weird, huh?

I'm thinking of adopting Red Hammer as my new showbiz name - "Red Hammer pounds the ivories", etc. :) Whaddya think?

[JTCopper]

James,

I'll be over in Hictoria in August w/ PJ and Bobby Shew and up your way w/ Phil the week after. Maybe we can hang then.

Cheers,
Jesse
Now there's a gig! Nice. What clubs / venues will you be playin' at?

[neekamv8]

I came up with red hammer too, and so did my girlfriend. Weird, huh?

I'm thinking of adopting Red Hammer as my new showbiz name - "Red Hammer pounds the ivories", etc. :) Whaddya think?

EHHHHHHHHHHHHH. I wouldn't if it were me...however??????????dk

[Clamato]

Hi There. I'm thinking of moving to Victoria. I live in New York now, but I accidentally strangled a Dominican prostitute, so I need to get as far away from the New York area as I can. Just to escape the memories. I play jazz recorder, but not very well. I'm wondering, if I wanted to " sit in" and "jam" with some of you Victoria guys, how "many" songs "should" I "know" to feel confident to sit in. I know 11 songs already. They "are":
A Call For All Demons
A Child Is Born
A Family Joy
A Fine Romance
A Foggy Day
A Night in Tunisia
African Flower
Afro Blue
Afternoon IN Paris
Airegin( Not Fast!)
Alice IN Wonderland

Basically I started on the "A's" and I'm going pretty good. So what say you?
If anyone is looking to play please let me know.
Clamato

[Jesse Cahill]

JT,

As far as I know we're at Hermanns. Although I haven't got official confirmation it's on PJs web site.

later
Jesse

[Bill Sample]

Wow,

Hi Dave, it was another life when we played together. It's great to see you've still got the fire. I would love to hear you - are you ever in Vancouver?

For those looking in, Dave was and is the greatest tenor player i ever heard in Victoria and there were some fine ones.

Cheers. get well.

Bill

[neekamv8]

Wow,

Hi Dave, it was another life when we played together. It's great to see you've still got the fire. I would love to hear you - are you ever in Vancouver?

For those looking in, Dave was and is the greatest tenor player i ever heard in Victoria and there were some fine ones.

Cheers. get well.

Bill

Hiya Bill,

Thanks for the kind words…….and well wishes.

I only ever played Vancouver twice..Once in the mid 90’s with Campbell Ryga and my good buddy Ross Taggart.. I can’t remember who else was on the gig and that was at the glass slipper…. And once at the arts Center in the early 70’s with Kat Hendicks and my good buddies Neil Swainson and Rick Whitehouse, I think Jim McGillvary played percussion on that gig to???

Lets face it there are so many great players in Vancouver they don’t need to import ‘em……..

However I do remember playing in your band… La Petite Bateau de Jazz. and a series of real successful concerts in Victoria. Like ya said a lifetime ago…..Lotsa fun and in some ways happier times…

Nice of ya post a message. If yer ever in Victoria look me up……

Some Skunk Funk……dk

PS I'm beginning ta feel like Sally Field

[HardcoreSax82]

Hi Guys,

I'm a professional Saxophone player, and I'm moving to Victoria next week from Prince Rupert. I read on the forum that a reverb unit is a good thing to use in order to hear yourself, and that Stanley Turpentine uses one. I like a heavily reverberated saxophone sound, preferably one that says "Large Hall", or "Stadium" on the presets.
Anyway, is it standard practise to have a reverb monitor, and where can I get one? Will it be enough to hear myself in a trio setting (bass, piano, sax), in a moderately loud restaurant situation, where the tables are close by? I find I just can't get that great tone without reverb, and I find im really missing it, especially when I jam with my friends on jazz standards from the art blakey era.

[NoahBecker]

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Pantheon/2136/Trane2.wav

[V.O.R.]

Hi There. I'm thinking of moving to Victoria. I live in New York now, but I accidentally strangled a Dominican prostitute, so I need to get as far away from the New York area as I can. Just to escape the memories. I play jazz recorder, but not very well. I'm wondering, if I wanted to " sit in" and "jam" with some of you Victoria guys, how "many" songs "should" I "know" to feel confident to sit in. I know 11 songs already. They "are":
A Call For All Demons
A Child Is Born
A Family Joy
A Fine Romance
A Foggy Day
A Night in Tunisia
African Flower
Afro Blue
Afternoon IN Paris
Airegin( Not Fast!)
Alice IN Wonderland

Basically I started on the "A's" and I'm going pretty good. So what say you?
If anyone is looking to play please let me know.
Clamato
That's awesome. Did anyone read this?

[Nou Dadoun]

That's awesome. Did anyone read this?

I was going to wait til he got to A Train and then give him a call ... N

[NoahBecker]

I was going to wait til he got to A Train and then give him a call ... N

I'll keep it in mind when I fire up the shortwave radio. Unless I'm camping on Mayne Island for the weekend, or waiting 6 hours for the ferry to get pulled off the marina it just crashed into.
it's doubtful that I'll be able to get that radio station here in Victoria, pity. I listen to CFUV and CBC. CBC is great, americans really don't know what they are missing without CBC as part of their cutural history.
Could someone (possible you Nou), tell me if anyone in Victoria can get your UBC radio channel? Are you on cable internet radio? The BBC has some great jazz on it's site, check that out man.
NASA has some good photos of the universe on it's site (check out Saturn and mars man, they rock)
1986 is a very impressive number of sucessful years on air, all the best to you, and have some great future broadcasts.
Well, it's 4:20pm and time to go practice Billie Holliday's "Strange Fruit" in 7/4 and 5/4...

(I have listened to your radio show and it's wonderful!!) NB

[kenlister]

Hey Noah, you can listen on the net.

http://www.coopradio.org/listen/index.html

[Nou Dadoun]

Thanks Ken, you beat me to it; there are actually a number of ways of catching coop radio (not UBC by the way) - 102.7 FM in Vancouver and general area, on cable across BC, on satellite across Canada (I was listening to it in Montreal over Christmas) and (as noted) on the internet around the world.

And I'm happy to play and promote Victoria and BC musicians as well as Vancouver artists (to bring this discussion back to the topic at hand). E.g. I'm doing a radio interview tomorrow with Pamela York, formerly of Nanaimo now based in Houston, who's playing the Cellar on Sunday. If anyone outside the lower mainland (or in the lower mainland for that matter) would like to have their stuff played on the show or is in town and wants to hang out and discuss their local scene on air, drop me a line.

N.

[NoahBecker]

Wow,

Hi Dave, it was another life when we played together. It's great to see you've still got the fire. I would love to hear you - are you ever in Vancouver?

For those looking in, Dave was and is the greatest tenor player i ever heard in Victoria and there were some fine ones.

Cheers. get well.

Bill


Bill: Can you give me a list of all the "fine" Victoria Tenor players you have checked out?

[Bill Sample]

Hi Noah,

It was a long time ago but here's some tenor players I played with in my time in Victoria.

Dave Keen
Gord Clements
Al Pease (also a great clarinet player)
Ed ? (sorry, last name escapes me)
Stafford Horne (moved to Montreal)
David Branter (moved to Vancouver)

Couple of alto players -

Wally Eurchuk (no longer with us)
Paul Horn (moved?)
Brian Longworth?

[kenlister]

Ed ? (sorry, last name escapes me)


I'm guessing you mean Ed Philp; a beautiful tenor player indeed, and a great writer and arranger. His CD Mighty FIngers is definitely worth checking out.

[Bill Sample]

Hi Ken,

I think it was it Ed Phelps. Thanks for the memory nudge.

Yeah, great player indeed. I think he may have played with Kenton at some point.

[NoahBecker]

Hi Noah,

It was a long time ago but here's some tenor players I played with in my time in Victoria.

Dave Keen
Gord Clements
Al Pease (also a great clarinet player)
Ed ? (sorry, last name escapes me)
Stafford Horne (moved to Montreal)
David Branter (moved to Vancouver)

Couple of alto players -

Wally Eurchuk (no longer with us)
Paul Horn (moved?)
Brian Longworth?

I'm glad you think those things Bill, great players indeed.

[james mcrae]

not sure what year Pete moved back to victoria, but he was a beautiful tenor player and a real sweetheart of a person.. He also wrote many wonderful songs some of which i still have copies of and would like to play at some point.

[NoahBecker]

I think the original comment about the "Greatest tenor player in Victoria" was an unfair comment by Bill Sample. All these guys (including the guy I'm never supposed to talk about ever again) are unique and beautiful players.

[Bill Sample]

Quote was "greatest tenor player I ever heard in Victoria". They're all great players, so it's just my opinion. Nothing 'unfair' about that. Are you after something else? I'm not really too interested in working this thread any further. It's a small world.

[NoahBecker]

No, I'm not after anything Bill. That was just my opinion of your opinion.

[Clamato]

HI , gang! I just want to say that this is a very enjoyable forum. Well, I've settled in my room in the Royal Lancer Apartments. I'm still a little shy to bring my recorder out.I'm sure there are ALOT other recorder players who can really jam in this town.If there are any on this forum, please make yourself known.
I wanted to share that I've had sort of a breakthrough with my jazz playing. It's kind of funny, but I just realized that the chord symbols in the Real Book are what you are supposed to improv with! I thought those things were just for the guitar player! I guess I have to start over with my jazz playing, which is a little frustrating, but I am determined to get at least to the C's in the Real Book by Christmastime.
Colors of Chloe, here I come! :)
Here's another question, and if anyone out there knows the answer, I will personally take you to Don Mee Chinese Seafood Restaurant for some stir fried Squid! I'm wondering, if you have a minor Major 7th chord, HOW CAN IT BE MINOR AND MAJOR AT THE SAME TIME? This defies all logic as far as I'm concerned. It's like finding a chord at the nexus of the universe! Anyway, I'm dying to know what blues scale will work on this chord. Thanks in advance.
Clamato :D

[Terry Deane]

Clamato, you,ve done it again. Bravo!

[Mike Herriott]

Boy oh boy Noah sure has a knack for stirring things up eh? I think perhaps our finely decorated friend was ticked that he wasn't mentioned in the list of Victoria Tenor players... such a shame. In all of the excitement, you guys left out Ross Taggart, who is probably one of the finest musicians to be born and bred in Victoria. Definitely shines in the world of tenor saxophone players.

Anyway, if anyone is looking for an alto player to work with, Roy Styffe has just moved to Victoria. He has joined the Monday Night Big Band at Hermann's on lead alto and he is a fantastic player.

Now everyone stop picking on Noah... he can't help the way he is... just kidding Noah ;)

MH

[NoahBecker]

Thumbs way up to that Mike and Clamato!

Clamato, welcome to our fair city.

What say you Clamato? Have you jammed with any Victoria cats yet?

[Clamato]

Noah-
While it would be a dream come true to share the stage with some of you fine Victoria music makers, I'm still a bit shy to come out to sit in, only because I'm really at a beginner's level.Although I can play 2 of the 3 chromatic scales, plus I'm up to Bright Size Life in the "BOOK".( That's real New York slang for " Real Book" in case you weren't aware of that.Maybe there's a different slang for it out here, not sure...) Plus, I don't want to be shown up by the other recorder players in town( I'm assuming there must be at least several in most big cities-New York was FULL of jazz recorder players,every where you turned, it was SO intimidating.). Also, I have some facial scars from a knife fight I was involved in a few years ago when I was a member of New York Sports Club. I ACCIDENTALLY( hand to God!) wandered into the ladies shower, and this 5foot 3 brunette slashed the hell out of my face with her razor! So I'm a little self conscious about my appearance.
But I'm thinking , Noah, if you have some free time this week, maybe we could get together and "jam" or "session" or whatever you call it out here in B.C. I'm still curious about some of these chord thingys. Like when it says "b9" I think it means FLAT 9, and I'm lipping it down as far as I can , and it just sounds out of tune to me. Is this some sort of quartertone concept? Why would they purposely want you to play flat?I guess it's gonna take some time, but I'm determined to figure this stuff out.
I gotta go, I have some Stella D'oro Breakfast Treats in the microwave. Dinnertime!
Regards,
Clamato ;) :(

[NoahBecker]

All of my apologies, meant no disrespect to you. I made the mistake of hopping on this "train" started by someone else. All of my best and hope that you have a speedy recovery. Take care and I will delete all of my posts that I made in response to this thread started by someone else. Everyone seemed to have the same response, so I was just poking a little fun....my apologies.

For the record, the "Bad Vibes" are JT Copper's bad vibes.

If his original words were not deleted this thread would read very different.

Own up to this JT Copper.

[JTCopper]

uhhh....wtf? I am with Bill on this.....no bad vibes here at all mate.

[Tony DiGregorio]

Hi Gents,
My wife and I played a little cafe (the Spiral Cafe) in Victoria last weekend and had a great time. She is a songwriter and i accompany on jazz guitar (we had a review of her CD in Monday Mag that week) and we love the city so much we were thinking of moving out next year. I don't know if there's room for a guitarist amongst all of you horn players but i guess we'll find out! Just an aside, i'll be setting up a recording studio once we get settled and i hope to do live recordings as well as in-house. Anyway I just wanted to say hi and looking forward to hearing you all swing.
cheers,
Tony Di Gregorio
www.starrynightstudios.com
www.kristia.com

[NoahBecker]

Noah-
While it would be a dream come true to share the stage with some of you fine Victoria music makers, I'm still a bit shy to come out to sit in, only because I'm really at a beginner's level.Although I can play 2 of the 3 chromatic scales, plus I'm up to Bright Size Life in the "BOOK".( That's real New York slang for " Real Book" in case you weren't aware of that.Maybe there's a different slang for it out here, not sure...) Plus, I don't want to be shown up by the other recorder players in town( I'm assuming there must be at least several in most big cities-New York was FULL of jazz recorder players,every where you turned, it was SO intimidating.). Also, I have some facial scars from a knife fight I was involved in a few years ago when I was a member of New York Sports Club. I ACCIDENTALLY( hand to God!) wandered into the ladies shower, and this 5foot 3 brunette slashed the hell out of my face with her razor! So I'm a little self conscious about my appearance.
But I'm thinking , Noah, if you have some free time this week, maybe we could get together and "jam" or "session" or whatever you call it out here in B.C. I'm still curious about some of these chord thingys. Like when it says "b9" I think it means FLAT 9, and I'm lipping it down as far as I can , and it just sounds out of tune to me. Is this some sort of quartertone concept? Why would they purposely want you to play flat?I guess it's gonna take some time, but I'm determined to figure this stuff out.
I gotta go, I have some Stella D'oro Breakfast Treats in the microwave. Dinnertime!
Regards,
Clamato ;) :(

Hey Clamato,
Th Roland Juno 106 has all the Recorder sounds you need! Its got a huge array of sounds but it can sound very percussive and warm, kind of a polyphonic bass/rhodes sound that Q-tip uses a lot. But it can also have that great resonant sweepy dance kind of sound too. The juno goes for not so much anymore and its predecessor the Juno-60 goes for even less. The Juno-60 is said by some to have a warmer sound (specifically its filters) but the Juno-106 has many advantages, not the least of which being digitally controlled (but still analog) oscillators. The Juno 60, while its oscillators needn't be tuned as frequently as say, a minimoog, still drift in an out. Also, the Juno 60 was designed before MIDI was integrated in all of Rolands synths, but the 106 did have MIDI integration (albeit extremely primitive)

The Nord Lead 2 is a very versitile and really just astounding synth. It can suit any kind of music but you can definetly get that growling bass sound as well as that really good "clicky" Recorder sound i think you're talking about. The Waldorf Q is also very similar. Also, you might want to look into just getting a sequencing program like Reason, you could synthesize the sounds or use samples. Maybe the sound you are thinking of is acutally just a very commonly used sample of a an electric piano. Maybe look into a sample player like Kontakt.

My personal choice for finding a sound that i like is by using modular synthesis. More times than not, i can widdle the sound down to the one i was searching for. I usually use the Nord Modular synth for this.

I know this is probably way too much rambling but i hope it helps.

[NoahBecker]

I remember playing with you Clamato we played "alone together" and you set my ass on fire. afterwards, i just started laughing because you are one of the best players ive ever had the priveledge of playing duets with. "Clam" informed me that some of his space age, alien sounding **** (my description, not his) came from messian. then he asked me to loop a minor ii-V-i in d minor and he played over it using the mode. boy, was it scary.

the mode consists of three minor arpeggios a major third apart. the arpeggios "Clam" used over the d minor were c, e, and g minor triads. thinking about it from the d minor tonality (not on each individual chord in the ii-V-i), the scale lends itself to the flat 9, natural 9, 11, flat 5, sharp 5, natural 6, flat 7. stepwise, the pattern is less obvious then the trane/ slominsky pattern: 1/2 step, minor 3rd, 1/2, whole, 1/2, 1/2, minor 3rd.


another interesting thing is how the first formula overlaps with the second formula and how it can be applied on top starting from differnent points in the
symettrical structure.

anyway, it sounded absolutely amazing in Clam's hands. Hopefully this formulaic approach which i am cracking into in real time here with this post, inspired by slonimsky. I've never heard the recorder played like that before.

[NoahBecker]

Clam:

Here is some advice on how to make it in New York. Apply this knowledge to Victoria, just substitute the Empire State Building for the "Royal Lancer Apts.":

Some interesting thoughts from someone in NYC.

When Jason DuMars asked me to write something for the International Saxophone Home Page, I asked him what he thought the readers would most be interested in. Jason suggested that I share some information about my career and how I managed to produce my CDs. We agreed that it might be nice to offer some information to those saxophonists who are thinking about becoming full time musicians.

Sounds good to me. I always thought that in today's scene there were more than a few good issues to be addressed. Please bear in mind though, that the following may not necessarily appeal to everyone. It's merely a guide from my own experience, for what it's worth.

There are many ways to "make it" in the music business. It all depends on what you want. If I could give only one piece of advice, it would be this:

TAKE CARE OF THE MUSIC FIRST!

Of course, there's a lot of pressure to gain recognition, but if that's your biggest concern, this advice may not interest you. I've seen musicians devote a lot of energy to promotion at the expense of music, sometimes even putting down musicians who sit at home and practice. Impressive inroads are made in a very short amount of time. All the right people are met but once it becomes obvious that this person doesn't have the music to back it up they sort of fade into the background. Obviously there has to be a good balance between practicing, writing and promotion.

That said, my other piece of advice is:

DON'T WAIT FOR AN INVITATION!

There are some musicians who seem to expect opportunities to come to them rather than creating situations for themselves. Yea, you deserve it. Sure, the scene can be fucked up. So what? Rather than chasing it around, always one step behind, why not create your own niche? Make people come to you. If they don't, you'll still have your music. That's what it's about anyway, right? A career is only a means to that end, to serve the music and not the other way around. Once you confuse this issue you begin to create potential problems for yourself.

The basis for "taking care of the music first" means that you might actually have something worth promoting. Rather than trying to figure out why the phone doesn't ring, think about writing some music. There's nothing like a finished project to get you excited and give you the best reason in the world to promote yourself. Then it becomes mandatory; imperative for you to take the necessary steps to get it out there. Keeping focused on the music can help keep from developing a negative attitude. There's a lot that can discourage us, at least we have the creative process to keep us positive.

Beyond that, it's important to connect with people who inspire you or who are doing the kinds of things that you would like to do. I often notice a self defeating attitude among musicians in which those who are successful are looked upon as having "gotten over" somehow. This is just plain alienating. It's easy to become frustrated by the success others may have attained. Believe me, it's a small scene and there's not that much that separates us. If somebody's music reaches you, go after them! Deal with it on a human level. Share your excitement and be real. There's nothing like a great performance to motivate you into starting a conversation with someone you don't know. So it's uncomfortable at first. Big deal.

Taking care of the music is important for a larger reason as well. In my opinion the jazz world has grown a little stale and somewhat artificial. There is a certain amount of support from the press and major record labels for music that is modeled after "classic" jazz but this fosters a "re-creative" atmosphere as opposed to a "creative" one. The music needs to be linked to the culture in some real way, not just through corporations who's interests in culture are negligible.

It's not enough to simply recreate the styles of the past. Think about what made those styles viable and wonderful in the first place. The music was born from the need to express a people's feelings about being alive in a certain time and place. Lasting music was made in the process but we should not assume that all that is needed is to dedicate ourselves to the nuts and bolts of the form. The music will not come to life simply by recreating the sum of it's parts. We have a responsibility to bring something to the music. The great musicians of the past were great because (among other things) they strove to put themselves into what they were doing. If we want to imitate them then let's do it the way they did it, by striving to create something of ourselves. Don't let anyone tell you it's not right or not good enough. And above all, don't be afraid to make mistakes! I recommend that everyone think about these things when composing and putting together groups. It's necessary in order for the music to evolve and necessary for your growth as an individual musician.

With that in mind I'll relate to you what my New York experience has been like. If it offers any insight for anyone, great. If not, that's OK too since we all have to figure it out ourselves on some level anyway.

Of course, I knew I would get some kind of work. In my case that meant doing every kind of gig imaginable from weddings to jazz gigs. Doing "commercial" work in New York was interesting enough since I've always had an interest in a variety of music. When you're working on your horn and learning the ropes, any time you've got your instrument in your face, that's a good thing. I viewed it as more or less temporary and was pretty happy since I was learning a lot and meeting new people all of the time.

One thing did begin to bother me however. Often the bandleader would preface a piece of music by saying "Okay, we want kind of a thing here", or perhaps a "Vida Loca". Well, that 's cool, but if I continue to do this, when is any body ever gonna say "how about giving us you're thing After all, people are developing their own voices. Nobody's telling them to sound like somebody else. Besides, there are a ton of cats out there who can and really want to do this kind of work. I needed a chance to develop my own thing. Not that I ever thought that what I do was ever going to be that commercially viable, but at least in my mind I can apply what I do to almost any situation. It's just a matter of convincing the rest of the world.

The break from that work came suddenly one night on a club date. We were playing a top 40 tune that had a small sax spot in it. This club date office could pick from almost anyone in the NY area, some name players in fact, so we could play our own solos. Or at least that's what I thought. The singer turned around to cue me in, so I closed my eyes and started to blow. I finished playing, looked up and noticed that he was still looking at me. In fact he looked horrified. He was supposed to be singing. Apparently he was lost . Jeez...sorry. I thought I played a pretty straightforward solo. The man was livid. I was amused. This was not appreciated. He told me that next time I'd better play it like the record. I declined and offered the advice that perhaps he'd do better with another saxophone player. My politeness was appreciated even less.

The next week I started looking for day work. Being depressed on a Saturday night because you're sure that everyone else is out there doing great things while you're playing bad top 40 is not good for your mental health. Day work at least gave me some dignity. Besides, I was able to meet more women this way.

Now I could make money while devoting my self strictly to the music I wanted to play. My plan was to hang out and eventually get a gig with one of the name bands, do the sideman thing, learn the ropes of the business then branch out on my own. Of course there were about 5,000 other tenor players thinking the same thing and maybe 3 gigs available. What actually happened turned out to be far better considering the way the scene was changing. This was the mid eighties and conservatism in jazz (not to mention politics) was spreading.

I had been on the scene for a few years by now, sitting in at all the clubs and trying to get noticed. As time passed I realized that gigs I was once interested in were seeming less and less attractive musically. In retrospect I can see that had I been successful in this endeavor my playing might have taken a different course. I think it would have actually taken me longer to get to where I am now. Not that I wouldn't have loved the opportunity to play with any of my heroes, it's just that my feelings about music were changing. I wanted to go in a different direction. The favored opinion of the day was that if you didn't apprentice with one of the greats you could not be expected to play correctly and therefore had no hope of ever being taken seriously. I didn't buy that.

I began putting my own groups together and soon found myself among a core group of like minded musicians, jamming, writing, and constantly talking about music. In the past, there had always been a subtle pressure to adapt to whatever the musical situation was. Now there was no pressure to conform. There was also no work. That didn't matter though, for the first time I really felt like I was doing what I was supposed to be doing.

The musicians I've always admired the most were the ones who lived their music every day. I made a decision that I always wanted to keep that feeling of true joy that I got at age 10 when I began playing. Why trade that in? It makes sense to keep that intact and hold out for what you really want. The only way anyone is going to know that you're serious is for them to see your dedication in action.

[JTCopper]

Noah-
Some great things said.......nice!

[Chuck Streatch]

Are any of Walter "Bones" Eurechuck family still around?
Chuck Streatch

chuck@48north.com

[Bruce Hurn]

Wow! I just got back from S.E. Asia and someone turned me on to this forum. It's not surprising to see so many folks here with personal opinions about D.K. He is truly an institution here. I was a member of his band back in '73.
I think Dave, that this illustrates what an influence you have had over the past several decades. You have always been good at distinguishing the "wankers" from the players, and you have given opportunities to many up-and-coming players over the years. ( Hmmm...remember Neil Swainson? He did ok for himself.)
I believe it was Oscar Wilde who once said "The only thing worse than being talked about...is NOT being talked about".

Cheers Dave!

Bruce

[Cameron Wigmore]

Let's add me just for fun, even though I haven't lived in Victoria for a few years now.

About 14 years ago I was DK's student. He sold me one of his MK VIs, and I still play it. I owe Dave a LOT.