70's Jazz Venues

[Coat Cooke]

My heroes at the Classical Joint back in the mid-seventies were Dick Smith (what a sound) and Al Wold (one of the best left hands-a wonderful stride player). I used to go and hear them every chance I could.

I haven't seen anyone really talk about how important Oil Can Harry's was back then. When I first moved to town I couldn't believe it. For $5 a set I saw the Charles Mingus band with Danny Richmond,George Adams, Jack Walrath, and Danny Mixon.
I also saw McCoy Tyner, Pharoah Sanders, Cecil Taylor, Anthony Braxton, Les McCann, and quite a few more. That was all in under a year.
Exciting times.

There was also the Soft Rock Cafe on Fourth Avenue. Where Dave Holland played an amazing solo bass/cello concert. Also saw a great Alan Holdsworth concert there (with Chad Wackerman on drums).

[John Doheny]

Hey Coat,

You were at that Mingus gig too, huh. That was a year before we met. Did George sing "Devil Blues" the night you were there? Do you remember they came back a year later and did two weeks there AND two weeks at the Old Roller Rink in North Van.? Man, that's the way to hear jazz. In a club, night after night. You can really hear the music develop that way, not like this one night only concert hall shit.

I remember talking to Jack Walrath at the bar in Oil Can's, him telling me George Adams had had some kind of beef with Mingus and had taken a better paying gig with Herbie Mann ( Rickie Ford was on tenor the second time they were here). My friend Cindy Jhooty wound up having a fling with Rick,(she's even briefly mentioned in the latest Mingus bio) and Sue Mingus kind of adopted her later in New York for a while. This got us into Mingus' social orbit and more importantly onto the guest list for the last week of the Roller Rink engagement. I rememember Mingus publicly chewing out William Taylor there ( "Will the worlds greatest bass player please stand up.. I'll be happy to punch your nose you attitudinal MF etc.) Bill of course was actually thrilled to be publicly acknowleged by Mingus, and Mingus was only half serious.

I really believe jazz was meant to be played this way. You need to be working every night, and in the SAME PLACE occasionally, not flying around with Wynton Marsalis for a bunch of one nighters. That just screws up your practice schedule. Those Prestige "Miles Davis Quintet' albums wouldn't sound the way they do if the band hadn't had an 18 month residency at the Cafe Bohemia. When I saw Roland Kirk at Ronnie Scotts in London he was there for a MONTH man. They called it a "season". This "one night here and one night there" shit really sucks.

[John Doheny]

Oh! Remember the big room downstairs at Oil Can's? Dirty Sal's Cellar? I saw Tower of Power there a couple of times. And the Meters. And Freddie Hubbard.

[Russell Chan]

At Oil Can's upstairs I remember seeing Bill Evans with Eddie Gomez and Marty Morrell, Gary Burton with Pat Metheny Mick Goodrick Steve Swallow and Bob Moses, Jack DeJohnette with John Abercrombie and Alex Foster, Cannonball with Nat Walter Booker Roy McCurdy and Mike Wolff...... one of the best rooms!

Anyone remember the Nucleus? I first night I was there they didn't even have chairs yet... all I remember was Bob Murphy playing the !@#$%^& out of a Fender Rhodes...

[Bill Metcalfe]

I have some good memories from Oil Can Harry's too, particularly Anthony Braxton with Dave Holland, Leo Smith, and Philip Wilson.
I remember being amazed by Wilson.

And I remember Bob Smith sitting there one night listening to Cecil Taylor. I think he (Smith) was smoking a cigar. He said he liked Jimmy Lyons.

I just signed up with this forum. I think I'll add some stories to the Vancouver Jazz History section (pre-Oil Can Harry's). I'm one of those old guys someone referred to in one of the other postings.

[John Korsrud]

My dad would somehow get me in there a couple of times when I was 12 or 13. I remember seeing Cannonball Adderly. Can't remember who else was in the band. would of been mid-70's.

[zula]

Great to hear this stuff, folks!

Hey oldtimers!:D

Could we get some more juicy details about these venues? Pics, layout, players...

[Wilmer Fawcett]

Not exactly the 70's topic, but was anybody else at the (original) Cellar (around 1960) when Mingus and the football player had the encounter? Great stuff. What a club...besides Mingus, the Montgomery Brothers, Barney Kessel, Howard Roberts, Gary Peacock...not to mention our local greats, Dave Quarin, Jimmy Johnson, Jim Kilburn, ...so many!

Bill Fawcett