RIP Griff- The Little Giant

Johnny Griffin, one of my all-time favorite saxophonists, passed away last Friday. Griff first capture my attention when I was 19 years old. I ran across his Little Giant record and was entranced by it. At that time I hadn't yet developed a taste for Trane, and was just moving toward Cannonball from Bird. Griff was so fluid, confident and his sound expressive. I couldn't imagine how he articulated as fast as he did, it seemed almost super-human.

I was fortunate to see Griff at his peak in the late 80's, when Griffin was making his return to the States after living happily in France for some years. It was a freezing night in the middle of winter and it was dumping snow. I was sitting in the second row of the old 1369 Jazz club in Cambridge. The house was packed. The bassist Charnette Moffet was late to the gig and Griff was pacing around angrily as he warmed up with a tube sock in his bell. The crowd was starting to rumble and Griff was becoming more pissed off as each minute ticked by.

Twenty minutes after the show was scheduled to start Charnette rushed in from the freezing cold and made his way through the packed house to the bandstand. As Charnette set up his bass Griff gave him a dirty look and made a snide comment. As soon as Charnette was ready to play, which must have been well before his fingers had thawed out, Griff counted off the fastest blues I had ever heard. It must have been approaching 400 beats per minute. It was BLAZING!

Griff had build up quite a bit of steam while waiting for Charnette and was going to make him think twice about ever being late again. Griff must have played over 50 punishing choruses on that first tune. The crowd went nuts.

We were experiencing a true giant.

Tim Price on Griff
NY Times obituary

S.O.S. solo transcription
Rhythm-a-ning solo transcription

YouTube video 1
YouTube video 2
YouTube- Blues for Gonz
YouTube- Griff & LockJaw
YouTube- Griff w/Art Taylor

Even MORE fake books!

I just found these links to a couple of pages with a ton of PDFs:

Russian site
Dearnell.com

Abul Fazul on the imperial musicians

" I cannot sufficiently describe the wonderful power of this talisman of knowledge [music]. It sometimes causes the beautiful creatures of the harem of the heart to shine forth on the tongue, and sometimes appears in solemn strains by means of the hand and the chord. The melodies then enter through the window of the ear and return to their former seat, the heart, bringing with them thousands of presents. The hearers, according to their insight, are moved to sorrow or to joy. Music is thus of use to those who have renounced the world and to such as still cling to it.

His Majesty pays much attention to music, and is the patron of all who practise this enchanting art. There are numerous musicians at court, Hindús, I´ránís, Túránís, Kashmírís, both men and women. The court musicians are arranged in seven divisions, one for each day in the week. When his Majesty gives the order, they let the wine of harmony flow, and thus increase intoxication in some, and sobriety in others." - ABUL FAZL ALLÁMI

From the AÍN I AKBARI, the administrative report of Mughal Emperor Akbar’s empire (completed between 1596 and 1604).

Show your appreciation!

# Contact info submission

url: davidvaldez.blogspot.com/
site_owner: Davidvaldez.blogspot.com
address1: 26 NE Prescott st
address2:
city: Portland
state: or
country: USA
postal_code: 97211
phone_number: 503-281-5278
display_email: casavaldez@comcast.net
site_name: Casa Valdez Studios
site_description: David Valdez' Jazz forum- Jazz resources, musician features, Jazz harmony and improvisation lessons, streaming Jazz videos, Jazz links, Jazz interviews, Jazz saxophone articles, Bebop masters, esoteric music philosophy, and David Valdez' upcoming gigs.

Tin Pan Alley Fake Book

Tin Pan Alley Fake Book

Disney Fake Book

Disney Fake Book

557 Jazz Standards (Swing To Bop)

557 Jazz Standards (Swing To Bop)

Jazz Sax Duets

Jazz Sax Duets

Rhythm Changes Sax- Transcriptions

Rhythm Changes- Sax Transcriptions

Lovano book

Lovano transcriptions

Overtone book

Overtone book

Contemporary Techniques for Saxophone Book

Contemporary Techniques for Saxophone Book

Thousands of pages of Jazz transcriptions! INSANE!!!!!

Yes, here they are. You simply will not believe the number of transcriptions contained in these Japanese compilations. You need the passwords to open them.

Don't say I never did anything for you....

The Real Jazz Vol.V (password: nkjcjp)
The Real Jazz Vol.VI (password: qgssjp)
The Real Jazz Vol.VII (password:bvatjp)

Japanese Fake Book Bonanza!!!

Here are some very useful fake book volumes from Japan. Each document contains many fake books, so they may take a while to download.

Jazz Melody vol.I
Jazz Melody vol.II
Jazz Melody vol.III
Jazz Melody vol.IV

Popular Melody

The legacy of Trane- intensity

In the day to day grind of making a living performing, musicians too often forget some of the more noble reasons they decided to be a musician in the first place. Even if the musicians working with you are outstanding, the very act of playing for unresponsive listeners can easily dull the higher aspirations. For most of us out here in the musical trenches it can be difficult to keep the inspiration flowing at 'cocktail enhancement/Jazz wallpaper' gigs. That does not mean that in cannot be done in these sort of situations, it just takes a bit more focus.

When I'm about to play a particularly musically demanding gig with players who are at or above my level I will mentally prepare for it the entire day, or even for several days. I become less talkative and my wife will usually notice a faraway look in my eye. The bigger the gig, the more mental preparation needed. I may even practice more before a big concert, god forbid! I really try to do my best to prepare myself to unleash all the mental, emotional and spiritual energies that I can possibly muster.

I grew up sitting in the front row of the great Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz, where I watched many Jazz legends perform just a few feet away from me. I would vacuum up the club and get free tickets to every show. One of the things that always struck me was just how much these masters exerted themselves when they performed. They were often soaked with sweat and had to change shirts on the breaks. It seemed like they were having intense gut wrenching emotional upheavals onstage. They were working themselves up to a level of intensity that the average person only feels in life or death situations or in the last mile of a marathon. Inner cauldrons were boiling over onstage and the audience felt the radiation raw energy as they listened to the music.

As a teacher it's difficult for me to communicate to my students the importance of this type of intensity when playing Jazz. I can't just say," stop functioning in that ordinary mode of normal consciousness", or," this time try to have a religious experience this time and break the restricting bonds of your ego awareness". I often don't see these students making any attempt to make the leap to this higher level of intensity. If you're operating at the same level of emotional and mental intensity when you're reading the paper as when you're on the bandstand then something is dreadfully wrong. It's like beginning a triathlon with the same attitude as you have when you're about to take your dog for walk. Creative improvisation takes every ounce of energy that you can possibly muster!

If there's one thing that bothers me the most about many young players it's this, they may be highly proficient, but that 'extra gear' is just not here. I'm not interested in what someone came up with while in the wood shed while messing around with three-tonic digital patterns. I don't want to see you pick up your axe and start playing with the same flat affect that you always have. I want to see sweat dripping off you like a summer monsoon. I want to see your body tremble and your eyes roll back into your head. I want some gran mal seizures at the piano! Where are the bursting blood vessles? Where are the demonic groans?

Don't be polite, did you find god or not!?

This is life or death here people!

This thing isn't for you if you're not willing to unearth your darkest feelings in front of a room full of strangers. Didn't Trane teach us ANYTHING!?!?!