[Tradjazz] Pee Wee Russell

Thu Oct 26 20:29:14 EDT 2006

Bruce my dear chap, 
      "One never knows.....do one?"  Maybe Charles Ellsworth and Bob Helm are a bit like drinking good whisky ...they're an acquired taste........like bass saxophones(?).....and even banjos (?).....and flageolets(?).........and all the best things in life. 
        I certainly share your love of Bob Helm's playing : its stylistically sincere and original, and it suits perfectly the context of the Watters/ Murphy groups and their repertoire. Like Pee Wee, Bob has his own sort of "chops" and fresh ideas to burn. What more can we ask ?  
       But I do hope you'll also keep listening to Pee Wee and I'll just  keep hoping the light will dawn for you one day......'one never knows.....do one?"
                                                 Trevor 
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Bruce McNichols 
  To: tradjazz at list.okom.com 
  Sent: Friday, October 27, 2006 3:13 AM
  Subject: Re: [Tradjazz] Pee Wee Russell

  Dearest Trevor,
    You know when a message starts that way, there's trouble ahead.
  As always, I respect everyone's opinions.  That said, it doesn't mean that I share them.  I have previously made my thoughts known on the subject of "modern jazz" and "way-out jazz."  The reason the Pee Wee issue is of such special interest to me (and many others, I presume) lies in the fact that so many people, whose musical opinions I respect, have a love for Mr. Russell.  

  It's not that I haven't listened.  I have tried and tried, but I cannot warm up to what I perceive as his out-of-tune-ness.  

  ~~~~~~
  This brings me to another subject that may well be even more volatile than the subject of Pee Wee.  That subject is (lookout, here it comes) . . . Bob Helm.  There, I said it.

  In my early teens, I discovered the YBJB, Turk etc.  I have always loved that West Coast two-beat sound.  That said, I found Bob Helm's playing to be very strange, to say the least.  At that time his playing was what I called very eccentric.  As the years went on, he seemed to be playing more and more, out of tune.  A close-in guy (a member of the Murphy band) told me that Mr. Helm was very hard of hearing and would not consider getting a hearing-aid.  That certainly could account for his dive into more and more out of tune playing.  Again, even before that, his playing was quite odd.

  ~~~
  Cut to thirty or more years later.  As I dug out and played many of my old records, I took a new look at Bob Helm's playing.  Hearing the very same recordings where I had previously panned his playing, I seemed to experience an awakening.  I gained a special respect for his playing.  Indeed, I even copied some of his phrases and use them to this day.

  The strangest thing of all, is that on one particular recording, I discovered a soprano sax solo, that became my all-time favorite.  The sop sax is a strange bird and it is a very difficult animal to tame.  Whether or not I've ever done so, is questionable.
    I was not formally trained.  I learned to play, on the bandstand.  I have a high regard for the many classically trained musicians I work with.  Mastering one's instrument is surely a basic thing, for all of us.  
  Over the years, I've had the pleasure of hearing (and working with) some very fine soprano sax players.  Their full tone and technical prowess is as it should be.

  Back to Bob Helm.  On an LP of Turk Murphy at the Roundtable (which in reality, is a studio recording) Pat Yankee does an ace version of "Oh Daddy Blues."  On that cut, Bob Helm takes a perfect in every way solo, on sop sax, no less. For a guy who was known to play out of tune, his solo is just right.  The phrasing and the melodic solo is spot-on in tune.  I play that cut often, mainly to enjoy Bob's solo.

  More to the point, even on his eccentric clarinet solos, including the early ones that I criticized years ago, he was a very special musician.

  ~~~
  As for Pee Wee, I've tried and tried, and will try again, but that main just ain't talkin' to me.

  ~~~~
  OK gang.  Come at me.  I can take it (I think).

  McN

    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: trevor rippingale 
    To: tradjazz at list.okom.com 
    Sent: Sunday, October 01, 2006 8:25 PM
    Subject: Re: [Tradjazz] Pee Wee Russell

    Bruce : 
          You and your other list members  have really opened the Pee Wee flood-gates haven't you ? I think this is a particularly important question for all jazz "believers", touching on the very heart and essence of our jazz art. My view (for what its worth) is that art knows no rules, whether we like it or not. 
            At first hearings many years ago, I couldn't believe that Pee Wee was serious : who was this apparent imposter with what seemed to be a barely rudimentary instrumental technique and no recognition of what I regarded as the appropriate chord progression for any tune he attempted : squeaks, squeels, moans and groans ?
    But the more I listened, the more I began to like and eventually to love what I hear in his creative performances : I believe that he's part of the legitimate kaleidoscope that is jazz. Whether we like his playing or not, is a separate question.
              I regard Pee Wee as a unique artist who doesn't so much "play an instrument" as such, but creates his own communication medium, conveying his unique feelings in his unique way, yet staying "accessible" no matter how far away on the edges of accepted harmony and melody he may get from time to time.  He always "saves" himself in unique fashion. 
            I feel that he's communicating himself : the instrument on which he chooses to do so, is irrelevant : its not a clarinet or saxophone that we're hearing : its Pee Wee, his emotion and sentiment:
            Though he may perhaps be less immediately accessible than Louis, Bix,  Webster, Garner, Mulligan or Goodman, I think of all the true "jazz greats" in that same way. We're hearing THEM, and they exercise their right to play it as they hear it : not just in the way most people's ears are used to. To me, this goes to the very heart and essence of the jazz art. Perhaps Pee Wee is just a bit more-so than others.
               So ......... ?                
                                                     Trevor
            But that's merely as I hear it. I just wish everybody could get as much enjoyment our of Pee Wee's playing as I have over the years. But if they don't, they'll still get their jazz kicks elsewhere, and that's as it should be.

      ----- Original Message ----- 
      From: Bruce McNichols 
      To: tradjazz at list.okom.com 
      Sent: Monday, October 02, 2006 2:48 AM
      Subject: Re: [Tradjazz] Pee Wee Russell

        Oh Boy.  When will I learn to keep my big trap shut?  Probably never, I guess.
      Years ago, Jack Fine played cornet with us for several years,  He was aghast when I criticized Pee Wee Russell.  One time I was at his loft in the Village and he played some records for me.  At one point he asked me what I thought of the tenor man.  I said "I love him!" and Jack informed me that it was Pee Wee (from early in his recording career). Well shut ma mouth.   
        One time a guy suggested that I could avoid controversy by stating that "I like early Pee Wee Russell."
      As I've said before (and will surely say again) I truly hesitate to classify any musician (or book, movie, restaurant etc.) as being "good," or "bad."  I try to be sure to say things such as "I happen to like it," or "not like it," or my ubiquitous "He may be good, but he ain't talkin' to me."

      I adore the playing of Kenny Davern.  I am keenly aware of his Pee Wee influences.  When they come out in his playing, I'm not pleased.  That said, it's part of the package of Kenny Davern.  I know that and I accept that.  Dat's da way it goes.

      Some folks may like the way Pee Wee communicated and they may admire his quarter-tone playing that you referred to.  For better or for worse, I don't happen to be one of those people.
        Another point I've written before (and will surely say again): I have a helluva nerve, complaining about some of the players that I mention.  I should be able to play half as well as they do (did).  That said, I don't think I'd choose to use that talent (if I had it) to do quite the same things that they do (did). 
      ~~~
            GO AHEAD, LIST-MEMBERS.  
            LET ME HAVE IT WITH BOTH BARRELS!
      McN

      ----- Original Message ----- 
      From: "Steve Barbone" <barbonestreet at earthlink.net>
      To: <tradjazz at list.okom.com>
      Sent: Friday, September 29, 2006 11:17 AM
      Subject: [Tradjazz] Pee Wee Russell

      > Hi Bruce:
      > 
      > So Bruce McN doesn't like Pee Wee's sour notes. Well you are not alone. I
      > think it was Artie Shaw (or Benny Goodman) who said he sounded like a leaky
      > bicycle pump. And Thelonious Monk was bemused when they played together at
      > the Newport Jazz Festival. IMO the world is split about 50/50 regarding what
      > Russell does on clarinet.
      > 
      > Kenny Davern? Loves him as do I. In fact a careful listening of what Kenny
      > does with his axe shows Pee Wee influences throughout. And Davern will tell
      > anyone who listens what a great COMMUNICATOR Pee Wee Was and how his own
      > playing was shaped by Pee Wee's ideas and approach.
      > 
      > And "communication" is the key. Russell approached the horn as a simple
      > communication device, not as an instrument to be mastered as say, Benny
      > Goodman believed. Shaw, though he disliked Russell's sound, had the same
      > approach to the clarinet. "I don't play clarinet", he would say, "I play
      > music." 
      > 
      > Russell who knew how to play "correctly" (just listen to his recordings of
      > the 1920s) specifically chose to communicate the way he did later on. And,
      > like Bix, he was harmonically advanced. (they made some neat sounds
      > together) Heck, he was blowing quarter tones before any of us reed men knew
      > they existed.
      > 
      > My opinion? Since music is communication, the player should communicate in
      > his own creative fashion to "his" audience. Russell was somewhat unique and
      > "his" audience is therefore smaller and more fragmented than most. He was a
      > multi dimensional character and for me, a joy, both to know and to hear.
      > 
      > Cheers,
      > Steve 
      > 

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