Allan Songer Posted September 26, 2004 Share Posted September 26, 2004 Woke up this morning and found myself out of coffee. DAMN! So I turned on the hi-fi to warm up the tubes and leashed up the pup and walked the 8 blocks to Peet's Coffee on 2nd Street and bought a pound of Major Dickason's Blend and then walked back up the hill. After getting the coffee brewing I pulled out some perfect Sunday Morning with the New York Times LPs--the first being "This is Hampton Hawes, vol. 3" on Contemporary Records: I sat down with my coffee and listened to the entire first side without even opening my paper. It's been a few months since I pulled this one out and it was like hearing Hampton Hawes again for the first time. This trio with Hawes, Red Mitchell on bass and Chuck Thompson on drums swings as hard as ANY bop trio. There are a couple of Hawes originals here, but it's mostly standards. The level of creativity and interplay here is simply breathtaking. After side two I poured my third cup of coffee and pulled out another one: This record was recorded about 7 years and a whole lifetime later for Hawes. He had spent the previous six years in prison and was only out because of a pardon from President John F. Kennedy. He was in prison for possession charges and when he got out he was clean and stayed clean the rest of his life. On "The Green Leaves of Summer" Hawes is joined by Monk Montgomery (Wes' brother) and the young Steve Ellington on drums. Hawes was moving away from the frantically swinging bop of his earlier records--his solos are stretched and twisted and amazingly inventive. I just finished side two and I guess I'll go fry some eggs since my wife is hungry (she cooks Mon-Sat but Sundays are generally mine). Pick up some Hampton Hawes--you'll thank me! OH!--one other thing-- Hawes wrote one of the best jazz autobiographies (right up there with Art Pepper's) and it's still in print. It's titled 'Raise Up Off Me' and it's a VERY powerful book! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicholtl Posted September 26, 2004 Share Posted September 26, 2004 Fantastic story! Your poetic imagery did 2 things for me. 1) Made me nostalgic for a town I don't even live in. 2) Made me want to own tube amps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted September 26, 2004 Share Posted September 26, 2004 ...and want some Peets... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Songer Posted September 26, 2004 Author Share Posted September 26, 2004 Yeah, there's nothin' like a cup of Peets is there? I once lived 1/2 block from the original Peet's in Berkeley, CA. On warm fall mornings with the wndows open I would wake to the smell of beans roasting. I'm sure it was polluting the skies something fierce, but DAMN! if if didn't smell great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boomac Posted September 26, 2004 Share Posted September 26, 2004 Allan, you got me thinking. Over a year ago I copied several of your recommendations down and kept the list handy for months. I was able to pick-up ever title except one. "For Real" by Hampton Hawes. Thanks for the reminder and the interesting story as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timmikid Posted September 26, 2004 Share Posted September 26, 2004 Thanks Allan, funny cover that first one. Is that an OJC, is it still in print? Will keep these in mind. Tim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicholtl Posted September 26, 2004 Share Posted September 26, 2004 Doesn't coffee stain your teeth and make you have to go to the bathroom like an excited 10 year old? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dflip Posted September 26, 2004 Share Posted September 26, 2004 Here you can find Fantasy Jazz vinyl, cd and 20 bit cd's that are available. Enjoy. Don http://www.fantasyjazz.com/catalog/hawes_h_cat.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted September 26, 2004 Share Posted September 26, 2004 ---------------- On 9/26/2004 5:00:51 PM nicholtl wrote: Doesn't coffee stain your teeth and make you have to go to the bathroom like an excited 10 year old? ---------------- Yeah, but there are some bad things about it, too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Speaker Posted September 26, 2004 Share Posted September 26, 2004 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seti Posted September 26, 2004 Share Posted September 26, 2004 Yeah, but there are some bad things about it, too... ---------------- LIKE WHAT!?! I intend to donate my body to science for them to study the true long term effects of coffee abuse I mean love : ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisK Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 Aren't Sundays the best? I get my Peet's fix from a coffee stand/bar that's located inside the convenience store at a Shell gas station about 2 miles from my house. I pass 3 Starbucks on the way. My son gets up pretty early for a 10yo (about 6:00am) and we drive over there to get coffee for my wife and I and a Soy Coco for him. On the way home we pick up bagels at a local bakery. The music on Sunday mornings is strictly classical. My son is convinced it "helps his brain". This Sunday it was Holst: The Planets, Britten: Four Sea Interludes - Bernstein follwed by the NPR radio show "From The Top". I like this kind of Sunday better than golf. Boy, am I getting hokey! At about 9:00 I head out for a couple hours of tennis. I don't deserve a life this good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxg Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 Its a bit corny but in our house the usual Sunday fare starts out with Lionel Ritchie / Commodores - Easy (like Sunday morning) in the background whilst we peruse the Sunday papers. That song justs sets off the perfect Sunday for us. On the subject of Sunday papers - can anyone really read one - in less than a week. SWMBO insists on getting 3 papers - which needs a horse and dray to bring them in. Then we spend 10 minutes sifting out the advertizing materials - removing the free Cd's, DVD's (The Deerhunter this week - wow!) and god only knows what else before we can settle down to read. Just in time for SWMBO junior to spring to life and want attention - so I never get to read any of the papers anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lon Armstrong Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 My Sunday morning started with some Hampton Hawes too, on the new three cd set called "Bopland" (nominally under Dexter Gordon's name) that reissues for the umpteenth time the material that has been out on Bop! and then Savoy Records ("Jazz Concert West Coast" in three volumes). I moved from there into a string of Barney Wilen cds. .. . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Songer Posted September 27, 2004 Author Share Posted September 27, 2004 But now it's Monday and I'm scrambling to put together a bunch of "modern" looking floral arrangements for some show called "Strong Medicine" that I have never even seen. Wish it were yesterday already . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dodger Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 ---------------- On 9/27/2004 12:36:16 PM Allan Songer wrote: But now it's Monday and I'm scrambling to put together a bunch of "modern" looking floral arrangements for some show called "Strong Medicine" that I have never even seen. Wish it were yesterday already . . . ---------------- Grretings: Different genre: Ah, But I was so much older then, I'm Younger than that now... Dylan Your comment about wishing it were yesterday brought that to mind. My Sunday began with a bowl of Trix while listening to Mose Allison: "I live the life I love and I love the life I live......" Excellent Post dodger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garymd Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 My Sunday started out with the Washington Post (almost as liberal as the NY Times), a cup of yogurt, a mountain dew and "Autumn Leaves"/"Love For Sale" from side one of Miles Davis/Cannonball Adderly's "Something Else." Nice and easy to start the day. Duke Pearson's "Tender Feelings" is another great Sunday morning lp. I gave up coffee about 2 years ago because I have a bonded front tooth. Coffee gives me a nice brown line across the tooth after about 2 cups which I can't get out until my next cleaning. I miss my morning coffee REALLY, REALLY bad and cheat on occasion. While mountain dew gives me that caffiene boost, it just ain't the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben. Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 I wish I could quit drinking coffee. Maybe it's the drug addict jazzer in me, but if I don't get my 20 oz. by about 11:00, we's gots problems. On topic, I spent my Sunday morning recovering from a late gig at a biker clubhouse, tring to untwist myself from sleeping on a dang loveseat, and golfing my hangover away in a tournament. Not a bad day, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lon Armstrong Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 I saw a stupid tv show last night (Wife Swap) in which two adults of one family had switched to drinking coffee through straws because they religiously bleached their teeth and their theory was that their teeth stayed much brighter this way between bleachings because the coffee went past their teeth. . . . Could it really work!? Yes, it's definitely Monday. I'm in the middle of a huge Excel spreadsheet with expenditures. . . and with some Lester Young at the Savoy going to help (or hinder as the case may be). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-MAN Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 ---------------- On 9/27/2004 1:59:16 PM Lon Armstrong wrote: I saw a stupid tv show last night (Wife Swap) in which two adults of one family had switched to drinking coffee through straws because they religiously bleached their teeth and their theory was that their teeth stayed much brighter this way between bleachings because the coffee went past their teeth. . . . Could it really work!? ---------------- Only if they suck it through their ears... which sounds like it would be easy for them... DM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.