Diz and Monk and Bird
An Old T-Shirt Sparks The Musical Memories
There’s this moment, at about the two minute mark of the song Bloomdido, where Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie step back and let Buddy Rich, Curley Russell and Thelonious Monk just jam out. Maybe a minute’s worth.
But those 60 seconds changed my life. Perhaps changed my life is too strong of a phrase. How about, changed the way I listened to music.
It was the mid-nineties. I was coming down the stairs of the upper floor at Tower Records in downtown Philly. Monk came on and it was like a light bulb flashed in my brain. Oh, ok, my brain thought to itself, I get jazz now. I get it!
At the time, I didn’t know any of those players on that recording. (Maybe I was familiar with Diz.) But Parker, Monk, Rich, and Russell - they were literally a super group, some of the best musicians of the be-bop jazz era, or any era.
I didn’t know any of that.
All I knew was that Monk was speaking to me. One on one. The piano runs were weird and unpredictable. Listening to him was like being off-balance, like he was making it up as he went. Oh my God, he was making it up as he went!
I went to the counter and bought that CD straight out of their player. I also bought “Solo Monk.” And then I went over to the t-shirt rack and I bought a black Charlie Parker tee.
And that, my friends, is the whole point of today’s reflection. You see, I still have that t-shirt, but not for long. It occurred to me the other day while putting it on that, well, it didn’t have much longer to go. Faded. Full of holes. The end was nigh!
And then I started thinking about concert shirts in general. My favorite of all time was from the Electric Light Orchestra show, but an easy second for me was mine and Little Bean’s matching Pentatonix tees!
When we were in Nashville, Little Bean picked out a Ryman Auditorium t-shirt for me after we visited that famous stage where Dolly Parton and Louis Armstrong played. I haven’t worn it yet, but I think that will be the shirt to replace my Charlie Parker tee.
Do any of you have an item of clothing that’s a mess but you can’t part with? Tell us its story!
No concert shirts, I'm afraid. I was always into small venue gigs back in the late 80's on Hollywood's infamous Sunset Strip. The Whiskey a go-go, The Roxy, The Troubadour, and my favorite Gizarris (SP). Most if not all are now closed, but that was the hair band hay day for sure.
But I wanted to respond to your comment about "He's making it up as he goes!" To me, all the best music is made up as you go. Now maybe you go afterward and write it down so you can reproduce it, but I rarely do. When I want to just have fun, I put on a backing track for what ever mood I'm in, line up for the pentatonic scale in the right key and just GO. Maybe I'm recording, but probably not. Maybe someone else is with me, listening or playing but again probably not. My worship team hates it... and loves it. Because they never know what they are about to hear on Sunday morning, especially if the worship leader looks and me and mouths "do it". It is a gamble, a bet that I'm in the groove with them and the Holy Spirit. I love it, and I truly believe that God loves it to. Because that is how I say "I love you" to God. I open my soul and pour it out through my guitar to him. And no one, not even me, knows what is going to come out.
I have some old t-shirts (Neil Young Old Ways, Grateful Dead Shakedown Street, Harley Davidson, etc) which are going to turn into a quilt.