Cannonball & Jose

[gyrofrog.com]

When did the show "Kung Fu" take place? Not sure the saxophone had been invented yet...

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It's a long story, but someone posted this on the ECM list this morning.
A clip from the old Kung Fu television program featuring Cannonball
Adderley and Jose Feliciano performing "Camptown Races." I kid you not...

http://perso.club-internet.fr/barybary/filmo/hymn2.ram
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[Anonymous]

OH,

MY

GOD!

This goes a long way toward solving the mystery of Cannonball's early death!

[Lowell]

I had to watch it twice! That has to be the most surreal moment of television ever! I was a fan of "X-files" and "Twin Peaks" but I never saw anything that bizzarre. I guess if you could swallow the basic premise of the show ( a shaolin monk travelling the west circa 1885 in Robin Hood mode ), the anachronisms of jazz and saxophone are small potatoes. The saxophone may have been around in europe in its earliest form, but would have been very unusual in the west. The jazzy version of Camptown Races is the most glaring item. Ragtime hadn't yet made an appearance. A negro and a mexican performing in the street would also have been run out of town rather than paid by the white townspeople.
The only saving grace is that Jose and Julian probably got good paycheques out of the deal.

[gyrofrog.com]

... the anachronisms of jazz and saxophone are small potatoes. The saxophone may have been around in europe in its earliest form, but would have been very unusual in the west.... A negro and a mexican performing in the street would also have been run out of town rather than paid by the white townspeople.

Another anachronism is Jose's pair of sunglasses. I'm guessing they would have had wire rims back then.

I believe Jose is Puerto Rican, not Mexican (though I'm not sure where his character was supposed to be from).

I've seen pictures of Cannonball playing a King Super 20, but what is the horn he's playing on the show? Given the split bell keys, I wonder if it's an old Conn or a Tru-Tone. Of course, it could also be a prop, though they went to enough trouble to make it an alto...

[gary]

Thanks, gyro...that made my day!

Forgive me, but everytime I hear that song I remember Leon Breeden (NTSU) telling about a hippie (beatnik type in those days) standing at a bus stop when a citizen walks up and asks:
"'Scuse me boy, but do the cross-town buses run all night?"
To which the hippie immediately answered.."doo daaah, doo daaah!"
(Shakata-boom.)