[Famous] jazz musicians you've met?

[Swaman]

Miles Davis at the Village Gate. John Coltrane at the Half Note. Sonny Rollins at the Clifton Taproom. Stan Getz at the Village Vanguard including Gene Ammons. Elvin Jones at WPC. Joe Lovano, Thad Jones, Mel Lewis, Joe Farrell etc.
I'm 74 years old so I was around when they were alive. Fond memories!







!

[jazzbluescat]

Jack Walrath
Ernie Watts
John Abercrombie
Mick Goodrick
Maynard Ferguson
Stan Kenton
Charlie Mariano
Herb Pomeroy

[sandy cameron]

Seamus Blake. I heard him in concert at Cory Weed's Jazz Cellar in Vancouver. During the concert, he mentioned he'd be playing the following week at a little cafe out in South Vancouver, so I headed there on the evening. Got off the bus and noticed Seamus standing on the sidewalk outside the cafe. I had a chat with him, then listened to his show for a couple of sets. He was playing guitar and singing his own songs! Very good, too.

[dexdex]

I did meet some, most recently a long chat with David Sanborn and Joey DeFrancesco.
David Sanborn was giving a conference at Montreux Jazz Festival in 2008. He was with Gil Goldstein and played a couple of tunes. What is amazing with such a unique artist: when he picks-up his horn, puts on his reed and plays a couple of runs to warm-up, it sounds almost like you and me. And suddenly, it becomes that unmistakable Sanborn sound. Within seconds, you move from trivial warm-up sounds to .... unique music.
Those which I miss most, for not meeting them: Michael Brecker, and, even worse, for not hearing them in concert: Wes Montgomery (I was a bit young...) and Stanley Turrentine (NO EXCUSE !).

[mrpeebee]

I have spoken briefly with Arnett Cobb, Illinois Jacquet, Frank Foster, Red Holloway and Big Jay McNeely. The last one came to a small private party where I played with Dutch pro tenor Rinus Groeneveld. Big Jay was touring at that moment (March 2010) with Rinus and Martijn Schok (a fantastic Dutch boogie woogie pianist). Unfortunately Big Jay didn't play, but I have some nice pictures of that evening .

- With Big Jay McNeely: P1010210 detail.JPG
- With Rinus Groeneveld: DSCN1076 detail.jpg
- With Rinus Groeneveld and Martijn Schok: P1010204 detail.jpg

[Metalflake]

Wynton, Branford and Ellis Marsalis.

[patmiller]

All my big name meeting was when I was a LOT younger (and perhaps more impressionable):

Eddie Lockjaw Davis in Melbourne circa 1970 (ditto Count Basie but I didn't get to speak with him, just introduced)
Paul Gonsalves in Melbourne 1972
Alvin Alcorn in Melbourne 1973
Freddie Kohlman in Genoa 1976
Paolo Conte on a cruise ship in 1976
Kenny Davern in Hobart 1977 (and Perth 1980)
Acker Bilk in Melbourne 1978
Eddie Miller in Perth 1980

[Tom Walsh]

mostly aussie guys.

david theak
mike nock
james and john morrison
james muller
julien wilson
remco keijzer
col loughnan
warwick alder
craig scott
tim firth
evan manell

i could name more but id doubt anyone not from australia would know them :P

[Call Me Rockstar]

Michael Brecker- '05 Newport News, VA
Wilton Felder- '10 Virginia Beach, VA
Walter Beasley- '10 Virginia Beach, VA

There's more, but we need a Smooth Jazz, Funk, and Motown thread! I doubt many others I have met will work here!

[LiAm84]

I met Scott Hamilton a couple of years ago. I gave him a lift to the airport after he had played a gig in my local town. He talked a lot about his favourite players and recordings, practise routine (or lack of it), mouthpieces, horns etc...
Very nice guy and a master jazz musician.

[Miralejos]

Don Ellis , Milcho Leviev, Les Paul, Wolfgang Meltz, John Clayton, Vido Musso , Harold Land, Buddy Rich, Mongo Santamaria,
Jim Pepper , Sonny King, Tito Puente , Mario Rivera, Glen Moore

[jaysne]

In person: Phil Woods, Dizzy Gillespie, Stanley Turrentine, Mulgrew Miller, Benny Carter, Harry Edison, Ray Brown, Oscar Peterson, Dave Frishberg, Randy Brecker, Nick Brignola, James Moody, Joe Henderson, Frank Foster, Benny Waters, Al Grey, Buddy Tate, Yusef Lateef, Billy Taylor, Richie Cole

On the phone: Flip Phillips, J. C. Heard

[Chunsoo]

Man, you guys met so many people.
The only people I met were the Yellow Jackets (Bob mintzer especially, a really humble guy), and Fausto Cuevas (drummer for stevie wonder).
I need to leave my town more lol.

[rini]

In chronological order: Members of Quincy Jones Big Band in 50s: Phil Woods, Jimmy Cleveland, Melba Liston, Jerome Richardson.

Then later, John Coltrane (!), we didn't discuss but I accompanied my photographer friend and saw Trane from near distance.

List goes on:

Ben Webster Quartet with Mr. Webster, Kenny Drew, N-H Pedersen, Albert Heath (my band opened for them at a local Jazz Fest).

In London at Ronnie Scott's Club, Clark Terry, Illinois Jacquet, Annie Ross.

At a local Jazz Fest: Junior Cook, I offered to loan him my horn at a late night after concert jam session but he refused, "too open mouthpiece", maybe true, I played Link Florida 8* and King Super 20 tenor at that time...Rico Royal 3,5 reeds...Junior had played in Freddie Hubbart's band a concert earlier that evening. Freddie came to the jam session without his horn, he had already left it in his hotel room. After a while he asked if he could borrow our local trumpeter's horn and mouthpiece and played just like...Freddie Hubbart!

Albert Mangelsdorff and his quartet played with great success in our small local jazz club. This type of mostly free modern jazz was very avant garde at that time, at least in our country. A member of audience commented: "I don't know what it is but I love it!" Albert was a nice old man he even came after the gig with us local musicians to a friends apartment to talk for hours and drink cheap local vodka.

Bill Evans, Marty Morell, and Eddie Gomez who told me to keep my mouth shut, I'm not sure if I did...Bill looked really sick, poor man.

Jerry Dodgion when he played in the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Band. I asked what mouthpiece he had, it was a HR Berg Larsen .85/2... if I remeber right.

Thad Jones, he even visited my home, I did a copyist gig for him, an emergency job, I worked for 2 days and nights having just one hour of sleep. Thad wrote scores and brought them to me and I copied out the parts for the big band.
At first I sat at a table and Thad was at the piano writing the arrangement. The idea obviously was that I'd start copying the orchestral parts as soon as Thad had a score page ready. But it was so slow. He sat at the piano, played a chord, listened to it, sighed, played the same chord again, sighed again, scribbled something on the score pad before him, with a very short stump of pencil, sighed again...and so on. And this was the great Thad Jones, it was so slow that we agreed I go home and wait for him to bring something when it's ready. And he got them ready. The last parts I copied in the studio while the band was already recording the material that was ready. Eventually it became a record. It's a record with the Swedish singer Monica Zetterlund and That Jones-Mel Lewis Big Band.

Joseph Jarman, he was a member of Art Ensemble of Chicago. He borrowed my horn and even played on it at a festival concert, this time I had switched to Selmer Mark 6. He had his own mouthpiece and reeds with him but no horn. Was he on a World tour without his horn? I never asked...just wondered, a bit.

Oliver Lake, I met at another jazz festival. I even gave him a Lp of my punk-etc-wave-jazz band. At the same festival I met also drummer Jerry Hemingway who was playing with Ray Anderson.
Also Richie Cole, at the same festival.

I have never met Dave Liebman but he played and even recorded with a big band an arrangement I made of a tune of his.


Ron McClure, the fine bass player played gigs with our band and we did a recording for our local national radio company and a cd from that material.

[helipilot]

Allan carter, Tom Scott, Chuck Finley, plas Johnson

[johnnydman]

I (sorta) met Louie Bellson around 1986 or '87 at a clinic our high school jazz band attended.
Last week I met Ernie Krivda (during a break in his warmup) and talked to him about his King Super 20.

[memphissax]

Most recently, I met Jerry Bergonzi when he played in Maddaloni. He was not particularly friendly, but it was still great to see him perform live!
I have also met/played with Pete Christlieb (he rode in my car on the way to my college jazz festival), Pete Fountain, Al Hirt, Roy Hargrove (stoned), Randy Brecker, Fathead Newman (probably one of the nicest people I've ever met), Leni Stern, Gene Bertoncini, Rosario Giuliani, Wess "Warmdaddy" Anderson (phone conversation), and Marcus Printup. I look forward to the next meeting with a famous musician!

[FunkyHorn626]

Pete Christlieb, David Sanborn, Michael Brecker, Lin Halliday,Marc Russo, Pete Fountain, Woody Herman, Jimmy Smith, Jimmy McGriff, Mike Smith, Barrett Deems

[madeingermanny]

Utterly jealous of you guys...I'm 16 and in a pretty..not jazzy area, but I did manage to meet Patrick Hession the other day. Nice guy who was a guest soloist for our high school jazz dance.

[BayviewSax]

Met: Tommy Flanagan, James Carter, Billy Harper, Fred Hopkins, Frank Lowe, Ahmed Abdullah, William Parker, Hamid Drake, Clifford Jordan, Flip Barnes, Skerik... others (I'm getting long in the tooth).

Had full or extensive conversations with: Dick Griffin, Eddie Gale, Jeff Coffin, Dennis Gonzalez, Rodrigo Amado... others.