Born under a Bad time..(for Lester Benson). Matt Lavelle.

I have always had to question why I was Born in 1970,.and then have Jazz as a core life focus.
My relationship with the music suggests higher forces at work,.and that I need to be here now,
or I would not be here, hear? But Couldn't I have been born into a Big Band Career,.or a time when I could play a week at the Vanguard? Hit the 5 spot for a Month? Shit,.Did I choose Music,.or did it choose me?

I was in my first 10 years of this lifetime when Duke and Louis left.Bird had been gone a long time.Coltrane had already ascended.(One thing that does make me happy is a live recording I found of Miles playing the night I was born,..Miles was really Miles that night,.and I cant think of better entrance music..was Miles music that night tied to my birth? I'd like to think so.)..

Anyway,.I would grow up in the 70's then in a non-Jazzical household.My Grandfather flipped the script by having me sit down and Listen to classical symphonies with him,.and he was a great artist,.and a devout spiritual man.He was a painter and a sculptor and his 2 busts of the heads of Dr.Martin Luther King and Beethoven are my prized possessions.My grandfather would fall to Cancer and leave me musically a blank canvas,.although he gave me the canvas!

In elementary school,.it was time to pick an instrument,.and I had no idea what any of them were.I'll never forget the paper they gave to my Mother,.with all the instruments listed,.and we had to choose one.I didn't choose but went to the class,.and the teacher,.Mr.Napoli,.said,."Let me see your teeth",..I gave him a big smile,.and he said,..clearly,.."your a trumpet player"...

Then my soon to be divorced parents,.(Divorce wasn't as popular then),.rented me a Bundy trumpet,.and I carried it everywhere.Mr.Napoli's best lesson was not letting me cheat by writing down the finger set up above every note.During this time,.my only memories of jazz are from cartoons,.and that music has haunted me to this very day

I was all about Fred Flintstone,.he was kind of like my own father,.and when he went down to the club and sang with "Hot Lips Hannigan",.a Dizzy Gillespie parody,.complete with an upturned "shell trumpet",..I was seeing something I would be chasing my whole life,.although at 7 years old,.there's no way to know that for most of us.(my bad ELDAR)..

Barney by the way,.was on "Skins",.and Fred sang "saints go marching in",.It's on You tube.During the regular episodes,.The Tuba that played when Fred was up to something was pretty sweet.In Tom and Jerry,.the trombone that played when Tom was up to something was pretty cool to.Also around this time I was into Fat Albert...

Fat Albert and His Crew had a Jazz musician as a mentor named Lester Benson,.(google Rebop for bebop.).Lester seemed to represent the Soul of Jazz,.and he helped the gang defeat some punk rockers in a school battle of the bands.Of course,.who doesn't know Bleeding Gums Murphy?,.Where the Simpsons take a look at what Jazz is in America today.

My thing here is that I came up in a strange time in regards to Jazz.It wasn't being played all over town,.and the Music in the church I was going to then was ummm,...not too strong.With no Jazz in my family I was Left to seek something with no clues and no teachers,.in a time when the music itself had already evolved to what Ken Burns would say was the end.(We know different of course).

While the Loft scene was in full effect in downtown NYC,..cue:the visual of Daniel Carter on his way to another gig.(To this day,..every time i see the opening of Welcome back Kotter,.I try to see if Daniel is walking on the street).During that time I was eating about as much as I play today,.Not cool.My father tried to help in his own way by bringing home 2 records.

Yes,..Herb Alberts RISE,..and Chuck Mangione,."Feels so Good",..I was more into Chuck.The band looked like a bunch of nice guys having fun,.where as Herb was all mysterious and shit.I listened to the music but didn't know what to do or how to react,.so I kept watching Superfriends as a priority.My brother preferred He-man as a rule.

Fast forward to High School,.when I was "Saved".Legendary Nyack New York educator Bert Hughes found out I used to play,.(I gave up in Junior high),.and put me in the school Jazz band,.took us on a tour of RUSSIA,.and Introduced me to Hildred Humphries.(I wrote a blog about Hildred a few months ago here on Brilliant Corners).

I went to Sam Goody and Got a cassette.Miles,."Your Under Arrest"...This was soon rectified by Kind Of Blue a week later,.and then Louis Armstrongs Greatest hits,.where His "back o town blues",.really gave me a foundation to build my house on.Of course,..TRANE was on Kind of Blue,..so there was the future doorway to Free Jazz right there.

I'll be 40 years old next year,..but almost all my brothers and friends in Jazz are 50 PLUS.Hildred was in his 80's.Ornette is almost there now himself.The people on my records and in my bands,.all over 50,.or close to it.There's a lot of folks playing my own age these days,.some very well known,.and I need to connect with them more,.But I seem to just gravitate towards the older cats,.usually African-American.Because of that,.For many people I'm still viewed as a Young cat,.almost 40.

Once I turn 40,.I'm going to try and change that perception.I don't know that many people younger than me that I'm really vibing with,.I have to try and change that to.Shayna Dulberger is the Deepest musician I know younger than me.Maybe I sound Old,..I'm 39.Whats with Jazz and age anyway?

I saw a picture of the Jazz Museum up in Harlem once.Giant displays,.DUKE,..SWING,BEBOP,.

and then off in the corner,..a little booth looked like a Lemonade stand,..

FREE JAZZ 1960-1970 it said,..(ouch),.

Well,.the people that crashed NYC in the 70's,..a bunch have survived and play every day

People like me were Born under a Bad Time,..TV was there as an option to actual CULTURE.
Some of us have battled through the Haze in pursuit of Life and Music..It's vital that we keep doing what we do and being who we are,.by any means..

So we ARE here,..and the Music Lives,.as everyone before the 70's that's still round still plays,.the cats from the 70's still play,.and even those us that came after,.and after,.and beyond.People will be playing Jazz and free Jazz in 2075,.3050,.5525,.and beyond,.you Dig? I got the official word from SUN RA,.who is still playing,.now on SATURN..We are talking about a person who's astrology chart has more Capricorn then anyone has ever seen in one chart.Capricorns ruler? SATURN.

There's a documentary where Sun RA walks into a community center in Philly in the 70's,in full space gear,...and the kids ask,.."Who are you?"

Sun Ra told them,.."I'm you,..you just dont know it yet"..

the Music ALWAYS finds a way..

Peace.

Matt

**please check the upcoming winter issue of Signal to Noise magazine,..where my real-life story of meeting Dizzy is told in a cartoon!,..