Mark Taylor’s Other Donations
Two Major Donations of Record Albums
When I started working on the museum in October of 2005, I only had a few records of my own to put in the museum. Soon, however, we acquired 3,400 records in two donations from two of my friends.
Leonard Belota donated his entire record collection of about 1,200 albums to us as soon as he found out what we had in mind. He had collected mostly small group albums during his life, and it is a marvelous collection. He had no kids to leave the albums to, plus he could always come see his collection anytime. Because I had been collecting mostly big band albums during my life, his donation was a perfect fit.
Mark Taylor’s dad had been a jazz DJ in Ohio for ten years before he died and after he died, Mark offered his dad’s 2,200 albums to us. Mark and I had been students together at North Texas years before, and had remained friends through the years. His gift was beyond belief to me. All of a sudden we had a serious record album museum with some fantastic albums for people to see and examine. I was starting to see that the museum was taking shape on it’s own, as I stood by and watched how the universe worked.
I started to set up the museum in sections based on what we had. I decided to select several of the most important trumpet players, and showcase their albums. Each section had room for a different number of records, so the positioning of the players was based primarily on how many records I had of each player. However, I wanted Al Hirt next to Wynton because Al gave Wynton his first trumpet. I also wanted to mix the races as much as possible so people wouldn’t see any bias from me in any way. To musicians it’s all about the music and how you play, and that’s the attitude I wanted the museum to promote. It is the music I am trying to expose people to and any other agenda would not be accepted. If someone walked in as a fan of Maynard Ferguson, I wanted them to walk out with an interest in someone else, such as Miles Davis or Chet Baker. I wanted to show how many great players and jazz styles the jazz world possessed, just in the area of trumpet. I also wanted to show how the players are all connected in an evolutionary process. In the more modern players, you can hear many of the players who came before them. The early players influenced everyone who came along later, and, as you see the players on the walls, you can see that connection.
My thinking is that someone can spend an hour at the museum looking and listening to the many jazz players on display, and in that short time link a sound with a face. If they like a certain sound they hadn’t heard before, it will open up a new world of listening for them. That’s my idea for the museum, and it’s jazz education in a fun, easy approach. Maybe my two music education degrees will be of more use than I originally thought. My playing experience and my college experience finally started to make sense to me. The years of playing was not a dead end and the college education was not a waste of time and money. Having said that, most of my time running the museum is spent in the business world. Working for my dad part time for 28 years helping to manage his properties and investments also made sense. It is how the museum can survive long term, I hope.
Cat Anderson
William Alonzo Anderson, known as Cat Anderson (September 12, 1916-April 29, 1981), had a birthday two days ago. Cat became famous in the Duke Ellington Orchestra and was probably the best high note trumpet player in history.
I’ll never forget hearing the Ellington band in Ft. Worth in 1971, probably near the end of Cat’s tenure with the band. He was amazing with the upper register, but what stayed with me just as much was that he slept on the band stand sitting in his chair when not playing. I had never seen anyone do that before, or since. I wondered how he knew when to wake up and play, and I also wondered how he didn’t get fired. I leaned later in life that Duke was willing to put up with just about anything from his musicians–he was very loyal.
I don’t really remember much else about the concert that day. Cat’s playing was so impressive that I still can see and hear him playing “Satin Doll”. It was so effortless for him to do what very few could even come close to doing. I did read later in life, also, that Cat practiced four hours a day, both on off days and on performance days. I also heard from friends that he was very secretive about what size mouthpiece he played. I was told he would always take his mouthpiece with him on breaks. He was only 64 when he died. Now that I am 64 I can say that he died very young!
Mel Torme & The Boss Brass
Mel Torme (September 13, 1925-June 5, 1999). Today would have been Mel Torme’s birthday. He is most famous for being a co-writer of “The Christmas Song”, which is my favorite Christmas song.
He recorded with the Boss Brass twice, and the example I posted shows how they took a tune the Boss Brass recorded in 1977 (the first tune- “Just Friends”) and how they basically recorded the same arrangement with Mel, with a few changes. Mel loved working with this band.
I never appreciated Mel enough until I was able to play his show in Dallas in 1979. I remember that it was in August, because it was the only time I ever played Christmas music in August during a show. He was an incredibly versitile performer. He was a song writer, singer, and a pretty good drummer, which he played during his show.
We used a big band in his show, including 4 trumpets. Don Jacoby had contracted the gig at the extinct Playboy Club with me on lead. At the rehearsal, I missed a note on one tune that had some strange lines. I learned that he had perfect pitch because he heard my wrong note (which I didn’t since I had never played the tune). Even the right note didn’t sound right to me, but anyway, he caught it and told me what note it was supposed to be, in my key. Not too many singers can do that in a rehearsal with a band. Usually it’s the conductor that did that, but I don’t remember him carrying a conductor. I just remember thinking he could have been a teacher if he had that desire.
“The Christmas Song” was written in 1946 and I read that it took him about 45 minutes to write the song. He told us in the show that he wrote the song in August in Palm Desert California, when it was over 100 degrees outside. That was a strange time to write Christmas music, but he made so much money on that one tune in royalties that he never needed to work again. Not bad when you are 21 years old!
Mel was also a good scat singer, which isn’t that easy to make sound right. It’s rare that a song writer can also sing, scat sing, and play instruments. Mel could do it all. I wish I had known more about him at the time I worked with him. Compared to most of today’s singers and song writers he stands out as one of the all time greats. His nickname is The Velvet Fog for his voice quality, but he jokingly referred to it as The Velvet Frog.
More Natalie Cole
The picture is not the album cover these two tunes are from–I seem to have lost the cover. The title of the cd is “Unforgettable” and was recorded in 1991. It is one of my favorite albums in my collection. The tunes are: “Thou Swell”, and “Almost Like Being In Love”.
I had the chance to work with Natalie in Dallas one night a few years after this cd came out, and we did these tunes, along with most of the other tunes on the cd. It was one of my favorite nights as a musician and I remember it very well.
Natalie brought her conductor, a lead trumpet player named Dave Trigg, and her rhythm section. They were all great to work with, which is how it should be. The better the musicians, the more they respect everyone else around them. It was all about playing great music that night.
Her rhythm section played together all the time, and it showed. It was one of the best I have ever played with and I just kept smiling at them all night. There is nothing better than a good bass player. He helps to set the pitch, since you always tune up from the bottom in any group, and he can do more to set the time than the drummer. He and I exchanged looks a few times that night, and he knew I loved what he was doing. I told him after the gig how great they sounded. He knew they were good, and he knew I knew something about music, too, to appreciate how well they played together. If their playing didn’t get you excited, you must be deaf. They appreciated coming into a town where the horn players could read music will and get it right the first time. We only had a short rehearsal that afternoon.
Listen to the rhythm section on the second tune. I’m pretty sure it’s the same rhythm section I worked with that night. The feel and sense of time from those guys is beautiful. That’s what you want from your rhythm section. That’s the heart beat of the band and if it’s not right, the horns won’t be right. It sounds like it locks into place when it is right. It comes from everyone listening to each other and playing a lot together. The rhythm section can’t be fighting each other over where the time is, they have to agree on where it is before you add anyone else.
Natalie Cole knows all of this, or she wouldn’t have the right musicians and writers working for her. It was a night I will never forget, and it was what I had worked for all my life. Those few nights when everything is right is what keeps you going and motivated. Listen to these two tunes—this is how it’s done.
Natalie Cole “Here’s That Rainy Day”
This is my favorite vocal arrangement ever. Nan Schwartz did the arrangement and won the Grammy in 2009 for best vocal arrangement. Natalie Cole did a great job, also, in singing this classic tune.
The great trumpet solo was by Warren Luening, who was a great studio trumpet player in L.A. who died in 2012 at the age of 71. The cd was released in 2008, and I have been in love with it ever since. Natalie is really a great singer, but more than that, she surrounds herself with the best musicians and writers. Most singers can’t sing both jazz and rock/pop styles, but Natalie can do both. She is now 65 years old.
I have played this tune over and over since 2008, marveling at the work by all. It’s even better if you listen to it late at night in the dark, on really good speakers. I think it was this tune that forced me to buy my first McIntosh preamp at the age of 62! It was worth it, although it was a used 1988 model. Ha ha One thing leads to another.