Kurt McGettrick - Bari Sax Monster - R.I.P.

Unsung & a master of originality ; he took the bari to another level

Maybe some you might of heard him in Zappas last bands. Maybe?

In the rock sax world Kurt is NEVER documented as he should be. In 70's he wrote and played on Phoebe Snows 3ed record. The string writing was as good as it got- and it wasn't full of dumb cliche' stuff either. Likewise the wildman bari sax solo stuff he did w/ Graham Parker.

I thank Mr Marsh and a few of my L.A buds for dubs thru the years on Kurt.
Albert Wing 'bout the time I was doing NAAM shows w/Guardala etc and playing stuff w/ Brecker at the NAAM shows...I hooked up with Wing and he was kind enough to give me rare Zappa stuff- some of which Kurt was on.

I called Ray Pizzi today, because he was another who spoke of Kurt highly. They used to do lots in various settings. Ray had no idea he passed and broke into tears when I told him the sad news.There so far as he knew wasn't anything in LA TIMES about Kurt or Pizzi woulda saw it. SAD
Ray used to have Easter egg hunts for the kids & Kurt would bring his family over and they'd hang. as we spoke Ray told me of a _CURRENT_big band he's writing an ENTIRE book for....and had features for Kurt already written!!
THAT'S HOW GREAT KURT WAS!!!!!! A musicians musician.Pizzi would of had some stuff for to hit- oh yea.

He was one of the bari sax players who knew- how lame parts were in big bands and the lack of real solo stuff. So he hung in stuff like Ladds bands as Marsh described. BUT- his vehicle was ZAPPA. I saw a dub a friend in Jersey had ( a bassist ) and he said- " You must know this guy on bari Tim- he's a freak...playing the Zappa stuff and going for no mercy " ....right he was. It was Kurt. No mercy- and no cliches either.

In 1970- I heard him in the basement at Berklee. This was before stuff like the FRINGE or anything...and this Bari roars outta small ensemble room. I'll
never forget it. Ever!! For a second I thought it mighta been someone outside the school- but I looked in and there was Kurt. I saw him around and he was a few years older than me. Later that session- he played soprano-so I had to ask him cuz he was getting that Surman sound on soprano, but more of a American- ized bluesish thing. But even more...kinda Mariano but not.
So I find out he had a Berg rubber soprano mouthpiece and the first LAWTON
bari sax mouthpiece I ever saw. ( Even before Big George and Frank Foster hit w/Elvin and had Lawtons ) BUT- originality was in his concept. Iasked Mariano about him- and Mariano just point blank said " Kurt is a M.F.'er "

How does a guy like this just pass thru the cracks?
It's one of the dark parts of the BIZ of music I dispise. Obiviously folks heard him, but he should of recorded HIS STUFF as Kurt. I dunno......

All I know is this guy was original- and he was REAL.
I'm glad I had the pleasure of knowing the guys music. After hearing him on bari in 1970...I knew there were other places to take the horn in the music.

Shame.....another voice lost. A real great one too.

McGettrick was one of, if not the most innovative, musically advanced bari players ever. Sad news.

If a guy like this woulda played with Elvin or Miles?? WOAH-

I found a cassette of a radio show Kim Richmond had, that he was kind enough to give me a decade ago. On Kurt!! Kurt was big on HARRY CARNEY and knew PEPPER ADAMS well in the 73' point as he lived in NYC for a bit before going to LA.I think Kurt must of turned Pepper on to Lawton now I think about it. Had to! Kurt never played like Pepper; but he had some cool storys on the Kim show about him.

Lots of roots but also he stood for something as a bari player...when he played he created not replicated.After all- jazz is suposed to be a creative art form!

I note how he's never ever mentioned...in rock stuff via sax. After all ZAPPA was rock so was GRAHAM PARKER. Especially cuz he was such a savage player in those idioms.

On the Kim Richmond tape ( a radio interview ) Kurt played TANGERINE and played the most _cliche free_solo I ever heard on a bari. He played tenor too and so much else.....flutes low clarinets. Ya can hear those on most of the Zappa things.

Tim, could you write down the names of some of the best Zappa stuff this guy played killer bari on?

I love a good loud monster bari player.

more on McGettrick

McGettrick never changed away from the Lawton mouthpieces on Bari. Perhaps a lesson to those who change mouthpieces every season…. I don't know the opening, but he used Plasticover reeds.

On tenor he played an open metal Berg with Plasticover. Kurt's tenor was LOUD!!!! He pumped the same amount of air into a tenor that he used on his Bass Sax! I often heard Kurt's tenor warmup routine at the Steve Spiegl big band. He first notes were Triple Fortisimmo and then he went on from there!

Yeah, Kurt would have been great in Elvin's band! Can you imagine what they could have done? Too bad that combination never happened...

But as aggressive and loud as Kurt could be, he was also capable of playing very sensitive things. We used to play some ballad type tunes together that featured Kurt on standard Bass Clarinet. I've never heard prettier bass clarinet playing. If I was playing tenor on the song, I'd have to play super soft, so as not to overwhelm the nice sounds he was making on bass clarinet. We usually got a nice blend between the bass clar. and tenor. Kurt had a great high range on the Bass Clarinet.

Then there was Kurt's old LeBlanc metal ContraBass Clarinet of the "Hairpin" wraparound design. I believe it was the Bb key Contra. Kurt was awesome on this instrument. And when that axe didn't go low enough wasn't low enough for him, to get an extra hlaf step of low range, Kurt would sometimes insert a cardboard tube from the inside of a roll of paper towels into the bell, and sure enough, he'd get that additional half step into the depths. Check out Kurt's outstanding ContraBass solo on the song "Gator" from Andre Caporaso's "Avenue 5" CD. It would have been great if Braxton and McGettrick had ever dueled on ContraBass Clarinets. Brax would have had to work hard to keep up with 'ol K

Zappa's "Make A Jazz Noise Here" CD from the 1988 tour features Kurt on a tremendous Bari solo. The track is "King Kong".

On You-Tube there are some videos of Zappa's '88 band with the horns. A favorite moment on that tour was when the horn section played Jimmy Page's guitar solo on "Stairway to Heaven."

McGettrick can also be heard playing tenor on several CDs by the Steve Spiegl Big Band. "Enigma" features Kurt alongside the great Pete Christlieb.
Several Zappa alumni (including the Fowler Brothers and Albert Wing) formed a band called "Banned (or Band) From Utopia". Kurt can be heard on that band's recordings.

One thing is for sure, we will miss this man's unique instrumental voices in the years to come. I consider myself very lucky to have been able to spend many hours playing alongside Kurt in some creative situations. Bruce Fowler has some tapes we made a few years ago with the L.A. version of Billy Mintz's "Two Bass Band". Kurt was a member of the group. Hopefully the CDs will come out some day soon.

A lot of the top studio musicians here look down there noses at someone like McGettrick. They just didn't know what to make of him. Like he was from another planet. Maybe he was!

Steve

McGettrick on You-Tube

this YouTube video where Kurt McGettrick is seen playing contrabass clarinet parts with the Zappa alumni ensemble, "Band From Utopia". Also seen and heard on trombone is Bruce Fowler, one of the baddest bone players around.

more Zappa horn video

Clip of the Zappa horns playing a whacked out Ravel's "Bolero":


Kurt McGettrick: Bari Sax and Piccolo
Albert Wing: Tenor
Paul Carmen: Alto
Bruce Fowler: Trombone and Paso Doble Dancer
Walt Fowler: Trumpet

Kurt gets a nice piccolo sound and intonation for a guy who had two bars to switch from Bari to Pic. (!!!) Big bari sound near the end of the piece ...

Steve- Kurt rose above the LA thing as soom as he joined ZAPPA!!!

That was the highest level music- and that was what Kurt was about.
He wasn't out to play RHYTM or ii-v for life and he knew it.He made a statement- BOLD AND PERSONAL...that will stand the test of time way more than someone retro'ing a style. THIS GUY WAS....AN ARTIST.

I dig those clips man. Thanks.

I first met Kurt back in DC when we both lived there. He's about 5 years older than me, He was from Rockville MD. and I from Kensington, so I think I was about 18 or 19. I totally idolized Kurt at the time. He was a schooled player who studied at Berklee and I was mainly an R&B student who love to play and also sing. We all talked about moving to either NY or Cali, and I moved out in '73. I think Kurt moved out just a few years later. We didn't work together alot. I actually saw Kurt more in social settings with get togethers of the DC guys Dave Smith, drummer percussionist, Steve Larrance, drummer, myself, and Kurt. We used to talk about fishing and how much we missed those blue crabs! One time he did a horn arrangement for a reggae version of the Beatles "Love Me Do" for a CD put out by Dave Smith. Another time I was asked by a promoter to play in a jazz festival near where I live north of LA, and the guy asked me if I knew anyone who specialized on bari Sax to play at the festival(guess who I thought of). And oh yes another time I called him to play bari in a ten piece horn section for the Temptations. He of course did a fantastic job at whatever he played, even though he didn't like to play "commercial" gigs. He was a true original, and his playing was probably misunderstood by most of the people that heard him. But you couldn't deny the virtuosity.

He had the dryest, most cynical sense of humor you could imagine! Some of his substitute terms for things are just legendary. But he was ultimately one of the nicest guys you could ever know. Those that knew him well will miss him greatly.

Cynical

You are right on about Kurt's dry and cynical sense of humor. He would have been the Prince of Darkness if the things he said weren't so damn funny!

Thanks so much to Steve and Tim for sharing your experiences playing along side Kurt for all those years. He really deserves more recognition for his contributions to low reed playing and to music in general, but you two have really given us all some wonderful perspective on Kurt and his music that could only have come from people who worked closely with him. My hats off to you gentlemen.

saxmanager said:

Thanks so much to Steve and Tim for sharing your experiences playing along side Kurt for all those years. He really deserves more recognition for his contributions to low reed playing and to music in general, but you two have really given us all some wonderful perspective on Kurt and his music that could only have come from people who worked closely with him. My hats off to you gentlemen.

Click to expand...

saxmanager- Thank you- but I never worked WITH Kurt- but he was a very great inspirational guide...as many were in my Berklee years ( eg- Rick Wald, Victor Brazil, Mike Mandel, Alan Broadbent etc ) Kurt helped me _REALIZE_the more modern stuff I was learing from Mariano or hearing from guys I was enjoying LIVE like John McLaughlin , Joe Farrell and of couse early Chick Corea!! )
Kurt played amazing and modern soprano, I never heard ( then) a guy play soprano with a rubber Berg, and he lit the horn up. ( years later Farrell hipped me to using a stock selmer " G" which I bought in Mannys with Farrell from sax legend Pervis Henson. ) In any case- the guy was something else.

May we all strive to be as ORIGNAL as he was.

"king Kong"

I found the Zappa cut that I was thinking of...

All of you - need to hear Kurt McGettrick's crazy solo on the song "King Kong" from Frank Zappa's 1988, "Make A Jazz Noise Here".
Kurt's extended solo on "King Kong" displays many of his stylistic traits. Melodic and thematic development, upward leaps of several octaves, very fast doubling tonguing, huge reverberating multiphonics. insanely high altissimo, real fast runs that are precisely articulated. And always swinging.

Kurt also gets a short taste on "Stevie's Spanking".
And his Bari and other horns are heard throughout. Dig how tight this band was on these very difficult arrangements! Great soloing from Bruce and Walt Fowler. Albert Wing solos energetically in several spots. Very Brecker-ish. Check Kurt's horn chart on "Strickly Genteel". Very tricky stuff! Kurt told me that Zappa rehearsed them 5 nights a week for a period of almost 6 months before going out on the tour.

- S. Marsh

Back somewhere around 1992, I saw Kurt playing in some hole-in-the-wall in Hollywood with Michael Stephans on drums (who now plays with Dave Liebman) and Tim Taylor on tenor (my teacher at the time - a monster in his own right!). Yes - two saxes and drums. Kurt played a lot of EWI bass lines, as well as several Shakuhachi flutes. But, the most memorable tune was him playing bari on "Tangerine." KILLIN'!!!! I recorded this gig on a little hand-held tape recorder. I've got the tape somewhere - I'll find it and digitize it... R.I.P. Kurt...

Pnutbutta
www.mingofishtrap.com

I saw the last Zappa tour in Boston, before they went to Europe and the band disintegrated. I can't say that I particularly noticed the bari player, but I can tell you that the horn section (and the band for that matter) just kicked ***....

bigtiny

I was also going to suggest the King Kong solo... Kurt McGettrick had the guts of Motorhead Sherwood whilst having mastered technique as well...

Wow. People like Kenny G who just do what they do for the money, and are known of by everyone, but a man as dedicated as this just sits in his grave unheard of. I see something very wrong wrong with this. Why don't we hear more about people like this. When I was begining to play saxophone, really the only sax players I knew about were Kenny G. and 'Trane, then I heard Brecker, and other people, and I was introduced into new world of unbelieveable music. Rest in peace Mr. McGettrick. God Bless.

Kurt McGettrick R.I.P.

I knew and worked with Kurt, in particular, on Phoebe Snow's album and other dates we did together in the Bay Area. I agree that he was quite unique in his extreme abilities. I have a tape (somewhere - don't ask) of he and I with Mark Levine and Danny Spencer at my house. Does anyone know how old he was when he passed?

Mel Martin

age

Mel,

I don't know for sure. But Tim Price and I compared notes, and we figure Kurt must have been about age 60 - 62, or so. Too young for sure.

Steve Marsh

I was talking on the phone yesterday with my good friend back in Maryland, Dave Smith, and we figured that Kurt was about 60 or 61.

Craig Thomas

The One and Only

I know it has been a while since Kurt's passing, but I thought perhaps many of you would enjoy some of my memories of Kurt.

I would have to go back to around 1970 when I attended a concert at Catholic University in Washington D.C. It was the Hank Levy band. In those days their claim to fame was that they didn't play anything in four. The band was tremendous. In the middle of one of their tunes the baritone sax player and the tenor sax player got into a battle of the saxes. Both trying to out blow the other. At the end of it both shook hands as if to say it was a draw. This was still in the middle of the tune.

So this was the legendary sax master of the greater Washington DC area. Kurt was very much in demand in those days, whether in a club band or doing a show he was one of the names that always came up in conversation when talking about the music scene in D.C. One story that I remember quite well was when Kurt was playing Peggy Lee's show. He got up and took a solo and she loved it so much she gave him another chorus and at the end of the tune she asked him his name. She said D.C. was really lucky to have such a great horn player.

Kurt played in many bands in the D.C. area. One of the most popular was a band that had a steady jazz gig. It was a trio that consisted of bass and drums and Kurt playing primarily Baritone Sax. A lot of us would go down to the Tenely Circle Henry's to hear the "Inscrotable Woo Brothers "perform. Bass, drums and baritone sax. Many of the local musicians would go down and sit in with the band. Years later when talking to Kurt about that gig, he remembered one thing that would happen with people that would sit in. The bassists Richard, whose last name escapes me, would from time to time stop playing. Now when you consider the instrumentation, that would leave drums and saxophone to continue to follow the structure of any given tune. Kurt said it kind of freaked him out the first time it happened. When he asked Richard about it, Richard said "Hey man, you know the tune, play it.!" Kurt said it really became interesting when Richard would suddenly do this when other people would sit in and the solo instrument would have drum accompaniment only.

Kurt and I became friends as we would meet from time to time on gigs in the D.C. area. In 1973 a few of us in the D.C. music community decided to leave the area and go to L.A. I had been in Los Angeles for a year or so when I got a call from Kurt one day. He was in the San Francisco area and was asking me about the music scene. Eventually he moved to L.A. We kept in pretty close contact for many years in L.A. We would gig from time to time together.

On one occasion a horn band I was playing in was losing its' tenor saxophonist. I asked Kurt if he would like to come out and play as the band was about to go to Japan. Kurt showed up at the rehearsal and brought only his baritone sax. At the end of the rehearsal the band leader (a trombonist) and Kurt were in what I would characterize as a pretty intense discussion. Kurt had played well and everyone was real impressed with him. There was one point that the band leader and Kurt continued to argue. As I was loading my drums into the car I could sort of eavesdrop on the conversation. Without being too obvious what I gathered from the dialogue was the band leader's desire to have Kurt play tenor and not just baritone. Kurt was saying that for him to play tenor the money would have to be considerably better. The intensity picked up a bit when the leader told Kurt that he couldn't believe that Kurt really thought that he could make a living playing the baritone sax exclusively. To that Kurt responded "Well man you're a trombone player, you play the trombone exclusively and your trying to make a living." I could barely hold my laughter in as I finished loading my car.

Kurt and I would always talk about the gigging situation in L.A. Kurt had done a lot of work in San Francisco. He was writing, and arranging for many record albums that were produced by David Rubinson. Kurt would always have funny stories about many of his gigs that on the surface could be thought of as negative. But if you'd read between the lines there were always positive things that were lying beneath the surface of the discussion. His wit was very, very dry.

He did a record with the group called the "Meters" And on some of the tracks the "Tower of Power "horns performed. He would invite me over for dinner from time to time after these sessions and I would get the real scoop about what happened on the date. He told me that he had written a chart that the Tower horns would be recording. While they were in the studio apparently the Tower horns would raise their hands if they had made a mistake while recording the track. The first few times I guess Kurt was uncertain why they were raising their hands. Finally it seemed like invariably someone would raise their hand after each take. Finally they decided to go back in and repair the part of the track where the mistake occurred. They just could never get through a take without someone raising their hands. But no one ever said they made a mistake.

We use to talk about how the phone would ring off the hook for gigs when we would decide to take a vacation, especially one that would take us back east. And of course he got the call for the Zappa audition while he was on vacation or ready to go on vacation. This would be the gig that many of us had hoped Kurt would eventually get. What a great match, Kurt playing the music of Frank Zappa. So after he got the gig and started rehearsals the stories started to roll in. I was working a gig at the time at a place that was called the "Two Dollar Bills." I am not sure if at the time it was still called that, but that's where my gig was. I invited Kurt to come by after his Zappa rehearsals. He came in one night after the Zappa Band had what Kurt referred to as "beaming parties". Apparently the synclavier would print stuff out with either no beams or wrong beams. When I saw the charts I immediately could see why there was a problem. The complexity of Zappa's music made for tedious rehearsals. Even the beaming parties could be very tiresome. He came by my gig which was just a little gig where we would play original tunes with some really fine players. He came in and asked if he could sit in. I said sure and he came up on stage for the last set. We had a few drinks before we went on and we got about half way through the set when we decided to do a slow blues in twelve eight. You know the old school blues very laid back. Kurt always soloed as if it would be the last time he would every play. He had taken his first chorus and was working the second chorus building a little each time. Finally when we got to the last chorus Kurt ventured out into the audience, playing and interacting with them when suddenly he jumped up on to the bar which was a considerable distance from the bandstand. While standing on the bar Kurt proceeded to take four more choruses each one building into a wild frenzy with the audience going berzerk. People yelling, screaming, stripping, yes taking off clothes. We went into stop time. Kurt played like he was talking to the audience through his horn. People were going nuts. We played the tune out and got to the ending, going crazy, wild drum, guitar and yes baritone sax fills until Kurt cut us off by jumping off the stage into the audience. Doing that with a baritone sax hooked around your neck was at the very least……………………risky. But the people caught him as he jumped and he landed without incident. I asked him later what got into him that night and Kurt told me that he needed to play a simple blues to get an ear and brain douche.

I have so many stories like this about Kurt. I left L.A. to go back to Maryland in 1988. Kurt and I stayed in touch. Many of you probably know about Kurt's affinity for Maryland blue crab. Now if you are from Maryland you know of this body of water called the Chesapeake Bay. The bay throughout the years has had its' ups and downs with regards to pollution as it relates directly to producing blue crabs, and striped bass. Since returning to Maryland I have become a real fishing and crabbing enthusiast. So our conversations would generally center around the condition of the bay, crabs, size and amounts of crabs I would catch and striped bass. He visited Maryland last year and I didn't get to see him because my 92 year old dad was having surgery and Kurt was going to spend quite a bit of time with his mom. Our schedules just weren't going to allow us to hang out. I had just bought a boat and he told me he really wanted to go out fishing and/or crabbing with me and we would do it next time he was in town. I didn't know of his death until about a week after he passed. I didn't even know he was sick. But that was Kurt, never ever letting on that he was in pain.

On a personal note, probably one of the greatest musical moments in my life was when Kurt asked me to play on his demo. We did it at Devonshire studios in the mid seventies. When I got the charts I couldn't believe how much the drum parts were completely written out. He knew precisely what he wanted to hear from the drummer. But I was always a pretty good reader. I had one run through with Kurt before the session. It was one of those deals where there wasn't a lot of time to do takes over and over, so everyone had to be at their very best. Every tune was either first or second take. As with so many situations like that you never really know if you played well or not. You kind of just play and do the best you can and let others judge you. Kurt wasn't the kind of person to hand out compliments easily, and never about himself or his tunes. His original music was like him, one of a kind. I can't even begin to describe it. The experience was challenging but I really enjoyed the music. I still have the tape somewhere. Years later while talking to him on the phone he told me he was using some of those tunes on gigs he was playing with his own group. I asked him how the tunes were sounding and he said "Hey man you know who still to this day played those tunes better than anyone else every has?" "No who" I responded. Kurt replied "You man." Talk about knocking me over with a feather. Through a mutual friend it got back to me that Kurt had a nickname for me. He called me "Instant groove, just add water."

I really appreciate the things that are being said and done to keep Kurt's legacy alive.I hope we will continue to remember him through the music and the memories he left us. He was truly an original. Perhaps not a household name but there will never be another Kurt McGettrick. You know a few years ago Kurt was asked to come back to his Alma Mater, Shenandoah Conservatory. He was going to be their featured speaker. He would be entering their hall of fame. One of their own had made it big. Kurt addressed the eager young musicians by telling all of them that they really needed to look into some other line of work because the music industry was not a good place to be. Who else do you know would have the balls to say that?..................................Only Kurt!

Rest in peace my friend. See you on the other side. We have a date to do some crabbing.

David Smith
Eldersburg MD
Aug.5,2007

I had the opportunity to meet and hear Kurt play in around 1982 or 1983. He was with on tour with Graham Parker and I was out with a Rolling Stones clone band called DFX2 out of san diego (two hit wonders on MCA records). I had told a friend, Sam Riney, that I was going to be running into Kurt and he hipped me to him. DFX2 opened for Graham Parker on about 6 dates, Chicago, Rochester, etc. He began the gig on tenor because that was the call, but Kurt brought his baritone with him. Kurt played the tenor and bari on about 2 dates and then showed up only with his bari. I asked what happened to his tenor and he said he got the okay from Graham to ship home. That is an example of how extensive and facile a range he had on Bari. His Bari solos soared into the altissimo with a fluidity I have never heard from anyone else. His intonation and time impeccable. Kurt was hugely impressive. He literally could pin your ears against your head with his technique and his creativity was massive, deep, beautifully over the top. I can only confirm what others have said in this post about his beautifully honest approach to music. When I ran into Sam Riney again I mentioned Kurt and he said he was not just a great saxophonist but he was also had an incredibly fine flutist. When I run into a particularly fine Bari player I have often mentioned his name and most have no distinct knowledge of him. That is a shame and his passing is terribly sad to me. Thanks for the fine posts on this important musician.

Good Kurt stories, Dave and chedoggy. Great to read that stuff.

Kurt's experiences with Tower of Power caused him to never miss an opportunity to refer to them as the "Tower Of Jello". Ha Ha!

Kurt always had bad memories about Zappa's Synclavier and the non-human music and notation that spewed out of that machine.
Nice to read about Kurt's early days in D.C.

Kurt McGettrick Memorial Concert and Wake.

August 20th 7pm-10pm
Bands to perform:
Andre Caporaso Quintet
Ladd McIntosh Big Band
Steve Spiegl Big Band
perhaps others??
At:
Vitello's Restaurant
4349 Tujunga Ave (just south of Moorpark) in Studio City.
818 769-0905. For more info: www.vitellosrestaurant.com.