Aubra Graves
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480 Posts
I was sad to hear of his passing, I've been enjoying his playing for quite some time, and will continue to do so - my condolences to his family and friends. Thank you for the heads up.
Joined
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Hello everyone - this is the text of Steve Graves's post about his late father Aubra.
Here is something for Dad's fans. I will try to impart what I can of stories I know well. With 95 years to cover, it has to be some highlights. If you are suspecting that the timing of his passing is obvious, you are correct to assume he was Covid positive. He had a long life and no regrets that I know of. He was not the same since losing my Mom three years ago. They were married for seventy years. Although it was not so obvious when she was alive, she was his inspiration. He did not play for his fans, me or my brother who recorded him. He played for her. I have a hard time watching the videos he dedicated to her. Although there's nothing wrong with them technically, I can see and hear half of his spirit gone. It's sad for me.
He was aware of his fans all over the world. He didn't know what website they inhabited, but he assumed they discovered him through his YouTube videos. The videos that he most enjoyed watching were those of the young high school aged students in Spain that play far beyond their years. They probably remind him of himself at that age. He was a prodigy that stood out as a major talent. He played in the high school and college bands at the same time as a junior. By the time he was 16 he was playing paying gigs. During the first semester of his senior year, he quit Hillsboro High and joined the Army Air Corps. It was 1942. He was eventually stationed in Lincoln NE and played in the base orchestra. It was there he bought his first Conn 10M, probably a 1940 model. He was the young star soloist in a band of old pros. They couldn't teach him much about soloing. He already had his own style that was more modern than they could play. He did probably learn about being a professional musician from them however. In the band was Porky Hankins. He had taken over Hal Kemp's band after his accident. He also had played some classical sax and gave Dad some triple-tongue exercises to widen his horizons. Porky wouldn't take a solo for anything! The band played nothing but popular jazz of the day for all different types of concerts and Dad was featured often. Eventually, Dad shipped with the 315 Bomb wing to the base on Guam and continued to play in the orchestra there. There were still a lot of Japanese up in the hills, but the Marines had taken all the fight out of them. They were just trying to survive and not starve to death.
After the war it took him almost a year to get home. During that time he had several offers to join the travelling big bands of the day. He had no desire to travel. He married my Mom in 1947 and they settled in Waco. He attended a trade school to learn bookkeeping and was subsequently hired by a music store in town to do that and sales. His band would also play the two jazz clubs in Waco, the Scenic Wonderland and the Casa Blanca, on a regular basis. In those days there were a lot more good young players to play with. He soon changed music stores and learned band instrument repair as well. Sometimes he would be in the warm up band when the touring big bands would come through to play the Scenic Wonderland. Again, he would turn down offers to join. Although the venues would change, he would get these kind offers for years to come. You didn't have to listen to him very long to know you wanted him in your band. The jazz scene died out in Waco as it did in much of Texas. The music stores did not pay well for a family man. He finished his career working for the federal government and played jobs less frequently with three kids to raise.
Dad continued to repair instruments and in the summer he would visit all the area school band directors, many who he had played with, and gather up horns to repair for the new school year. In 1984 he retired and made plans to start playing more. He would get hired to play clarinet in Dixieland bands and even polka bands would hire him. He hijacked one of them and turned it into jazz band for dance clubs that would rent venues in the area. He arranged and wrote all the charts for the horns by hand. He sat at the kitchen table with a little Casio keyboard and worked everything out. He told me after he left the band that they still play his "book". As his generation retired, dance clubs formed and the members wanted to dance to the big band music of their youth. He played regularly with the best big band in the area and also led a smaller combo at another regular venue. He played in the large city jazz band that put on outdoor concerts once or twice a year. Once a year there would also be an invitation only reunion concert of the band he led in 1947. In general, he played locally (within 100 miles) and he played as much as he wanted to. He was always union.
So in 2006 I had the idea of filming Dad and put him on a YouTube channel. All I had was a video camera and I just mounted it in the room as he played to a pre-recorded track. It looks and sounds pretty primitive today. His talent shines through but I guess I’m just an idea man. Leave it to my brother to take it and run with it. He is the reason and the means by which the world discovered and still enjoys Dad’s talent. He has an ear to know how to record, mix, and subtly enhance the auditory experience to make you believe that you are in the room where it is happening. Dad approached recording by just listening to how Aebersold is presenting the song. Dad knew ALL the “standards’ going back to the 30’s, but the pre-recorded track is always arranged a certain way. He would play along quietly as he listened, but after a couple of times though, he was ready to record. There was no real rehearsal except for a sound check. There were no preconceived ideas or parts written out. As I have said before, all of his recordings are first takes. Dad was constrained by my brother’s schedule. He had to wait until he had a time and day to set up and record. Dad just played his horn, nothing more. Dad was amused by the fans who transcribed his solos. They were just off the top of his head at that moment. Tomorrow they would have been totally different. My brother did all the editing and posting. Dad never even heard it until it was posted on YouTube.
Many have asked about his method of improvisation. I will do my best to translate what he tried to tell me. I have studied improvisation in college (guitar). I understand the scales and modes, chord voicings, alternative chords, arpeggios, etc. These components are the basics of what I learned about improvisation. Dad knew all of this as well. He could hear a player use it in soloing. He used almost none of it, but he was technically brilliant enough to play any idea that came into his head. If you perceive his solos to be lyrical and melodic, then you are on the right track. He told me that his approach was always based on the melody. It’s just my impression that he was composing some complex counter melody or harmony off the top of his head. He had impeccable timing to merge it around twists and turns and bring it all back home to the melody just in time to venture out again. More importantly, he was able to express his musical soul to the listener in such a crafted and complex way while remaining relaxed. You might not know what was happening, but you didn’t want it to stop. When he took a solo, he would close his eyes and seem to drift off into his own world, like he was controlling the rest of the band or the recorded track to bend to his phrasing. I know that’s not possible, but listen to some of those tracks and see if you don’t agree. His tone was all his own, developed as a young man. It is what made him stand out from the beginning. I will tell you this also. He was put on this earth to play the sax. He was a once in a lifetime musician, totally natural. Everything about playing the sax and jazz came fast for him. He “got it” right away and was ready to advance past what anyone around him could teach him. That is why he developed his own style that you still hear today. I guess in high school he heard Bennie Goodman and Glenn Miller on the radio, probably a Dallas station. He never had many records. I can remember two from my childhood: Basie Plays Hefti and the South Pacific soundtrack. He also had a little book of Glenn Miller 45 sized records. He must have learned all the standards from playing the popular songs of the day live. For all of his attributes, he was not a teacher. He might give a young player a suggestion to make him sound better, but he was also thinking of how to make the entire band sound better. He couldn’t teach you what he did. It flowed out of him like he was just exhaling. He wasn’t always a ballad man. He could burn with the best with tremendous energy and power. He probably had the lung power of a forty year old in his 80’s. I believe aging made him a better more sensitive ballad player and to his fans, it became his signature. I’m glad he lived long enough to showcase his musical talent to the world. My daughter, who is an archivist, plans to archive his videos in a media form that might outlast all of us. The sound he created will continue to be heard.
Dad played his horn every day. It kept him facile. He played because he loved it, but also because it recharged him. If you’re a player, you can never sound like him, but you can take his ideas and make them your own. You can allow his influence to shape your playing and approach to a song. It has to be your own voice, but follow his lead. You can also just experience him as an artist communicating to you. What is he saying to you? What feelings are generated? Where does it take you in your mind? Isn’t this what music is really for? It’s a different level of communication that we are capable of. Again if you’re a player, keep playing. Commit to improving even in the smallest way, a little bit every day. Maybe only you can hear it. It still matters. It’s a step forward, and if my Dad is any example, it just might be a pathway to that elusive fountain of youth. I have tried to tell the story that many of you have asked for. I hope my narrative here will circulate to all those who have been curious. If I have come across as arrogant, I apologize. It was not my intention. I was just trying to succinctly relay the relevant highlights of the long musical journey of my Dad. Like all of us, he was uniquely complex and simple at the same time. He wasn’t great at everything, but mastering the art of jazz on the sax came easy and natural for him. He had no mythical secret to pass on to enlighten seekers. He was born with it. That’s the secret that I’ve exposed. Some people are just like that, so enjoy being part of it. An artist needs an audience to be appreciated and you have made his name known as much as I have. He made fans all over the world and got to sleep in his own bed at night. That mattered to him.
As a footnote I would mention that the family will be selling his horns, probably at an auction available to everyone if possible. These are not keepsakes. They are serious instruments that need to be played until they are beyond viability. I have always felt that way about any professional instrument and he did as well. They were created to make music and that’s what they should do. He has several Conn 10M horns from the late 30’s and early 40’s, a Selmer tenor and alto, a King Zephyr, and a Yanagisawa tenor. That’s a list I can recall but there may be more. I am not sure of when this will happen but we will try to give some advanced notice.
Here is something for Dad's fans. I will try to impart what I can of stories I know well. With 95 years to cover, it has to be some highlights. If you are suspecting that the timing of his passing is obvious, you are correct to assume he was Covid positive. He had a long life and no regrets that I know of. He was not the same since losing my Mom three years ago. They were married for seventy years. Although it was not so obvious when she was alive, she was his inspiration. He did not play for his fans, me or my brother who recorded him. He played for her. I have a hard time watching the videos he dedicated to her. Although there's nothing wrong with them technically, I can see and hear half of his spirit gone. It's sad for me.
He was aware of his fans all over the world. He didn't know what website they inhabited, but he assumed they discovered him through his YouTube videos. The videos that he most enjoyed watching were those of the young high school aged students in Spain that play far beyond their years. They probably remind him of himself at that age. He was a prodigy that stood out as a major talent. He played in the high school and college bands at the same time as a junior. By the time he was 16 he was playing paying gigs. During the first semester of his senior year, he quit Hillsboro High and joined the Army Air Corps. It was 1942. He was eventually stationed in Lincoln NE and played in the base orchestra. It was there he bought his first Conn 10M, probably a 1940 model. He was the young star soloist in a band of old pros. They couldn't teach him much about soloing. He already had his own style that was more modern than they could play. He did probably learn about being a professional musician from them however. In the band was Porky Hankins. He had taken over Hal Kemp's band after his accident. He also had played some classical sax and gave Dad some triple-tongue exercises to widen his horizons. Porky wouldn't take a solo for anything! The band played nothing but popular jazz of the day for all different types of concerts and Dad was featured often. Eventually, Dad shipped with the 315 Bomb wing to the base on Guam and continued to play in the orchestra there. There were still a lot of Japanese up in the hills, but the Marines had taken all the fight out of them. They were just trying to survive and not starve to death.
After the war it took him almost a year to get home. During that time he had several offers to join the travelling big bands of the day. He had no desire to travel. He married my Mom in 1947 and they settled in Waco. He attended a trade school to learn bookkeeping and was subsequently hired by a music store in town to do that and sales. His band would also play the two jazz clubs in Waco, the Scenic Wonderland and the Casa Blanca, on a regular basis. In those days there were a lot more good young players to play with. He soon changed music stores and learned band instrument repair as well. Sometimes he would be in the warm up band when the touring big bands would come through to play the Scenic Wonderland. Again, he would turn down offers to join. Although the venues would change, he would get these kind offers for years to come. You didn't have to listen to him very long to know you wanted him in your band. The jazz scene died out in Waco as it did in much of Texas. The music stores did not pay well for a family man. He finished his career working for the federal government and played jobs less frequently with three kids to raise.
Dad continued to repair instruments and in the summer he would visit all the area school band directors, many who he had played with, and gather up horns to repair for the new school year. In 1984 he retired and made plans to start playing more. He would get hired to play clarinet in Dixieland bands and even polka bands would hire him. He hijacked one of them and turned it into jazz band for dance clubs that would rent venues in the area. He arranged and wrote all the charts for the horns by hand. He sat at the kitchen table with a little Casio keyboard and worked everything out. He told me after he left the band that they still play his "book". As his generation retired, dance clubs formed and the members wanted to dance to the big band music of their youth. He played regularly with the best big band in the area and also led a smaller combo at another regular venue. He played in the large city jazz band that put on outdoor concerts once or twice a year. Once a year there would also be an invitation only reunion concert of the band he led in 1947. In general, he played locally (within 100 miles) and he played as much as he wanted to. He was always union.
So in 2006 I had the idea of filming Dad and put him on a YouTube channel. All I had was a video camera and I just mounted it in the room as he played to a pre-recorded track. It looks and sounds pretty primitive today. His talent shines through but I guess I’m just an idea man. Leave it to my brother to take it and run with it. He is the reason and the means by which the world discovered and still enjoys Dad’s talent. He has an ear to know how to record, mix, and subtly enhance the auditory experience to make you believe that you are in the room where it is happening. Dad approached recording by just listening to how Aebersold is presenting the song. Dad knew ALL the “standards’ going back to the 30’s, but the pre-recorded track is always arranged a certain way. He would play along quietly as he listened, but after a couple of times though, he was ready to record. There was no real rehearsal except for a sound check. There were no preconceived ideas or parts written out. As I have said before, all of his recordings are first takes. Dad was constrained by my brother’s schedule. He had to wait until he had a time and day to set up and record. Dad just played his horn, nothing more. Dad was amused by the fans who transcribed his solos. They were just off the top of his head at that moment. Tomorrow they would have been totally different. My brother did all the editing and posting. Dad never even heard it until it was posted on YouTube.
Many have asked about his method of improvisation. I will do my best to translate what he tried to tell me. I have studied improvisation in college (guitar). I understand the scales and modes, chord voicings, alternative chords, arpeggios, etc. These components are the basics of what I learned about improvisation. Dad knew all of this as well. He could hear a player use it in soloing. He used almost none of it, but he was technically brilliant enough to play any idea that came into his head. If you perceive his solos to be lyrical and melodic, then you are on the right track. He told me that his approach was always based on the melody. It’s just my impression that he was composing some complex counter melody or harmony off the top of his head. He had impeccable timing to merge it around twists and turns and bring it all back home to the melody just in time to venture out again. More importantly, he was able to express his musical soul to the listener in such a crafted and complex way while remaining relaxed. You might not know what was happening, but you didn’t want it to stop. When he took a solo, he would close his eyes and seem to drift off into his own world, like he was controlling the rest of the band or the recorded track to bend to his phrasing. I know that’s not possible, but listen to some of those tracks and see if you don’t agree. His tone was all his own, developed as a young man. It is what made him stand out from the beginning. I will tell you this also. He was put on this earth to play the sax. He was a once in a lifetime musician, totally natural. Everything about playing the sax and jazz came fast for him. He “got it” right away and was ready to advance past what anyone around him could teach him. That is why he developed his own style that you still hear today. I guess in high school he heard Bennie Goodman and Glenn Miller on the radio, probably a Dallas station. He never had many records. I can remember two from my childhood: Basie Plays Hefti and the South Pacific soundtrack. He also had a little book of Glenn Miller 45 sized records. He must have learned all the standards from playing the popular songs of the day live. For all of his attributes, he was not a teacher. He might give a young player a suggestion to make him sound better, but he was also thinking of how to make the entire band sound better. He couldn’t teach you what he did. It flowed out of him like he was just exhaling. He wasn’t always a ballad man. He could burn with the best with tremendous energy and power. He probably had the lung power of a forty year old in his 80’s. I believe aging made him a better more sensitive ballad player and to his fans, it became his signature. I’m glad he lived long enough to showcase his musical talent to the world. My daughter, who is an archivist, plans to archive his videos in a media form that might outlast all of us. The sound he created will continue to be heard.
Dad played his horn every day. It kept him facile. He played because he loved it, but also because it recharged him. If you’re a player, you can never sound like him, but you can take his ideas and make them your own. You can allow his influence to shape your playing and approach to a song. It has to be your own voice, but follow his lead. You can also just experience him as an artist communicating to you. What is he saying to you? What feelings are generated? Where does it take you in your mind? Isn’t this what music is really for? It’s a different level of communication that we are capable of. Again if you’re a player, keep playing. Commit to improving even in the smallest way, a little bit every day. Maybe only you can hear it. It still matters. It’s a step forward, and if my Dad is any example, it just might be a pathway to that elusive fountain of youth. I have tried to tell the story that many of you have asked for. I hope my narrative here will circulate to all those who have been curious. If I have come across as arrogant, I apologize. It was not my intention. I was just trying to succinctly relay the relevant highlights of the long musical journey of my Dad. Like all of us, he was uniquely complex and simple at the same time. He wasn’t great at everything, but mastering the art of jazz on the sax came easy and natural for him. He had no mythical secret to pass on to enlighten seekers. He was born with it. That’s the secret that I’ve exposed. Some people are just like that, so enjoy being part of it. An artist needs an audience to be appreciated and you have made his name known as much as I have. He made fans all over the world and got to sleep in his own bed at night. That mattered to him.
As a footnote I would mention that the family will be selling his horns, probably at an auction available to everyone if possible. These are not keepsakes. They are serious instruments that need to be played until they are beyond viability. I have always felt that way about any professional instrument and he did as well. They were created to make music and that’s what they should do. He has several Conn 10M horns from the late 30’s and early 40’s, a Selmer tenor and alto, a King Zephyr, and a Yanagisawa tenor. That’s a list I can recall but there may be more. I am not sure of when this will happen but we will try to give some advanced notice.
Joined
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480 Posts
Thank you Pat, much appreciated.
Joined
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480 Posts
Yes, thank you Guto. I'll check this out later for sure.
Joined
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9 Posts
We are selling Dad's alto used in all his alto videos.
Early Selmer USA model 162 alto sax Aubra Graves | eBay
Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Early Selmer USA model 162 alto sax Aubra Graves at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com
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