Too bad that it looks like he stopped after a couple of months.
Kelly, you are hilarious with your "how James Carter ruined my life" story! Love your website!!!!! And the licks site is cool, too. Love the Berg tune..........darylKelly Bucheger said:Came across a very hip site, bringing to mind the To Lick Or Not To Lick thread. It's a collection of jazz licks by the likes of Hank Mobley, Gene Ammons, James Carter, Gerry Mulligan, Cannonball, and on and on. The blogger, Big Buzzard, offers MP3s of the original lick by the original artist, along with a nice transcription of the lick that notes the time in the original recording where the lick takes place....
Very cool idea, and well done, and I wish I'd thought of it!
The site is here: http://jazzlicks.blogspot.com/
I love the tone of your post; it's very Human with a capital "H". What's cool to remember is that we're all in this thing together, to remember why we play music, (because we love it!!!), and all the things that connect us as musicians, instead of dwelling on the negative.........darylKelly Bucheger said:wersax and brutlix: glad you guys dug my tale of woe with James Carter!
My exposure to him worked as a sort of "vaccination" -- from that point on, I realized that "where I stood" as a player maybe wasn't where even some younger cats are, but, hey, once you've been humbled by the best, I mean, bring 'em on! In the years since, I've encountered plenty of younger players who've amazed and impressed me, but instead of them making me want to hang it up, I just want to practice more. I had my musical "mid-life crisis" at the age of 24, which has given me plenty of time to get over it!
There's a bit of a postscript to the story, since I ran into James in New York about a year and a half ago, at a Selmer event at Steinway Hall. I was directed to a roomful of Selmer saxes available to play test. Heading down the corridor I heard a WAILING bari and instantly said to myself: "James!"
Turned the corner, and there he was! Last time I'd seen him was about 20 years ago. Went up to him, he pondered me for a moment, said "Kelly!" and gave me a great big hug.
I pointed out that last time I saw him he was 16, and now he was all grown up and looking great; he said that I looked good too, but had way less hair (something that I'd already been aware of...).
Maturity has been good to James. He was a super nice and humble person, enthusiastic about music, a very friendly, warm guy. I was even more glad that I'd never smothered him in his sleep with a pillow.