John!...

I saw Papa Jo Jones at Sandy's just outside of Boston in 1973... I was 18 and in my first year at the Berklee College of Music at the time. Boston was HAPPENIN' back in those days! What an absolute MECCA for catching great players/music! Anyway!...

Papa Jo had a "trick" for playing brushes that I had never seen before in my life. I watched with amazement as he got back behind the drums after their break and "prepared" his snare drum for the opening tune of the next set. I asked him after that set.. ( Sandy's was so intimate... all the players were right there and easily approachable ) .. WHAT he had done. When he told me, well... I remember saying to myself, really? Wow. By the way... what a humble and extremely affable man Papa Jo Jones was. Took the time, and with pleasure, to chat with me. GREAT memories. Oh, I almost forgot... what was the "trick" ? SALT!!!! He sprinkled salt on the snare head prior to playing that particular tune. He had a calf head on his snare drum, and said the salt gave the brushes a little more "scrape" and eased up on the "drag" of the calf! Too cool! He was 62 at the time. What a complete and total gentleman... and FABULOUS player!

Tommyp

Thank you again, John! What a wonderful musician this gentleman was! You're right. He seemed to enjoy every beat of every bar. Isn't that what really counts? On the Basie clip, his accents were remarkable and his technique etherial. His hands flew like agile bids simply having fun in the sky! On the "Rare Scene" video, Mr. Jones' snare work was synchronized magic! I'll enjoy watching these clips many times over. Tommy! You actually talked to the man! Amazing! I am in awe.

Thanks for sharing, John. I'm very appreciative.

Brian

Wow! I was aware he's one of the legends...heard his playing on my dad's records. To see that magic in action, unbelievable! Thanks for sharing!

larry

Great work John! And great memeories Tommy! I loved Sandy's, great atmosphere. I saw Buddy there a few times speaking of great drummers.

And to John's point about who was "your influnece(s)", Buddy had HUGE reverence to Papa Joe as well as Chick Webb and Sid Catlett and of course Gene.

I think one of the most unobserved drummers is someone like Sid Catlett, what a great easy style he had with his hands, they just seem to flow across the set .

An thanks again John for the Ed Thygpen thread, I forgot what a great talent he was.

And in our area of Boston, we had one of the great teaching minds and an amazing player in Alan Dawson.

Alan was such a gentleman and an amazing player and educator.

My friend was truly a lucky guy to have Alan as his teacher for a number of years.

I would definitely urge our members who may not be familiar with Alan's work to check it out. He did some great recordings with Dave Brubeck in the early 70's after Joe Morello had left.

The sad thing about players like Big Sid and Chick Webb there's not a lot of video of them out there.

Thanks again for the thread John.

BGT

Thanks Purdie, Read a comment previously re: PJo's influence on Bonham especially with playing with the hands.

Saw it in the video. Even the triplets: tom, tom, kick.

Influential, Fluid, Fun, Creative.

He had what I strive for. The technique to immediately play what you hear in your head effortlessly=CHOPS

Good stuff.

Scott Atkinson

Jo Jones is MR. PERCUSSIONIST. So joyful.

My personal favourite is this classic piece by of Benny Goodman and Gene Krupa. I think it was really this clip that got me into jazz. I just love the pure joy that shines from Gene. He taught me how to enjoy playing and how to bash wildly. No wonder he was Keith Moon's favourite drummer.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mJ4dpNal_k[/ame]

Tommy - Thanks for sharing that story! I had heard about the salt/sand trick before but not from Papa Jo. Those old-timers really knew their trade. Journeymen musicians in every sense of the term.

As a very young man, it was my habit to hop a bus downtown on any given Saturday and go window-wishing at all the music stores on 48th Street in Manhattan, followed by a stop at the Metropole Cafe' on 48th & Broadway to see/hear whoever was playing that week-end. The Metropole served booze, so kids weren't allowed in. But in order to draw customers from the street, the front doors were always wide open and even standing on the street, you were never more than 35-40 feet away from the band. We were kids so we used to worm our way to the front of the crowd on the street and the adults would never think to stop us.

I got to see/hear everybody! Gene, Buddy, Papa Jo, Max Roach, Tony Williams, Elvin Jones, on and on. This one week-end, Papa Jo was up there wailing away looking like he was having a ball. Seeing Papa Jo play, for me, was what it must be like when a guitar player sees Jimi Hendrix play for the first time. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. He made it look so easy, so much fun to play. I walked away high, buzzing from the energy I got just from seeing and hearing him. The guy was gifted, creative and just magnetic as a drummer. If I ever wanted to be anybody other than myself as a musician, I would want to be Papa Jo.

Great contributions guys. I'm working on getting some nice Joe Morello vids ready for you. Morello was another -HUGE- influence on me as a young drummer. I also want to turn you guys on to my personal ('grandfather' music mentor, I'll explain later,) Bobby Columby.

Look for the Morello stuff later... Tommy, thanks again... great stuff!

John

John...our tastes in drummers pretty much parallel.Papa Jo was just way ahead of his time,and you can see his influence in Joe Morellos playing.Back in the early 90's I had the honor of meeting Joe,and actually taking a couple of lessons from him.He was actually teaching on Staten Island in a drum shop called Percussion Paradise,with Jim Chapin.The man was a true gentleman,a great teacher,and a man who truly loved what he did,and loved to play.

I understand your love for Bobby Columbys playing,I'm a big fan too.I saw B S+T at Carnege Hall in the 70's and they,and Bobby ,just smoked.Bobby said in an interview that he was influenced by Papa Jo,and Philly Jo Jones.

Thanks for posting this John.

Steve B

John, amazing you had the chance to see all those greats~! I look forward to your Bobby Columby story. He and Danny Seraphine are 2 of my favorites.