It’s beautiful outside and I have many things to do, but everything must wait. I feel compelled to write something after reading about Joe Andersen’s death in today’s Wisconsin State Journal. “Cadillac Joe,” as he liked to be called, was a well respected jazz and blues Hammond B3 organist for over 30 years in the Madison area. He played as a sideman for years until starting the Blind Wolf Blues Band, and later the Cadillac Joe Band, and the Joe Andersen Jazz Organ Group. Among other accomplishments his band originated the Monday night Hammond B3 Night that became a tradition at Cafe Montmartre, was the house band at Luther’s Blues during it’s heyday, played at Jazz at Five, and won the 2001 Isthmus Readers Poll as Madison’s best blues band.
Joe had been dealing with a rare cancer over the last 3 years, but it still comes as a shock. Last week a friend told me Joe had been admitted to the hospital with a bad infection, the result of a weakened immune system from all the cancer treatments. Now Joe’s gone.
I knew Joe through his brother Don, another sax player. Our sax quartet recorded a few times in his basement studio, and once played as a horn section behind The Blind Wolf Blues Band. I went to hear his bands play, and I ran into him occasionally around town.
The last time I saw him was a few years ago when the great jazz organist, Tony Monaco, played at Jazz At Five. Joe was very excited to hear Tony. He described frequent emails and conversations with Tony and referred to him as his mentor. At the time, Joe had just finished his first series of chemo treatments, but was focused on improving his playing and reforming a band. He needed a new guitar player since his son was now extremely busy with his own band, Aaron Williams and the Hoodoo.
I did not know Joe well but I know he was a dedicated musician, and a genuinely good guy. He will be missed by his family, friends, and the music community. You can read more about Joe at this site set up to promote a benefit for him last December, and in the excerpt below from the International Archives for the Jazz Organ site when he was chosen organist of the month.
According to the newspaper obituary, a memorial service will be held at 11 AM, Tuesday, August 4th at the Olson-Holzhuter-Cress Funeal Home in Deefield. The family will greet friends from 10 AM until the time of the service.
From the IAJO site:
Joe tells his story
how he came to the organ:
In the mid 60’s I bought a Farfisa organ and taught myself to play best I could by listening and playing along with records. I learned songs like 96 Tears, House of the Rising Sun and other “garage band tunes” of the day. I bought every record I could that had some organ on it. One of those records was a Spencer Davis Group album …
There was a tune called “Blues In F” on this album that totally knocked me out. In fact I can listen to that cut today and still be amazed by the incredible Hammond/Leslie sound on that cut. At the time I had no idea who the organist was or how he got that sound, but I literally wore out that track listening to it. It didn’t take long however to figure out that I couldn’t make my Farfisa sound like that. A trip to the local “hippie” music store revealed the truth to me. In a separate little room was what I thought was a church organ. Of course it was a B3. I was not initially impressed. At the time it looked like something that should be in my grandma’s parlor. They assured me this was the best, so they started it for me and I sat down to play a little. I don’t know how to really describe what happened next but when the store closed, they politely asked me to leave. Frankly I was still a kid and not much of a player yet, but this instrument brought out things in me I didn’t know existed. I think that may be the true beauty of the Hammond organ, if you have anything at all inside you, it will coax it out of you if you let it. That was 1969 and I’m of course still playing the Hammond. I’ve also played pianos and synthesizers over the years but have never gone with out a Hammond. I think most Hammond players probably feel the same, but when I sit down in front of the instrument, it’s like I’m home, everything is right and day to day hassles are gone, at least for the time I get to play. Gigs are great, some amount of notoriety is nice, but simply playing the instrument is my greatest musical pleasure.
Richard Davis is one of the most recorded bassists in all of music. It could easily take several years to listen through all 344 records he has been a part of. This week Madison Jazz is featuring a recording that was discussed at last week’s Richard Davis Bass Foundation Conference.
First let me digress for a moment and talk about the conference. I went to the Faculty Concert on Friday night and sat way up in front. That’s the first time I sat that close and it made a huge difference. Anyone who has attended concerts at Mills Auditorium knows how awful the acoustics can be, but where I was the sound was very good.
You might imagine a concert of only bassists to be quite limited, but that was not the case. Each bass had it’s own unique tone, and there were many configurations: solos with and without piano accompaniment, duets, trios, and full bass orchestras. The performances also covered the full emotional spectrum. The show opened with a mournful, moving interpretation of “Bottesini Elegy,” performed by Andy Raciti and dedicated to a bassist colleague who died last year. At the other extreme was David Murray’s ”First Audition,” a humorous narrative in which he used his bass and props to recall early experiences playing the bass. Donovan Stokes gave an eye-popping display of technical wizardry and showmanship, distorting the sound of his upright bass with electronic pedals, and playing it behind the back and on it’s side like a guitar. The highlight of the evening was a beautiful unaccompanied version of Cole Porter’s, “I Love You,” by Rufus Reid that received a standing ovation.
Mr.Reid’s performance was followed by a duet with Richard Davis on the standard, “Summertime.” Mr. Reid explained their performance was intended as a sort of recreation of a recording he greatly admired by Elvin Jones and Richard Davis on the 1968 record, Heavy Sounds. Richard added that he and Elvin were set to record a trio verison but the guitarist didn’t show so they recorded as a duet.
After hearing the Rufus Reid and Richard Davis performance of Summertime on Friday night I was compelled to track down the original. With playing like this one can see how Davis garnered the Downbeat International Critics Poll award for best bassist from 1967 – 1974. Here it is:
You may have noticed that the weekly jazz hasn’t been very weekly lately. There’s a shortage of tunes being sent in for me to stream. If you’d like to have your music featured in this space check out the instructions here.
Dave Cooper’s music has already been featured on Madison Jazz but we seem to have made our way through the pack and are coming around again. Besides, all the music on his CD, “Petite Monde,” is very high quality. This is another original called Giuoco.
Musicians on the CD are:
David Cooper – trumpet
Woody Mankowski – sax
Vincent Fuh/Paul Hastil – piano
Jeff Eckels/ Tim Gilson – bass
Dane Richeson – drums
Spring break is here and many Madison students and residents are headed out of town. Here’s how one of Madison’s most successful jazz artists will be spending the weekend. Tim Whalen sent the following message to his mailing list and I’m sure he doesn’t mind if I share it. Tim already has a Grammy but this has to rank right up there.
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This is going to be a special week!
I’m flying down to Atlanta to perform the music of The Who with the Cobb Symphony Orchestra this Friday and Saturday (March 13 and 14). We’re talking about a 5-piece band and a 60-piece orchestra.
The orchestra will be playing 80 minutes of music that I orchestrated for them.
Please send in your mp3s for me to stream. In the past when no one sent in a tune I sought out entries but I’m too busy now. I’m also too busy to craft a post around your stuff. Send it in and I’ll play it and include your remarks as they arrived. See the About Madison Jazz page for more details.
This week we feature Vartan Mamigonian.
“Vartan Mamigonian is the nom de skronk of sax machine Patrick Breiner, who, right now, sounds a bit like a Conic Sections Evan Parker 45 played at 33 1/3, but in an interesting way.”
- Bret McCabe, Baltimore Citypaper
“Sensitive at times, agonizing at others… and the result is excellent.”
- Stef at the Free Jazz Blog
“Virtuosic saxophone stylings a la post-minimalism.”
- In2itive Music, Madison, WI
A veteran of the New York jazz scene, Patrick Breiner now resides in Madison, WI and is a member of Billy Hart’s “Academy” band, NOOK, Myk Freedman’s Whistle Sound Band and Suit, Bing and Ruth, Basement Magic, and Greg Heffernan’s Sauce.
Patrick chooses to use the alias Vartan Mamigonian while performing his solo saxophone works. He is, after all, not himself when summoning everything from ferocious screams to velvety subtone from his instrument whilst weaving hypnotically rhythmic melodies. Vartan Mamigonian appears in both history and literature as both sinner and saint. Similarly, Breiner’s works can be tender or abrasive or anywhere in between.
On Thursday, the Ray Rideout quartet is playing at the Brink Lounge. Ray doesn’t play very often in Madison so this is a rare chance to catch him and his group. If you want a taste of Ray’s playing tune into Charter channel 95, local access channel WYOU, at 9 pm tonight to catch Ray and Paul Hastil in a duet from a concert recorded last summer at Capitol Lakes. Here’s the information for this Thursday:
The Ray Rideout Jazz Quartet
featuring
Ray Rideout, saxophones
Paul Hastil, piano
John Mesoloras, bass
Michael Brenneis, drums
will appear at
THE BRINK LOUNGE
701 E Washington Ave
Madison
(608) 661-8599
Last week the Isthmus newspaper featured Harlan Jefferson, a talented alto saxophone player from Rockford, as a critics pick for this Wednesday night. That reminded me that I’ve been wanting to check him out since I noticed back in January that he plays at R Place on Park on Wednesday nights. I guess I haven’t gotten there yet because I’m so into the New Breed jam sessions on Wednesday nights. It’s also easy to overlook R Place because I’ve never been there, they don’t have a webpage, and for some reason they aren’t listed on the Crazeology calendar (they are, however, listed and mapped on the Venue page).
Now it looks like time is running out. Tonight might be the last time to hear Harlan in Madison for a while. Joined by drummer Rick Flowers and keyboardist Cheeseburger McClain, Harlan has been playing his mix of smooth jazz, RnB, and gospel on Wednesday nights for the last two months, but now neither his webpage calendar (which doesn’t extend into March) or the Isthmus show any Madison gigs in March.
Since moving from New York City to Madison in August of 2008, 25 year old saxophonist Patrick Breiner has been a big hit with Madison jazz fans. This week Patrick brings his New York trio, Basement Magic, to Madison to kick off a week long Midwest tour. Wednesday night they play at the Brink Lounge from 7-9 (go to the Cabana Room directly after to hear the band sit in with the New Breed) and Friday night they will be at Magnus from 9:30 to midnight. Both shows are free.
The group has been getting good press. In an article about the group The Baltimore Examiner states, “Basement Magic conjures jazz innovation, perfection.” And tonight (Tuesday 2/17) Basement Magic will be played on Cleveland’s 90.3 WCPN at 9 pm our time. Patrick will also be speaking to the show’s host, Dan Polletta, around the same time.
This week Madison Jazz is featuring saxophonist/composer Ray Rideout. Since returning to Madison in 1999, The Ray Rideout Jazz Quartet has performed at the City Bar; the Concourse Hotel Bar; the Overture Center; The Brink; the Isthmus Jazz Festival; Jazz at Five; and the Monona Terrace Rooftop Garden.
This song is an excerpt from “Veracruz” from his 1995 CD La Paz en el Corazon (“Peace in the Heart”). The musicians are:
Ray Rideout: soprano sax; and various sampled & synthesized instruments, including electric piano, vibraphone, fretless bass, trumpets/trombones, orchestral strings, and Latin percussion
Recorded at Seacoast Studios in San Diego, California
Mixed by Ramie Espinoza and Doug Erickson at Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin
Mastered by Bernie Grundman in Hollywood, California
Composed and arranged by Ray Rideout
Copyright 1995 by Ray Rideout
All Rights Reserved
This week Madison Jazz is featuring Gerri Dimaggio. Gerri was voted the 2007 Madison Jazz Personality of the Year and is one of Madison’s best known jazz vocalists. Read more about Gerri in this cover story by Wisconsin Woman Magazine (the pdf takes a moment to download).
Gerri can be heard every Wednesday evening at Sambas and since last week is doing jazz duos Thursday evenings at the Cabana Room downstairs from Sambas. This song is ”Comes Love” from her 2005 CD by the same name. The musicians are:
Paul Hastil – piano
John Mesoloras – bass
John Becker – drums
Dave Cooper – trumpet
Gerri’s CD is available at CD Baby. Here is what others are saying:
