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Percy Heath of the MJQ: A Much Needed Antidote
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Man, after wading through all the ranting about Marie Digby today, I found relief in the inspiring story and music of bassist, Percy Heath, and the Modern Jazz Quartet. I really needed this to relieve me of all the negativity I was reading about the state of music today after publication of the WSJ article.
Bossbass, another bassist who contributes regularly to this site, put me onto this great 2003 interview of Percy Heath at age 80, about a year before Percy "finally went home".
What comes out this interview of a dedicated musician at the end of his long career for me is a great story of four touring musicians giving rise to one of the defining music groups of the modern jazz era while riding in a tired old Cadillac, called their golden dragon. What a story of doing it the hard way, but creating something unique to cherish forever. It brought to mind the story of countless groups today touring the dusty backroads of music in their equivalents of the "golden dragon" [probably a broken down van] in search of that "sound" that they hear in their minds-ear that will resonate with a yet to be critical mass of abiding truth-seekers for their kind of music.
It is also inspiring to read about a musician who learned how to play an instrument that was to define him as an artist, as a "second career". What guts!
Rather than reverting to the MJQ's signature piece "Django" to share with you today, which is what most MJQ fans are familiar with, here is an equally good piece from this unique group that concentrates as bit more on Percy Heath and his bass who are the subject of this blog. [bossbass, you probably have seen/heard this one before, but if not, I dedicate my Youtube search effort to you and your great contributions here]:
Here is Golden Striker by the MJQ [enjoy]:
Bossbass, another bassist who contributes regularly to this site, put me onto this great 2003 interview of Percy Heath at age 80, about a year before Percy "finally went home".
What comes out this interview of a dedicated musician at the end of his long career for me is a great story of four touring musicians giving rise to one of the defining music groups of the modern jazz era while riding in a tired old Cadillac, called their golden dragon. What a story of doing it the hard way, but creating something unique to cherish forever. It brought to mind the story of countless groups today touring the dusty backroads of music in their equivalents of the "golden dragon" [probably a broken down van] in search of that "sound" that they hear in their minds-ear that will resonate with a yet to be critical mass of abiding truth-seekers for their kind of music.
It is also inspiring to read about a musician who learned how to play an instrument that was to define him as an artist, as a "second career". What guts!
Rather than reverting to the MJQ's signature piece "Django" to share with you today, which is what most MJQ fans are familiar with, here is an equally good piece from this unique group that concentrates as bit more on Percy Heath and his bass who are the subject of this blog. [bossbass, you probably have seen/heard this one before, but if not, I dedicate my Youtube search effort to you and your great contributions here]:
Here is Golden Striker by the MJQ [enjoy]:
Comments
We drank copious amounts of red wine throughout the flight as Percy told me story after story of the golden age of jazz. His close friendship with the tragic Charlie Parker, playing with Miles and Coltrane, Dizzy and the list goes on. He was an absolutely fascinating and charming man. Also a hilarious man. He shamelessly hit on every female flight attendant, saying to me "when your my age, baby, you don't give a F#%K." and laughing away. They were all charmed by him too. The guys from Green Day were sitting in the seats adjacent, but everyone was focused on Percy.
This 82 year old wanted to go out drinking grappa in San Francisco when we landed, but unfortunately, I had to catch another flight to a wedding in Portland. He left me with some parting words that Charlie Parker had said to him many years before: "Always be beautiful to yourself, baby!"
or handsome
You are very welcome for those links. Percy Heath and his brothers and peers offered us some timless music while helping to raise the perception of jazz in the public's eyes out of the smoky bars and clubs and into theatres and fine concert halls.
Those of us who loved the MJQ are now able to find a great collection of their works over at the Fantasy family of record labels. Titled "MJQ: The Complete Modern Jazz Quartet Prestige and Pablo Recordings", this collection truly defines the best of what MJQ established as a group. A link about this collection can be found here- http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=695
Percy Heath's love of music also left us with a wonderful 2004 release of his final recording aptly titled "A Love Song", and can be found on the Daddy Jazz record label. Percy took a liking to playing the cello as well as the acoustic bass years ago, as did the great Oscar Pettiford before him. For those in the know of these instruments, Percy tuned his cello in fourths, just as the acoustic bass is tuned. A good review of "A Love Song" can be found at this link- http://www.bassplayer.com/article/reviews/Apr-04/654
It is my hope that we as musicians and music fans continue to appear at concerts, and support the music of our master musicians as they age and before their passing. Allow their music to resonate in your life, and inspire us all to bring the best of our own musical abilities to our listeners.
BB