Kenny Burrell is a jazz guitarist associated mostly with bebop and blues. He lists as his influences Wes Montgomery, Charlie Christian …. and guess who?? Yep, Django Reinhardt!
He’s played with Dizzy, and Oscar Peterson – and then has become a jazz educator conducting theory seminars on Duke Ellington around the world when he’s not teaching at UCLA where he is Director of Jazz Studies. You can hear him on more than 40 different LPs. (Ha! I know all of you are old enough to remember “long-play” albums – but think of how many people today wouldn’t have a clue.)
</ smugness over stupid knowledge>
I can find no background on Kenny’s piece Wavy Gravy. It’s interesting to note, there’s a political activist from the 60s known as Wavy Gravy. I thought there was no connection until I read this on Wiki that his name - "was given to him by B.B. King at the Texas International Pop Festival. Romney was lying onstage when it was announced that B.B. King was going to play. Romney began to get up; a hand appeared on his shoulder. It was B.B. King, who asked, "Are you Wavy Gravy?" ....to which Romney replied "Yes." "It's OK; I can work around you," said B.B. King, and he proceeded to play."
Since B.B. is another blues guitarist it’s safe to assume he was familiar with Burrell’s tune Wavy Gravy and hence the name.
Burrell’s best know album is Midnight Blue which contains the single by the same name. In 2005 Murray Horwitz reviewed the 1963 album for NPR Radio calling it, “the perfect late night, neon light flashing outside of the window, cigarette smoke swirling up into nothing record.” I think he got it just right.
One of my favorites is Gee Baby, Ain’t I Good to You? A question we find ourselves asking when evaluating our relationships with parents, offspring, siblings, lovers, and friends.
Interestingly enough, this was also the theme of Sunday’s sermon, “Created for Companionship”. Seems God desires us to be in fellowship with others, and that’s the way we're made. I think there should be an ** next to the word “others” and it should denote this doesn’t necessarily mean animals.
Either Molly is an insecure, needy, dog – or I am a frigid bi*#@. Her lovely owner brought along some blankets for my couch and bed because, “Molly likes to always be near me – and she’ll want to be near you too.” My immediate thought (that I kept to myself) was, “Oh – this big, long-haired dog is NOT getting on my couch or bed!”
Little did I realize the key aspect of of her owner's statement was “near you”. Molly was more than happy to lay on the floor … but she wanted to be RIGHT-NEXT-TO-ME-ALL-THE-TIME-PLEASE, and know WHY-ARE-YOU-WALKING-AWAY-FROM-ME? and I-DON’T-CARE-HOW-OFTEN-YOU-STEP-ON-ME-IN-THE-KITCHEN-I’M-NOT-MOVING, combined with OH-WHY-MUST-YOU-CLOSE-THE-BATHROOM-DOOR, and PLEASE-DO-NOT-LEAVE-ME-OUTSIDE panic and whining that let me know it's a good thing dog-sitting is short-term.
To say Molly and I were both relieved to say goodbye yesterday would be an understatement. But I must repeat. I am so glad I was able to help out my friend - and that my house/backyard is overall setup to be dog friendly.
In other news – I got lots of research done over the weekend. I can now tell you which railroad lines were in place between West Point, New York and Charlotte, North Carolina pre-civil war (not many); that a steamboat averages about 4-6 miles an hour going down the Hudson in the 1850s; and armies are composed of a corps which have 3 divisions made up of infantry, cavalry, and artillery. A division contains 4 -5 brigades which are made up of 4 -6 regiments. Regiments have 10 companies – and when they are fully manned (no attrition due to death or disease) there are 1,100 men and officers in each company. Finally a company contains 2-3 platoons and a platoon has 5 squads. A squad is 1 officer and 10 men.
With all that in mind, I now know that Josiah’s younger brother is an officer in the 1st North Carolina Cavalry Regiment, C Company of the Confederate Army. Unfortunately the acquisition on knowledge does not equally translate into "many written pages" for Thursday night. *sigh*
Here are 4 pictures of my visiting guests and from the weekend.
Fred from France
Porch Repast
Shrimp-n-Grits
Molly-Here-I-Am
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