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Gary Steele Blindfolded

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Listen To This! is relative to the popular "Blindfold Test of Down Beat Magazine, with the added element of a musician-to-musician interview, as inspired by Drummer Art Taylor's book Notes and Tones (Da Capo 0526). The "blindfolded featured artist is asked to identify the players and tunes they are listening to, as well as rate each performance on a scale of 1-5 stars.

Gary Steele was born November 7, 1931 and has been playing music professionally since he was 14 years of age. Steele got his start playing saxophone in after hours clubs and bottle joints, then touring the country with various groups. The self taught musician spent time in the military from 1954 to 1956, and upon his return learned to play the bass, which has helped Steele to forge quite an illustrious career. Steele has played with in his words, "more singers than anyone, compiling a resume that includes stints with Sarah Vaughn, Billy Eckstein, and Mel Torme, amongst others. From big band saxophone in the 50's to playing electric bass for TV jingles in the 70's, Gary Steele has gotten the call. Steele and his wife, singer Patti Summers, ran the legendary Patti Summers Cabaret nightclub in Seattle's Pike Place market for over 20 years, where they hosted or played live jazz six nights a week. This blindfold test took place there about 2 years before they closed their doors to the public in September 05', and originally ran in AAJ: Seattle July/August 2003. In honor of Patti Summers nightclub and their years of service to the jazz community, here is the Gary Steele interview in it's entirety for the first time on the web.


Artist: Count Basie
Track: "Jive at Five"
Recording: The Complete Decca Recordings (originally Decca 1939, CD release 1992)
Personnel: Lester Young, tenor saxophone; Harry "Sweets Edison, trumpet; Jack Washington, baritone saxophone; Count Basie, piano
Composer: Harry "Sweets Edison

Gary Steele: There's a statute on tricking old people. I know you're going to trick me here.

All About Jazz: No, you'll be fine.

GS: We'll see.

(Music starts playing)

GS: Let's see. How much of this do I have to listen to? I'm only seventy-one you know? I'm not ninety-five here.

AAJ: (Laughs)

GS: Well, it's gotta be either Fletcher Henderson or Jimmy Lunceford or... That sounds like Lester Young, but I never heard the Basie band sound that way. But what do I know? That could be early Basie. Maybe that was Snooky Young perhaps? That little trumpet thing. I didn't have many records that go back that far. My listening started with Woody Herman, Charlie Barnet, Kenton, you know? Back in the late Forties, early fifties. I dunno, do I have to rate this thing?

AAJ: Yeah.

GS: Huh?

AAJ: Yeah.

GS: I do? Gee whiz. The baritone sounded like it coulda been Harry Carney or one of those guys. It could even have been early Ellington. You got me. It's just too pre-bebop for me.

AAJ: You guessed it right. It's Basie.

GS: Oh. Well you can print that, maybe.

AAJ: How come it didn't sound like Basie's band?

GS: Basie's band got a little more modern than that later. The first time I heard the band was about 1952. They were beboppin'. They had Frank Wess and Frank Morgan. Basie always had great bands but that music is too old to hit my wiring, so I'm only going to give it a couple of stars.

AAJ: 2 Stars?

GS: I think so, yeah. That was a trip though.


Artist: Duke Ellington/Jimmy Blanton
Track: "Pitter Patter Panther"
Recording: Solos, Duets, and Trios (1940, RCA Bluebird CD release 1990)
Personnel: Duke Ellington, piano; Jimmy Blanton, bass
Composer: Duke Ellington

GS: Well there again, this was really, really before my time.

AAJ: That's too bad, 'cause the rest of the stuff I brought is Dixieland.

GS: You're cruel, man. No, I can get this one. This one might be Jimmy Blanton and Duke Ellington. Other than that I can't imagine who it would be. Being that Jimmy Blanton was the prototype transitional modern bassist, I gotta give that 5 stars.

AAJ: Are you more of an Ellington man than a Basie man?

GS: I wasn't as in love with Ellington as I shoulda been... or Strayhorn or whoever it was that was doing that stuff. They keep saying Ellington was doing it, but then they say Strayhorn was his alter-ego and it was really Strayhorn writing most of it you know, so I don't know. But that's more Jimmy Blanton than I've ever heard in my life. I knew it was an old record, but the bassist was verging on approaching into the Ray Brown school in some kind of way, but I knew it wasn't Ray Brown, 'cause he wouldn't play that. I gotta give Jimmy Blanton 5 stars.

AAJ: Maybe if I had played you his bow solo on "Body and Soul you'd rate it differently.

GS:Yeah, Mingus played an astounding solo on "Body and Soul, too. I only heard it once though on the radio. Knocked me out.

AAJ: pizzicato?

GS: Yeah, well Mingus could do anything he wanted. I'm really reaching back, because back then I was just starting to plug into Bird and Diz.


Artist: Charlie Parker
Track: "Funky Blues"
Recording: Charlie Parker Jam Session (Verve 1952)
Personnel: (in order of appearance) Johnny Hodges, alto saxophone; Charlie Parker, alto saxophone; Benny Carter, alto saxophone; Oscar Peterson, piano; Flip Phillips, tenor saxophone; Ben Webster, tenor saxophone
Composer: Johnny Hodges

GS: I'll have to listen to this for a minute. We've got time don't we? (Hodges solo starts) That's gotta be Johnny Hodges. Yeah, that's easy. But we'll see what happens here.

AAJ: I'll fast forward to the next solo.

GS: That's Bird. How did they get those two together though? I've never heard of this.

AAJ: It's Bird's jam session.

GS: Well, Bird was the renaissance guy. He changed the way the way everybody played, then you know what happened about ten years down the line. Trane changed it all again. But I love Bird because the minute he played I understood completely what he was playing, you know? There was no mystery to what he was playing. And that was very cool for me. Trane just blew my head open, and I never got over that. Bird was totally understandable to me.

AAJ: This is the third alto player blowing right now. (Benny Carter soloing)

GS: Uh, that sounds... well, there were so many guys playing in that style but that sounds like Willie Smith to me. Do I get another chance on that? (Piano solo starts) Too late. Bud Powell never played that many trills in his life, so it ain't him. Piano players, piano players, geez. That could even be Oscar throttling himself down a bit, I don't know. You got me.

AAJ: It's Oscar. I agree, it sounds like he put his chops in his back pocket for this one. Let me skip to Tenor solos.

GS: (Flip Phillips soloing) This guy. That's Ben Webster. (Looks for reaction) Wrong, huh? You're not going to tell me are you? He sounds a little bit too hip for Ben Webster. A little bit closer to bebop than Ben Webster was. (Ironically, Ben Webster starts soloing. After one phrase...) Oh god. Well, he was close to Ben Webster! They were sitting near each other! This is getting hairy, now.

AAJ: Well, you got the real Ben Webster on one note.

GS: Oh yeah, but there's no excuse. The other guy I was going to say Paul Gonsalves, but it's not... Paul Gonsalves has a darker sound than that.

AAJ: Yeah, It was Flip Phillips.

GS: Was it? He was playing in the days when all the Italians had to change their names. Louie Bellson was Bellsoni. Flip's name was something real Sicilian sounding. I think it was a social thing. Back then, Italians couldn't get into golf clubs or anything else, you know?

AAJ: I don't know if you can hear the bass.

GS: Not very well. He's just playing quarter notes like they all did on stuff like that. I'll just take a wild stab and say Ray. It's hard to give stars for this one. I'd knock a couple of stars off for that (jam session) business.




Artist: Miles Davis
Track: "Milestones"
Recording: Milestones (Columbia, 1958)
Personnel: Miles Davis, trumpet; John Coltrane, tenor saxophone; Red Garland, piano; Paul Chambers, bass; "Philly Joe Jones, drums
Composer: Miles Davis

GS: That's Miles and his thing. I think maybe Cannonball is on this, too. That sounds like Cannonball to me. I was in Europe when Cannonball hit in the Mid-Fifties and it spread like wildfire that there was this guy back in the States that was the second Bird. He was this school teacher from Florida, and he went up to New York and just tore it up. And they call him CANNONBALL! He was in trouble with the law a lot, which is unusual for jazz musicians. He said sardonically. Actually, he had a veracious appetite and "Cannibal was his original nickname. But they changed that. He changed it.

AAJ: Is that right?

GS: I think so, yeah. 'Cause anything he saw, he'd eat. He could eat a whole cow at one sitting. He was legendary. This is Miles. The thing I like about Miles is, a lot of the great players to me is a lot of them... they never played a grace note. They always just played the note that they were going for. Dexter (Gordon) never played a grace note, but you go to Clifford (Brown) and that's all he did so you know, what's that all about? But Miles, just listening to Miles, he's one of the greatest teachers ever to record as far as listening to somebody and somebody telling you how it should be, you know? You won't hear a grace note in a car load from this guy. Never. It's like Muhammad Ali, he never threw a punch below the adam's apple. How did I go there? Anyway, I watched all his films. He never threw a body punch in his whole career. There's Trane. Enough said there.

AAJ: Maybe that's why Miles was so into boxing?

GS:I was talking to some electric bassist years ago that went up to Miles' house to audition to be on one of his records, and he played everything down perfectly. After the thing was over, Miles didn't say how well he did at the tryout, but he started shadow boxing him. He started hittin' him on the side of the head and the kid didn't know what the heel to do. He said "What's the matter, didn't I sound OK? Miles says "Yeah, but I never hire anybody who doesn't make a mistake. What are you gonna do? (Miles) knew how to play with your head, you know? I forget who that was. Some guy in town with some show and came down here (to Patti Summers'). But for the life of me, as overworked as this tune is, I still can't remember what the name of the tune is. That's real brain damage.

AAJ: "Milestones

GS: "Milestones, OK. That's a great recording. With those guys on it, I can't shortchange any of those guys. I can't be judgmental about players that great. 5 stars.


Artist: Ornette Coleman
Track: "Eventually"
Recording: Shape Of Jazz To Come (Atlantic, 1959)
Personnel: Ornette Coleman, alto saxophone; Don Cherry, trumpet; Charlie Haden, bass; Billy Higgins, drums
Composer: Ornette Coleman

GS: Oh, this is fun. That sounds like Eric Dolphy. He would be going for bigger intervals than that, though. He was an interval freak. It's probably Ornette Coleman. Probably Charlie Haden. I've been listening to those guys for a long time. Who else would be on there? You can't hear anybody else. Ornette and I are the same age. We were both born in '31. You know who went nuts over Ornette Coleman was Leonard Bernstein. You know, he wrote "West Side Story along with Stephen Sondheim? He used to follow him around like a puppy dog. Every joint he worked, he would be there.

AAJ: That's right; I heard Bernstein had his ear up to Charlie Haden's f-hole on his bass one night while they were playing at the Vanguard.

GS: I heard that story, too... combined with the fact that every other bassist in the city was lined up at the bar listening, including Mingus. I would hate to play in front of Mingus. He'd come up and punch your lights out if he didn't like the way you played. He ruined this trombone player's career, just 'cause he was late bringing a few charts up to the hotel room. Jimmy Knepper. The minute Jimmy Knepper opened the door; Mingus gave him a right hand straight to the chops. Loosened all his front teeth or knocked 'em out or whatever.

AAJ: He was done for good after that or what?

GS: He still kept writing, but I don't think he played much. I was talking to this other alto player; he played with Dizzy, Leo Wright. He said (about Mingus) "I don't like playing with him. I said "Why not? He said "Well, if he didn't like the way I played, he'd push on the neck of my horn while it was still in my mouth. I'd get tired of that. It hurt. That's straight from Leo's mouth, so I know that happened. But I don't know who these other guys are. Couldn't tell you in a million years, but it's very exciting music. I'd give it 5 stars anytime.


Artist: Coleman Hawkins
Tracks: "It's The Talk of the Town"
Recording: Hawkins! Alive! At The Village Gate (Verve, 1962)
Personnel: Tommy Flanagan, piano; Major Holley, bass; Ed Locke, drums Composer: Levinson-Symes-Neiburg

GS: Sounds like Hawk. He's famous for not lining out the tune and just start improvising immediately. It's Coleman Hawkins. He was my first big influence. Strangely enough my father, I was 13 or 14, but my father brought this record home from the hardware store and he says "I hear this guy. We lived in a little saw mill town. You had to send away for records if you wanted anything at all but it was Hawk playing that "Body and Soul thing, but never does line out the tune. Never did. I even went and got Hawk's autograph when he came to town at one of those Jazz at the Phil(harmonic) things. You could go back stage. They were all hangin' out. Buddy Rich and all these crazy people were hangin' out. You could just go mix it up there. It was fun. I had a big program... I was kind of afraid to go up to him at all, 'cause he looked kind of dejected. He looked kind of depressed. I said "Would you sign this? He took it without even lookin' at me or lookin' at the book. He just kind of stared straight ahead and signed it, "Coleman Hawkins. I still got it at home, you know.

AAJ: Was he a large man?

GS: He was overweight. A lot of guys play with hats on, too. Like regular old snap-rim Fedora's... I don't know what that was about. Just wanted to look nice. Yeah, I would know him anywhere. If I had to pick one guy that really influenced me all the way around, it would have to be him, really. I wonder if he ever lines out the tune on this. 'It's not "Talk of the Town, Hawk. You haven't played it yet.' I remember that night very well. Ella Fitzgerald and Buddy Rich were having an argument backstage, and Norman Granz was trying to settle 'em down. Wild times, wild times. I have no idea who the other guys would be on this.

AAJ: 1962

GS: I was playing in Chicago in '62. Maybe Hank Jones or one of those guys. Hawk always played a ballad with a little lift to it. You'd never hear the bassist playing in two on any of his ballads. (Bowed bass solo starts) Oh, forget it! I just knocked a couple of stars off of this one. Geezus. That's why I always left the bow at home, or "lost the bow. I was working with some of these singers. Maybe Sarah Vaughn or something (would say) "you gotta get a bow you know, and I'd say "Who stole my bow? Have you seen my bow? (Laughs)

AAJ: They didn't expect you to sing along to it did they?

GS: Slam Stewart was famous for singing along but I don't think he ever recorded with Hawk. For that Arco playing, 3 stars. Two and a half. That was horrible.

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