David Jackson

Clora Bryant and the Girls in the Band

by

Features Clora’s great horn , voice and, oh yes, on piano, Roger Fleming, bassist Ben Tucker, and drummer Bruz Freeman, Walter Benton on tenor and trumpeter Normie Faye

Buy On Google Play

Clora Bryant Jazz

Clora Bryant

She toured with Billie Holiday, and she is the only woman trumpet player who ever recorded with Dizzy Gillespie and played with Charlie Parker.


The ladies haven’t finished their work. It’s still hard for a young lady to be properly recognized for talent with an instrument. We have to mention male names for reference to the trumpet, don’t we? I’m being harsh because it’s common for musicians to mention with whom they  played. It’s their resume.but these recordings show talent equal to Charlie and Dizzy. Where were her trips to Europe? To say  ladies like Clora and Marian McPartland were breaking ground is an understatement. It was more like concrete. It still is.

if you came here looking for an Wiki on Clora Bryant, here it is.
There is another place where anyone should be proud to be as well, Old Dominion University did this exhibition on Women in Jazz

Another place she is showing up is

THE GIRLS IN THE BAND  a film by One Step Productions  tells the “poignant, untold stories of female jazz and big band instrumentalists and their fascinating, groundbreaking journeys from the late 30′s to the present day.“

Here is an excellent article about  Clora by Judy Tweet  who has a new book called WOMEN WHO DARED

This is a very good interview with a great lady:

This sweet video shows the mentor:

 

Reasearch always turns up a surprise or two, like this poem for Clora by Professor McNair We like his panache whatever that it is. Did I say we? There I go again. There are just Tigger and me and these chickens.

We have decided, Tigger and I, that you want more music from more of the ladies in  this  blog starring  women featured in THE GIRLS IN THE BAND.

The Girls in the Band
 
Produced by Judy Chaikin, Michael Greene, Nancy Kissock. Executive producer, Greene. Co-producer, Hugh M. Hefner. Directed by Judy Chaikin. Written by Chaikin, Edward Osei-Gyimah

 

david michael jackson july 19,2012 editors@artvilla.com send caramel kisses

A Night as A perfessional

by

I play in my brother’s band. There are times that we get tips and occasionally we get paid for gigs. In the strictest sense that makes me a professional, albeit a poorly paid one. This week we had a paid gig at the Marriott at Cool Springs near Franklin (highest per capita income in the state).
So, time approaches and, since it was raining, I hop in the RoadWarrior and head out for the 40 minute drive. I politely parked RW near the back of the parking lot. It’s a ’93 Aerostar with 180K miles on the clock and has a “rode hard and put up wet” look. I decided that the fancier cars should be up front.
In the lobby this old country boy, cleaned up, but not formal, and wearing a ball cap didn’t quite fit in with the crowd of more formal, fancier and generally younger group of people. Didn’t bother me, but I could not find my brother in this crowd so time to ringydingy on the cell phone.
Musicians in the back. Well, it is a big place and it actually more practical to move the equipment in at a spot nearer the stage. We didn’t quite go through the kitchen, but pretty close. We went through the “working” behind the scenes part of the building and quickly got to the stage and quickly set up. I need to point out here that the group that we were playing for was a group of professionals and parents meeting for the benefit of hearing, sight, and speech impaired children. Fine folks doing wonderful work.
Well, it wasn’t going to be a large crowd anyway, but something of a miscommunication and emergency situation meant that we played to a very small crowd. Doesn’t matter to us; we give the full measure of what we signed up for and had a good time. The crowd enjoyed it.
As usual, we don’t tarry at a venue, so when the show finished, we set about breaking down the equipment and loading it up. Back through the service prep area and past the working guys; several of them told us they really enjoyed our music. That was worth more than audience approval and even the paycheck.

Andy Derryberry
July 2012

Fiddler Man

by

Yesterday we received 1768 “requests” for our mp3 files. 100 of those were for Fiddler Man. Our “free” mp3s are streamed to play buttons on many file sharing sites. Some get a few listens per day, some get many plays each day. The people who play our songs don’t actually visit our site.

Fiddler Man was played 100 times yesterday. If you put 100 people in a room it would seem to be a lot but on the internet it’s a number. You might make someone applaud in Sri Lanka but you cannot hear it, or maybe they played it and went to the bathroom. You never quite know. Maybe they downloaded it and your song will be saved in Sri Lanka or Sao Paulo or Duluth. The compulsion of unknown artists to give their art away is unstoppable.

That person in Puerto Rico or China may have found me in a search for Michael Jackson or David Michael Jones.

I can’t even thank those 100 people for listening to me because none of them are reading these words. I can’t thank them so I’ll  thank you.

Thanks for listening.

They lead Dave quietly out of the room. They place a coat around his shoulders. He casts it off…he returns to the mic….

we miss you James Brown

Here is a younger me in a tree:

From the Album You Boys Ain’t Hopin’ Me None

Buy on Google Play

 

 

david michael jackson  july 18 2012 editors@artvilla.com    send a cool day it’s hot!

 

Right Like It Is

by

Right Like it Is

Buy Right Like It Is  on Google Play

Yes it is the most unnoticed album in the history of albums. Too bad the guys only did one album because these instrumentals are special.

“Dreamy new age guitar noodlings go with rainy days and cafes better than umbrellas and lattes.”
……Nick Dedina Listen.com

 

Thanks Nick but a lot of good it did. This is one of my albums. It’s one of those to throw against the wall in my angst.  You know, one of those times where you really thought the world should beat its way to the door but that’s not how it ends. Time just goes by and so many albums are lost because they were published. All most hear, or will ever hear are clips. Putting it up for sale is very much like hiding the candle until someone pays to see the light. If no one ever pays, then no one ever sees the light.

It  “don’t matter anyway”. I’m singing in the wilderness of a billion websites. Here I’ll knock down this tree, see if it makes a sound. Ain’t nobody out there but them chickens and they’s eatin’ corn. Quit whining and get back to work, Jackson.

 

Right Like it Is Concert

 

There were times when

cliche wasn’t necessary when

the music flowed like a

winter stream

through the snow,

like water flowing over rocks

in a tiny nook

near a spring.

There are times when

the air vibrates and

times when it does not

silence is golden

only because the

bird sings.

 

david michael jackson     july 16, 2012   editors@artvilla.com    send Gandhi