The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #26

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    Quote Originally Posted by Stevebol
    Finishing a 6 month gig in Osaka and having $500 when it was over.
    But think of the memories...priceless!

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  3. #27

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    When I told Benny I was looking for a wedding suit, some of the ones he showed me....well I think they were still warm from the previous owners Needless to say, I didnt buy from him. Instead, went to a place on 2nd street called Golden Harry's. In those days, Philly had lots of places to get an unusual buying experience.....but none outdid Benny Krass as your vids clearly show.

  4. #28

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    I was once hired to play an hour long solo piano gig at a major conference center (piano was set up all by itself on a big stage set up for chourses, my back to the audience, maybe 150-200 seats.) A half-hour into the set of the organizers came over and whispered, "OK, you can stop now". When I looked up, most of the seats had emptied out. A few weeks later I did get the full check in the mail, so at least there was that.

  5. #29
    I think he liked what I played just because he took my age of 15 into consideration. Also, my improv style was never to overwhelm with tech show-offery. I believe every note must be a "purpose" note and if you ever listen to Wes, you'll see he didn't play his solos blazin' fast, (more like slowly and simply) but almost every phrase surprised you when you heard his unique musicality in it. It was the greatest lesson I ever learned, listening to Montgomery's best work. I often use Mingus's quote as a sig, "Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity."

    From the start, I found I could always improvise & often surprised myself, never knowing what note was coming next or where the line was going until I heard it. I come from a musically savant family. I got a bit short-changed, though. My sister first taught herself to play piano in Kindergarten on an old upright in the schoolroom, had top-tier schooling after that, and played Tschaikovsky's Second Piano Concerto as the guest soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy conducting, 5 years later, when she was 10 years old. She had been playing since age 5. She, unfortunately burned out at about 14 while preparing for the annual Tschaikovsky Competition with the 3rd Piano Concerto with her master class teacher Susan Starr, and has never played in front of strangers since (she's in her late '60s now & still a one-of-a-kind if she's comfortable enough with you to play in front of you). She had never had stage fright - this was something else. I was with my wife for 6 months before my sister felt comfortable enough to play in front of her. She was one of two top young female prodigies of her age and both didn't make it much past puberty. How many of the world's best musicians went her way, I wonder.

    I got my classical start in 1st grade as a clarinetist in the school orchestra. By 12 (6th grade), I was first chair in the district youth orchestra. I had a massive jones for the delta blues by that time, so I hitched and bused from the suburbs into inner city West Philly, to a famous pawn shop on 52nd St (around Locust IIRC) and traded my clarinet even up for a used Harmony Sovereign flattop acoustic. I had seen a photo of Lightnin' Hopkins (or possibly Howlin' Wolf) playing a Sovereign, so I was smitten when I saw it hanging there. When my father got home that night and saw me with a Mel-Bay book, starting to teach myself the fretboard & trying to imitate Hopkins-style 12-bar fingerpicking styles, he asked me where the guitar came from. I proudly told him of my "adventure." Turns out we didn't own the clarinet - we rented it from the school. I spent the next year mowing lawns & shoveling driveways to pay for the clarinet. To this day (I'm 72), I'm still paying off instruments.

  6. #30
    Quote Originally Posted by FredH
    I remember Benny as well and even bought some clothes there. He had an interesting way of getting customers into his store. He would literally get into your face on the sidewalk, tell you what size you were, and literally "walk" you into the store...
    whether you wanted a suit or not. He was quite a character.
    What a coincidence. When I retired in 2015 and moved to Jacksonville, FL, I was living in Collingswood, just off Collings Ave south of the park. My brother-in-law still lives there around Collings and Atlantic, a block south of Haddon Ave. My wife and I were regulars at Grooveground and still have friends who hang (er - hung pre-COVID) out there daily.