'The Jimmy Raney Book' now available at last!

[wintermoon]

Paul Bley started out as an "inside player", but then went outside. . Which one was he when you saw him with Konitz?

Pretty in, maybe because Lee was leading that night.
I bought this one when it came out, I really like Chet's Steeplechase recordings, like the Doug Raney, Nils stuff.

[RaneyJR]

Thanks for sharing this Jon, this is gold! There is a piece that Jimmy wrote about Lee (renaming him “Ree”) as part of a series for Louisville music paper. I would repost it here but that would be getting away from your book, and I would not want to offend anyone. If it’s ok with you maybe I could post those pieces in a new thread?

Yeah, the Ree Khoris thing. I have posted most of my father's (often humorous) writing since I have most of the original documents. That one, however I've resisted. I mean I'm sure someone posted it somewhere but for me, it seemed a little mean-spirited for him. Perhaps I could post this (previously unposted) conversation on the subject with Bill Crow (whom I interviewed on Youtube a month or so ago). I should preference this by saying they had mended some fences and Dad described some walk and talks they took together where Lee would describe how he was trying improve his playing and said (roughly) , "I've been trying to get rid some of my superfluous lines out of my playing", to which Dad quipped, "Can I have some of them?"

In December of 1961, Dad had a booking at the Village Vanguard. Originally he had wanted Phil Woods but couldn't get him, so he decided on Lee Konitz. Dad was a little concerned a bit about Lee's eccentricities so he recommended a rehearsal which turned out ok. Also on the gig were Bill Crow on bass and drummer, Dick Scott.

When they did the gig, Dad was particularly perturbed by Lee's inability to agree on a tune; So much of the time was spent embarrassingly - in front of a world renown jazz club's audience mind you- negotiating what to play next for several minutes.

This type of stage behavior was very typical of Lee apparently. Bill recounted the story about how Jim Hall was on a gig with Lee and Jim finished his chorus and then starts strumming chords, but Lee just sat there doing nothing. After which Jim proceeded to take another solo and then tried to hand it off to Lee who again just sat there not playing. Given no input from Lee, Jim just ended up taking the tune out. After the tune, Jim asked Lee, "Lee, why didn't you play?" to which Lee replied, "I couldn't think of anything to play"

Going back to the Vanguard gig, my Dad told Lee that they have to decide on what tunes they were going to play before hand. And then Lee said, "That's fine, but next set could not play behind me? Also maybe I go up and play a few tunes with the rhythm section and then you go up and do a few tunes with the rhythm section." To which Dad said, "Well since this my gig, why don't we call the tunes from my set list, I take a solo, then you take a solo? How about that'?

To which Lee said, "Ok, let's do that".

Apparently, the solution when playing with Konitz it's not to give him too much latitude on gigs.

[enalnitram]

Yeah, the Ree Khoris thing. I have posted most of my father's (often humorous) writing since I have most of the original documents. That one, however I've resisted. I mean I'm sure someone posted it somewhere but for me, it seemed a little mean-spirited for him. Perhaps I could post this (previously unposted) conversation on the subject with Bill Crow (whom I interviewed on Youtube a month or so ago). I should preference this by saying they had mended some fences and Dad described some walk and talks they took together where Lee would describe how he was trying improve his playing and said (roughly) , "I've been trying to get rid some of my superfluous lines out of my playing", to which Dad quipped, "Can I have some of them?"

Thanks! I get it. There is no doubt a greater context to that piece, that isn't apparent when reading it. I'm going to assume from now on that you have everything! Even stuff you haven't posted.

[sgcim]

Speaking of calling tunes on a gig (Re: Lee Konitz) a friend of mine saw the Bill Evans trio at a club in Boston and he sat so close to them, he could hear them talking about what tunes they were going to play.
They finished a tune, and Bill said to Eddie, "That was the last tune on the list; what should we play next?" They both looked at the list for a while, and then Eddie said, "Why don't we go back to the top of the list, and play them all over again?"
Bill thought for a second and said, "That sounds like a good idea Eddie".

[jameslovestal]

Speaking of calling tunes on a gig (Re: Lee Konitz) a friend of mine saw the Bill Evans trio at a club in Boston and he sat so close to them, he could hear them talking about what tunes they were going to play.
They finished a tune, and Bill said to Eddie, "That was the last tune on the list; what should we play next?" They both looked at the list for a while, and then Eddie said, "Why don't we go back to the top of the list, and play them all over again?"
Bill thought for a second and said, "That sounds like a good idea Eddie".

I hope that was the 3rd set of the evening.

[Rob MacKillop]

Good to see this old thread. I was hoping for a Study Group for the book, which arrived in the post a couple of hours ago. It's REALLY impressive. I don't play in this style at all - more chordal stuff - but I'm keen to get into it.

If anyone is interested we could start a Study Group, or just tag along with this thread. Anyone interested?