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All the musicians in Thelonious Monk’s “In Walked Bud” (lyrics by Jon Hendricks) are pretty readily identifiable. Dizzy, Byas, etc. O.P. I guess could be either Oscar Pettiford or Oscar Peterson.
But who is the “Oscar” who plays a mean sax?
(Lyric at 0:20):
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10-09-2022 08:07 PM
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Listen to the lyric reprise at the end of the tune, at 6:10
O.P. blew a mean axe
My. Byas blew a mean sax
Monk was thumpin'...
My theory...Hendricks just got tripped up over his own lyric at the start, and switched "axe" and "sax" by mistake. If everything else about the take worked, or if time was tight, Columbia might not have wanted or cared enough to fix it.
"O.P. blew a mean axe" makes sense (to me) for the hipster patois of the day...musicians were said to "blow" solos on guitar, piano, bass, and other instruments that don't involve moving air through a tube with your lungs.
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“To blow” in “jive” relates to the ideal of horn-like phrasing.
Originally Posted by 44lombard
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Pettiford - it’s “axe” not “sax”. I don’t think Peterson ever played with Bud. Originally Posted by jaycat
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So? Originally Posted by ragman1
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So I deleted it.
But does anyone 'blow' a bass? And is a bass an axe?
Mind you, it's song lyrics so maybe anything goes. But it wasn't Oscar Peterson, that's for sure.
The few lines quoted aren't the full lyrics, of course. The full lyrics talk about Oscar playing a mean sax. Which is not a bass. But Max Roach was a drummer. Are drums an axe? Confusing, isn't it?
Oscar played a mean sax
(Mr. Max Roach beat a mean axe)
Mr Byas blew a mean axe
Monk was thumping
Suddenly in walked Bud
Thelonious Monk – In Walked Bud Lyrics | Genius Lyrics
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Does anyone read what has been posted before him in a thread? Originally Posted by ragman1
That is “jive talk” — bebop slang.
Originally Posted by Bop Head
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Certainly, but I don't always believe it :-)Does anyone read what has been posted before him in a thread?
It depends how these words are used and by whom. An axe can mean any instrument although it's usually a guitar or a wind instrument. Calling drums an axe is a bit far-fetched. Blow means play but it's generally used when a player improvises well. Personally, I wouldn't say a bass player was 'blowing' unless he was soloing.
Jive definitely depends how it's used. It can mean dancing (related to a particular era) but it can also mean tricky or nonsense talk, as in 'He's jivin' you'.
It's like any language, not all words are set in stone with only one meaning. Context matters.
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Glossary of jive talk - Wikipedia Originally Posted by ragman1
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There are lots of websites for jazz slang. They don't all say the same thing.
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O.P. = Oscar Pettiford. Mingus wrote a tune called O.P. for him. Oscar Peterson was not part of the scene at Minton's, the other musicians in the lyrics were.
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We know, but the OP (sorry!!!!) wanted to know who the Oscar was who was playing the sax. Oscar Peterson.... is a pianist :-)
Oscar played a mean sax
(Mr. Max Roach beat a mean axe)
Mr Byas blew a mean axe
Monk was thumping
Suddenly in walked Bud
I've tried to find the line-up for the album that the lyrics refer to but so far I haven't found it. Has anyone got the album notes?
(Incidentally, Pettiford also played the piano and cello but, as far as I know, not the saxophone)
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As noted above, "blowing" was/is jazz slang. There is no famous bebop saxophonist with the initials O.P. The lyrics describe the scene at Minton's in the 1940's. Jon Hendricks was not referring to an album.
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Ah well, if the lyrics refer generally to the scene at Mintons, and there's no sax player with the initials OP, I guess the question's answered. It's lyrics for lyrics' sake.
QED
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The Internet archive has the liner notes also for those albums that are presented only as 30 second samples. The original liner notes talk only about the cover presenting Monk as fighter de La Résistance. The liner notes of a CD reissue are telling more: Originally Posted by ragman1
“Hendricks, one of the few vocalists to ever record with Monk, has said that he just happened to drop by the studio that day and was invited to sing something — and that he came up with these lyrics to ‘In Walked Bud’ on the spot. The title refers to Monk’s close friend and fellow piano innovator Bud Powell, who had died a year and a half earlier; Hendricks’s nostalgic lyrics evoke not just Powell and Monk but Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Pettiford, and Don Byas - all mainstays of the New York jazz scene circa 1947, the year Monk first recorded this tune.”
EDIT: (That’s what zephyrregent said as well — 52nd street scene.)
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In my family "blow" means to play or improvise on any instrument. When I was a kid playing, or jamming with older family musicians, they'd say, "Listen to Henry blow! Blow man!" I was playing guitar of course. It wasn't unusual to anybody what was being said. "Axe" is any instrument.
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As in, "head changes" vs "blowing changes".
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A little off-topic: I just read the biography on your website. Very impressive how many of the greats you got to know. And you lived in my hometown for a year at a time when it was still a capital of jazz in Europe. I am a little bit too young to have experienced that. A friend of mine studied with Mal Waldron when he was 12 or 13. I worked together at a venue for a long while with a guy who was the roadie and sound guy on that trip of Embryo to India. He recalled Mal as well. Now there are only two jazz clubs left (apart from the Night Club at Bayerischer Hof and bigger venues). You would be shocked how Schwabing has changed. That reggae band you mention must have been the people around Wally Warning and Roykey Wydh. Originally Posted by henryrobinett
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Wow!! Yes! Wally and Roykey! Roykey and I never played together beyond a couple of gigs by American drummer George Green (?). Wally was in a band called (??? - something about traffic. LOL) And I was in a band called Tracs and Tracis led by Harry (keyboards) and Fred (bass) Seldon. This entire group of musicians were from Aruba. I've often wondered what happened with these people. The singer was, I can't remember his name. There was a great fusion band there at the time name Head, Heart and Hands. An american tenor player named Bobby Stern. All very good musicians that had great backing and management. I thought I'd have heard more about them. Originally Posted by Bop Head
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I have some sad news for you: Originally Posted by henryrobinett
Roykey passed away in 2019 (IIRC). I saw him live in the very early 90ies with his reggae band and Wally on bass open-air at the Theatron in Olympiapark (I don’t know if you ever played one of those free summer concerts there.). That concert was very influential on me and my bandmates because at that time we had started to play reggae as well. I did not meet Roykey in person until maybe seven years ago when I did a rehearsal for a little project with a nephew of Youssou N’Dour who was living in Munich at that time. Roykey’s studio was in the same building so I met him by random outside during a cigarette break and we talked a little and I told him how we had liked that concert and that I still had his CD. Two years ago a friend of mine who is rehearsing in the same building told me about his passing and I was shocked. He wasn’t that old … RIP Roykey …
Georgie Green passed away this April at 79 (I did not know this I just found it out in his German wiki article). I jammed twice with him. Once at the Robin’s Nest, a G.I. club near McGraw Casern, in the early 90ies when he played in the blues band of a keyboarder named André Lewis who had played with Zappa and The Who. They let me sit in on blues harp for one song. The other time I sat in on guitar at one of his Wednesday gigs at the Alfonso’s in Schwabing a few years ago and sang “Stormy Monday Blues”. He was a very nice guy. He later had a stroke or cardiac infarction and retired from drumming. RIP Georgie …
Wally had a stroke or cardiac infarction as well a few years ago but I think he is doing quite well again now. His daughter Ami Warning is around 25 now, a deep-voiced singer-songwriter (German lyrics) and rather successfull (underground successful) in Europe. You can find videos of them playing together on YouTube.
The other names I do not know. Bobby Stern must be this guy.
Regarding your uncle I always (since around 1990) liked “Mingus At Antibes”. Which brings us a little back to topic as Bud Powell is playing on this one:
Viele Grüße aus München
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FANTASTIC! I knew George had died. I didn't know about Roykey though. I used to do some studio work connected with The Munich Sound Machine. There was a guitarist Matz or Motz who had the guitar scene buttoned up. I wish I could remember some of these guys. Thank you for filling in these holes for me.
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It was fun playing reggae with those guys and playing my jazz fusion thing on top. People kept telling me I reminded them of Roykey. But I was more legit JAZZ fusion I think. I remember at the time he was into Benson. He and George Green did a lot of Benson covers like Affirmation. But I was a little older and more experienced than he was but he was part of the scene and I really wasn't.
Last edited by henryrobinett; 10-18-2022 at 05:20 PM.
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This one? This one passed away this year as well. I just found him through wiki. Never had heard of him before. Originally Posted by henryrobinett
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That would be him. The artist I was working with, who was working on another album for Moroder/Niel Bogart, really didn't like him, but Mats- the only, the best one in town. Hence I was sent for. That's how I ended up in Munchen from California. To replace him. I didn't do a good job of replacing him. LOL. Wow. I never really thought of this form that angle. He had all the right gear, right sounds, right grooves. He was a very good studio guitarist. I was green at the time. I don't know why they didn't like him. Maybe he was arrogant. But I never knew him. There was another studio guitarist who was very good. An American who quit to fly commercial airplanes - I think United. I couldn't believe anyone turning away from being a top studio guitarist. But he said he was very burned out. I wish I could remember his name.
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