Moist Paula Henderson is one of the world’s most distinctive and highly sought after baritone saxophonists. She got her nickname as the co-leader of legendary downtown punk-dance sax-bass-drums trio Moisturizer. She’s toured the world with avant jazz collective Burnt Sugar, noir rock crooner Nick Waterhouse and oldtime blues marauder C.W. Stoneking, among others. She’s also […]
via Baritone Sax Goddess Moist Paula Henderson Explores Her More Devious Side — New York Music Daily
I haven’t posted much here in a while, but I just found this televised concert performance by Louis Armstrong, the first horn player of my consciousness, from Berlin in 1965. It’s exactly the kind of thing I might have watched on TV as a toddler in Australia. Always, loved him, still love him and went to his house in Corona, Queens a few months back. I wrote a piece about it for an Australian magazine, but don’t know if they ever used it; if not I’ll post it here.
Thanks to Lucid Culture for discovering my new trio Anderson Henderson White at our very first show! Here’s a video of our free country version of Ring of Fire from our second:
It wouldn’t be fair to let the month go by without mentioning the debut performance of Anderson Henderson White at Zirzamin a few weeks ago, following the Sunday Salon put on by Lucid Culture’s sister blog New York Music Daily. Baritone saxophonist Paula Henderson seems to be the sparkplug for this exciting new trio, who blended groove and funk with mysterious free improvisation. Her fellow Australian, the Dirty Three’s Jim White on drums was his usual counterintuitive self: it’s hard to think of a drummer who’s so consistently interesting to watch as this guy, alternating between cymbal bell-tones and atmospherics of all kinds, shamanistic rattles of the hardware and rock-solid groove, all the while adding off-kilter accents on the rims and whirring brushes on the snare. He’s a one-man drum orchestra.
Rev. Vince Anderson has made a name for himself in both the roots of jazz (you should hear…
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Here’s a review of TZAR featuring Moist Paula Live at The Stone … Thanks to Lucid Culture!
Moist Paula Henderson (whose nickname stems from her longtime leadership of legendary instrumental trio Moisturizer) has been the standout baritone saxophonist in the New York downtown scene for several years. Her own work has an irrepressible joie de vivre and wry humor; her new album with her latest project, Tzar, recorded live at the Stone this past February takes a turn in a considerably different, much darker direction. Here she’s joined by Ithaca, New York musicians Brian “Willie B” Wilson on drums, electronics and bass pedals (who really gets a workout, playing everything simultaneously, it seems) and Michael Stark on keyboards. Their intriguing multi-segmented pieces blend elements of trip-hop, downtempo, noise and the edgy jazz that Henderson has pursued more deeply in recent years. It’s a deliciously mysterious, eclectic ride. The whole thing is streaming at their Bandcamp page.
The first track, There’s a Prayer for That…
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I just got back from Chicago where I played with Melvin Van Peebles wid Laxative at CIMMFest – we had a great time and Melvin was thrilled to be honored in his home town when the Inaugural Baadasssss Award was presented to him by the Festival.
Last night one of Chicago’s favorite sons came home to receive a lifetime achievement award from the Chicago International Movies & Music Festival. To celebrate we were treated to a short film about his work, followed by a Q&A with NPR’s Richard Steele. Topping it off was a performance by the legend’s band, Melvin Van Peebles widlaxative.
If you aren’t familiar with Van Peebles’ work, you need to get yourself acquainted. Not only is he a talented playwright and musician, but he pretty much set the course for black filmmakers being able to make the movies they want. His picture Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song was the first movie by a black crew and a black cast. Needless to say there was some trouble finding distribution in the all-white movie industry. Van Peebles took a chance and distributed the movie himself. Only two theaters would play it initially, but it went…
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Alto & Tuba action on a delicious bed of cello, guitar and drums
This is my first time re-blogging, but I couldn’t have stated Curtis Amy’s case more thoroughly than the writer at Curt’s Jazz Cafe so I was delighted to notice a “reblog” button on the post. I stumbled on this blog upon deciding to try and find out a little more about the saxman behind the iconic tenor solo on “Touch Me Baby” by The Doors. The thing that struck me about this comprehensive blogpost about the life and career of Curtis Amy, whose name is probably unknown by millions of fans of The Doors were there words “toiled in virtual obscurity”. Once again I’m reminded of the legions of fantastically adept, talented musicians who have done and are doing just that. I find this to be a touchy subject and I think about it often.
Curtis Amy (1927 – 2002)
Even if you don’t know his name, you’ve probably heard Curtis Amy. If you listened to pop music and pop radio from the mid-’60’s through the late ’70’s, then you heard Amy’s tenor, soprano or flute backing artists from Carole King, to Ray Charles to the Doors. But as a solo artist, Curtis Amy toiled in virtual obscurity.
Born in Houston, TX, in 1927, Amy’s first instrument was the clarinet at the young age of four. He was drafted and during his stint in the Army, he started to play the tenor sax. When his time in the Army was up, Amy decided to pursue formal musical training at Kentucky State College (now University), from which he graduated in the early ’50’s. He then taught school in Tennessee and knocked around playing gigs throughout the midwest for a couple of years, before landing in Los Angeles around 1955. …
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Photo by Laura Williams http://www.laurawilliamsphoto.com
Moist Paula's Horn Chic 