Throwback Thursday Memory: Today I pay homage to some of the great artists musicians I’ve been privileged to know as friends and work with as compatriots along the journey in jazz.
Drummer Chip White made his transition during the Covid pandemic but not before seeing a string of his recordings rise to respectable positions on national jazz charts. Chip was a fine drummer. I tease legendary jazz sax man Houston Person about how on a same-bill gig we had done together he heard Chip in my band and “borrowed” him permanently for the next 20 years as his drummer, rounding out Person’s great rhythm section.
Chip, always a poet and jazz philosopher at heart, went on to carve out his own niche by composing and performing his original music. Rest in Peace Chip White.
Phil Bowler rounded out my quartet, and I pulled this information from Wikipedia:
Phil played with Roland Kirk , Hugh MasekelaWynton Marsalis (1982–83), Max Roach (1983), ) Slide Hampton, Jon Faddis (1984–89), and Ralph Peterson, Jr.
Phil’s resume is rounded in quintets with Donald Harrison and Terence Blanchard, and a 1984–tour in Europe with Benny Golson. He has recorded with Carla White in 1988 and Sal Salvador. In 1989, and led a quartet called Pocket Jungle. Phil later appeared with my band in a number of Manhattan based engagements. 1997–99. He and Newman Taylor Baker played in a duo in 1997, and in 1998 he worked in the Count Basie Orchestra.
Bowler hosted Jazz Adventures on WPKN radio in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and performed with Artt Frank and Mike Armando from 1999–2009.[1][2] In 2002 Bowler hosted the MJA Jazz & Blues Festival at Lake Grove, Long Island, New York.
To hear a live performance, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZLbxvU0KCY
As with any journey, one encounters adventures, challenges, obstacles, and triumphs. The journey to jazz is no different. As I reflect over years that have turned into decades, it’s been my good fortune to have worked with some of the greatest jazz musicians, arrangers, and composers. These are reflections on a chapter as that journey continues.
