"I don't"
Here's a cool, new-ish blog -- dedicated to the memory of the late Jim Pepper, one of the greatest jazz musicians I've ever seen and heard up close. Pepper lived in Portland for a long while, and he was playing around in the local clubs back when I first arrived here in the late '70s. He was a masterful sax player and he wrote great songs. Funny as heck, too, when he wanted to be. I'll never forget seeing him on a bandstand in the middle of the intersection of SW Broadway and Alder one early evening at an annual late-summer downtown festival called Artquake, doing a number called "Polar Bear Stomp." Included in the lyrics: "Does a bear sh*t in the woods? I don't. I'm a polar bear."
| Posted at 11:04 PM | Permalink |
|
Comments (3)
Tom Grant covering "Witchi Tai To" always brought folks to their feet. It's just a wonderful evocative song.
Witchi tai tai, tu me rai, hoah nika, hoah nika
Hey hey, hey hey, noah
When I get this feeling runnin’ round my head
Makes me feel glad that I’m not dead.
Posted by Frank Dufay | October 16, 2006 12:17 AM
Former KATU Reporter Jack Berry writing a book about Pepper. Berry has also written articles about Pepper for the Jazz Society newsletter, etc.
Posted by paul hanson | October 16, 2006 7:29 AM
Man, that was the first gig i ever played. At the Kingston Mines. Next to Civic Stadium. Pepper scared the whatever outta me. I went up and he started playing. No tune name. No count off. Nothing.
Then he turned around as I was making a rather bad attempt at whatever i thought Jazz was and growled at me....really growling.....like grrrrrrr@@@@@!!!!!!
luckily sonny king was on the gig and saved me from a real butt kicking on break.
Pepper was really bigger than life. He used to play these magnificent runs that ended with a huge low note. The tone, my god, the tone!
mazoc
Posted by john Mazzocco | October 16, 2006 5:02 PM