From: stuart@nynnexst.com (Rory Stuart)
Subject: jazz musicians deserving attention (was Re: JAZZ IS DYING:HELP!!)
Originator: stuart@eclipse
Reply-To: march@nynexst.com
Organization: NYNEX Science and Technology Center
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 92 01:25:17 GMT


In article <Bw4otw.2Cy@fc.hp.com>, mjs@fc.hp.com (Marc Sabatella) writes:
|> Rory Stuart (stuart@nynnexst.com) wrote:
|>  
|> : are
|> : readers of this group aware of musicians such as Dave Creamer, Bill Dixon,
|> : Eric Gravatt, Bruce Johnson, Mel Ellison, Mike Vlatkovich, Aladar Pege,
|> : George Braithe, Monty Waters, and Rael Wesley Grant?
|> 
|> I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm not.  Perhaps you'd like to enlighten
|> us?  I promise to buy one of your CD's in my next Cadence order (really, I
|> swear :-)         *** *** ** **** ***  ** ** **** ******* *****
|> 
|> --
|> Marc Sabatella
|> marc@hpmonk.fc.hp.com

Hey, there is an offer I can't refuse :-) !!! 

I don't have a lot of time to write at the moment, so I'll just say a few words
now about a couple of the musicians I mentioned, and try to get around to 
writing about the others in a few days.

Eric Gravatt:  An amazing drummer who was in the public eye more in the 70s,
playing with groups like Andrew White, McCoy Tyner, and the early (most
risk-taking and, to my ears most exciting version of) Weather Report.  He
did make it onto records by those groups, though I don't have an on-line
discography to give references.  Has anyone in r.m.b. heard the japanese
2-record lp set of the live concert from which side 2 of "I Sing the Body
Electric" was excerpted?  Anyway, Eric has very highly respected by
drummers in the jazz community but, rumor has it, moved back to Minneapolis
area where he has a day-job as a prison guard (!).  I hear he still
does some creative playing in the Minneapolis area, but are there any
r.m.b. readers in that area who can verify this?

Dave Creamer:  As I mentioned in my previous posting, George Benson described
Dave as the most incredible living guitarist he knew of.  I made some inquiries
and discovered Dave lived in the Oakland CA area, also that my friend Tuck
Andress (now of some fame from Tuck and Patti) had studied with him.  I 
arranged to study with him for a week (this was around 1977), and discovered
that Dave really was that incredible -- he had woodshedded basically non-stop
for more than 10 years, and had command of a vocabulary (harmonic/intervallic
and technical) that was truly original, unlike anything I've heard from
anyone else.  He is also a musician of very high standards who hasn't
found a lot of groups he's happy performing with (more about that in
a minute).  So, when I met him, he was scraping by mostly from teaching.
I don't know who all of his students have been but, besides Tuck and me,
I've heard that Barry Finnerty and Steve Erquiagua(sp?) studied with
him, though none of us sound like Dave.
	I've never heard Dave play live, except in duets with me, but I
asked him why he didn't perform more.  He expressed some frustration with
how musicians played his music, but didn't have any simple answer. One 
story I've heard was that Barry Finnerty brought George Benson to hear Dave, 
and George was so impressed that he offered on the spot to be Dave's
manager, and told Dave that he could get him in any group that Dave was
interested in playing with.  Dave had enjoyed the Miles Quintet with
Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams, so he told
George he would like to play with Miles.  George made a call and got Dave the
gig with Miles, who flew him to New York City.  But Dave hadn't heard Miles
for a while, and Miles was in his "Big Fun" period.  Dave found the music
boring, and didn't dig New York much, so he left after a few days (!!!).

I haven't spoken with Dave for a while, and don't imagine he performs much
live to this day, but are there any r.m.b. readers who have heard him
around the bay area?

More when time...

Rory Stuart