Bucci and BasieA close friendship and mutual admiration quickly developed between my dad and Basie. They stayed in contact, sending each other birthday cards, occasional visits and phone calls, right up until Basie's death. We miss you Bill.
On Stage!
This
picture was also taken at the 1962 Newport Jazz Festival. I wish I had done this
gig with him. There were thousands of people everywhere. This was one of Rhode
Island's biggest events, bringing in lots of other big name artists.
There were many Jazz clubs in the New England area in those days. Places in Boston like, The Jazz Workshop, Paul's Mall, and Coply Plaza come to mind. Another club, on the north shore of Boston named Lennie's on the Turnpike, was often referred to as a "Home Base" for the Joe Bucci Duo.
Promotion of the Wild About Basie album took dad on the road more than a few times, but he always...and I mean ALWAYS thought of me. He'd call, write, fly home between gigs, etc. I remember one gig he did at Thule' Airforce Base in Greenland. He was gone 2 or 3 weeks, and when he came home, he had grown a go-tee! - I pulled it to see if it was real! Haha!
A lot of people know how great a musician my dad is, but I know something better. How great a dad he is.
Custom Hammond B3
This is
the organ we lovingly referred to as "The Monster". It started life out as a
stock Hammond B3. It was then outfitted with a Krugar string bass module,
customized to go all the way to high "C". A complete Vibe set, contained in a
box, was added and triggered by the organ's keyboard. Amplification and
Vibrato/Tremelo were highly modified, and a custom reverb unit was installed.
Later, a Hammond "Extravoice" spinet organ was purchased, tweeked, and added as the third keyboard. The Extravoice was one of Hammond's first attempts at an "electronic" keyboard. Previously, the organ company only used "tone generators". The internal speakers, and most of the case was thrown out, and the rest was fastened to the top of the B3.
My dad worked closely with master electronic technician, Bruce Williams, describing what he wanted for sounds while Bruce designed the circutry required to achieve those sounds. Some examples are a richer sax sound, a pluckier banjo sound, a breathier flute sound, etc.
The result is the one of a kind "Beast" you see pictured here.
|
|
| [Skip Prev] [Prev] [Next] [Skip Next] [Random] [Next 5] [List Sites] |
|---|