montgomery area musicians...

Montgomery Area Musicians Association

JANUARY 2015 Issue#1

Third Thursday Open Jam

IN THIS ISSUE

MAMA Third Thursday Open Jam Night at The Sanctuary on January 15, 2105

Your Editor’s Page. Check out what else PRKNBNZ has going on. Visit his website at www.prknbnz.com

Updates from the December monthly meeting. MAMA saw you at the show. Useful musician links. Know your MAMA Board Members

MAMA is a non-profit organization that celebrates the area's rich musical heritage, operates with charitable or educational purposes, encourages people to request the high quality music our local musicians have to offer, & promotes the dream of our city being a world class music destination.

MAMA


We have the place, the equipment and the power. All you have to supply is the talent. Come and be a part of the next Third Thursday Open Jam on January 15, 2015 with HAT TRICK at the Sanctuary located at 425 Goldthwaite Street in Downtown Montgomery from 7PM to 11PM. Enjoy 1 hour of music from our monthly host band (to be named each month), then jam with your fellow musicians. Be sure to come early to get the best seat and to get your name on the “Jam List”.

It's always a fun time and great opportunities to network with fellow musicians. Looking for a new guitar player? Well, they may be right here just waiting for you to find them. Want to play with one of your favorite bassists? Well, they may be here just waiting for you. Make note of the date and bring your instrument!

Montgomery Musical History Highlights NAT KING COLE

Letter from the Prez – Jeff Cummings

MAMA JANUARY 2015 Newsletter Issue #1, 01/01/2015

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Please visit my website at www.prknbnz.com to see what else your editor has going on for 2015. Have a suggestion for the MAMA Newsletter? Please send me your submissions by the 20th of each month to [email protected] I look forward to the 2015 productions!

http://www.prknbnz.com/Bass%20Montgomery%20Magazine.htm


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UPDATES FROM THE DECEMBER MEETING

MAMA Annual dues will now be collected in February of each year. Those members that joined or renewed their memberships on or after August 01, 2014 will be grandfathered in for 2015. That means you will not have to renew again until February 2016. For those that joined or renewed before August 01, 2014 will need to renew their memberships in February 2015.

James RIP Christie will be Media and Publications Chairman for 2015. James has done an excellent job as Sargent at Arms this past year. Our new Sargent at Arms will be Bill Sevier.

John PRKNBNZ Hall will be 2015 MAMA Newsletter Editor. I hope you are enjoying my first edition. =8-) I am looking forward to the upcoming year!

MAMA, Rick Hansen, The Residence Group, WISHBONE, OTI, CROSSROADS and several others have helped raise $1,500+ thus far for our friend, and fellow member, Jimmy Brooks. Jimmy is in need of a new chair lift on his vehicle. Thanks to all the members that donated money through the MAMA website and PayPal. Another benefit was scheduled courtesy of The Capitol Oyster Bar for December 15, 2014, which helped raise another $700 for Jimmy. Thank you everyone that participated in this noble cause.

WE LOVE YOU JIMMY!!


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MAMA SAW YOU AT THE SHOW!


JANUARY 2015 Issue#1

Want to know where your favorite local band is playing? Then you need to check James Robinson’s WHAM site on a regular basis.

http://jamesrobinson.biz/wham/wham.html

Please visit the Montgomery Area Musicians Association sites for the latest information:

http://montgomerymusicians.org

https://www.facebook.com/groups/293823357366726/

Local Musicians……post your gigs at these Facebook sites Post Your Gig and WHAM:



Not in the Montgomery, AL area? My friend Gary Craig has this site for all musicians to post their gigs, music and articles nationwide. Network with fellow musicians to find all types of recording and playing info. Look for bands needing players or players looking for bands:


https://www.facebook.com/groups/musicianjobs/

Alabama Bass Players…………join this Facebook site to network with fellow bass players in Alabama:


Here are a couple of Facebook sites that always have some good music information:. Painhaven’s Friends and The Back Stage Pass:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/maharah/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Back-Stage-Pass-Area-Band-Listings/118972908170065

USEFUL LINKS FOR MAMA, VENUE AND BAND INFO

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All information within this MAMA Newsletter edition has been compiled through information obtained with the permission of

Montgomery Musicians Association, Gary Craig, Wendle Jayroe, James Robinson, Patty Bryan and PRKNBNZ. All photos

courtesy of PRKNBNZ, Mac The Camera Guy, Carolyn Wright, Guest House Studio & MAMA.


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The Montgomery Area Musicians Association (MAMA) Education Committee has tasked me to occasionally put a spotlight on some of our more memorable Montgomery area musical alumni. This will be the first of my commentaries. As those of you who know me are aware, I have a special affinity for the first 50 years of recorded music. I hope these articles will in some way inspire you to listen to the artists described, embrace what they created, and let their music influence and inspire you.

Montgomery, Alabama is unique in its musical heritage. For a town of our size, we have managed to produce some truly major national talent. Historically we are not a place known for cultural expression. We are a place known for cultural tension. Whether knowingly or not, those of us who live here are influenced by that tension. We don’t have one genre of music to call our own. We aren’t New Orleans, or New York, or the Mississippi Delta. We are the home of the first Capitol of the Confederacy and the birthplace of The Civil Rights Movement. The sweltering summer heat and the humidity rising off of the muddy Alabama River builds even more tension. But just like damming a river, tension has to be released, and when the levee breaks, a torrent will flow forth. As it is with the biggest musicians to come from our area, they were not one-hit wonders. When they cut through the tension they were unrelenting channels of incomparable creativity. The first that everyone thinks of is Hank Williams. Hank Williams was the Country singer and the Country songwriter, none before or after has come close. We’ll save Hank for another time though. The person that I would like to focus on had an even bigger impact on American popular music from the late 30’s until his death in 1965.

As I write this, we are at the peak of the Christmas season. I don’t care if you are a Navy Seal, a lumberjack, a Hell’s Angels biker, or any other level of badass individual. Odds are that if you hear “The Christmas Song” (aka. Chestnuts roasting on an open fire…), you will instantly become wistfully nostalgic concerning times gone by. Thoughts of your mother holding you in her lap, or playing with your young children on a chilly evening while relaxing at home are inevitable. If you tell me otherwise, I will call you out as a liar, or possibly a sociopath. It isn’t just that song, because hundreds of individuals have sang it. Bob Wells and Mel Torme wrote the song. Even a great singer like Torme couldn’t hold it as his own. Just like “At Last” will forever belong to Etta James and “All Along the Watchtower” will forever belong to Jimi Hendrix, Nat King Cole owns “The Christmas Song”.

Nathaniel “Nat” Coles, was born in Montgomery, Alabama in 1919. His family moved to Chicago when he was between 4 and 5 years old, but he was here long enough for us to call him one of our own. He was a product of our environment. His father was a pastor and like many great musicians he grew up learning music in the church.


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By the time Nat was in his late teens, he had formed The Nat King Cole Trio, dropping the “s” from his last name, and adding King as a play on words with the Old King Cole nursery rhyme. This trio featured Mr. Cole on piano, Wesley Prince on upright bass, and Oscar Moore on guitar. Wesley Prince was drafted during WWII and replaced by Johnny Miller. The group would go through other lineup changes but those are the original members.

For those of you who have never listened to The Nat King Cole Trio, I encourage you to do so immediately. I mean, put this article down and go straight to your favorite place to listen to music and start streaming. These songs are not the pop ballads with heavy string sections that come to mind when some of you think of Nat King Cole. This music is hard swinging jazz, played with a high level of virtuosity. One listen will show you that Nat would have been successful if he had never sang a single word. In fact, this was a mostly instrumental group, with a vocal number included here and there. But as time passed, his vocal style gained in popularity. The mythology goes that one night someone requested a vocal tune, and it was a song that Nat didn’t know, so he sang “Sweet Lorraine”, and received a 15 cent tip for doing so, a fairly insulting tip, even in the 1930’s, but this started the regular addition of vocals to the groups repertoire.

The group signed with Capitol Records in 1943, the same year he had his first vocal hit. “Straighten Up and Fly Right” was written by Cole, and sold over half a million copies. The earnings that the Trio generated during these years were responsible for the vast majority of earnings at Capitol Records. I have heard both Capitol Records as a business and the distinctive building that it occupied in Los Angeles being commonly referred to as “The House That Nat Built”. We have Mr. Cole to thank for providing the capital necessary to launch many major acts that would later be a part of the Capitol Records family.

The original version of “The Christmas Song” was released in 1946. The immense popularity of this song was a moment that defined Nat King Cole as a singer. From this moment on, to the dismay of Jazz fans, his piano and the Trio were gradually replaced by Pop vocal productions. He still managed to always include some piano work, and occasionally moonlighted under an alias to play on jazz albums. It was during this time that he released many of the tunes that we associate with him, such as “Route 66”, “Mona Lisa”, and “Unforgettable”. He lost many of his Jazz fans, but middle-class suburban America couldn’t get enough, and he found himself playing for many 100% white audiences.


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In December of 1964, Cole went into the studio to cut a version of Burt Kaempfert’s “L-O-V-E” (L – is for the way you look at me…..). This was done in two days. Four Days later he entered the hospital and was diagnosed with lung cancer, resulting from years of being a heavy smoker. He died on February 15, 1965 only two months after the diagnosis.

Let’s look for a moment at the final song mentioned, “L-O-V-E”, recorded 2 months before his death. It’s a chintzy, bland little pop song for bland middle class suburbia, but when Nat’s voice performs it, it becomes something special. I for one cannot hear the song without picturing a young couple’s first dance at a spring wedding, and the sweet smell of that season. I like to think that I’m a fairly manly dude who doesn’t think about flowers and weddings, but Nat’s vocals have the ability to affect us emotionally. Isn’t that what all musicians are truly looking for? Music is a language, and we want to affect people emotionally with our poetry, not how fast we can recite the alphabet. Sure there are people who want to impress us with the complex passages that they know, but the magic that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up comes when someone speaks the language of music directly from their soul to yours. Nat did this, in a seemingly effortless way. His warm baritone voice reminded us of home, comfort, and love. Although I am quite certain that I was conceived to a Merle Haggard song, if you are between the ages of 45 and 70 there is a good chance that you owe your very existence to Nat King Cole and the musical spell that he wove around your parents, possibly setting that special mood.

Nat King Cole’s birthplace stood at 1524 St. John Street in Montgomery for about 100 years. Several years ago the home was moved to the campus of Alabama State University. I must also mention that for the last 25 years of performing Nat was backed up by an outstanding guitarist named John Collins, who also hails from none other than the great city of Montgomery, Alabama. I’ll be writing about him soon. I hope some of you will take a moment and give the music of Nat King Cole a try. Personally I feel that the Nat King Cole Trio catalog stands up very well over 70 years later. How can you go wrong with the formula of a solid upright bass backing up one of the most influential jazz guitarists and a legendary pianist? Don’t discount the Pop records either. Pop by its nature is only intended to be popular for a short time, but the warmth of Nat’s voice transcends the trends making him one of the few pop artist who will forever remain timeless. Alabama may not have wanted Nat at one time, but we are thankful to know that we share our home with the birthplace of this one-of-a-kind talent. Be proud Montgomery, your musical history is rich. Let’s build on that heritage.

Adam Strickland [email protected]


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Letter from the Prez...

As we enter the holiday season and get ready to ring in the New Year, I find myself reflecting back on what MAMA has been able to accomplish in only 18 months and I must admit, I find it pretty amazing!

The simple fact that together we've created something where nothing existed before, bringing musicians, venues, fans and supporters of all ages and genres together, and giving a legitimate voice to our music community is quite an accomplishment and one everyone should be very proud of! MAMA was established to encourage, develop and promote area musicians and to offer music education to children in our community, building upon our area’s rich musical heritage and we're doing just that!

The following is a list of some of our accomplishments so far.

Monthly "Third Thursday" open jam sessions for musicians of all ages and genres. Hundreds of area musicians of all ages/genres have participated to date, giving them an opportunity to connect or reconnect with other artists as well as a public platform to perform to audiences. There have been several new artist collaborations and band projects that have come out of these jams.

Unprecedented advocacy on behalf of area musicians to venues, promoters and booking agents have yielded over 80 paid gigs for area artists/bands, exposure to 10's of thousands of people resulting in over $50,000 of gig revenue directly benefitting hundreds of local musicians with MAMA never charging a booking fee to the artists. We've opened doors and opportunities with many venues including some of the city's largest.

We've organized free music education workshops for the next generation, bringing inspiration and education to our community's children who have a passion for music.

We've raised proceeds for community charitable organizations such as the Elmore County Humane Society, Alabama Spay & Neuter clinic, The Montgomery Area Food Bank, Habitat for Humanity, Iron Man Ministries and individual artists and musicians in times of need.

We've connected and built relationships with local media to raise awareness of the talent we have right here in our area and to advocate for "buying local". The Montgomery Advertiser, 95.1 The Fox, News Talk 93.1 WACV, KOOL Classic Hits 95.5 WRBZ, WSFA 12, RSVP and others are working with us.

I wish you all a happy and safe holiday season and a rockin' new year!

Jeff Cummings -‐President, The Montgomery Area Musicians Association


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I would like to thank my family, that have given me their love and support my entire life. My friends for their contributions and support. The fundraiser goal has been met and exceeded. The wheelchair lift has been ordered and will be installed the first half of January. I would like to thank Ironman Outdoor Ministries for helping me with this fundraiser. This is a fabulous organization that helps disabled individuals, wounded warriors by socially interacting, by providing wonderful outdoor experiences. Please consider joining this organization and contributing. Not only money but your time. If you have ever volunteered to assist in one of their events you would find that your involvement did as much at opening up your heart with joy, you will leave there wondering who receive the most from your participation. Thank all the wonderful musical venues for continuously supporting live music. Thank you Capital Oyster Bar for your support, and Lewis for being the blues lover that you are.. And providing such a beautiful backdrop for live music. Thank you Mama organization and all of its members, musicians , venues, for the outpouring of support and love that was recently displayed. Humbled by the affection that I've been shown. The outpouring of support from all of the musicians that played at the jam session. That was not your normal turnout of musician for our monthly jam session. Never in my lifetime would I have ever been able to afford such a gathering of musicians at one show. What a evening of fabulous entertainment! I'm presently restricted to my bed on doctors orders. Recovering from pressure sore surgery.. Will be extremely limited for the next two or three months. Hope to be on the dance floor with my new zero turn radius wheelchair, harassing the customers with my camera in no time. Thanks everyone for showing the love and support.

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