Carmen Leggio - Young Man With A Horn, RIP

Writes Fred Cicetti on Sax on the Web in 1999:

Carmen Leggio's been playing tenor sax for about six decades and it shows. His small frame is stooped over and his head is bent down a bit. The man was made to play music, so it's fitting that his body has conformed to his gift.

Leggio blows tenor the way Willie Mays ran down a flyball. They both let you know from the get-go that you'll never be able to do it their way.

"I have thousands of songs memorized," Leggio explains with childlike joy and not an eighth note of boasting. "I can hear a song once and know how to play it. In my whole life, I've never bought a piece of sheet music. Saved a lot of money."

Leggio (incredibly, it means "music stand" in Italian) taught himself how to play at the age of nine. He began on clarinet, imitating Artie Shaw on the radio. He still performs "Stardust," "Nightmare" and "Begin the Beguine" on an old King metal clarinet. At 14, he switched to tenor sax and began playing in clubs in his hometown of Tarrytown, a suburb just north of New York City.

"I quit high school, because I knew I was meant to be a musician," he said. "But my father was so angry that he didn't speak to me for years. On his deathbed, he admitted I was right to leave school."

That admission came after Leggio had played with Benny Goodman, Maynard Ferguson, Gene Krupa, Woody Herman, Buddy Rich, Dizzy Gillespie and Doc Severinson. There have also been television shows, movies, the Newport Jazz Festival, Birdland and, yes, Carnegie Hall.

On April 17, 2009, Carmen Leggio suffered a heart attack in front of his home in Tarrytown, NY and died later that day at the age of 81.

What a loss to the saxophone community and jazz.

Writes Tim Price in his blog now:

Carmen Leggio bristled with individuality, whether soaring over a legendary big band like Woody Herman or Maynard or cutting a new path through a standard song like " Smile" his ruggedly magisterial horn made a personal statement the jazz world will never forget.

This player, developed a way to express a wide and subtle range of emotions through a unique and highly evolved level of musicianship, that is never cluttered or forced. One of the masters of original melodic improvisation that melted in your heart like an emotional choclate ball. When he played a ballad you might think he's whispering the greatest story of un-requited love ever told,directly down your spinal column.

Back in the70's I bought the record " Tarrytown Tenor". I got in New York City at King Karol records. At the time, I was wondering why a player like this was not touring the world, recording more and playing every jazz club in NYC and Europe. I played that record everyday, playing along with it and studying the art of Mr. Leggio’s saxophone. I saw him at the Vanguard with That and Mel playing some of the best lead alto I ever heard- just amazing phrasing and soul.

He sure will be missed, and a loss to the world.

RIP Carmen, I'm sure Prez, Sal, Romano and Hawk are waiting in that jam session above for you.

Detroit Torino Jazz Project – Live Video Broadcast

Detroit Torino Jazz Project Live

in co-operation with Sax on the Web site

@ Dirty Dog Jazz Cafe
in Detroit area

Live Broadcast
Friday April 24 & Saturday April 25, 2009
6:00pm (18:00) EST

Featuring leading jazz musicians and photographic artists from Detroit, USA and Torino, Italy (AKA "THE DETROIT OF EUROPE").
Chris Collins (sax, picture right) and Emanuele Cisi (sax, picture left) will be joined by Cliff Monear (piano), Sean Dobbins (drums), and Nick Calandro (bass) in this live recording session.

Blowing your own horn

While browsing through the Sax on the Web Forum recently, I realized that many saxophonist members are also keen brass players. Here they proudly display their latest inventions:

Miraphone Double Belled Sax Shaped Trumpet (1950s?)

Martin Williams and his Double Belled Trumpet

Triple Belled Trombone

Double Belled (in series) with a muffler

I am assuming that the picture posters have rights to these pictures. By posting on the SOTW Forum the rights have been extended to the owner of SOTW.

Late addition: Is this a proper use of brass instruments?

This just in (Jul-18-2009):

 

Randy Emerick has joined the trombone section. Watch out, Kid Oreo!

Easter Expedition

Between Pyhätunturi and Noitatunturi

Pyhätunturi is a mountain situated in the town of Pelkosenniemi in Finland’s Lapland. As the snow started melting in the Helsinki area, Pyhätunturi is a good place for downhill and cross-country skiing. This year the conditions of Easter week were perfect for Rautiainen family’s traditional Easter expedition. The temperature dropped to -20 degrees centigrade during the night, preserving the snowy conditions. However, the temperature rose above the freezing point during the day with perfect sunshine making it ideal for outdoor activities.

Most of the time, Miia and Ida have been on the slopes, whereas Raila and I have been exploring the cross-county trails. Kiimaselkä (picture) is a popular rest stop for coffee and refreshments. The next day, we skied to Karhunjuomalampi, including a gruelling climb to the foothills of the mountain. Mikko arrived on Tuesday, and he is a snowboard man.

Lapland is one on the remaining wildernesses left in Europe. We saw footprints of a wolverine and tracks of it fighting with a hare. Most probably the hare lost the fight and its life.

Karhunjuomalampi hut

On Thursday we enjoyed sauna and swimming pool at Luosto Spa and on Friday night we will be celebrating Mikko’s birthday at a ski-resort restaurant. There might be some reindeer on the plate.

Frozen Saxophone

Perhaps surprisingly Google’s search engine ranked this SOTW Forum thread as the highest of all Sax on the Web pages. “rs1sensen”, a long time SOTW member writes:

Yesterday I marched in some of the coldest weather I've ever had to deal with on a horn. Some of my pads were frozen shut. Others frozen open. A couple tone holes were almost sealed with ice, and there was some ice on the bottom of my horn. After the game, I carefully de-thawed the horn, dried everything off, and re-oiled my springs.
I tried to keep warm air going through the horn prior to playing, but it actually seemed to make things worse, as more and more ice would just form. I gave up on playing. What I did find interesting, is that about half of our section ran into the same problems, but the other half could play perfectly fine.
I have to give the dance team some credit, they did a performance before us and wore much less clothing than all of us!

Then there is follow-up discussion and helpful hints. Although the post is more than one year old, it seems to become current every winter.

Putin's Dog Steals Treats

Reuters from Moscow on April 1st:

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's pet dog gobbled up snacks prepared for United Russia bosses on Wednesday.
While Putin discussed ways to help the local food industry, his black Labrador Koni snuck into a room at his residence and tucked into the delicacies.
"Koni ate everything," said one of Putin's astounded bodyguards.

April Fools or not, but what they say: Over time dogs and their masters start to resemble each other, perhaps even behave the same way.
The timing for this news item was very appropriate because I just returned from the National Theater in Helsinki. The play was Kari Hotakainen's "Who is who" (in Finnish). In the play appeared (now 184 years old) Dostoevsky and Putin whose role was skillfully played by Jukka Puotila. A hilarious night in theater.

Jam Sessions in USA and Greater Helsinki Area

Soup Kitchens and Jam Sessions

The above is very interesting blog post by Alexei Zoubov, now an American jazz musician. In that Alexei writes:

"Nevertheless, the image of a soup kitchen (or bread line) pops out in my mind at jams more and more often lately.
I guess that has partially to do with the present bad economic situation. There are less and less gigs, especially jazz gigs, less and less jazz clubs. And the expansion of jazz education produces more and more young players that just can’t find any spots to play jazz.
Except for jam sessions. These are the places where hungry for playing jazz musicians can get their “bowl of jazz soup” for free, or “at a reasonably low price” (see the definition of a soup kitchen above).
They sign up on a list, sometimes pay $5 or so (nothing bad about that, the money goes to the house rhythm section) and thus form a line to play a few choruses in a couple of songs."

Tuukka (gt) and Harri (t-sax) in Bar Mendocino on Nov. 12, 2008
(picture by by Bluespekko)

I go to jam sessions quite often in Helsinki area. Never happened that I have to pay to play, although in one place there is a great pressure to buy raffle tickets (5 euros each) to cover the house band. In many places the jam players get free beer or beverages.
The jam places where I played recently are:

1. Grillari in Soukka, Espoo
2. Hemingway's in Tapiola, Espoo
3. Henrik in Helsinki
   
4. Bar Mendocino in Helsinki (Blues, roots music)
   

Alexei continues:

"I strongly believe that a really enjoyable and satisfying jam session, the one that expands music ideas and creates new music should have some threshold, the minimum level of musicianship accepted.
It is practically impossible when the musicians are required to pay to participate, then everyone that pays has the right to play. There are always people that abuse this right and subject other players and the audience to extreme suffering, sometimes raising to the level of torture - you know what I mean.
I guess Russians are rude compared to Americans. At the jams back in Russia you could often see a musician being taken of the stage by the sleeve and told to go home and practice. They did that to me when I just started and it sometimes made me cry, but in the end it did me a lot of good."

I guess the Finnish jam organizers are more polite or perhaps more tolerant. In any case both players and the organizers should read the Jam Session Etiquette by Grant Koeller.

Bob's Takeaway in Henrik, January 2009

Americans and the real Finnish Sauna

The warning sign above is not a joke. In many places in the United States there is no clear understanding how the Finnish Sauna works. The only way to get the room hot is to pour water on the heater's rocks. Isn't that what the lady is doing below?

I experienced the preconception personally when I used to frequent the Marlboro tennis club in Massachusetts. And the irony was that heater in club's sauna went bust, although it was built to stand the water pouring. I heard people saying that it was because of a crazy foreigner. He just could not read the sign.


Anyway the heating room was constructed totally wrong. The heater was installed too high: My head got the heat and toes were freezing. Secondly the real purpose of sauna escaped the other club members. They thought it was a reading room and place to dry sweaty sporting clothing. Somewhat disgusting, or what?

Can a Finn survive abroad without a sauna? Not for an extended period of time. When I was constructing a sauna to the end of my garage in Acton, Mass. my neighbor stopped by asking what was going on. When told he he winked saying: "Yeah, fun and games...".

Oh well, you cannot win it all!

This just in, October 13, 2009: 

 Tim Kopra has been denied the pleasures of a Finnish sauna bath

Tim Kopra in the space shuttle

When Astronaut Tim Kopra, born from Finnish ancestry, participated the recent space shuttle flight, there has been an initiative in Finland on foot donating a real Finnish sauna to him.

According to Finnish Broadcasting company (YLE), NASA has now informed Finpro, the Finnish Export association, that according to NASA rules, the astronauts cannot accept such a large-scale donations .

Tim Kopra, is a NASA civil servant, even though he is an astronaut. USA has strict rules. According to NASA,  such a large-scale donation as a sauna to an astronaut would have been considered as a bribe, said Director Antti-Jussi Heilala (Finpro) to YLE.

The idea began when the President of Finland, Ms.Tarja Halonen phoned the space shuttle, and asked Kopra if he is longing for a Finnish sauna. Tim said that he thinking in the future constructing a sauna in his house.

Update, December 9, 2009: 

Here is another reason why the sauna has got a bad reputation in North America:

Is Rock and Roll that harmful after all?

How Rock n' Roll is perceived by the general public has certainly changed over decades. I still remember my school science class in late fifties when were supposed to listen to a recording of bird sounds. A rascal slipped a record of Bill Haley's "Rock around the Clock" to the player instead. The poor female teacher was about to get a heart attack. The advent of Rock n'Roll served as a great weapon in hands of the younger generation to rebel against the parents and authorities. Some examples of rock related Censorship Incidents in the USA in 1950s.

How was jazz introduced to Finland? The legend has it that American-Finnish musicians brought it to Finland with M/S Andania arriving in Helsinki harbor 1926. The new musical genre was immediately anathematized by the clergy. Especially they viewed syncopation as an invention by the devil.

In today's view the rebelling young generation needs more powerful tools for aggravating elders. Heavy metal and Hard Rock has certainly taken that position, because the "classic" Rock n' Roll and performed e.g. by Elvis is really "lame". I have tried a few times my hand in Rock&Blues jam nights in Bar Mendocino and enjoyed myself a lot. My thanks go to Neil Sharpe for assembling and editing the Blues, R&B, Rock Saxophone teaching resource to Sax on the Web. I have learned a lot and Rock n' Roll did not hurt my soul.