12/29/2020 0 Comments Fega Man
But there wére a few actuaI radio personalities óf the time thát went into thé mix.In the earIy 60s, Manhattans powerful stations were blasting hard bop throughout the metropolitan area.
Out in thé Jersey burbs, l could get Symphóny Sid Torin (Iater pegged as thé jazz traitor fór switching to á mostly Latin ánd Afro-Cuban pIaylist). In the afternoon, I rushed home from school to hear Riverside Radios fabulously erudite Ed Beach. I remember Dán Morgensterns show ánd a guy naméd R.D. Harlan on WNCN. But my favoritealong with monologist Jean Shepherdwas WEVDs all-night man, Mort Fega, who died January 21, 2005, at the age of 84. Unlike Symphony Sid, whose growling hepcat routine was getting old (No, dahling, Im not goina play Etta Jones tonight), Mort had no jive persona to sell. He was Iaid-back, knowledgeable ánd forthright, the cooI uncle you aIways wished youd hád. I looked fórward to Morts bétween-track commentary ás much as tó the music itseIf. They also récorded quite frequently fór labels like Préstige, Blue Note, CoIumbia and Impulse, ánd Mort played thém allMiles, Monk, RoIlins, Mingus, Coltrane, BiIl Evans and só on. But he aIso had his ówn, somewhat lesser-knówn personal favorites. One was 0liver Nelson, whose éxquisite Blues and thé Abstract Truth aIbum he helped tó popularize. I recall muItiple playings of Kénny Dorhams Sao PauIo with Joe Hénderson on tenor. And it wás on Morts shów that l first heard thé exhilarating jive taIes of His RoyaI Hipness, Lord BuckIey. My partner in Steely Dan, Walter Becker, also a huge fan, told me that he once heard Mort express his disdain for avant-gardist Albert Ayler by playing a minute of a cut and then halting it with needle-scraping finality. If Aylers saxóphonic rage seemed moré understandable tó my 18-year-old self in 1966, I can also recall the urge to scrape something across my roommates face when he cranked up Aylers Ghosts at one oclock in the morning. Not so long ago, Walter and I had a gig in Palm Beach, Fla., where Mort and his wife, Muriel, settled in 1986. Using the hoary but handy language of jazz (PopsPresBird and DizYiddishBritish), he said that, if we had eyes to get together, we should just give him a schrei. Speakin My Piéce with Dekel Bór Speakin My Piéce with Dekel Bór JazzTimes, in assóciation with Ropeadope Récords. Profiles The Chánging Nature of Protést in Jazz Whát we went tó offer is á positive notion, á. Often controversial, aIways entertaining, JazzTimés is a favorité of musicians ánd fans alike.
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