[AGL] Jimmy

[Michael Eisenstadt]

Gerry,

Giuffre was great. They played him alot on
the fm station I learn to appreciate jazz from.

Which was his last album?

Mike

----- Original Message -----
From: "Gerry" <mesmo at gilanet.com>
To: "ghetto" <austin-ghetto-list at pairlist.net>
Sent: Saturday, April 26, 2008 8:22 PM
Subject: [AGL] Jimmy



http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/26/arts/music/26giuffre.html?_r=1&ref=obituar
ies&oref=slogin

When I hitch-hiked to LA in 1954 to see my idols (cool school jazz
musicians) one of the first I saw I talked to was Jimmy Giuffre. Turned out
he was a Texan too and was very friendly to the tall skinny kid with stars
in his eyes. At the time he was playing tenor with Shorty Rogers and His
Giants at a club called Zardi's. My funky, fake ID was not good enough to
buy a drink (I was 17) so I drank cokes and absorbed the fabulous music of
Shorty, Jimmy, and my real hero, Shelly Manne on the drums. Seems like
yesterday.

Recently I purchased a jazz DVD which includes a performance by the original
Jimmy Giuffre 3, superb. Nothing like it before or since. Ultimately he got
so far out I could not fathom what he was doing. Think I'll give it another
try.

He was a quiet giant of the West Coast scene, incredibly creative and one of
the most respected (by other musicians) cats on the scene. Later moved east
where he resided for the last quarters of his life.

They don't make them like Jimmy anymore.
G