DJ Hairy Larry Presents Hairy Larry playing "Chunga"
From The Archives Of Something Blue January 29, 2023

Thanks Marty, today we're going to hear an original post bop jazz piece recorded at Harriet O'Neal's piano studio.

Regular listeners know that I'm a composition major at ASU. There's more to being a composition major than putting notes on a page. You are also expected to arrange readings of your pieces, make recordings, and perform recitals.

I wrote a piece called "Chunga", a prequel to Frank Zappa's "Chunga's Revenge". Harriet O'Neal was my piano teacher and she agreed to help play a reading and make a recording of the piece. Harriet was raised in Wynne, Arkansas, and she taught at ASU.

I pulled some top area musicians to fill out the rhythm section. On bass I had David Eckert, librarian at the Jonesboro Public Library who gave lessons at ASU and on drums, John Long, band director at Walnut Ridge.

For the saxophone parts I had two excellent musicians who I had played with in the jazz program at ASU, Aaron Decker - alto, and Cody Ballard - tenor. The bari player I had scheduled was out of town so I played the bari parts on my synthesizer.