DJ Hairy Larry Presents Jazz Writers Big Band Playing “Elegy”
From The Archives Of Something Blue 2024-08-25

Thanks Marty, today we’re going to hear a Big Band play a composition written by an Arkansas jazz educator.

I went to school at ASU with Joseph Curtis. After he graduated he was band director at Hoxie and Trumann. He’s now in Law School in Little Rock.

I think the first time I recorded Joseph was when he was playing in an ASU small group called “Jazztette”. Ron Horton wanted me to take some video of him teaching jazz improvisation and I also recorded their concert. I interviewed Dr. Horton and four of the students and produced a documentary, “Jazztette – Teaching Jazz Improvisation”. They played an original jazz composition by Joseph Curtis called “Baile de Trece”.

I also recorded his band, Bluebeck, at KASU Jazz Thursday and Bebopalooza. I got to sit in with Bluebeck on guitar at the Jazz Thursday show. Gary Gazaway was the headliner at the Bebopalooza show and he invited Joseph Curtis and Ron Horton up to play on their closing songs.

Joseph was in NJHB and he played at our first session on December 29, 2012 as well as on many NJHB shows and albums in 2013 including my senior recital.

Joseph has played with my band Bebop Beatniks frequently and he is featured on the album “Church”. He would livestream with Bebop Beatniks from the Twitch Porch.

He participated in the KASU New Jazz In Jonesboro concerts at the public library. I got to play bass once with his band. He also played at New Jazz In Jonesboro with Ken Carroll and NJHB.

He contributed many of his songs to the Jazz Writers Big Band. I recorded most of their shows and the “Jazz Writers Big Band” album.

His brother Clinton Curtis plays amazing alto sax and I have also recorded him many times but that will have to be for another podcast.

Visit the Something Blue website at sbblues.com for links.

DJ Hairy Larry Presents Hairy Larry Singing Promises
From The Archives Of Something Blue 2024-04-28

Thanks Marty, today we’ll hear a song I wrote recorded by some fine Northeast Arkansas musicians.

My song “Promises” was released on the album “Collaborators” by Richard Murray and Hairy Larry. The album is full of songs cowritten by Richard and myself. I’ll save that story for another podcast. “Promises” was written, music and lyrics, by me.

We ended up with nine songs and I knew just who I wanted to record them. On December 2, 2009, I got the band together. Paul Moore on electric mandolin, Corey Emerson, bass, Addison Boling, drums, and I’m playing acoustic guitar. We all lived in the Jonesboro area at the time and we all had strong ties to ASU.

Since all of the songs were originals I was the only one at the session who had ever played them before. I gave Corey some pages with the chords scratched out in pencil, my notes while writing the songs so I wouldn’t forget them. Paul is blind so he plays by ear. And our drummer, Addison, like most drummers was used to playing without written music.

The rhythm section recorded all nine songs in a two hour session. We did two takes on each song and Addison’s time was so precise that sometimes I used pieces of both takes, spliced together on the album. I added vocals, trumpet, and harmonica later as overdubs.

Like most songwriters I write a lot of love songs. When I sing a love song people come up to me after the show and ask if I wrote that song about Vivian. And I usually have to say, nope, sorry, that songs not about Vivian.

But I’m here to tell you now I wrote the song “Promises” about Vivian and I sing it from my point of view. I not only wrote the song about Vivian I’m singing it to Vivian.

Collaborate with Hairy Larry. Play along and record.

Here's the script for this song.

Head - 2
Guest solo - 2
Piano solo - 4
Guest solo - 2
Turn this piano solo into a duet - 2
head - 2

Collaborate On Crates With Hairy Larry
Turn this jazz trio into a quartet

Recorded Live at HairyLarryLand on 2024-01-04

In a nutshell

Play along while listening on headphones.
Record to phone or tablet in vertical mode (portrait not landscape).
Share your video with hairylarry@gmail.com.
I will add your video to the left side of this video and post the finished video.

Bebop Beatniks
Larry Heyl Composition Recital
ASU Band Room
September 10, 2023

Songs

00:00 African Violet
14:30 The Blue Crane
23:30 introducing the band ...
24:24 Low Earth Orbit
33:32 Sail Boats
42:22 Freddy's Blues
52:35 Malaysia

All songs by Larry Heyl

Personnel

Rike Robinson - trombone and vocals
Tyler Remagen - sax and flute
Cody Daugherty - trumpet
Sophie Hacker - guitar and vocals
Craig Collison - drums
Jeremy Jackson - bass
Conley Hunt - percussion and vocals
Hairy Larry - piano and vocals

Bebop Beatniks
Horns and Vocals Sectional
ASU Band Room
August 6, 2023

Song List

1 African Violet

Personnel

Sophie Hacker - guitar
Rike Robinson - trombone
Tyler Remagen - sax
Hairy Larry - piano

During our sectional we recorded African Violet to test our setup. It came out pretty good. You just have to imagine Alex's great drum solos as we stop to give him 4s.

DJ Hairy Larry Presents Jazz Alliance Playing Partly Cloudy
From the Archives Of Something Blue June 4, 2023

Thanks Marty, today we're going to hear an original jazz composition recorded right here in Jonesboro.

Before I returned to ASU, Jazz Alliance was playing at The Edge Coffeehouse. When I went to hear them play I immediately became a fan, going to every show and then recording all the shows for Something Blue.

They played jazz standards but they also played original compositions by their trumpeter, Dr. Ron Horton, who was the Director of Jazz Studies at ASU. Also in the band playing vibes and drums was Craig Collison, Director of Percussion Studies.

I recorded the album, "Partly Coudy", at their live shows selecting the best performances for each song. Which wasn't always easy because they were primarily a live performance act and they always played well.

Featured on today's song are Mike Overall, former editor of The Jonesboro Sun, who passed on in 2014. Ron Horton moved to the east coast where he played in Roger Humphries band, RH Factor, until 2018. Craig Collison retired from his position as Director Of Percussion Studies at ASU and still lives in Jonesboro. Derek Doyle also remains in the Jonesboro area playing all styles of music.

You will hear featured soloists, Ron Horton on trumpet, then Craig Collison, vibes, and Derek Doyle, bass.

Ok now, here's the title track from the Jazz Alliance "Partly Cloudy" album recorded on September 18, 2009.

https://archive.org/details/partly_cloudy

DJ Hairy Larry Presents The Jazz Writers Big Band
From The Archives Of Something Blue April 9, 2023

Thanks Marty. Today we're hearing an original jazz composition recorded for Something Blue in Riceland Hall.

When I first came to ASU I played in Tom O'Connor's Big Band and I took some courses from him. We stayed in touch through mutual friends and when I returned to school after I retired he was the head of the Music Department.

I took composition lessons from Dr. O'Connor and most of my music theory classes. When he and Don Bowyer started the Jazz Writers Big Band I found the whole project intriguing. The idea was to have a Big Band that played all original arrangements.

Now I'm a composition major and I write jazz pieces. I have written a few big band charts and it's a lot of work. Now just think about an entire concert with all original arrangements. Now that is a lot of work.

I recorded the Jazz Writers Big Band on July 6, 2017, in Riceland Hall, here at ASU. They were the Monday night concert for the Delta Jazz Workshop.

One of the songs they played was a Tom O'Connor composition, "Body Art". I liked this song so much that I made it the first track on the Jazz Writers Big Band CD. I'll include a link to the CD on the Something Blue website at sbblues.com.

So now here's the Jazz Writers Big Band performing the Tom O'Connor composition, "Body Art", right here at ASU.

https://archive.org/details/hll-1054-Jazz_Writers_Big_Band

From The Archives Of Something Blue October 16, 2022

1. DJ Hairy Larry presents Bebop Beatniks
2. Something Blue – Turn – 29 second spot

Thanks Marty, today we’re going to hear some Creative Commons Jazz played on the Twitch Porch.

Happy Birthday Creative Commons. Creative Commons licenses are 20! At creativecommons.org they say “Honoring 20 years of open sharing using CC licenses, join us in 2022 to celebrate Better Sharing — advancing universal access to knowledge and culture, and fostering creativity, innovation, and collaboration.”

It seems like only yesterday but I have been using Creative Commons licenses for 20 years.

This is Hairy Larry inviting you to enjoy Something Blue every Saturday night at ten. This week we’re featuring Kevin Eubanks, Stanley Jordan, Carla Bley, and Dave Holland. For more about the show visit the Something Blue website at sbblues.com.

Don’t miss Something Blue, Saturday night at 10:00 PM CST, at kasu.org.

Kevin Eubanks – Stanley Jordan – Duets
www.kevineubanks.com/
www.stanleyjordan.com/en-us/

Carla Bley – Andy Sheppard – Steve Swallow – Life Goes On
www.wattxtrawatt.com/

Dave Holland – Another Land

    Dave Holland