One of my first “name” gigs was subbing for Uri Caine in the Dave Douglas sextet. Joey Baron was the drummer. Of course I idolized Joey (still do) but the day I met him was memorable for another reason. I was kinda into cards (especially poker) at that point and had a deck in my bag. We were in the back of the van, and James Genus told me that Joey did card tricks and magic. Joey shrugged. I reached down and handed Joey MY DECK, saying, “really?” Joey then put on a long insane demonstration of sleight-of-hand -- again, with my deck, so he couldn’t have tampered with it in advance. What a moment!
This is a beautiful tribute to a living master, full of insight, enthusiasm and love. I wish more musicians and writers would do this service for masters like Joey Baron and not wait until they've checked out. Thank you, Vinnie Sperrazza!
In the mid '00s, I managed to get a hold of Joey Baron's email through a couple of degrees of separation (Joey was using a mobile device called Pocketmail, I seem to remember it had to be plugged into landline to operate. It was archaic even then :)) and cold-called Joey to asked him if he wanted to come to Toronto to do a day of lessons and a clinic. Joey was warm and engaged when we eventually spoke and he eventually agreed to my offer, his interest piqued by the fact that I was not affiliated with any higher-education "jazz schools". I just wanted to bring Joey to town, put him in the room with our community of musicians, pay him, and not lose any money myself. The whole thing could not have gone better, and Joey was (unsurprisingly) in superb form and gave so much of himself over one very long day. Almost 20 years later, people still mention their experience to me. I am honoured and fortunate to have called Joey a friend since that day, and he continues to delight and inspire!
Really great post and newsletter, Vinnie. Beautifully written too. As well as honouring a matchless 'living master', as you say, you’ve done what I partly set out to do with 'Bill Frisell, Beautiful Dreamer' (and many thanks for the mention; much appreciated)… you’ve sent me right back to the records!
Thanks! A terrific account of a key player in what was my listening the late 80s (and now for that matter …). I hadn’t noticed how close to each other those records were recorded. I feel lucky to have seen Joey play a lot. Always a joy! Getting Transparency out for a play right now.
One of my first “name” gigs was subbing for Uri Caine in the Dave Douglas sextet. Joey Baron was the drummer. Of course I idolized Joey (still do) but the day I met him was memorable for another reason. I was kinda into cards (especially poker) at that point and had a deck in my bag. We were in the back of the van, and James Genus told me that Joey did card tricks and magic. Joey shrugged. I reached down and handed Joey MY DECK, saying, “really?” Joey then put on a long insane demonstration of sleight-of-hand -- again, with my deck, so he couldn’t have tampered with it in advance. What a moment!
This is a beautiful tribute to a living master, full of insight, enthusiasm and love. I wish more musicians and writers would do this service for masters like Joey Baron and not wait until they've checked out. Thank you, Vinnie Sperrazza!
In the mid '00s, I managed to get a hold of Joey Baron's email through a couple of degrees of separation (Joey was using a mobile device called Pocketmail, I seem to remember it had to be plugged into landline to operate. It was archaic even then :)) and cold-called Joey to asked him if he wanted to come to Toronto to do a day of lessons and a clinic. Joey was warm and engaged when we eventually spoke and he eventually agreed to my offer, his interest piqued by the fact that I was not affiliated with any higher-education "jazz schools". I just wanted to bring Joey to town, put him in the room with our community of musicians, pay him, and not lose any money myself. The whole thing could not have gone better, and Joey was (unsurprisingly) in superb form and gave so much of himself over one very long day. Almost 20 years later, people still mention their experience to me. I am honoured and fortunate to have called Joey a friend since that day, and he continues to delight and inspire!
Really great post and newsletter, Vinnie. Beautifully written too. As well as honouring a matchless 'living master', as you say, you’ve done what I partly set out to do with 'Bill Frisell, Beautiful Dreamer' (and many thanks for the mention; much appreciated)… you’ve sent me right back to the records!
Thanks! A terrific account of a key player in what was my listening the late 80s (and now for that matter …). I hadn’t noticed how close to each other those records were recorded. I feel lucky to have seen Joey play a lot. Always a joy! Getting Transparency out for a play right now.
Thank you Vinnie!
Can hook you up with a digital version of Transparency, if you'd like?
And: thanks for these wonderful, well-informed celebrations of drummers!