Tune in Tuesday, January 24 from 8-10 PM as Ill Faded sits in for “The Local Show”. From his performance at Free Press Summer Fest 2015, to his most recent release “It’s OK To Be Happy”, and the music video he dropped with Guilla of their track “Gotta Go”, you will wonder why you haven’t tuned in to him sooner. GET FADED!
Tune in Tuesday, January 24 from 5-7 PM for an interview with Phil McGill, member of Athens, GA rock group New Madrid. They will be in town Thursday January 26 at Rockefeller’s and we have not one but TWO pairs of tickets to giveaway to you, our loyal listeners. That’s THE REVELRY REPORT for you, reminding you HOUSTON, GO SEE A SHOW.
Standing With Giants
(L-R: Horace Silver, Pee Wee Marquette, Curly Russell, Art Blakey, Lou Donaldson and Clifford Brown)
Mosaic Record’s Daily Jazz Gazette consistently has some great content for jazz head’s in need of a good read. This blogpost was taken in full from their site, which appears to have originally appeard on a blog called DangerousMinds dot net. The KTRU Sunday Jazz Team felt compelled to share this one for a Monday.
‘HALF A MOTHERFUCKER’: THE LEGEND OF PEE WEE MARQUETTE
Pee Wee Marquette and Count Basie
Pee Wee Marquette is another of those characters who, like Moondog, found a niche in New York’s cultural ecosystem and carved out a life for himself “back in the day.”
It was not probably what you’d call a very good life, but, what the hell, he’ll remain a sort of Jazz legend long after we’re all forgotten. Pee Wee was the 3 foot 9 inch announcer and MC at Birdland, the famous NYC nightclub, and can be heard on the intros to countless classic live Jazz records from the 50s and 60s.
There’s even a complete CD that came out in 2008 consisting of nothing by Pee Wee’s intros, which are made all the more entertaining by Pee Wee’s deliberate mispronunciation of the names of key acts. You see, Pee Wee would pretty much make life miserable for Jazz acts at Birdland unless they paid him a “tip.” Thus, Horace Silver was “Whore Ass Silber” until Silver relented and paid ($5 in the later years, which was a lot for that time).
The diminutive, but cantankerous, Pee Wee would elbow a non-payer in the groin, blow cigar smoke in their faces, and do even less pleasant things (like telling Bobby Hutcherson to “pack your stuff and get on out of here, we don’t need you”). For this and other reasons he was dubbed by his “pal” Lester “Prez” Young as “half a motherfucker.”
According to legend (and I don’t think this story is on the Internet anywhere), trombonist Bill Watrous once caught up with Pee Wee, who was working the door of the Hawaii Kai restaurant on Broadway in his later years (dressed in a turban and a Nehru jacket, he’d stand outside and try to rustle up paying customers). Watrous saw Pee Wee getting dressed down by some tough guy, claiming that all sorts of harm would befall Pee Wee unless Pee Wee repaid the money he owed or whatever that matter entailed. Watrous saw the tough guy turn to leave and make for the stairs and then saw Marquette run over and stab the toughie in the ass several times with a switch blade before returning to his post, acting as if nothing had happened.
In the book Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond, Mort Lewis, one-time manager of the Dave Brubeck Quartet recalled Marquette:
There was a black midget, Pee Wee Marquette, who was the master of ceremonies at Birdland. And every act that played there, the musicians had to give him fifty cents and he would announce their names as he introduced the band. Dave Brubeck gave him fifty cents, Joe Dodge gave him fifty cents, and Norman Bates gave him fifty cents. Paul Desmond refused to pay one cent. And when Pee Wee Marquette would introduce the band, he’d always say, in that real high-pitched voice, “Now the world famous Dave Brubeck Quartet, featuring Joe Dodge on drums, Norman Bates on bass,” and then he’d put his hand over the microphone and turn back to Joe or Norman and say, “What’s that cat’s name?” referring to Paul. Then he would take his hand off the microphone and say, ‘On alto sax, Bud Esmond.’ Paul loved that.
Some have questioned whether Marquette was actually female, and just passed as a male, but I’m pretty sure that, had that been the case, it would have made it into the legend somehow or another. Plus, his voice sounds distinctly male to my ears. Interestingly, Pee Wee was interviewed in the mid-80s by David Letterman, so somewhere out there there’s video of William Crayton “Pee Wee” Marquette, telling stories of the old Birdland from his point of view, but (Internet scrub that I am) I wasn’t able to find it.
A compilation of Pee Wee Marquette’s exuberant Birdland intros:
1 – kishi bashi – sonderlust – joyful noise
2 – macula dog – why do you look like your dog – wharf cat
3 – warpaint – heads up – rough trade
4 – jambinai – hermitage – bella union
5 – allah las – calico review – mexican summer
6 – chain wallet – chain wallet – jansen
7 – carl sagan’s skate shoes – s/t – super secret
8 – lady wray – queen alone – big crown
9 – lvl-up – return to love – sub pop
10 – children of pop – what does 69 mean? – #veryjazzed
11 – sts9 – the universe inside – 1320 records
12 – haku – na mela aka – em records
13 – merchandise – a corpse wired for sound – 4ad
14 – s u r v i v e – rr7349 – relapse records
15 – lemon twigs, the – do hollywood – 4ad
16 – the olympians – s/t – daptone
17 – maita, luisa – fio da memoria – cumbancha
18 – falana, shana – here comes the wave – team love
19 – votaries – psychometry – wharf cat records
20 – hector ward & the big time – evolution: live at the saxon pub – s/r
21 – acid arab – musique de france – crammed discs
22 – nick cave and the bad seeds – skeleton tree – bad seed ltd
23 – cameron, alex – jumping the shark – secretly canadian
24 – a tribe called quest – we got it from here… thank you 4 your
service – epic records
25 – colonial blue – dear misery – s/r
26 – story, dexter – wondem – soundway records
27 – american football – s/t – polyvinyl
28 – twink – dust bunny – disques de lapin
29 – russian tsarlag – unexplained american goat lp – wharf cat records
30 – purling hiss – high bias – drag city
31 – strfkr – being no one, going nowhere – polyvinyl
32 – quin galavis – my life in steel & concrete – super secret records
33 – bell, caretta – ephphatha – coy records
34 – the mystery lights – the mystery lights – wick
35 – thundersoul orchestra – 528-0728 – suite 28
Atmosphere, the hip-hop duo from Minnesota comprised of Sean “Slug” Daley and Anthony “Ant” Davis, have been hitting our ear drums for twenty plus years. In speaking with Slug, he reflected on how the art of Atmosphere has evolved. “Ego is something I have had to learn to deal with. In the beginning ego was riding shotgun in the car, sometimes even the driver. Now it is scaled back.” At the age of 44, Slug continues to pump lyrics that lead you to reflect on life and keep searching.
In 2016, Atmosphere released their studio album “Fishing Blues”, where Slug was surprised how “a lot of people on social media interpreted this album as a retirement album, as in we’re gone fishing. I have no intentions of retiring ever.” Hip-hop heads everywhere should take delight in knowing this. The album has some true gems, including the under appreciated track “Perfect”, which can be put on loop to help you with your resolutions this new year. With Atmosphere, Slug shares, “we have never tried to announce our presence as pushing the envelope or bending the rules, we take what our predecessors did, and kind of build on top of that. I am proud that we are an extension of our heroes, to the point we are now peers.”
February 25, 2016 is the last time Atmosphere was in Houston when they were on their “Welcome To Texas” tour. For those who came early, concert goers are sure to remember the bars of Brother Ali, which Slug mentions that “his new album is in the can, it should be dropping sometime this year”. Reflecting on the tour, Slug shared “Not to knock other places, but Texas truly is a great place to be. If I can’t handle the Minnesota winters when I get older, who knows I might come down here.” If this ever happens, the Texas soundscape will never be the same, for the better.
Atmosphere will be at House of Blues Sunday January 22, along with Brother Ali, deM atlaS, Plain Ole Bill, and DJ Last Word.
Tune in Tuesday, January 17 from 5-7 PM for a haunting reminder of Brother Ali’s wisdom on the 2016 election and President-elect Trump from our interview with him. Brother Ali is in town Sunday January 22nd opening for Atmosphere at House of Blues. This week’s giveaway on “The Revelry Report” is a pair of tickets to We Belong: Houstonians of Muslim Descent Dissent! The show happens at Walter’s Downtown Friday January 20 with Ruiners, Giant Kitty, Ruiners, and Revels.
Tune in Tuesday January 17 from 8-10 PM as Dirty & Nasty stop by The Local Show. This local hip-hop duo were recent winners of the WOKE Category of the Houston Press Music Awards and have a new album in the works coming out on local label Roologic Records. GET IT!
1 – kishi bashi – sonderlust – joyful noise
2 – macula dog – why do you look like your dog – wharf cat
3 – warpaint – heads up – rough trade
4 – green, thom sonny – high anxiety – infectious
5 – jambinai – hermitage – bella union
6 – allah las – calico review – mexican summer
7 – carl sagan’s skate shoes – s/t – super secret
8 – chain wallet – chain wallet – jansen
9 – frog hair – a long list of shortcomings – liplock records
10 – lady wray – queen alone – big crown
11 – lvl-up – return to love – sub pop
12 – children of pop – what does 69 mean? – #veryjazzed
13 – haku – na mela aka – em records
14 – sts9 – the universe inside – 1320 records
15 – merchandise – a corpse wired for sound – 4ad
16 – s u r v i v e – rr7349 – relapse records
17 – maita, luisa – fio da memoria – cumbancha
18 – falana, shana – here comes the wave – team love
19 – the olympians – s/t – daptone
20 – colonial blue – dear misery – s/r
21 – lemon twigs, the – do hollywood – 4ad
22 – hector ward & the big time – evolution: live at the saxon pub – s/r
23 – votaries – psychometry – wharf cat records
24 – cameron, alex – jumping the shark – secretly canadian
25 – acid arab – musique de france – crammed discs
26 – story, dexter – wondem – soundway records
27 – american football – s/t – polyvinyl
28 – nick cave and the bad seeds – skeleton tree – bad seed ltd
29 – ancient sky – all get out – wharf cat
30 – twink – dust bunny – disques de lapin
31 – strfkr – being no one, going nowhere – polyvinyl
32 – russian tsarlag – unexplained american goat lp – wharf cat records
33 – bell, caretta – ephphatha – coy records
34 – a tribe called quest – we got it from here… thank you 4 your
service – epic records
35 – purling hiss – high bias – drag city
Tune in Tuesday, January 10 from 5-7 PM for a unique interview with the lead actors from Broadway musical “The Book of Mormon”. Gabe Gibbs (Elder Price) and Connor Peirson (Elder Cunningham) sat down at Armadillo Palace… WHAT!?!? That’s “The Revelry Report” for you.
1 – kishi bashi – sonderlust – joyful noise
2 – macula dog – why do you look like your dog – wharf cat
3 – warpaint – heads up – rough trade
4 – green, thom sonny – high anxiety – infectious
5 – jambinai – hermitage – bella union
6 – carl sagan’s skate shoes – s/t – super secret
7 – chain wallet – chain wallet – jansen
8 – allah las – calico review – mexican summer
9 – frog hair – a long list of shortcomings – liplock records
10 – lady wray – queen alone – big crown
11 – lvl-up – return to love – sub pop
12 – children of pop – what does 69 mean? – #veryjazzed
13 – sts9 – the universe inside – 1320 records
14 – haku – na mela aka – em records
15 – s u r v i v e – rr7349 – relapse records
16 – merchandise – a corpse wired for sound – 4ad
17 – falana, shana – here comes the wave – team love
18 – maita, luisa – fio da memoria – cumbancha
19 – the olympians – s/t – daptone
20 – colonial blue – dear misery – s/r
21 – cameron, alex – jumping the shark – secretly canadian
22 – lemon twigs, the – do hollywood – 4ad
23 – votaries – psychometry – wharf cat records
24 – hector ward & the big time – evolution: live at the saxon pub – s/r
25 – acid arab – musique de france – crammed discs
26 – american football – s/t – polyvinyl
27 – twink – dust bunny – disques de lapin
28 – story, dexter – wondem – soundway records
29 – ancient sky – all get out – wharf cat
30 – strfkr – being no one, going nowhere – polyvinyl
31 – bell, caretta – ephphatha – coy records
32 – nick cave and the bad seeds – skeleton tree – bad seed ltd
33 – russian tsarlag – unexplained american goat lp – wharf cat records
34 – purling hiss – high bias – drag city
35 – thundersoul orchestra – 528-0728 – suite 28
