ONOFFON

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Quote:or you could get ready to allow this huge event, to unfold, the way it's ready to.cause Von, this is so frikkin wicked, to get to witness this dream, start growing. and I still think there should be a movie made about you trying to get this done... I can't tell you all what your support means to me...You know I've envisioned this for a long time, Steve. I've watched the movie in my mind and even accepted posthumous awards on behalf of my father. This film will show at international film festivals and be embraced by the entire arts world. Some might say I'm delusional - that I'm living in a dream world, but I see it as an inevitability. A few years ago, I received a Certificate of Commendation to my father, signed by Los Angeles Mayor, James Hahn, honoring him for his cultural contributions at a series of events at city hall - that's just the tip of the iceberg.And the story of how this gets made will be in the extra features section of the DVD... Thanks to you too, Raags! That feast will honor the entire west coast jazz community that blazed a trail of creativity and integrity that shaped the face of music forever! Their time is coming...

[onoffon]

Last night, I played with my cover band at our monthly gig in Orange County. A particular woman who regularly attends our performances came up to me at the break. She asked me if I'd ever heard of the movie, "The Band's Visit". That's the movie I posted earlier about that mentions my father's "Harry Babasin Octet" in the dialogue, in reference to being the first recording Chet Baker played on in his storied career.Obviously, I knew of the film but it was so cool to have someone recognize his name and be excited about hearing it - especially in such a respected context.Incidentally, while I don't own it yet, I have found a couple of CDs that have a recording of that very group.A real gem for the documentary...

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It's looking very good right now... all the percentages were good. I maintain full artistic control and 100% copyright ownership. This is such a positive project - you can feel the excitement building...

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I recently received an email from Ted Gioia, author of a book called "West Coast Jazz" and owner of the new website, jazz.com. It indirectly involves my father but, once again, illustrates the impact of my father on jazz -"Von,I thought you might find this interesting. I will be running an article on Charlie Parker on the www.jazz.com website in a couple of months, and I commissioned artist Suzanne Cerny to do a portrait of Bird for this article. She included an image of your father in the background.I hope all is well with you.Best regards,Ted"The work is an artist rendition of the picture I've posted here with Charlie Parker, Chet Baker, and Harry Babasin, playing live at the Tiffany Club in 1952. When Mr. Parker arrived in L.A., he performed at a club in Inglewood called the Tradewinds, where my father hosted regular jam sessions. Charlie Parker and Chet Baker actually met for the first time at this particular session and the resulting recording is only the second of young Mr. Baker's illustrious career. His first, BTW, was also with my father at the Tradewinds earlier that same year...More later...

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A couple of cool things...I recently realized, in my pursuit to tell my father's story, I had given away all of my copies of the only Jazzpickers (my father's group he led on cello) album re-released on CD, even my own personal copy. So, I thought I might look around eBay to see if I couldn't find somewhere to buy a few copies. Then, I decided to see if I could contact the record company that pressed it. Lo and behold, I found the phone number and ended up speaking with the president of the company, Peter Jacobson of V.S.O.P. Records. What a nice guy! He was very complimentary of my father's career and talents and was excited to hear of my journey to produce the documentary. I mentioned my lack of CDs and he FedEx'ed a box of thirty to me today. How cool is that??!!?? He also asked me to keep him updated on my progress. And, if that wasn't enough to make this a great day, I just received comfirmation that, after being bumped from the two previous editions, the March issue of Jazziz Magazine has published Charles Levin's piece about my father and the documentary. It's only a 250 word article but they told me that once the film is complete, they would like to do a full blown feature on it.This is an extremely fortuitous time for this to happen for reasons that I hope to be telling about very soon...

[onoffon]

Taking a short break on the documentary front, I'm playing with my cover band tonight at a classy club called Coconuts in Capistrano Beach, between San Juan Capistrano and Dana Point. What a great location!Should be a LOT of fun!!!!! No cover charge...So, anyone in shouting distance should come on down and party with me!

[onoffon]

The other day, I gave Charles Levin a call. He's the writer who wrote the piece about my dad and the documentary for the March issue of Jazziz Magazine (still waiting for it to hit the stands). He wasn't home so I left a message thanking him for writing the article.Yesterday, I received this email from Mr. Levin -"Von,Got your message and also wanted to pass along this message: See "The Band's Visit." It's a foreign film about an Egyptian police department band's trip to Israel. You must see it for at least one line in the movie. I don't want to give it away. You will be touched.cl"I hated to tell him that I not only knew about the movie already but someone had given me the exact quote as well.He was, however, correct about how touched I am. About the movie, yes, that's very cool. But, what REALLY touches me is that people who I barely know are seeing this movie and contacting me to tell me about it! I'm absolutely beside myself. It's so wonderful that people are making the connection to just how amazing and important my father's contributions to jazz are...It's awe inspiring and humbling... it's so cool for my kids who never met their grandfather... it's so cool for my mother who still loves my dad with all her heart almost twenty years after his death...Thanks again, Charles Levin.It's all so incredible...

[onoffon]

Today would have been Harry Babasin's 87th birthday!So, have a toast to a great father, wonderful husband, all-around good guy, and one amazingly talented musician!!!!Cheers! Still waiting that March issue of Jazziz Magazine - maybe it will fittingly arrive at the newsstands today...

[onoffon]

Hooray!!!!!Finally got the Jazziz Magazine! It's a small but satisfying half page article, appropriately on page 13, with a great shot of my dad in 1946 when he was playing with Boyd Raeburn's orchestra. This is my favorite line (in reference to my struggle to produce this documentary) -"He's still short of cash to finance the film - tentatively called Harry Babasin's Jazz In Hollywood - but he's querying other foundations and drowning in research."Hahahaha... drowning in research... that's pretty cool... he doesn't realize how true that is.When I'm in my final edit on this baby, I'm really going to hate what I'll have to leave on the cutting room floor.Of course, what doesn't go into the movie could be part of the features section of the DVD release.

[onoffon]

Here's another very cool one...A respected jazz journalist and historian by the name of Marc Myers runs a jazz blog out of New York called Jazz Wax -http://www.jazzwax.com/He recently wrote about the early forms of the bossa nova and, as usually happens, he started the story in the early sixties. Well, needless to say, he received a huge response from the west coast, citing the Laurindo Almeida Quartet as the true originators of the artform nearly a decade earlier. I was very encouraged that so many emails were sent to Mr. Myers, along with my own and alto saxophonist, Bud Shank, who is the only living member of the group. Mr. Myers decided to look into this further and has interviewed Mr. Shank for a three part post on his blog.Today is his first installment. Bud had some wonderful recollections and I hope upon hope that I will receive my funding in time to interview him myself for the documentary. Here's a little of what he said -"In 1953, Laurindo was working on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood with jazz bassist Harry Babasin as a duo. Harry was amazed by Laurindo’s Brazilian songs, and after a few weeks Harry came up with an idea. He wondered what would happen if he and Laurindo added a drummer and jazz horn. Harry didn’t have anything specific in mind. He just wondered what would happen if two more instruments were added.Harry talked it over with Laurindo and Roy Harte, a friend and drummer. Harry had a record company at that time called Nocturne, and his office was in Roy’s drum shop. Roy, meanwhile, was co-founder of Pacific Jazz Records. Harry and Roy decided I would be ideal to take a shot at what they had in mind. I had known both of them and Laurindo for a while."Interestingly enough, Harry and Laurindo's association actually dated as far back as 1947 when they were both in the movie, "A Song Is Born". They started experimenting with the Brazilian rhythms almost immediately upon meeting and played together as a duo for a number of years before the addition of Bud and Roy came into the mix in '53. It's quite heartwarming for me to have Mr. Shank remember the events in such detail in giving my father the credit for this musical 'idea'. I have to add that it really wasn't until the introduction of Bud's sax that the 'fusion' of musical styles took place. The sax was the voice that fused the modern jazz feel to the traditional Brazilian rhythm.Mr. Myers called me personally to talk with me and invite me to contribute to a dialogue once his three part series is complete.It's a great honor to be invited to be included in such a respected weblog...