ONOFFON

[onoffon]

Oct 29, 2009, 10:12am, davekershaw wrote:Excellent article Von.Great to see you reaching more and more people.All the best,Dave.Thanks for the kind words, Dave... it was very nice of them to publish that article...On a sad note... Stacy Rowles passed away this weekend...Stacy and I had a lot in common. Her father, Jimmy Rowles, was one of the finest pianists in west coast jazz history. Jimmy was part of the Nocturne Records rhythm section with Harry Babasin and Roy Harte. He also worked with Benny Goodman, Woody Herman, Les Brown, Tommy Dorsey, and Tony Bennett, and as a studio musician. He frequently played behind Billie Holiday and Peggy Lee, and in the 1980s he succeeded Paul Smith as Ella Fitzgerald's accompanist. He also mentored Diana Krall.Stacy became one of the rare female trumpet-fluegelhorn players. She played in the trumpet section of the Maiden Voyage band and at the big Woody Herman 50th anniversary concert at the Hollywood Bowl in 1985, where she and her dad tore it up. Stacy has performed with some of the giants like Dizzy Gillespie and Clark Terry.She was born the same year I was - 1955 - and she passed away due to injuries she received in an automobile accident a couple of weeks ago.I spoke to her a few months ago and she remembered the name of Harry Babasin fondly, being a household word while she was growing up.I am devastated by the loss of this lovely and talented woman... My deepest condolences to the family...

[sefmadebeatz]

I NEED GUIDENCE ON HOW TO BE SUCCESSFUL THROUGH TAXI, IS HAT HELP AVAILABLE?

[onoffon]

Nov 10, 2009, 12:16pm, sefmadebeatz wrote:I NEED GUIDENCE ON HOW TO BE SUCCESSFUL THROUGH TAXI, IS HAT HELP AVAILABLE?Trust me when I tell you I'm the last person you want to ask about being successful through TAXI...I think, perhaps, the "Success Stories" board may be more apropos...Good luck to you in your future endeavors...

[onoffon]

Sept 13, 2009, 10:23am, onoffon wrote:I've just been asked to be the interview guest on a podcast show hosted on the AllAboutJazz website called The Jazz Session with Jason Crane -http://thejazzsession.com/Of course, I'll be talking about my father's life and career and the documentary production. It will air sometime in early November and I'll be happy to post the time and date when it's locked in...As it turns out, the interview I mentioned was recorded but it won't air for six to eight weeks. It seemed to go well - it's tough to try to encapsulate my father's life in twenty minutes. As you all well know, I could have talked for hours about my father...Mr. Crane was very complimentary of my father's contributions and to me for preserving an important time in music history.My favorite part was when we were talking about the Charlie Parker recording. When most people recount that event - most famous for being when Bird and Chet Baker first met - they seem to never mention Harry's involvement. Jason, on the other hand, pointed out that it was Harry's hosted jam session at the Tradewinds that brought them together in the first place.Harry had met Bird back in Kansas City in the early forties and again, a year or two later, in New York City. So, it was natural for Mr. Parker to look my father up when he came to L.A. in '52. Chet Baker was a local boy from Inglewood who used to hang out at the club in the hopes that he'd get the chance to jam...The rest, as they say, is history...It was so cool for Jason to make that point without having had it come from me.I'm looking forward to hearing the interview when it finally goes live - maybe early next year.Huge thanks to Jason Crane, The Jazz Session, and All About Jazz for making this happen...

[Von Babasin]

Monday, Dec. 21st, I will be the guest on Jason Crane's "The Jazz Session", a radio/podcast that is hosted on the well respected jazz website, All About Jazz -

http://thejazzsession.com/

Of course, we will be discussing my father's contributions to jazz. Once it airs, it will be archived to his website for future linking.... Show #125.

In an earlier episode of Jason Crane's "The Jazz Session", Jason interviewed respected jazz journalist, Marc Myers, host of the JazzWax.com blog. Jason and Marc talked about Bud Shank's association with the Laurindo Almeida Quartet, a group my father formed, and its influence on the creation of the Bossa Nova - great listen -

http://thejazzsession.com/2009/09/02/th ... ssa-years/

It's nice to see the history books start to include all those innovators that influenced the future with genius and creativity...

Huge thanks to Jason and All About Jazz!

[onoffon]

Here's my interview on Jason Crane's The Jazz Session - http://lnk.ms/3XhkJ

[onoffon]

I'm preparing a huge proposal for my father's documentary that I'm entering into funding consideration through an organization called Film Independent. They host the Independent Spirit Awards every year. Anyway, the people that work with them are used to funding independent film and documentaries, specifically. I feel really good about this one...

We'll see...

As always, I'll keep you updated...

[onoffon]

Hey there -

Haven't checked in for a while.

I was just contacted by the co-publisher of Film Slate Magazine to do a feature article about my father's documentary and me as a filmmaker. What makes this different than other features I've received is it's in the film genre. Up to now, I've managed to get articles in music and jazz zines, and even a few as human interest stories in newspapers and magazines, but this marks the first time I'll be published in the film production world.

Another demographic that will care about what I'm doing...

I'll let you know when it's published...

On another quirky note - in February, this thread received roughly 15 views. In the same month, over at the original Taxi BBs, the ONOFFON thread was viewed more than 250 times...

Interesting...

[onoffon]

I had posted a link about four months ago to some of ONOFFON's music on a music community's guestbook and they emailed me today with this link -

http://www.stcroixmusic.com/?mod=showar ... &article=1

I love it when that happens! Really very kind of them to say such nice things about us...

Thanks St. Croix Music!

[drew]

That is a great article, Von, you guys deserve it.

Drew