Ever heard of Jug? Gene Ammons along with Sonny Stitt? Maybe Willis Jackson or Red Holloway. These cats were mercenaries on the band stand counting off Cherokee at some ridiculous tempo that would separate the common artist from the professional.
Take a trip down to Jim and Andy's and you just might see my guest with Al McKibbon or Cal Tjader playing Afro Cuban melodies with Ray Barretto, or Stomping at the Savoy with mainstay Kenny Burrell.
Jazz is really black blues and for a long time a jazzers education was on the streets up the corner and round block from Chess Studios where cats like Ramsey Lewis and Ahmad Jamal paved the way for younger minority improvisers to develop an identity.
My guest is as accomplished a player as those listed above. He whistles while he works playing chromatic hypnotic chords to tunes like Afro Blue, mas Ritmo Caliente and Along Came Betty.
He came of age in the old school back in the game when albums were being written about the Tender Gender, melodic invention with no words just sounds- mainly acoustic with drummers like Joe Dukes, Idris Muhammad, Elvin Jones, Dick Birk, the aforementioned Tjader, Joe Morello and Art Blakey.
These cats were messengers of music with an understanding of their significance to pass the music along to those who were younger, educate them on the history the technique the looseness and unique sound that would ultimately pave the way for their own careers.
His collaborations are noteworthy because he got his shot with the masters. Rasa an Roland Kirk, another free king in Charles Mingus, Roy Haynes and Frank Foster.
God Bless The Child Richard Wyands welcome to the JFS