Loren
Nunber one jazz fan Loren Abbey, relaxing on a lazy Saturday afternoon with good friends at the Belvedere Winery.
Nunber one jazz fan Loren Abbey, relaxing on a lazy Saturday afternoon with good friends at the Belvedere Winery.
This trio with Greg (shown here) with Rob Wright on bass and Yancy Taylor, vibes, produces a symbiotic sound rarely heard in these parts. Greg has an uncanny ability that allows him to adapt to Yancy's charts as though he's been playing them all his life.
Vernelle is backed up by Greg Hester, Don Olivet, Steve Webber and George Ballantyne
A collage showing John Handy and Dan Patiris with the Gerry Olds Orchestra playing a gig at the San Francisco Zoo(?!) circa 1960. The snap in the upper right corner is saxman Modesto Briseno at Chuck Travis's backyard barbecue.
Brew Moore blows at a 1960 jam session in San Francisco. That's Lou Levy playing that little upright piano and Jerry Good is on bass. The drummer is obscured so he'll have to remain unidentified.
A back yard barbecue was held at the home of tenorman Chuck Travis, seen here wielding the camera, in 1964(?) and music broke out. Brass section left to right: Bud Collins, Dent Hand, Allen Smith; drummer, Tom Reynolds; reeds, left to right: Ernie Chavez, Chuck Peterson, Frank Leal, Bill Perkins, Harvey Leventhal; piano, John Marabuto; the bass player (at this time) is not identified.
No photos of the food and booze are available.
Don is one of the top tenor players in the Bay Area. At Rodney Strong, he showed them why he deserves such an accolade.
Vickie Anne was at her best as she entertained the wine and chocolate fanciers.
Yancie wore his tuxedo shirt to Rodney Strong because he still had another gig to play in Naps that evening. (Greg wanted to know why he didn't wear a full tux for his gig, just because it was near 90 degrees) Since Napa's probably an hour's drive from Healdsburg, let's hope he didn't have to break any speed limit laws getting there.
Greg bangs out a tune at the opener of Rodney Strong's summer series, Jazz on the Green
Vibraphonist Yancie Taylor was the surprise guest artist at Rodney Strong Vineyards' kick-off of their Jazz on the Green summer series.
Frank and Linda came up from Fountain Valley to taste the wine, eat the food and hear the music.
I look back at this and my mind is thoroughly boggled. This is a photo of the drink menu aboard our Air New Zealand flight in 1976. A scotch for 50 cents! Grand Marnier for 75 cents! Before we landed in Papeete we had consumed a full bottle of GM (there were 6 of us) plus many many scotches and Tanquerays. (Click on image for enlarged view)
Life was so much simpler then.
We did a little boozing.
Time flies when you're having fun. These pictures of Pam and me were taken nearly 30 years ago. A never to be forgotten vacation in Tahiti, Bora Bora and Moorea, with a stop-over in Kauai.
(Click on image for enlarged view)
