Cousin Corky's Newsletter

  KICKSTARTER    Learn more about "Songs for Truth and Harmony" and if you love it, you can join me in this mission and honor me with your name on the credits

Join me & Ernie Watts (2 x Grammy winning jazz icon) on Dec 10 at 7pm - Skokie IL TICKET & INFO

SHOP for the HOLIDAYS All TREE September CD releases are waiting under the tree. These are three of my new albums from Santa's little blues helper. And I've put together some bundles of joy packages for your friends and family with a sprightly 1-3 day delivery option. Chamber Blues, Siegel-Schwall and Solo.

Dear Cousins

That's Ernie Watts, jazz saxophone icon and 2 time Grammy Award winner on his pony in front of his place on Vinewood St. in Detroit, once upon a time, somewhere in the 1940s. That's me, around the same time on a different pony in front of my house at 8000 S. Euclid in Chicago.

ONE RESPONSIBILITY

We had one job and one job only, and that was to look cute. I think we had quite an early success. (This is a 18 second cute video. You can check it out and we will wait for you back here.)

We didn't know where our pony would take us. Though you can see we are pointed toward each other, so it seems like we were destined to end up here. But we didn't realize we were on the pony express and would get to "here" so quickly.

ROLLING ALONG WITH THE TUMBLING TUMBLEWEED

My wife Holly is helping me write this for you, and together we will highlight just a couple moments from Ernie and my long ride and tumble through the wild prairie of musical adventure and surprise, that eventually brings us together for our Dec 10th CONCERT here in Skokie IL. 

(That's Ernie. He decided he could get there quicker on a train.)

CORKY: But first I must share something special. For the last 50 years, I thought about Mac Arnold and mentioned his name a lot. The memory brings me back again to 1965 where Jim Schwall and I fumbled into a South Side Chicago club. We weren't supposed to cross the tracks but that's where we wanted to be. We were looking for places to present our newly conceived "two-man band" (I used a bass drum and a high-hat under the piano). 

FLOOR SHOW

We were asked to set up on the floor and play to the afternoon ladies crowd. We got hired immediately to play every Thursday night from 9pm till 4am. We were stunned. The owner of the tavern, Johnny Pepper, didn't want a two-man band so he would hire us a rhythm section every week. 

THE MASTERS VOICE

At the time, I was in a state of youthful and ecstatic mesmeri over the sounds of the blues masters like Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters as they flew out-a the grooves of my LPs and filled my room and my life. So imagine my jaw as I found out the two members of our first rhythm section were Muddy's bass player and drummer. But it gets better, if you can believe that. Week after week and all night long, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Willie Dixon, Little Walter, Buddy Guy, Jr. Wells, Otis Spann, Otis Rush, all the blues masters ... yes, those guys ... they hopped up on stage, took me and Schwall under their wing, and completely blew us away. (If you wanted to see my bottom jaw you'd have to look much lower).

THE CONNECTION

Jim Schwall and our drummer Sam Lay are no longer around to share the memories. Most of the kind and great mentors from 1965 are gone. Though Mac had contacted me last year, somehow I didn't make the connection. Last night Mac wrote; "Hey Corky !! Good to see you are still kicking it."

GAS CAN GUITAR

Last year when I checked to see if it was the Mac Arnold I remembered. He did say he sat in with me, but that could have been anyone. I learned he owned a farm and was doing a lot of farming, he was also a producer of Soul Train for 7 years, and I saw a video of him playing a gas can guitar, not a bass. I was so very very disappointed to find that it wasn't the Mac I knew from 1965. This time I looked closer at his earlier posts and noticed that I had missed; "Left-handed bass player who played with Muddy Waters.” Indeed this was the Mac I knew! It was like looking through the wrong end of a telescope 57 years back and finding a living connection to my first night in the blues at Peppers with Mac Arnold on the bass, when the kindness of these masters, like Mac, gave me such a treasured welcoming into the amazing world of the blues.

(Photo below: Mac Arnold playing a washtub bass in front of a trailer with the cropped letters "AY" and below that "ster." This reveled he was standing in front of Sam Lay's trailer. "shuffle master." LOL!

Harmonica Convergence - crossing paths in the universe - breaking ground all the way. 

HOLLY: Yes. 1965. The unwitting 21 year old Corky, stumbled into the ground zero of his musical heroes, Muddy, Wolf, Willie, (and Mac of course) and begins a residency of historic proportions, every Thursday night. Six months later, Wolf brings his family to hear Siegel-Schwall at Mother Blues on the north side, and then invites the band on tour with him. The photo represents a meteoric ride in the blues universe for Corky at the feet and on the knee of Howlin' Wolf. 

(Photo: New York City - January 1967. from Left: Jack Myers, Jim Schwall, Howlin' Wolf, me on Wolf's knee, and drummer Russ Chadwick)

YOUNG ERNIE

Meanwhile, a young student at Berklee College,  Ernie Watts, lands a last-minute subbing gig in the Buddy Rich band. After three years on the road with Buddy in this temporary spot Ernie laughs; "I guess I got the gig." This was a first step that volted Watts into the electro-strato-saxo-sphere of Jazz. 

STILL YOUNG CORKY

Meanwhile, Maestro Seiji Ozawa, delighted with a young phenom, sets the stage for Corky in 1966 to join forces with the great symphony orchestras of the world, with a compelling creation of symphonic blues by William Russo written for Corky. They are a disparate pairing of opposites, with Ozawa, Siegel, and the San Francisco Symphony, and are immortalized with recordings on Deutsche Grammophon. It becomes a hit, an American classic and blockbuster in sales. 

(Photo 1968: Me and harmonica. William Russo, Seiji Ozawa. Rehearsal Chicago Symphony at Ravinia.)

FIVE HUNDRED ALBUMS

Ernie Watts didn't hide his bright light under the cosmic bushel, and soon becomes a most sought after saxophone sound. Ernie collaborated on at least 500 albums from the hit makers and toured with diverse benchmark legends. Just name someone: Aretha Franklin, Steely Dan, Frank Zappa, Charlie Haden, Pat Metheny, Cannonball Adderley, Billy Cobham, Jon Luc Ponty, Marvin Gaye, Oliver Nelson, the Rolling Stones (He had a gig with Quincy Jones but Quincy insisted that Ernie accept the three month tour with the Stones instead.) You may not realize this, but Ernie is part of the distinctive soundtrack of all of our collective lives. He went on to become a 20 year alum member of Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show band led by Doc Severinsen. 

DOC

The universe continues its harmonica convergence. Doc Severinsen confided that he would come home each night after the Tonight Show broadcast, and unwind with his ritual of lighting a fire, sitting next to the fireplace, and frequently putting on the same LP, which so happened to be, Corky’s Deutsche Grammophon symphonic blues recordings. Doc was guest performer and music director for orchestras, and eventually invited Corky, many times, to perform one of those recorded works with various symphonies while Doc conducted. They also played some harmonica and trumpet tunes together.

YOUR COUSIN BOBBY

Since Corky was 8 years old and taking clarinet lessons, he remembers hearing about his cousin Bobby. "Your cousin Bobby is learning music too." But Corky and Bobby never ever met or communicated. Corky was excited about seeing Doc and also wanted to ask him about his cousin Bobby Rosengarden who grew up and got a gig in the Johnny Carson Show band and eventually became the leader before Doc took the position.  The very first time Corky caught a glimpse of Doc, at the other end of the back stage of the Phoenix Symphony, he was prepared to ask Doc about Bobby, but before Corky had a chance to even say; "Hi" to Maestro Severinsen, Doc blurted out; "Your cousin Bobby says hello."  

INDIA

The planets aligned, and Corky got a mysterious call from Dr. L. Subramaniam, known as the “god of the Indian violin” who was traveling from India and coming to Chicago’s Orchestra Hall from New York on tour with his Global Fusion project. Dr. L.S. was being interviewed by Jim Bessman for a Billboard Magazine article and Bessman told Dr. L. S. that there was a "musical visionary” in Chicago putting diverse genres together with an interesting project called; Chamber Blues. Subramaniam exclaimed: “I must meet him! - He must perform with me in Chicago!”  Subramaniam called Corky and invited him to join the rehearsal and perform the following night at Orchestra Hall! Thrilled and absolutely terrified, Corky agrees, and to his utter amazement the Maestro invites Corky to continue on with the tour in India. Many tours followed and Corky stepped on stage for the soundcheck in Mumbai and notices a commanding figure opposite end of the stage holding a saxophone, and of course, it’s Ernie Watts! They hit it off immediately.

(From left: Ernie Watts, Dr. L.S., Kavita Krishnamurti, Bindu Subramaniam, Ambi Subramaniam, and me)

CONCERT OF HISTORIC PRECOGNITIONS

This convergence began a 15 year friendship and uncanny collaboration. Ernie is featured on; Chamber Blues "Different Voices" (2017) and "MORE Different Voices" (2022) albums, and has played a few duet and trio shows also. And that brings us right up to right now, Saturday, December 10th at 7 PM at St. Tim’s in Skokie IL. 

Timothy means “blessed one” and the saint was born of a Jewish mother, In 17 AD, and we can safely say, every Jewish mother since, has declared their son the special blessed one. LOL!   Astrology tells us that December 10th signifies "an intense attraction to music and the arts." This concert was in the stars for these "blessed-two time -travelers" in synch with the universe, and the muse. From Mac Arnold and the blues masters to Ernie and everything in-between, the pony express continues the adventure as it speeds through the Milky Way to places never known before.  

(Photo: Corky and Ernie at the Taj Mahal)

Yours,

Cousins Corky and Holly

Ernie and Corky • Saturday Dec 10, 2022 • at 7 pm • Skokie IL • 100 capacity seating • TICKETS

I've bundled up some packages including Siegel-Schwall, Chamber Blues, and solo, for you in my MUSIC SHOP. As they say; "Bundle up for the holidays." It's been a bundle of joy.