Despite my young age, I was a pretty in-demand session player of bells, chimes, and glockenspiels back in the day. So I got tapped to do these sessions with Bob James. During the recording of "Mardi Gras," Bob kept getting annoyed that perfectly good takes were getting ruined by minor mistakes. His frustration kept building until finally, as we started from the top for the umpteenth time, he turned to me and yelled, "Can we do ONE Frickin' TAKE without your goddamn bells in it? Huh? how 'bout just a couple bars? Can you shut the fuck up for a couple bars? Is that too much to ask, maestro?"
The studio fell dead silent.
After a pause, I said, "Damn, for a jazz noodler, you're pretty Frickin' ornery."
Bob cracked up. Tension broken. We started from the top, and I didn't come in with my bells until we had given the drummer some. Bam. Bell-less "Mardi Gras."
(On the real, that T-shirt must get made, and that RZA "invented it!" graemlin is )
Come on. Im no record master like most of you... but come the fuck on. This is so obviously a lie or a joke that its not even amusing to me anymore. Shit... i wanna be the guy who flips these edits to the Mardigras NO BELLS 12" bootleg.
black on white. all these tees should always be white.
Or sweatshop grey. I was trying to make one at Cafe Press until I saw the idea about having the Biz gremlin on the back, and I couldn't figure out what fonts were used for it.
I just listened again, there aint no bells in that.
there might be a version of the masters on a protools session floating around somewhere. I have a bunch of stax sessions that are like this, everything separated.
Rootlesscosmo:I have NOTHING to do with WBAI or any so called prank or BS
I actually registred on here a couple months ago,but had forgot my password and uaser name..
Yeah,i've been a "Lurker" for 2 years,but that's only because i don't have time to look at this site everyday,and therefor,felt there was no reason to register.
How the timely situation J Smooth and WBAI playing that "Mardi Gras" break the same time it's been recent discussion on these boards,is beyond me.
If you look at J Smooth's profile,you'll notice he registered here a few years ago,but rarely post..In otherwords,he does look at these boards,and i'm sure he noticed the big discussion of the whole "Mardi Gras" without the bells story.
I just listen to the "Underground Railroad" every week,and when i heard them playing that break, i thought it would be a good time to re-register on here to break the news of them palying the break.
I'm no phony poster or trying to bullshit anyone on here..I also posted yesterday about the infamous "Nas Is Like" sample,trying to help people,saying SOULMAN has the sample on one of his "World Of Beats" tapes,so contact him.
I'm just trying to help with anything i can.
I've never talked to/met J Smooth,but i will say he has a dope (plug for him right here)website/blog called "Illdoctrine" check it out
I'm no phony poster or trying to bullshit anyone on here..I also posted yesterday about the infamous "Nas Is Like" sample,trying to help people,saying SOULMAN has the sample on one of his "World Of Beats" tapes,so contact him.
Oh, if only this "SOULMAN" person you speak of were a member of our humble little forum, he surely would come forward with the answer. If only ...
Many years ago when I first got into the crazy world of collecting records I witnessed a bunch of older 50's collector dudes have a long debate about whether or not you could hear a soda machine in the background of one of the Elvis Sun 45's.
I promised myself I would never turn into one of them.....infatuated with minutae that maybe 7 people on the face of the earth could give a shit about.
But alas.....it's an inevitable symptom of the vinyl disease.
Concerning the version with practically no bells which I,m prtty sure is the same as in that mix, they were selling it at stores like labcabin.com awhile back so anybody could of picked up a copy of that.Besides does anybody really think taht Biz would give his treasure/Holy grail to some other DJ for a mix on some radio station???? FUck DAT!! THAT"S ON SOME STRAIGHT RETARDED SHIT! What would stop him from going out and pressing bootleg 12" of it behind Biz"s back. This whole theory and situation about the panning is extremely viable due to the types of home-made type soundsystems and audio setups from back in tha day. It even happens to me nowadays with Hosa cables sometimes. You just get one channel coming out from the master output. I personnaly would rather keep the mistery alive cuz it kinda gives me more energy and motivation to go out there and get my own rare holygrail.....In a way this is inspirational and given the respect I have for BIz I wouldn"t want to discreit one of his claims to fame.He diserves it.
I just remembered , I think the person who issued the bootleg with bells paned was Dusty Kid (Dusty Fingers creator)....and the store I listed was "turntable lab dot com"(I'm writing it this way just in case there's some kid of coding in these threads to avoid diplaying their name) not labcabin.com(some kind of system glitch or conspiracy against them ....
Just to keep hope alive, one of the things with the CTI records and 70s jazz was that they were recorded after the advent of isolation booths. This enabled more mixing etc after the actual recording, and also, more importantly, overdubs and alternate takes to create the finished product. The bells seem like a pretty obvious overdub to me, so in they could be removed for an alternate mix.
Why is this version of Mardi Gras called a Holy Grail? Because just like the 'real' holy grail, it doesn't exist!
This minor detail has not stopped the mythical record gaining a cult-like status though, and if some Jeebus character can keep a religion going around evidential articles like his towel or his beer glass, why can't Biz have his own religion based on a record? Afterall, nobody[/b] beats the Biz. Nobody[/b]. In part 1 of the interview (issue 8) Biz crosses himself when he mentions being schooled in digging by Breakbeat Lenny (the first phrophet? founding father?), collecting records with Flash & Bambaata (apostles?) and this religion already has it's own holy books (Big Daddy issue 8 and 9 were the secret was first learnt). Like all religions, if questioned we can fall back on that favourite defense of the devout; until you can prove it doesn't exist...
The Biz interview:
"See, 'Mardi Gras', I'ma explain to everybody - 'Mardi Gras' was a live record. I got a 12" on CTI, it's like an EP. It's got 'Mardi Gras', it's got 'Westchester Lady', and it's got 'Solero' on it. But the 12", it starts off: ti-tit-dom boom, tat, boom tat boom, boom, tat tat, boom tat, then it comes into the bells[/b]. I got two"
I like the t-shirt idea, but I don't know about that mardi gras image... and I'd like a laughing Biz on the back!
Just to keep hope alive, one of the things with the CTI records and 70s jazz was that they were recorded after the advent of isolation booths. This enabled more mixing etc after the actual recording, and also, more importantly, overdubs and alternate takes to create the finished product. The bells seem like a pretty obvious overdub to me, so in they could be removed for an alternate mix.
Ok people, read that thing WELL. I won't elaborate. Enough with the bullshit. This thread contains the elements of the solution : DK, aka Dusty Kid. Biz. And Phil, but he wont say shit. Dusty won't say shit too. And Biz, that's his game. So y'all figure it out.
I like the t-shirt idea, but I don't know about that mardi gras image... and I'd like a laughing Biz on the back!
Sayin. I like the darker gray shirt color with black ink. I think the more subtle it is the better. It's not like anyone's going to get it more quickly if it's more visible. The mardi gras does need a bit of work. Hell, you could probably just put the words "Mardi Gras" there. It would still be cryptic enough.
A Biz image on the back is Maybe with him saying "Diabolical!" or something.
A Biz image on the back is....Maybe with him saying "Diabolical!" or something.
Yeah, my thought was to put the CTI breifcase/Biz "Got It" greamlin on the upperback portion....
I was thinking that too. although I feel like for the shirt you should use a pic of Biz making, like, the gas face with his tongue out like he's saying "I got it, you snitches!"
(law-strut interlude) is there gonna be some legal issue with using Biz's likeness? you know he's going to see it.
Comments
VH1 behind the bells....
oh and rootless, beat ya! ha!
I'm sayin...this can happen
P*te man you had me rolling with this...
I would probably skip the flames.
Otherwise, looks good.
Black on grey?
Or sweatshop grey. I was trying to make one at Cafe Press until I saw the idea about having the Biz gremlin on the back, and I couldn't figure out what fonts were used for it.
Had a few ideas.....
-Black Ink on White
-Dark Green Ink on White
-Chocolate Ink on Baby Blue
-Black Ink on Grey
any ideas you have...Like I said before, I am assuming Raj needs to sign off on any of these things so...I don't want to disrespectfulicate...
there might be a version of the masters on a protools session floating around somewhere. I have a bunch of stax sessions that are like this, everything separated.
Rootlesscosmo:I have NOTHING to do with WBAI or any so called prank or BS
I actually registred on here a couple months ago,but had forgot my password and uaser name..
Yeah,i've been a "Lurker" for 2 years,but that's only because i don't have time to look at this site everyday,and therefor,felt there was no reason to register.
How the timely situation J Smooth and WBAI playing that "Mardi Gras" break the same time it's been recent discussion on these boards,is beyond me.
If you look at J Smooth's profile,you'll notice he registered here a few years ago,but rarely post..In otherwords,he does look at these boards,and i'm sure he noticed the big discussion of the whole "Mardi Gras" without the bells story.
I just listen to the "Underground Railroad" every week,and when i heard them playing that break, i thought it would be a good time to re-register on here to break the news of them palying the break.
I'm no phony poster or trying to bullshit anyone on here..I also posted yesterday about the infamous "Nas Is Like" sample,trying to help people,saying SOULMAN has the sample on one of his "World Of Beats" tapes,so contact him.
I'm just trying to help with anything i can.
I've never talked to/met J Smooth,but i will say he has a dope (plug for him right here)website/blog called "Illdoctrine" check it out
Anyone who has problems with the situation,take it up with J Smooth or Wbai,they're the ones that played it,not me.
Peace!
Oh, if only this "SOULMAN" person you speak of
were a member of our humble little forum, he surely
would come forward with the answer. If only ...
I promised myself I would never turn into one of them.....infatuated with minutae that maybe 7 people on the face of the earth could give a shit about.
But alas.....it's an inevitable symptom of the vinyl disease.
Yeah,Phil "Soulman" Stroman,who post on here,the same one man.
He played the break on either the first or second "World Of Beats" tapes.
It's up to him to answer it,if he sees this post,not me.
I don't speak for him or anyone else.
I'm sure he's not the only one on here that knows about break that most don't.
That doesn't mean he's going to give the answers,just because he sees a post about
I personnaly would rather keep the mistery alive cuz it kinda gives me more energy and motivation to go out there and get my own rare holygrail.....In a way this is inspirational and given the respect I have for BIz I wouldn"t want to discreit one of his claims to fame.He diserves it.
Peace
Why is this version of Mardi Gras called a Holy Grail?
Because just like the 'real' holy grail, it doesn't exist!
This minor detail has not stopped the mythical record gaining a cult-like status though, and if some Jeebus character can keep a religion going around evidential articles like his towel or his beer glass, why can't Biz have his own religion based on a record? Afterall, nobody[/b] beats the Biz. Nobody[/b].
In part 1 of the interview (issue 8) Biz crosses himself when he mentions being schooled in digging by Breakbeat Lenny (the first phrophet? founding father?), collecting records with Flash & Bambaata (apostles?) and this religion already has it's own holy books (Big Daddy issue 8 and 9 were the secret was first learnt).
Like all religions, if questioned we can fall back on that favourite defense of the devout; until you can prove it doesn't exist...
The Biz interview:
"See, 'Mardi Gras', I'ma explain to everybody - 'Mardi Gras' was a live record. I got a 12" on CTI, it's like an EP. It's got 'Mardi Gras', it's got 'Westchester Lady', and it's got 'Solero' on it. But the 12", it starts off: ti-tit-dom boom, tat, boom tat boom, boom, tat tat, boom tat, then it comes into the bells[/b]. I got two"
I like the t-shirt idea, but I don't know about that mardi gras image...
and I'd like a laughing Biz on the back!
Nobody beats the Biz my brothers. Nobody.
the live record thing is kinda convincing.
And Phil, but he wont say shit. Dusty won't say shit too. And Biz, that's his game. So y'all figure it out.
Sayin. I like the darker gray shirt color with black ink. I think the more subtle it is the better. It's not like anyone's going to get it more quickly if it's more visible. The mardi gras does need a bit of work. Hell, you could probably just put the words "Mardi Gras" there. It would still be cryptic enough.
A Biz image on the back is
Yeah, my thought was to put the CTI breifcase/Biz "Got It" greamlin on the upperback portion....
The URL is on the outer rim of the record.
I was thinking that too. although I feel like for the shirt you should use a pic of Biz making, like, the gas face with his tongue out like he's saying "I got it, you snitches!"
(law-strut interlude) is there gonna be some legal issue with using Biz's likeness? you know he's going to see it.