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Rep your favorite OLD musician

roistoroisto 881 Posts
edited January 2009 in Strut Central
By old I mean someone who's been around for decades and is still on top of his/her game.I just came home from Juhani Aaltonen's concert in Helsinki. Dude started his career in the late 1950's, has played on most of the better Finnish jazz LP's (like Hot Lotta), is now 74 and still plays the saxophone (and flute) like age ain't no thing. I mean he truly sounds AMAZINGLY good.

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  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    my faves (all born before 1940):

    Louisiana Red (blues sanger)
    Doc Watson (bluegrass guy)
    Joe Clay (wild-ass rockabilly)
    Sam the Sham (Tex-Mex rock & roller)
    Eddie Bo (NOLA R&B institution)
    Dion (street-corner doo-wopper turned Bronx bluesman)
    Jerry Lee Lewis (nuff said)
  • unityunity 179 Posts
    fred anderson.
  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    My favorite Portland folks who have been around for decades:

    Janice Scroggins. Piano player. Her lp Plays Scott Joplin on Flying Heart was nominated for a grammy. She has anchored the Linda Hornbuckle band for more than a decade and plays in every Portland All Star jazz or blues band.

    Linda Hornbuckle. Singer. Soul and blues. Every recording and youtube vid I have seen sucks, but if you get the chance to see her live.

    Mel Brown. Drummer. From the Newport Jazz site:
    Mel Brown has been a fixture on the Portland Jazz Scene for over 40 years.
    It was playing in band at Washington High School, that Mel decided music would be his life. Soon thereafter, he found himself playing at the legendary Cotton Club where he would also spend time between sets working on college math assignments! Later down the road it would be Redd Fox who, after hearing Mel???s drumming, made a call to Martha Reeves. Weeks later Mel would find himself at Whiskey a Go-Go in Los Angeles playing for Martha and the Vandellas. This you could say was his entree into the Motown family. Eventually, Brown was the staff drummer for Motown Music Corporation, working with the Temptations and Supremes. For ten years Mel Brown was the drummer for an impressive list of celebrities including Diana Ross, Suzanne Somers, Hal Linden, Connie Francis, Pat Boone, Smoky Robinson, Stevie Wonder..... the list of musicians Mel has worked with is unbelievable!

    Establishing himself as one of America???s foremost drummers, in 1989 the Mel Brown Septet won the prestigious International Hennesey Jazz Search, beating out more than 700 bands from all over the world. The Mel Brown Sextet has also received numerous Northwest Music Awards.
    Brown has remained a passionate educator and has continually worked with students, conducted jazz workshops and served as a adjudicator in the United States and abroad."

    On top of that for decades now he has had a band playing most every night in Portland. Trio, quartet, septet... Some funky, some lounge, some hard bop. As if that was not enough he works full time as an accountant as well and is obsessed with keeping a perfect lawn.

    Marlin McCalin & Nate Phillips - Pleasure, Herb Albert, Crusaders, Jeff Lorber, Dazz Band most every soul lp produced by Wayne Henderson and a bunch of 90s lps on A&M. I'm not sure what they doing today.
  • Ayrotollah77Ayrotollah77 415 Posts
    Lou Donaldson!!
  • SmallAxeRickSmallAxeRick 497 Posts
    B.B. King
    83 and still
    In addition to his countless incredible albums, King
    has performed live over 15,000 times[/b].
  • PrimeCutsLtdPrimeCutsLtd jersey fresh 2,632 Posts

    in fact I need to see him play again. Long live Buddy Guy!!!
  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    Pinetop Perkins:


    Here's Pinetop just last month, at 95 years old, selling cd's by hand at the back of a Bavu Blakes/Gary Clark Jr. show at Antone's...now THAT my friends is a man staying on his grizzly.

  • funky16cornersfunky16corners 7,175 Posts
    Andy Bey
  • PrimeCutsLtdPrimeCutsLtd jersey fresh 2,632 Posts
    Pinetop Perkins:


    Here's Pinetop just last month, at 95 years old, selling cd's by hand at the back of a Bavu Blakes/Gary Clark Jr. show at Antone's...now THAT my friends is a man staying on his grizzly.


    that's badass!

    damn he's still smoking cigars?!?!?!?
  • The_Hook_UpThe_Hook_Up 8,182 Posts


    his first record came out in 1958...no shit
  • secondlinersecondliner 63 Posts
    tom waits


    barbara lynn
  • roistoroisto 881 Posts
    tom waits

    He's 59...let's stick to people that are 70+.
  • JimsterJimster Cruffiton.etsy.com 6,963 Posts
  • secondlinersecondliner 63 Posts
    tom waits

    He's 59...let's stick to people that are 70+.

    i feel, but dude's been making quality for 4 decades.
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