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Boston
Our first trip was via a Greyhound Bus to Boston and from the date on the ticket, it looked like 1972. Although we departed from Schenectady, I think we had to change in Albany - that was a seedy Bus Station back then!
I don’t remember where we stayed in Boston but I do remember going to see Larry Coryell and the Eleventh House down in the Jazz Workshop's smoky basement.
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| Bus Ticket to Boston |
New York City
Our trip to New York City was crazy and scary but laughable in retrospect.
Once again we departed by bus from Schenectady. This time we were armed with an already outdated book titled “New York on $5 A Day” and arrived at the YMCA only to find it was way out of our meager price range…
After wandering around midtown for a while, we finally settled for a room at the funky Hotel Wolcott that we could afford. There was a smelly wino teetering in the lobby and the bathroom water was a rusty orange! Ah but we were on a hardcore jazz adventure so we “grinned and barred it.”
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| Hotel - $11.20 - yikes!!! |
We then wandered down to the Lower East Side (that area was pretty down and out way back then) searching for a jazz club called “Slugs.” After a scary walk through a block of Hells Angels in the dark (our knees were quaking as we timidly passed their motorcycles and tattoos), we arrived at Slug’s only to find it had closed down weeks if not months earlier!
We eventually saw McCoy Tyner over at the Village Vanguard (another smoke-filled basement) and called that trip a memorable success!
A few additional notes on these trips. In Boston we stayed at the YMCA on Huntington Ave. I have a receipt for that. We did see Larry Coryell, but I don't think he had yet formed the Eleventh House. He was playing with Steve Marcus (tenor), Mike Mandel (e piano), Merve Bronson (bass) and Harry Wilkerson (drums). This was essentially the same lineup as on Barefoot Boy. It was VERY LOUD, but still great. We also say Lighthouse at the Orpheum and one of the lab bands at Berkelee. I seem to remember that John Scofield and Herb Pomeroy may have been playing with them (not sure about that). In NYC, we did find a club on the east side and we saw Gary Bartz while nursing our one drink minimum to the max. Tyner's group at the Vanguard had Alphonse Mouzon on drums, so it was more fusion oriented than expected. I was disappointed not to have seen Elvin. I also remember strolling around the WTC site which was only partially completed at the time. Pretty eery. All in all, these were both great trips and had a big influence on my musical tastes and appreciation for life in the big cities. Thanks for the memories Rich.
ReplyDeleteBill - You have a great memory! Thanks for the details - yeah I remember Lighthouse - that was a great concert! (also remember Alphonse Mouzon and how McCoy was pounding those keys - I thought the piano might break!)
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