Great memories of the great jazz guitarist Ed Bickert

 I had a dream last night that was something about visiting my friend, guitarist David Occhipinti’s home. It ended up that there was going to be some sort of jazz awards celebration in the massive theatre that my dream created as part of his house. I guess, this more of a nightmare after all. I woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep but my mind wandered to beautiful memories. Most of them were about the legendary Canadian jazz guitarist Ed Bickert. 

When I was in grade 13 (yes, there used to be 13 grades in Ontario) I came in to Toronto from Burlington Ontario with my drummer pal Steve Patterson. We played a lot of music together over the years in all our high school rock bands but also as part of our high school big band called Jazzworks. (This group also featured my longtime friend Rob Clutton on bass) Steve and I came in to Toronto to hear the legendary big band the Boss Brass at a club called Bourbon Street which was located on Queen st. W. 

As write this I am listening to Ed Bickert playing with Paul Desmond (on vinyl!). How exciting it is to realize that this record was recorded live at Bourbon St. Ten years before where my story about Ed unfolds. 

Of course, while in High School the only people who were more exciting and glamorous to me than musicians were hockey players. I had started studying jazz guitar with Tom Forsyth after many years of lessons with Carter Lancaster (who is now Gordon Lightfoot’s guitarist). Tom had exposed me to many great guitarist including Ed and Lorne Lofsky who I went on to study with at York University. However, I still had one foot in the rock world and I took every opportunity I had to hear my favourites play live such as Alex Lifeson with Rush, Kim Mitchell  or Eddie Van Halen. These guys were big stars and I dreamed of being like them.  

Back to Bourbon Street…Steve Patterson and I got a table and couldn’t believe how close we were sitting to the band. We were used to being way up in the nosebleed seats at Maple Leaf Gardens. This would have been Terry Clarke on drums and Steve Wallace on Bass. I remember that Steve Wallace didn’t look much older than us. The band finished their first set and Ed came over and sat at our table. I was so nervous, and Steve and I were quite starstruck. There was a fair bit of silence because little did I know yet that Ed was a man of few words. It makes me laugh to think how much I must have been staring at him while he was playing in order for him to know I was a young, aspiring jazz guitarist. (And walk over and and sit at our table)

I don’t remember a lot of what we talked about but I remember I told him I wanted to become a jazz guitarist. Ed took a deep drag on his cigarette and paused before he replied, “you can’t make a living playing jazz guitar.” The world stopped for me for a moment. I must have questioned this statement by saying something like “what about you?” I remember Ed saying, he made his money playing jingles, weddings, tv shows etc. and that he made very little money playing jazz. 

In what seems like no time I was studying jazz performance at York University in Toronto. (Actually in North York) I was living the dream. Most of my friends were jazz students and we would go out and hear all our favourite players downtown a couple times a week. I sometimes wonder how many times I heard Ed Bickert play live. Certainly something close to one hundred. 

In fourth year at York, I was in the top workshop which meant each week we would have a guest instructor from the Toronto jazz scene. Sometimes this included other great teachers I had at York like Pat LaBarbara or Mark Eisenman or sometimes it would be Steve Wallace or Don Thompson. We started getting pretty good and weren’t as nervous about playing with or for some of these great players. Then one day we were in the middle of our first tune and in walked Ed Bickert. The band stopped playing. (This didn’t usually happen) There was an awkward silence until I invited Ed to come sit at the front of the class near to where we were set up. Now we were nervous. After we played a tune for Ed we stopped and waited for further instruction. Silence. Ed paused long enough to have a drag on a smoke he couldn’t have. (you could no longer smoke inside a university in 1989) “Sounds good,” he said. There was a bit of nervous laughter from the band. I guess we already knew we were at least good if nothing else. 

I got brave and asked for a little more criticism or specific things we could improve. After another long pause Ed looked at me and said “maybe a few more grips.” Grips were a term that Ed and many guitarists after him used for chord voicings. 

By the way, I have switched the record. I am now listening to the great duo record that Rob McConnell (the late great leader of the Boss Brass) and Ed Bickert made called Mutual Street. 

I continued to practise (work on my grips!) and after finishing my honours degree at York I immediately spent a large part of my energy being a band leader and composing my own music. While I was drawn to some of the more contemporary sounds of Bill Frisell or Pat Metheny and eventually some of the avant-garde music coming out of Europe I always had a soft spot for the guitar playing of Ed Bickert. There was nothing like it. Many people in Toronto and eventually world wide played in a similar style but every time I saw Ed play live something magical came out of that Telecaster. 

Once at the Montreal Bistro after the last set a bunch of young guitarists (I think David Occhipinti was one of them)  and I were crowded around Ed asking questions and just excited to be in his presence while we finished our last beer. Finally, Ed looked at us and said something like “time to go to your homes.” Ha!

Many years passed and we were all saddened by the news that Ed’s wife had passed. The other sad news that went with this was that he would be retiring. It was hard to believe that I would never hear him play live again.  This had been such a constant throughout my life for more than twenty years. 

I continued to lead bands and make my own records. I started playing the banjo and getting serious about learning the 5-string in my late thirties. 

Saxophonist Mike Murley was having a 50th birthday party on the Danforth. He was playing a set of music and lots of friends were there. I saw Ed sitting in the back corner with drummer Barry Elmes. I was feeling shy but I really wanted to go over and say hi. As I approached his table he looked up at me, raised one of his big bushy eyebrows and said, “I hear you're playing the banjo now.” That was the last time I saw Ed. 

Gibson ES-175

Here I am with our high school rock band; Listen. A great bunch of guys (Steve Patterson, Dean Epifano and Carl Jennings) and we had a lot of fun making music together. We even got to play our local rock bar The Orient Express where I would see my music heroes like Jane Siberry or Kim Mitchell perform.

I am holding my Gibson ES-175 that I bought used from a Trombone player in Toronto (my Dad and I drove in from Burlington).  I think I paid $750. That was a lot of money at the time but I knew it was a good deal. I was so into Steve Howe and Pat Metheny at this point that I had to have one. It is kinda funny that I was playing ZZ Top and Van Halen tunes on it at first.

I have not used it much over the last 5 or 7 years. It is not in as good shape as it was when I bought it. (the archtop is almost flat now) Besides the fact that I play a lot of banjo I also bought a telecaster that I quite like that is really easy to put on my back when I bike to the gig.

This Saturday (Dec 1) I am playing at the Rex with Steve Koven's Project Rex. It is going to be a fun band: Rob Clutton on bass, Matt Brubeck on cello, Sarah Thawer on drums and of course Steve on piano and synth. Good times.

For the first time ever (I have had this guitar for 36 years!) I tried putting flatwound strings on it. Wow. I love it. I love the feel. I love the sound. So...it looks like I will haul this big Gibson box down to the Rex. I guess I will take the ttc unless the weather is perfect.

If you have never been to the Rex you should make the trip someday. It is a special place. A real jazz  club, with a very relaxed vibe but right in the heart of the city on Queen West just west of University.

Yes I may take a few peaks at the tv screen for the first set as the Leafs will be in the third period again the Wild when we hit the stage at 945pm. After that you will have my full attention.

thanks for reading!

tp

new record coming soon!

I thought I would jot down a few words here as I do it so rarely now. This is an important time for me as I am heading into the studio with So Long Seven tomorrow. It is not my band...we are a collective but it is certainly the centre of my musical life.

I love playing with these guys. We just did a little tour in Quebec and it was so much fun. This new record is going to be really good. We have to special guests and some brand new tunes that have hardly been played live.

Did I mention we are recording at the legendary Grant Avenue Studio in Hamilton. (I was born in Hamilton!!)

I guess you could say this will be my ...let me see...Hoser City, Mit, An Eager Leap, Jazzstory, Tim Posgate Hornband featuring Howard Johnson, Banjo Hockey (featuring Howard Johnson), So Long Seven and now this new one from SL7 (doesn't have an official title yet) I guess this will be my 8th recording as a leader or co-leader.

It is a lot of work to make a record. I am really excited that we have our pal Anthony Michelli producing this time. I have worked a lot with him in the past but this is the first time he has produced and mixed.

I am really excited about the way my banjo is sounding today too (good timing!) as I took it to my fave guitar guy, friend and neighbour Mike Zimmerman. He gave it a quick cleanup, fret fixup etc. Thanks Mike!!

As always I couldn't do much of anything without the support of my fantastic wife; Julie. (I promise, I will come back when we are done!)

Ok, goodbye for now Toronto, hello Hamilton!!

So Long Seven video from Hugh's Room

Some of you know that I have been playing with a group called So Long Seven. At the end of March we had our Toronto CD release concert at Hugh's Room.

Here is a video (shot by Ed Hanley) of a tune from the show. This is one that is not on the album. It is written by Neil Hendry and called Banjo Tequila. (nothing I would be interested in. Ha!)

So Long Seven features Ravi Naimpally on tabla, Neil Hendry on guitar, William Lamoureux on violin and me on the 5-string banjo.



Among other upcoming shows we are performing at this summer's Hillside Festival in Guelph, Ontario.

I am so happy to be working with poets again. (it has been a while!) Please read the information and come out to the event below...The Trane is a really good spot to see a show like this too. Please let your friends who like music and/or poetry know about this too.

thanks,
tim
----------------

R))I))F))F)))
R))A))F))T)))

RACHEL ZOLF
GERRY SHIKATANI
a. rawlings
JORDAN SCOTT
JENNY SAMPIRISI
SONNET L’ABBE
MARGARET CHRISTAKOS
Special Guest Musician TIM POSGATE

A night of poetry moving onto the raft of music
and seven poets riffing with each other’s poetries

Each poet will present one original 3 min piece and
be joined by 3 other poets onstage with musician Tim Posgate
for an extended improv-based interpretation

The Trane Studio
964 Bathurst St., Toronto (north of Bloor)
416.913.8197

April 5, 2007
7 - 10 pm

$5 minimum, pwyc / your support is appreciated; Some poets remunerated through The Canada Council National Poetry Month (through the League of Canadian Poets)
A POETRY COLLEGE PROGRAM More info mchristakos@hotmail.com
PLUS Coach House Books will be on site with their latest offerings.


RIFF RAFT
Writer Bios

SONNET L’ABBÉ won The Malahat Review Long Poem Prize in 1999, and the Bronwen Wallace Memorial Award for most promising writer under 35, in 2000. Her first collection of poetry was A Strange Relief (M&S, 2001). Her new collection Killarnoe has just been published by M & S. She writes poetry reviews for The Globe and Mail and teaches Creative Writing within the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies.

TIM POSGATE is a Toronto based guitarist, banjo player, jazz composer and bandleader (blogger and podcaster too!). He runs his own label called Guildwood Records on which he recently released his sixth Cd; Tim Posgate Hornband featuring Howard Johnson and also performs with Jazzstory and the Rob Clutton Band. Tim has performed at all of the major Canadian jazz festivals as well as touring Europe and is a regular on the Toronto live music scene. He is very interested in Canadian music, poetry, theatre, visual art etc. and is married with two children. (Also notable is his second last recording; In the Future of Your Dream featuring the words of Peter McPhee)

Recently lauded “a profound new talent” by eye Magazine, a.rawlings is a poet, editor, and multidisciplinary artist. In 2001, angela received the bpNichol Award for Distinction in Writing when she graduated from York University. She has worked with many literary organizations, including The Mercury Press and The Lexiconjury Reading Series. angela is the co-editor of Shift & Switch: New Canadian Poetry (The Mercury Press, Fall 2005), an anthology featuring innovative poets. angela’s first book-length poem, Wide slumber for lepidopterists (Coach House Books, Spring 2006), featured in The Globe and Mail's top 100 books of 2006. Wide slumber for lepidopterists was translated from page to stage by Theatre Commutiny in November 2006.

JENNY SAMPIRISI is a Toronto poet and fiction writer. She recently completed her MA in Creative Writing at the University of Windsor. Her thesis, “Like Bone from Skin,” was nominated for the Governor General’s Gold Medal Award in the Humanities category. Currently she is the publisher relations coordinator for the Scream literary festival and is hard at work in the margins of a manuscript. Her visual work, poetry and prose have appeared in a number of literary journals including Minimalist Concrete Poetry, Filling Station, Carousel and dANDelion.

JORDAN SCOTT completed his MA in Creative Writing at the University of Calgary. His first book of poetry, Silt, was published by Vancouver’s New Star Books in January 2005. He is currently working on a manuscript titled blert which explores the poetics of stuttering. Excerpts from this work have been published by No Press and elsewhere.

GERRY SHIKATANI is an internationally known text-sound performance artist who has performed in Canada, the United States and Europe for over 20 years. His book of poems, AQUEDUCT: poems and texts from Europe, 1979-87,was released in 1996 in Canada and France, along with his book of short fiction, LAKE and other stories. AQUEDUCT,three books in a volume of 412 pages, was co-published by three presses, The Mercury Press (Stratford), Underwich Editions (Toronto-Saskatoon) and Wolsak and Wynn (Toronto), an unprecedented publishing event in Canadian literature. His work also appears in Premonitions: The Kaya Anthology of New Asian North American Poetry, and Carnival: a reader from Scream in High Park (Insomniac Press). A Passion for Food, a book of his interviews with some of Canada's leading chefs, was published by The Mercury Press in 1999.Opening Series, a collaborative film work in which Shikatani performs, was made with acclaimed experimental filmaker Phillip Hoffman of Ontario, and was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in 1999. A restaurant critic for twenty years, for an extended time at The Toronto Star, his recipes have appeared in magazines and cookbooks. He has taught creative writing for over ten years at Sheridan College and the creative writing departments of York University, Toronto and Montreal's Concordia University. Since 1991, he has been working on a major literary project, based on writing done in gardens in Spain and Japan. In 2003, the Capilano Review devoted its spring issue exclusively to his most recent poems, texts, photos and collages done in the gardens of Andalucia, Spain. His most recent project is a book of memoirs, reflections and essays on cuisine. Gerry Shikatani has lived in Montreal and Paris, and is currently based in Toronto.

RACHEL ZOLF is the author of the poetry collections Human Resources, brand new from Coach House Books, 2007, Masque (The Mercury Press, 2004), which was shortlisted for the 2005 Trillium Book Award for Poetry, and Her absence, this wanderer (BuschekBooks, 1999), which was a finalist in the CBC Literary Competition. Zolf lives in Toronto and was the founding poetry editor for Walrus magazine.

MARGARET CHRISTAKOS has published six collections of poetry and a novel. Her most recent poetry books were published by Coach House Books: Sooner (2005), nominated for the Pat Lowther Memorial Award, and Excessive Love Prostheses (2002), winner of the ReLit Award. Her novel Charisma was shortlisted for the Trillium Book Award in 2001. Two recent poetry chapbooks reveal her experimental edge and workings of gender: Adult Video, from Nomados in 2006, and Retreat Diary, from Book Thug in 2005. Christakos curates and facilitates poetry projects in the Toronto community (such as Poetry College, Crepes of Consciousness, Refuge & Reimagination, and Nuit blanche: Night Bulb), and facilitates a course with University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies called Influency: A Toronto Poetry Salon. She has taught creative writing at the Ontario College of Art and Design, Writers in Electronic Residence (WIER) and (currently) Glendon College. She has worked as an editor and production coordinator with cultural magazines and publishers. Margaret has given readings and seminars across Canada since the early 1990s and was Canada Council Writer in Residence at the University of Windsor in 2004-2005.

For more information
contact Margaret Christakos at 416 924 7066.