E-mails&Anecdotes

Thought you would dig this from John Williams.
----- Original Message -----
From: JohnandMary (molly1@digital.net)
To: Phil@PhilWoods.com
Sent: Wednesday, May 09, 2007 3:05 PM
Subject: Joe Maini

MARY WILLIAMS
molly1@digital.net
EarthLink Revolves Around You.

Phil ! Many thanks for the stuff you've been sending.......so kind of you to think of me and keep this old has-been in the loop. Sure loved seeing that stuff on Joe and the web-page with Gerald Wilson video. Also spotted Urbie in brass section, did I not?
Isn't it terrific that there are still good people around who remember the Wild One, Joe M.? We first met on the Johnny Bothwell band in 1948. Also met Frank Isola there, and Dick Kenny. I think Sonny Rich was on for a while too. (I knew Sonny from the Mal Hallett band in 1945......he was the first to have all the early Bird-Diz records on Guild and would play them for us in the hotel rooms at night. I was 16 and Sonny I think was 17 then. Some overwhelming stuff for this country boy from Vermont!) Anyway, hanging out with Joe Maini and Frank on the Bothwell band was some party! We played Lenny's Wagonwheel in Bridgeport, Conn. for about 6 weeks that summer. Band slept upstairs and all the spaghetti you could eat every night for dinner downstairs. Nobody had a dime.....or a car. Played cards (Hearts, mostly, would you believe!) all day and smoked a lot of pot. After the gig out of desperation we would walk two or three miles to downtown......which was closed tighter than a drum except for a diner, and walk home again. But with Frank and Joe it was hilarious going both ways (I was always the most appreciative audience....even in Charlie's in later years. I think we would all agree that, next to the pure joy of jazz, it was the intoxicating humor that always surrounded us that kept us in the game.......starvation be damned!) As you well know, the big band business was already dying in 1948........at Lenny's that summer Bothwell started cutting back, and, wouldn't you know it, the first to go was the bass player. Sure. Who the hell needs a bass player, doncha know. But Frank and I did a pretty good job of keeping those guys off their ass regardless. Lots of fond memories. Well, later Bothwell took five of us into a club in Harlem for a couple of weeks and then reformed and we headed out on some one-nighters. (Before I forget, one night at the club in Harlem who did Frank and I spot sitting at the bar but Bud Powell. Migawd, my hero, right there. Frank and I hovered all around him next intermission, bought him a drink........and God's truth, Frank saved Bud's cigarette butt as a souvenir! Of course I asked him to sit in and he agreed.....I never bothered asking Bothwell but just brought him to the bandstand when it was time. I'm pretty sure Bothwell probably didn't even know who he was....and was probably pissed off that I had brought him up. Bud was a little out of it as always, but oh when he played that set it was dynamite. I just watched and listened in awe.)
Anyway, things went from bad to worse with the band......weren't getting paid, etc. You know the drill. Finally in Youngstown, Ohio, it dissolved. I rode back to NYC with lead trumpet player (can't remember his name....from Providence, R.I.) and Frank went home to Detroit AND TOOK JOE MAINI WITH HIM. Oh man, the stories Frank told about those few weeks would break you up. Frank was already the "outcast" in the very traditional Italian, auto-worker, patriarchial family, but Frank's antics were at least somewhat controlled at the old homestead dinner table.....but of course, not so with Joe. Finally Frank's Dad took him aside and said. "Enough already. Frank, you can stay. But your friend, Joe, he gotta go!)
I was back in NYC in 1949-50....went to Radio-Television Institute and worked out my 802 card. Frank and Pat, his wife, were my saviors during that time and of course the jam sessions were endless.....and Joe was at many. Those with Bird at the underground pad at 136 and Broadway that Jimmy Knepper recorded (on his WIRE recorder.......they keep being referred to as tape) and later came out.....bits and pieces strung together....on Spotlite Records (and according to the website also as Bird's Eye) do not have much on them except Bird and rhythm sections because Jimmy would turn recorder on and off to save space for only Bird. I get a bridge or so here and there as I recall........a momentous event indeed. I have a postcard my folks saved that I scribbled to them May 28, 1950, telling them I had "just gotten home from a session at which I played three hours with Charlie Yardbird Parker" and my exultation leaps off the card. What fun, huh?
One other memory of Joe.......you remember all those sessions at Nola's where we would chip in to rent a studio. And you remember Lindy's right underneath it......much too expensive and show-biz for any of us starving nuts to go near. Well, we're all leaving Nola's one night and Joe is in his usual wacko, out-of-control personna. He runs out onto the sidewalk....turns..runs into the middle of Lindy's waving his arms and shouting like the madman he was! We're all out standing on the sidewalk laughing like maniacs........fortunately he got out before they could bounce him out.
Oh, those lovely, lovely days!!

Phil, thanks again for all the good stuff you send.

Love and kisses.

John

____________________________________________________________________________________

Unfortunately, a few years ago, my computer crashed and I lost all the many emails that Joe's friends sent. If by chance you see your e-mail is not listed, that's why. You can always resend an email regarding Joe any time you wish.

From Bobby Shew
Jazz trumpet
7/11/02

Hi,

I only slightly knew Joe but I was able to hear him play live many times, especially with the Terry Gibbs band. I eventually ended up taking Al Porcino's place as lead trumpet player on Terry's band for
many years , starting in around 1968 until a few years ago.

One of my most absurd and LAST memories of Joe was one day in around 1964 when I drove up to the Local 47 offices and just as I approached the building, I saw Joe standing on the sidewalk just slightly north of the main AFM bldg. He was wearing shorts, his "identity thongs", an undershirt (not a T-shirt), brightly colored as I sorta recall, AND....a pair of those giant sunglasses approx 15 inches wide, in some
brightly-colored plastic, like yellow or red...or. He was standing there with 2 other guys who I don't remember as Joe's presence took all of the attention. I think they were smoking a joint ( or two) and sorta waving to cars driving by. It wasn't much after that day that I heard about his tragic passing.

I wish I had known him better. I saw him at the SEVILLE Club w/ T. Gibbs. I recall him using a coat-hanger as a sax strap. Conte told me stories of him unzipping his pants and swinging his schlong to cutoff
the last chord of a tune. I KNEW I shoulda stood on the SIDE of the band!

I think this is one of the most enjoyable websites I have seen because of it being a wonderful tribute to a truly great musician and a great character in our business. Thanks for doing it. I'll spread the word.
Are any of these albums available to your knowledge? I have ALL of the T. Gibbs things, as well as the jam with Clifford and Herb, etc., but none of the others.

Bobby Shew

From Pete Peterson
7/22/2002

Hi Mark;

I saw your great web site about Joe and it brought back alot of memories. Joe saved my life. When I was just out of San Quentin I got a gig in Vegas with Don Rickles. I was really in need of a gig and I did'nt know if my parole officer would let me go to Vegas. I went to your club and ran into Joe
who was sitting in. He gave me a ride home and I told him about the gig and I said that I was going to go and not tell my parole officer. He said not to do that because that would automatically violate my parole and I would be sent back to San Quentin. I didn't go but called my PO and he let me go. I looked pretty young in those day and Joe used to call me "the youngest of the ex-cons".

I remember Mark Anthony and the Sanbah Club and I loved Joe Dillard like a brother. I am in touch with some of the guys from those days: Paul Binnings (who I am going to visit in Lake Tahoe) and I spoke to Ernie Williams a few years back. Do you remember Reed Vaugan the drummer. He is living in New Orleans and working alot. I live in New York and am married and still trying to get a gig.

Take care and have it good.

Pete Peterson

6/29/05

Hello
You discovered Joe Maini for me.
I´m buying all CD´s with Joe Maini on sax. Last week I bought Kenny Drew
"Talkin and Walkin" and yesterday the postman gave me Red Mitchell. A friend
of mine has got some themes from Best Coast Jazz with C. Brown and mates. He
gave me You Go to My Head and Autumn in New York. As you know, here you can
listen to Herb Geller and Joe Maini on altos, and as I have been listen to
Maini not long ago, I don´t know who is who.
I think that Maini plays the first alto solo on You Go... and the last sax
solo on Autumn...
Is it correct?
Thank you very much for your time, and best wishes from Spain.Ubaldo

6/19/06

Dear Mr. Traversino,

Hi, I'm a Spanish jazz fan.

I was trying to access to your JOE MAINI page and it appears to be
discontinued. Are you planning to put it back?

Can you otherwise send me the texts you had on that page? I'm very
interested in finding Maini's biographical info and it seems to be very hard
to get!

Especially, I was told there were in your page some declarations denying
Maini's death as a result of a Russian Roulette game.

Will you PLEASE send me at least theses data or a link to your page?

THANKS A LOT

Martin

Hi, I was playing bass with Lin Halliday in Chicago around 1990 and one day he broke up laughing.He recalled Joe doing an ad for Selmer in which he had placed his member in the bell of the horn. Apparantly this was not too noticable and made it into Downbeat where it became a hit until the ad was finally noticed and pulled. Lin thought the world of Joe. I thought the world of Lin who would come around to show me changes he would use and all kinds of cool stuff.

Joe Mato

Mark,

Yes i live in Italy.Joe was a great alto player. One of the best and for sure better than many alto players much more famous. Do you know ? anyone borned near Foggia, have a big talent in music or other arts and Joe was born from Foggia's parents and so a son of Puglia. I am a musician, alto sax, tenor and flute player and i can say that for sure.The Puglia is the country where Foggia is in south east of Italy and i been there many times.you can see me in the link below and in the first pictures i am playng just in Foggia.Your Italian is almost ok probably better than my English. Thanks so much Mark, Merry Christmas to you, your family and Joe family.

Andrea Ventriglia

12/8/07

Hello Mark, My name is Lee Sarnoff better known as Waldo to my musician friends. You don't know me but I am a fan of Joe Maini and an old friend of his daughter Tina. I want to thank you for creating the web site tribute of Joe. He was an amazing talent and personality that not many people from my generation even know about because he left us at such a young age. His body of work with the level of players he performed with, speaks for itself. His daughter Tina is also an incredible talent. She is the best singer I have ever performed with and someone I care about very much. I haven't seen her in many years so if there is any way you can contact her please give her my email: pharoh@rock.com or cell phone # 954 296 5934. I know this is an odd request from a stranger but I would be very grateful! Thank you again for keeping the memory of Joe Maini alive and keep on Rockin.

Lee Sarnoff

2/1/05

Mark,

Just a brief note to let you know that I recently posted a Joe Maini-dedicated column on Phil Wood's website: There have been many visits to the page and a few comments after my own intro; I urge you to have a look, and to dig Jill Goodwin Woods' appreciation of Joe. P00lease let me know if there's any way I can help keep Joe's memory fresh in the ears of jazz lovers everywhere. And thanks again for leading off the website with a quote from one of my first published jazz reviews.

Best,

Charlie Drago

10/7/2006

Alan,

Had a long talk with Jerry. Lots of memories, lots of laughs. Our paths really never crossed, but we had a lot of friends in common.

Thanks,

Mark Traversino

-----Original Message-----
From: Alan Gill [mailto:krupa57@comcast.net]
Sent: Saturday, October 07, 2006 6:50 PM
Subject: ray anthony days To: traverma@earthlink.net

just got off the phone with jerry mckenzie, joe's bandmate in the ray agony band years ago he would love to hear from you his phone 760 325 7871 i sent him a printout of thr site cause his computer is not working

Thank You!
Alan Gill

MARY WILLIAMS
molly1@digital.net
EarthLink Revolves Around You.