morgancafe

Sat 5/2/98

12:29 pm

"Sizzle" -Morgan Young

I have a new aquisition to my prized percussion collection.... a 21" Mel Lewis Signature Istanbul ride cymbal, handmade in Turkey....signed by the craftsman on the underside of the bell. Oh yes.....and it has 2 small holes about six inches apart just short of the edge of the cymbal, just the right size to nestle 1 brass rivet each. shhhhhhhhhhh...you can hear the sizzle........the cool woosh that filled in the spaces when Bill Evans & Scott LaFaro played at the Village Vanguard in the 60's. The same breeze that underlied Elvin's powerful explosions.......the sound that instantly takes you to a hazy club before the dawn of Rock & Roll, where the men are finely dressed with narrow dark ties, between their narrow lapels, and the woman, all in dresses, adorn gloves up to their elegant elbows; their hair precisely piled high. You can see the sweat bead on the brow of the bass player as he works the gut strings of his doghouse. Another round of martinis is ordered accessorized with green olives stabbed with red plastic sabers. And under neath it all.....is the sizzle.....

I knew a man who new that scene, firsthand. He new the smell, the feel of the gut, the sound of the sizzle....and dug it. He tried to pass the sizzle on to me when I was 5. He bought me this clever little device that laid over my little inexpensive cymbals and created a "baby" sizzle sound. I dug it...as much as a 5 year old could. As I got older, I didn't cling so much to the ways of the swing. I pursued music that was more closely related to my generation. But I always dug the swing. And now, I'm 33. And I dig the swing more than I ever had - bored with all that is pop, uninspired with very little that is contemporary. My dad hit me with the swing when I was a pup...and it has stuck. My dad, however, has faded. He passed 2 years ago. We didn't really talk about the swing, only in small excerpts, and passing statements. When you get down to it, we didn't talk that much...period. But, I knew how he felt about the swing--- that was clear. The day I picked up my prized sizzle cymbal, like anything new, I sought out those whom I could tell about it, who would dig it & be excited too. Then it hit me, who would really dig it and appreciate it more than anyone else I could call. If I could show him my "grown-up" vintage sizzle ride and let him hear it, let him hear me work it, pull the overtones out of it, finesse it as experience from birth to now has taught me........Thanks for the swing, Dad.



	Sat 5/2/98 12:29 pm "Sizzle" -Morgan Young I have a new aquisition to my prized percussion collection.... a 21" Mel Lewis Signature Istanbul ride cymbal, handmade in Turkey....signed by the craftsman on the underside of the bell. Oh yes.....and it has 2 small holes about six inches apart just short of the edge of the cymbal, just the right size to nestle 1 brass rivet each. shhhhhhhhhhh...you can hear the sizzle........the cool woosh that filled in the spaces when Bill Evans & Scott LaFaro played at the Village Vanguard in the 60's. The same breeze that underlied Elvin's powerful explosions.......the sound that instantly takes you to a hazy club before the dawn of Rock & Roll, where the men are finely dressed with narrow dark ties, between their narrow lapels, and the woman, all in dresses, adorn gloves up to their elegant elbows; their hair precisely piled high. You can see the sweat bead on the brow of the bass player as he works the gut strings of his doghouse. Another round of martinis is ordered accessorized with green olives stabbed with red plastic sabers. And under neath it all.....is the sizzle..... I knew a man who new that scene, firsthand. He new the smell, the feel of the gut, the sound of the sizzle....and dug it. He tried to pass the sizzle on to me when I was 5. He bought me this clever little device that laid over my little inexpensive cymbals and created a "baby" sizzle sound. I dug it...as much as a 5 year old could. As I got older, I didn't cling so much to the ways of the swing. I pursued music that was more closely related to my generation. But I always dug the swing. And now, I'm 33. And I dig the swing more than I ever had - bored with all that is pop, uninspired with very little that is contemporary. My dad hit me with the swing when I was a pup...and it has stuck. My dad, however, has faded. He passed 2 years ago. We didn't really talk about the swing, only in small excerpts, and passing statements. When you get down to it, we didn't talk that much...period. But, I knew how he felt about the swing--- that was clear. The day I picked up my prized sizzle cymbal, like anything new, I sought out those whom I could tell about it, who would dig it & be excited too. Then it hit me, who would really dig it and appreciate it more than anyone else I could call. If I could show him my "grown-up" vintage sizzle ride and let him hear it, let him hear me work it, pull the overtones out of it, finesse it as experience from birth to now has taught me........Thanks for the swing, Dad.