Seb Palmer

Woah!!!

As he himself says, during the talking segment (at the end), we’re used to seeing Carter McLean on smaller kits. This new yellow one is, by contrast, a real monster!

He’s an absolutely phenomenal drummer. With chops to burn, but he always plays with exquisite touch and feel. So very, very musical.

You can really see and hear how much these awesome new instruments are inspiring him. The kit looks and sounds utterly amazing. And he’s clearly having an absolute ball.

During the talking section at the end of the video, he explains everything about the kit: the sizes, the finish (a tribute to Tony Williams and Elvin Jones kits of the ‘70s), the build (three ply: maple, poplar mahogany).

Two kick drums, a 20” and a 24”. I can’t see the display head in the bigger kick. But the 20” has a very groovy Yellow Submarine printed graphic.

Videos like this are, simultaneously, super inspiring, and rather off-putting. The former because they show the pure joy of musical expression. The latter, because the standard is so high.

Anyway, what a kit! And what a drummer! Thanks for sharing the love and the skill with us all, Carter.

Ah… it’s great to have one’s expectations met. Or better yet, exceeded. And this disc does both. I’m sat listening to it as I type. And it’s just fantastic!

The excellent little booklet that comes with this expanded re-release album features numerous images from the contact sheets of the boys playing at the venue. And also, rather wonderfully, this:

I think there are fourty-four numbers in this three set odyssey! Talk about an embarrassment of riches. And the list is annotated, presumably in relation to notes made on listening back to recordings.

One thing that makes a striking contrast with The Contenders, who I looked at and listened to briefly recently, ‘cause Walt and Champ were involved, is how the original contributions by all three members of UWB are uniformly brilliant. Whereas I didn’t like the non-UWB contributions to The Contenders.*

I love all three of the guys! They’re beautiful, talented, soulful. The works. Deschamp Hoods’ stuff I find particularly beguiling. He does a Bach thing with David, on his ‘feature’ spot (not on this disc), and his ‘Mock, Mock, Mockingbird’ here is stupendous.

David Ball, the lone survivor of the trio, went on to solo success. Walt and Champ both kept up musical endeavours, on the fringes of success/recognition. Rather sadly, Champ Hood was working on his only solo project as leader – Bon Haven – when he passed. I must get it.

And, with perfect synchronicity, we hit another Hood original – ‘The More I See You’ – right on cue! It’s great that Lyle Lovett championed these guys. There’s a bit of Lovett stuff on YouTube with Walt and Champ as featured guests.

To my mind the only ‘immortal soul’ aspect of life – and it’s not some kind of ectoplasmic entity – is how we may or may not, as Napoleon rightly observed, live on in history, via the monuments we leave behind, and the memories that live on in others.

And what monuments these three have left behind! Playing as I type is the utterly gorgeous lightly jazzy ballad ‘Desiree’. I usually loathe arco bass in jazz and folk, etc (often horribly out of tune!). In this track David bows his bass, and Champ plays fiddle… and it’s sublime!

I might go back and amend some of these UWB star ratings to six. I can’t say how much I love this stuff. Cannot recommend these cats enough!

* Ironically, having said this, there’s a track on here, ‘Snowing Me Under’, credited to Steve Runkle, which is brilliant.

FOOTNOTE:

This already brilliant CD ends with a beautiful track by Brazilian composer Moacir Santos. I’ve heard this track dissed as MOR elsewhere online. Couldn’t disagree more. I love the music of Brazil. And it’s clear Walt and co. did too. Way to go, guys!

My father had Your Mama Don’t Dance on vinyl, when I was a kid. What a terrific album! The above photo is from the same sessions that produced the cover for the aforementioned Mama.

The first recordings I’ve found Kynard playing on are three Pacific jazz releases. He’s a featured side man on two, and as leader on one.

After these Pacific Jazz recordings came a string of releases on the Prestige label, which find Kynard now well established as a leader.

I believe I have a CD that combines Soul Brotherhood with Reelin’ With The Feelin’? And a few others in mp3 only format.

Three more albums as leader would follow, on Bob Shad’s Mainstream imprint.

And this is where I discovered him (thanks, dad!):

I’ve now got several other albums by Kynard, in various formats. I thought it’d be nice to gather together what I could about the man and his music in a single post. Including a complete(-ish?) pictorial discography.

For more info on Charles, check this website, Kynard.com. Another one taken far too soon, aged just 46. The above linked bio’ doesn’t say exactly how he passed, only that ‘The good Lord called Charles E. Kynard home July 8, 1979 as he sat at the organ that day playing the music he loved so much.’

At least he went out swingin’!

It seems that 1973’s Your Mama was his last official solo LP. He appears on just one cut – opener, ‘Smiling Faces Sometimes’ – on another Mainstream release, 1974’s Booty.

Discogs.com lists two more releases, called Nostalgic Trip Vol. I and II. Both of these appear to be all Gospel stuff. These look like they may be ‘private press’ releases by the Kynard family? There are no dates for these. I’d love to hear all of this stuff!

I posted the following as arather lengthy reply/riposte to a post by Dean Rudland on Facebook, in which he waxes lyrical about a compilation album that was a formative influence on him.

Great story!

I’d like to share a counterpoint. Why? Because so many folk I read about come from the Mod or Punk end of things. Which both are and were deemed ‘cool’. And that wasn’t my own experience!

I came to all things jazzical from more of a Hippy/Rock perspective!

One of my first musical loves was Thin Lizzy. And they had funk n soul aplenty! ‘Call The Police’, from Shades of a Blue Orphange is funky unison riff heaven. And ‘Still In Love With You’ is a soul ballad par excellence (Sade covers it!). ‘Nightlife’, and ‘Jonny the Fox’ continue their digging into the funky soul bag. People think of Lizzy as dunderheaded rockers. It was always their mellow soul I liked best.

And acts like Cream, Led Zep, and Santana? They are drenched in black American music. Cream’s funky rendition of Albert King’s ‘Born Under a Bad Sign’, and Santana’s Woodstock ‘Soul Sacrifice’ are the two reasons I started drumming.

But when it comes to the records in your parents collection, I was blessed inasmuch as my dad had these:

In Flight, by George Benson; Silk, by Fuse One; Your Mama Don’t Dance, Charles Kynard…

The best ‘compilation’ I recall from that era was by a hippy country/Americana outfit, and was called ‘Woodstock Mountain, Music From Mud Acres’, with folk like John Sebastian (Lovin’ Spoonful, etc), Happy and Arty Traum (what names!), and loads more.

That was on a cassette. On the other side? ‘Dawg Music’, by virtuoso mandolinist, Dave Grisman. With Stephan Granelli guesting on some cuts. Man, both these albums blew my young mind, and sent me on lifelong journeys of impassioned love for the art of musical creativity.

It’s largely thanks to the Grisman/Mud Acres stuff – as well as a live of jazz, of course – that I have such a passion for ‘bull fiddle’. So much so I own and play one!

Today’s Tee. Hidden under today’s sweatshirt. what’s the point, eh!

I love my blue Musicwise sweater! It’s one of a number if tops I’ve bought over the years from Jonny Trunk.

One in the eye for the Puritans who imagine that our own admittedly debauched era invented sexuality.

Lil’ is my kind a gal! Mo’ power to you, Lil! ♥️

Well, this is good! I recently set up my Gretsch Catalina Club Jazz kit. All my kits had been packed away, for quite a number of months. And I hadn’t been playing for a good long while prior to packing them up.

A few fairly recent events in my life had precipitated the worst depression of my life so far. And I’ve had a few such episodes over the years, alas. Both energy and desire had vanished from my life.

It was all I could do to survive, from day to day. There was nothing left in the tank for such past passions as musical creativity, or even just maintenance level practice.

I’d decided it was all just a delusional waste of time and energy. I was crushed, and beaten, by the vicissitudes of life. I’d come to the conclusion I should jack it all in.

And as a result of such thinking, and poverty, I’ve already sold quite a substantial chunk of gear. Some of which decluttering is probably a good thing. But I’ve also parted with stuff I’d far rather have kept.

But I feel that I might be gradually emerging from the slough of despond. The desire to set up my kit and play it came upon me. And it feels good. I’m rustier than a… erm, rusty thang!?

But you gotta start where you’re at. Ain’t no place else one can start from!

I first tried my hand a clay figures as a kid. Donkeys years ago. Including an attempt at a stop frame animation (an orc cleaving a boulder in twain!).

More recently there’s been my claymation Curtis. I made that two or three years ago. Going back a bit further, but not as far back as childhood – maybe around ten years? – I made this Napoleonic Frenchman.

I found this in a box, with some plasticene in it. The figure had fallen to bits. This tends to happens where blocks of plasticene meet. It’s a fault one waiting to part. So first think was to reassemble him.

Then I finished two incomplete parts: his rucksack and greatcoat roll. And added them to the figure. Sadly he’ll most likely fall to bits again. But I’d like to finish him, and maybe animate him a bit. Perhaps not as a stop-motion film.

More likely I’ll just clean him up – the colours tend to transfer, annoyingly (the blue here is esp’ irksome that way) – pose him a bit, and then dispatch him to Valhalla.

I’d like to find a way to make figures that won’t degrade. Perhaps from some kind of rubber, over a workable armature? These primitive plasticene hobbies don’t seem to have a durable shelf life!

Out and about again, I passed several churches, but couldn’t stop. Then a short spell arrived where I had a moment. And at that point I neared St Michael’s & All Angels.

I’ve passed this church before. Even taken a few snaps. But I usually see it from a different perspective. On this occasion I was able to park on School Lane, in rear of the church.

‘Twas a beautiful sunny day, as can be seen. And whereas the church was shut on previous visits, today it was open.

St Michael’s is set in a lovely spot, and has a lovely garden/graveyard. Particularly lovely in such clement weather.

I’ve usually approached this church from the other end of this path. Isn’t it beautiful in the spring light, with the daffs out?

On entering the church there’s the font, and an old inscription.

If you look up, you’ll be rewarded.

I wasn’t able to enter the under-tower area, so I snapped that but of stained-glass through the doorway.

Whilst visiting, I had to answer a call of nature. And what a khazi they have!

Once back out in the main body of the church, lots of stuff leaps out at you. Especially the glass.

Some of the windows are particularly intensely coloured. I love this one. As you zoom in on it, you realise just how much incredible craftsmanship these buildings are stuffed with.

The above detail is the pic from which the image at the top of this post is taken.

Some of the glass in one of the wings is quite simple. But it’s still extremely vivid.

I particularly like this dedication plaque. The green and gold theme is delicious. And I love that coat of arms.

The wooden roof in this wing is also pretty stunning.

The colours in the above window are stunning. Almost overpowering!

Having exited the wing where the above photos were taken, and moved back into the altar end of the main body of the church… Everywhere you look, even under foot, there are details to wow and beguile.

Another incredible window. This one seems to me to embody qualities of two different categories to which some of the other lights fall into more singularly. The right and left panels are like the more minimal ones. The central one, and other detailed ‘spots’, partake of the more intense ones.

This one’s kind of dazzling, detail wise. But not quite as emotive to me. That often. Seems to be the case, for me, where windows feature lots of ‘architectural’ detail. Impressive, yes. But not as emotive as those windows where the detail is more ornamental or abstract.

Another fabulous gem of a building. Stuffed to the seams with interest, and large quantities of impressive craftsmanship and aesthetic beauty. Terrific!

Ok, so I’m having a real ball listening to Uncle Walt’s Band. I’ve ordered all three of their self-released official albums. I was a bit unsure about getting this anthology, ‘cause I have most of it already.

But I’ve caved in. They’re so good, I simply have to have it all. There’s a couple of tracks at least that I can’t get elsewhere, ‘Getaway’, an original, and the ol’ timey classic, ‘Sitting On Top Of The World’.

Can’t wait!

RELATED NEWS: The Contenders, 1978

My mania for all things Walt, Champ (and David) does have limits, though. As I’ve discovered on listening to the above. Walt and Champ were part of The Contenders, a short lived group who released just the one album (see above).

I love the Walt and Champ stuff, but not much else, alas. The album opens with ‘Lean On Your Mind’, which I know from the (superior) UWB version. But when tracks by non UWB members come on, I’m unmoved.

And I’m not too taken with the drummer. Which, as a drummer myself, is an issue. Sorry, Jimbeau! Walt’s sister Kathy occasionally played drums with UWB (she might even be on some of their recordings?). But I like them best sans drums.

I’ve only managed a partial listen to The Contenders. Maybe it’ll grow on me? But somehow I suspect not. It’s been re-released. And allegedly the sound is much improved. So maybe I ought to check out the reissue?

Hmmm!?