Hey Improvisers,
When I was a teenager, living in Stamford, Connecticut, the local jazz celebrity was a bassist named Phil Bowler. In addition to playing local gigs, he also played with major jazz stars such as Horace Silver and Wynton Marsalis.
I vividly remember riding my bicycle to downtown Stamford one sunny afternoon in the mid-1980s to hear the Phil Bowler Trio perform a free lunchtime concert, outdoors. When the concert began, Phil announced that the trio would soon be joined by two additional musicians, who were en route from New York City.
The pianist, playing an upright piano, was none other than the great Kenny Kirkland. And after a few tunes, a small car appeared and drove right across the office park. The doors opened, and out strode the two additional musicians, one of whom was Branford Marsalis.
This concert happened fairly soon after Wynton had become famous, and to have three members of his band (his brother Branford, Kenny Kirkland, and Phil Bowler) playing a concert in my hometown was a big deal. I was sitting about 20 feet from the musicians and I was totally in awe of them.
I remember enjoying the concert immensely, and afterwards I went up and asked Branford what the name of their final number was. He nicely replied “What Is This Thing Called Love?” I think I vaguely recognized the melody, but I certainly didn’t yet know how to play the Cole Porter standard.
Fast forward to earlier this year…
I was playing a gig with my longtime friend, the great jazz vocalist Giacomo Gates at a club called Jazz On Main in the town of Mt. Kisco, NY. Giacomo had begun calling Phil Bowler to play bass at his New York-area performances, and this was my 3rd or 4th time working with Phil, other than at a big band concert in the 1980s.
Phil Bowler is a delight to perform with, and I’ve been thrilled to discover that he’ll often use one of my musical ideas as the basis of his own bass solo on the same tune. He’s a real team player and a great collaborator. And of course I love hearing his inventive bass lines and the chord choices he makes. As an example, one night he played F7/Gb7/F7/ Eb7 on Thelonious Monk’s “Well, You Needn’t” which sounded great!
On this particular evening at Jazz On Main, I was sitting at a table during the break speaking with Phil, and I introduced him to my wife. I explained that Phil had played with Wynton Marsalis, and I told her about that concert I had attended during my teenage years.
Phil remembered that particular concert well, and when I asked him which Marsalis album he had played on, he surprised me by saying it was the Think of One album. Wow – Think of One!!! That had been my favorite Marsalis album during my college years and I had enjoyed listening to it practically every day. I especially loved their version of the title track, Thelonious Monk’s “Think of One,” and I was thrilled that I was now gigging with the person who had created the catchy bass line on that recording.
Here’s the astonishing part of this story:
During this conversation, Giacomo Gates had been seated at the opposite end of the club, and didn’t hear any of what we had said. After the break, we all went right back up to the stage and immediately began playing. So it came as a complete shock when, mid-set, Giacomo suddenly called “Think of One” as the next tune. I’ve been playing with Giacomo for decades and didn’t even know he sang it! And now, 15 minutes after I made the connection between Phil and that favorite recording of mine, I found myself playing it with the guy who had created the great bass line that I had enjoyed so much.
I was in musical heaven, and fortunately, I have a video of our performance to share with you. It’s a great tune and I somehow made it through Monk’s tricky chord changes!
Here’s the Wynton Marsalis group’s version, and then my performance with Giacomo Gates. Phil Bowler is playing bass on both of them.
Wynton Marsalis: Think of One
Think of One: Ron Drotos with Giacomo Gates and Phil Bowler
Keep pursuing your musical dreams – you never know when one of them will come true!
Ron