R.I.P Snooky Young

He was one of the most prolific trumpet players in Jazz, and, man, I can't count the number of albums I have that he is part of, be it Basie, Quincy Jones, Gerald Wilson, Thad Jones-Mel Lewis, and others.


It was sad to learn today that Snooky Young passed away, at the age of 92.


Most of the obits herald his long stay in the 'Tonight Show' band (which was stocked with some major players), but Snooky was much more than that.


From Peter Keepnews;

As lead trumpeter in the ensembles of Count Basie, Lionel Hampton, Benny Goodman and many others, Mr. Young had one of the more challenging tasks in jazz. The lead trumpeter is in effect the concertmaster of a big band, establishing the way an arrangement is phrased and interpreted not just by the trumpet section but by the entire ensemble. He must also be comfortable in all registers, especially the highest ones. Mr. Young was widely regarded by his peers as one of the great lead trumpeters.

And Matt Schudel;

He performed on movie soundtracks, including “The Color Purple,” “New York, New York” and “Blazing Saddles” and appeared as a sideman on albums by artists as diverse as B.B. King, Quincy Jones and the rock group the Band.


Mr. Young, who recorded only three albums as a leader of small groups, preferred the brassy, roaring sound of a big band. His specialty was in playing first trumpet, or lead, in a big band. Although he didn’t solo as much as other players in the section, he usually played a tune’s melody and, with his soaring high notes, formed the core of the band’s trumpet sound.


“Snooky is one of the world’s all-time great trumpet players,” saxophonist Bob Cooper told the Los Angeles Times in 1992. “I can always feel it in the sax section when he’s playing — his time, his interpretation of the material, his sound.”

R.I.P. Snooky Young


 


Here's some of the music, and go out and explore on your own.


Count Basie Orchestra - Li'l Darlin'







Flying Home







Doc Severinsen, Snooky Young, Tommy Newsom, and the NBC Orchestra play the One O'Clock & Bugle Call Rag ... Tonight Show Band

This Could Put Gallagher Out of Business

It was this kind of story that made reading newspapers such fun.


Not for the big headlines, or the Op-Ed, and Sports, pages, but the little gems you would find. 


Filler articles on page A18, and such, with a screaming, or intriguing, headline like "Man's Head Found In Toaster".


So, when I see, on-line, a headline with the words "Exploding Watermelons" that just,.automatically, gets clicked on.


Exploding watermelons put spotlight on Chinese farming practices

Fields of watermelons exploded when he and other agricultural workers in eastern China mistakenly applied forchlorfenuron, a growth accelerator. The incident has become a focus of a Chinese media drive to expose the lax farming practices, shortcuts and excessive use of fertiliser behind a rash of food safety scandals.


It follows discoveries of the heavy metal cadmium in rice, toxic melamine in milk, arsenic in soy sauce, bleach in mushrooms, and the detergent borax in pork, added to make it resemble beef.


[snip]


The report said the farmers sprayed the fruit too late in the season and during wet conditions, which caused the melons to explode like "landmines". After losing three hectares (eight acres), Liu said he was unable to sleep because he could not shake the image of the fruit bursting. "On 7 May, I came out and counted 80 [burst watermelons] but by the afternoon it was 100," he said. "Two days later I didn't bother to count any more." About 20 farmers and 45 hectares around Danyang were affected. The fruit could not be sold and was instead fed to fish and pigs.


Farmers claim forchlorfenuron can bring the harvest forward by two weeks and increase the size and price of the fruit by more than 20%. Agricultural experts say forchlorfenuron has been widely used in China since the 1980s. Some said it was unsuitable for this fruit, but there was probably little health risk.

Yikes!


This could put Gallagher out of business.


I mean, who would pay to see him explode, instead of using his trusty Sledge-O-Matic, watermelons with chemicals?


But wait, there's more!


It seems to be getting to be a nightmare for Chinese consumers;

In the past week, the People's Daily website has run stories of human birth control chemicals being used on cucumber plants in Xian, China Daily has reported Sichuan peppers releasing red dye in water, and the Sina news portal revealed that barite powder had been injected into chickens in Guizhou to increase their weight.


More alarming still was a study by researchers at Nanjing Agricultural University that estimated a tenth of China's rice may be tainted with the cadmium, a heavy metal that can affect the nervous system. This caused a stir when it was published earlier this year in the pioneering Caixin magazine.


Many wary consumers choose to buy foreign products, which are seen as safer. But this is also vulnerable to mislabelling. The Fruit Industry Association of Guangdong province told reporters this week that "most 'imported' fruit are grown in China".

WOW!


Imagine that, a company mislabeling their food product ... 







Bonus Riffs


Top Ten Cloves: Ways Spinach Industry Plans To Overcome E. Coli Setback


Spam-A-Lot ...The Eating Kind!


How 'Bout Some More Bacon, Mr. Taggart?


Haven't They Seen The Movie?


Strap On Your Tinfoil Chefs' Hats

Top Ten Cloves: Possible Disney Navy Seal Team 6 Movies To Be Released

Disney doesn't have to go far to exploit the killing of Osama bid Laden by the Navy Seal Team 6, they can just dip into the vast reservoir of their own film vault, and rework storylines 


News Item: Disney Trademarks “Seal Team 6″


10.  101 Navy Seal Team 6's (Navy Seal Team 6 disrupts Al Qaeda Suicide Dog attack)


  9.  Song of the Seal Team 6 (Human Interest Pic of first African-American in Seal Team 6)


  8.  Terrorists in the Outfield (Summer 2012 - Al Qaeda targets Game 7 of World Series, but Navy Seal Team 6 swoops in, foils plot and saves all the baseball players and fans)


  7.  That Darn Osama! (Navy Seal Team 6 adopts stray Islamic cat that leads them to Osama bin Laden)


  6.  The Shaggy Seal Team 6 (Navy Seal Team 6 shape-shifts into Old English Sheep dogs and herd all the terrorists into jail)


  5.  Honey, I Shrunk Osama Bin Laden (After accidentally shrinking Osama bid Laden, Navy Seal Team 6 gets shrunk to hunt down, and kill him)


  4.  Who Framed Osama bin Laden? (First Animated Navy Seal Team 6 pic; Bob Hoskins returns as the private detective and helps Navy Seal Team 6 work through an army of Disney, and other, cartoon characters, to track down Osama bin Laden and kill him)


  3.  The Absent-Minded Jihadist (With nod to original pic, Navy Seal Team 6 discover old Pentagon "Flubber" files and develop Flubber Airplanes, and other weapons, to hunt down and kill Osama bin Laden


  2.  20,000 Terrorists Under The Sea (Water adventure, borrowing from "Pirates of the Caribbean' - Disney sees multiple sequels with this) 


  1. The Navy Seal 6 King (Another animated pic, staying close to original, telling tale of young Navy Seal 6 team member, destined to become team leader, but has to deal with disgruntled team member, overcoming numerous plots to kill him, before youngster beats him back and emerges victorious, with other Team 6 members bowing to him)


 




Bonus Riffs


Richard K. Barry: Is Disney really going to trademark "SEAL Team 6"?


Daily Mail: Disney trademarks 'Seal Team 6' for toys, games, movies, snow globes and Christmas stockings TWO days after daring Bin Laden mission


John Cook: Disney Trademarks ‘SEAL Team 6′