| LearnJazzPiano.com archives: Eldee Young, d April 16, 2007 | |
| Scot -- 05/01/2007, 23:58:56 -- #34822 | |
| Eldee Young, for those of you who don't know him, was the bass player in the Ramsey Lewis trio back in the In Crowd days. He recently passed away in Thailand. Eldee Young was the first "pro" I ever played with. When I worked in Seoul in the mid 90's I was lucky enough to have a schedule where another band in town, the one Eldee ran, was playing the night I had a break. So I'd go to the Westin Chosun and hang out playing pool for a while in the club downstairs called O'Kims :) and then spend the rest of the night hanging out in the lobby lounge listening to Eldee Young and his trio. I sat in many times and I remember the first time he said, "Satin Doll, you take the intro." I didn't realize at the time that Satin Doll had a real intro, so I played a boogie woogie that I heard Monty Alexander do in front of Satin Doll. I don't think the drummer and Eldee expected it, but it worked out. Over the next year I had my once a week sit-in with him and it wasn't really until close to the end of that particular stint in Asia that I realized who he was, who he had played with, and me being a huge fan of the old In Crowd recordings. When I finally figured it out with only a few weeks left, I asked him if we could play Tennessee Waltz like Ramsey did. He looked at me and said, "Can you?" I said sure thing and started the piano accompaniment part. When he heard me doing it just like the record, he laughed and started playing the melody. That jam was one of the best musical memories I have. We corresponded a bit here and there since then, and he even asked me to play with him overseas for a gig (but I couldn't, had my own sweet house gig at the time). Something to learn here is you have to take those opportunities to play music with cats when you can. If there's a loose gig somewhere and you really want to play with someone, it's OK to tell them hwo much you are enjoying their music and politely ask if they allow people to sit in. Sometimes you can have musical moments that way that you couldn't have otherwise. Anyway, Eldee Young, a man that will live forever in music. If any of you are unfamiliar with Ramsey Lewes and the In Crowd, you are definitely missing out! | |
| savage -- 05/03/2007, 02:00:54 -- #34822 | |
| About a month ago i happened to be in Bangkok, playing at the Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit for ten days. On april 8th there was a memorial concert for Eldee at the hotel. Me and my friends were invited to play and we did. I must admit that i´m not all that familiar with his playing, but now i realize that i have to check him out more! | |
| Scot -- 05/03/2007, 12:12:56 -- #34822 | |
| Savage- who does your overseas booking? | |
| savage -- 05/03/2007, 13:44:42 -- #34822 | |
| I usually do my own booking. I got this gig from a swedish guy who lives in Thailand and likes to arrange gigs and events there from time to time. He´s pretty well connected (this was a very nice five-star hotel). | |
| Scot -- 05/04/2007, 09:29:08 -- #34822 | |
| Hey, if you ever can't make one, pass my info (http://www.scotranney.com) to your guy. I'm looking to get back into short term overseas gigs and my old agent only books big Las Vegas style bands these days. | |
| Whacky -- 05/04/2007, 13:13:22 -- #34822 | |
| I think one of those parenthesis became part of the hyper link...try this: http://www.scotranney.com | |
| savage -- 05/05/2007, 07:34:46 -- #34822 | |
| Ok Scot, i'll keep that in mind! | |
| jaledin -- 05/09/2007, 19:40:12 -- #34822 | |
| Sorry to hear about this one passing -- Eldee Young was one of the most-played bassists when I was a younger scrub. Great story up there, Scot. | |
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