Ted Sirota Music

I will be making music with Marquis Hill on trumpet, Greg Ward II on alto sax, and Jake Vinsel on bass at Elastic (2830 N. Milwaukee Ave. Chicago) 2 sets – 10pm, $8. I’m looking forward to playing with these incredible musicians. We’ll mostly be playing improvised music. You’re invited!

This Friday, March 30, Ted Sirota’s Rebel Souls will perform at the Knox-Rootabaga Jazz Festival in Galesburg, IL. Geof Bradfield- tenor sax, Greg Ward II – alto sax, Dave Miller – guitar, Jake Vinsel – bass. Hip festival that’s had great musicians like Matt Wilson, Ben Allison, Charlie Kohlhase, Greg Osby, and many others over the years. Should be fun a lot of fun! P.S. Anyone live near Galesburg, IL?…

Here’s something I did a while back.  My drums were mic’d up and I had a ring-modulator effect on.  I just improvised a little solo and the name “Privatizing the Moon” came to me.

I’ve been digging through the hard drives a little bit recently and I’ve decided to share some things that otherwise might not see the light of day.  In the “good ol’ days” I would have tried to put this out on CD, but in the “Great Recession Meets the Bit Torrent Age” I’m just going to share it with you.  This performance is the result of the work of guitarist Dave Miller.  Dave was finishing up at Northern Illinois University at the time and was working on a project about the music of Lennie Tristano and his cohorts – Warne Marsh, Lee Konitz and others. He put a ton of work into this, so he gets all the credit for this performance. Greg Ward & Geof Bradfield had a tough job as well. They had to learn and nail those melodies!  Hyosub Kim and I pretty much just enjoyed the ride (by the way, I miss playing with Hyosub!). Listening back I’m very proud of the playing on this recording.  Also, I think we came up with some nice arrangements of Tristano’s music, which is not easy to do.  I remember having fun coming up with our version of “Turkish Mambo” on my laptop. Well anyway, enjoy the music.

By Neil Tesser, Chicago Jazz Music Examiner

It’s not often you hear a jazz debate on sports radio. So yesterday’s exchange about the Dave Brubeck recording of “Take Five” – and the ensuing debate over its authorship (by Brubeck’s alto saxist, alter ego, and longtime associate Paul Desmond) – may actually qualify as a predecent-setting occasion.

The fact that it also included comments from one of the city’s leading jazz drummer-bandleaders? Well, that just puts it over the top.

Here’s the setup: with “Take Five” playing behind them, ESPN Radio (WMVP) hosts “Carmen, Jurko & Harry” found themselves enmeshed in the question of whether this most famous of jazz tunes could in fact be called “a Dave Brubeck song” if it was actually written by someone else. Among their listeners was Chicago drummer Ted Sirota, and as he explains (and as you can hear here), he finally couldn’t take it any more. So he called in.

Sirota – best known for his acclaimed band the Rebel Souls, and for his membership in the Sabertooth jazz quartet that plays each Saturday night deep into Sunday morning at the Green Mill – brought the proper perspective to this burning question. I’m still researching the premise that this represents the first recorded instance of a jazz musician settling what amounts to a sports-bar bet.

(However, I do like Sirota’s reaction to being immediately put on the air after telling the producer he was a jazz drummer: “That’s the first time I’ve ever been treated better by saying I’m a jazz drummer!”)

Listening to the preamble to Sirota’s comment – the first 2:50 or so of the Carmen-Jurko-Harry summit – you can easily understand Sirota’s growin impatience with these guys. It also begs the question of why Ted Sirota was listening to these geniuses in the first place. But upon hearing him set them straight, you’re kind of glad he did.

I was driving to pick up my daughter from school this afternoon when I turned on ESPN 1000 here in Chicago.  For some reason, I still don’t know why, they were arguing over who wrote “Take Five”.  None of them had ever heard of Paul Desmond.  Their conversation was starting to piss me off so I called up.  I told the producer that “I have to set these guys straight about this stuff”.  I told him I was a jazz drummer and he put me right through!  That’s the first time I’ve ever been treated better by saying I’m a jazz drummer!  Usually they tell me to go away or go through the back door or the kitchen.  Anyway, the whole thing was pretty funny.  Check it out.  If you don’t want to hear the whole thing, I come in around 2:50.  I bet this was the first time Jim Hall’s name got mentioned on sports radio!  I’m proud of that at least.

I posted these videos to my YouTube channel today.  Studying with Alan back in 87-89 was a very important period in my musical development. Twenty-four years later I still have his voice echoing in my head, as I’m sure so many people do who had the great fortune to study with him.

I uploaded this picture of Lin Halliday to the gallery today.  Yes, that’s me looking like a young dork back there. This photo is from 1992 or 93. We were playing at the Get Me High Lounge on Honore in Bucktown.  For those of you who were not around back then, The Get Me High was a Chicago jazz institution.  The bathroom was actually ON the stage.  Unlike the Green Mill, where you walk alongside the stage to get to the john, at the Get Me High you actually had to walk on stage to get to it.  One of the famous stories about it is that Jimmy Carter hung out there once, while he was president, to have a beer and listen to some jazz.  I have fond memories of these times. (more…)

I’m heartbroken to hear about the passing of Paul Motian.  Having only met him briefly a couple of times I can’t say that he was a personal influence on me, in the way that Alan Dawson was, but his playing was, and is, a HUGE inspiration to me.  I’ve always thought of this quote from Picasso when I think about Paul Motian – “It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child”.  Paul was like the Picasso of the drums, in my humble opinion.  He was a true artist.  He was more of a painter on the drums than he was just a “drummer”.  He proved that you can be great without concern for “chops” or “licks”.  He was 100% music.  Have you ever heard of a drummer playing “Paul Motian licks”?  If you have let me know, because that’s absurd to me.  It’s impossible.  The only thing you could try to copy from Paul was his concept or sound – maybe.  That’s how unique he was – you can’t even copy him.  You can’t say that about Philly Joe Jones, Art Blakey, or even Tony Williams, as great as they were. (more…)

When Max Roach died in 2007 I was asked to write an article about Max for a certain publication.  The article never ran, and the only two people who have ever read it are Jeff Parker & Hyland Harris.  It’s just sitting here on my hard drive so I figured I’d share it now that I have a blog! (more…)