Chance meetings with great musicians

[dragon6]

About ten years ago I was jamming with jazz guitarist from south LA. Every sunday we would work on tunes from the real book. His mother was always cooking fried chicken (her specialty I mean real southern stuff). One sunday the guitaristsays hey "Phil" is dropping by today. Who? I said. "Phil" man
"Phil Upchurch". (for u young guys one of the great jazz guitarists). Yeh he"s friends with my mom.
So I met Phil Upchurch. We asked him to play and off we went. We started with Take 5. Man the guy can play his ass
off. Nice guy (told me to turn down).
He would go into this trance like space and just rip it up.What a trill it was to play with him. Made me step up
and play way above what I thought I could do.

[MakiSupaStar]

Cool story.

[Bass Viking]

Originally Posted by dragon6

About ten years ago I was jamming with jazz guitarist from south LA. Every sunday we would work on tunes from the real book. His mother was always cooking fried chicken (her specialty I mean real southern stuff). One sunday the guitaristsays hey "Phil" is dropping by today. Who? I said. "Phil" man
"Phil Upchurch". (for u young guys one of the great jazz guitarists). Yeh he"s friends with my mom.
So I met Phil Upchurch. We asked him to play and off we went. We started with Take 5. Man the guy can play his ass
off. Nice guy (told me to turn down).
He would go into this trance like space and just rip it up.What a trill it was to play with him. Made me step up
and play way above what I thought I could do.

Lucky you! He's played with George Benson right?

Did he come by for the fried chicken?

[lokolp]

I've met Eric Johnson before and I open for dangerous toys'
(80's hard rock band) singer, Jason McMasters new band Broken Teeth, and their guitarists new band Adrenaline Factor. And I know king crimson's drummer, Pat Mastelotto, has seen my band, but i have never met him.

[driver800]

A bit of a sad story, but...my cousin died in a motorcycle wreck several years ago. My uncle asked me to sing at the funeral and said he had a guitarist to accompany me. The day of the funeral, he said I might have heard of the guitarist, his name was Jimmy Herring. I did not recognize the name but googled it the morning of the funeral. OMG! Aquarium Rescue Unit, Greatful Dead, Allman Bros, etc, etc. It freaked me out a bit.

We got together about an hour before the funeral and ran through a few songs with Herring on acoustic guitar. He is an unbelievable player and actually put me at ease about the whole thing. I really needed it. I've seen him a few times since then and I don't think I've ever met a nicer person, just a Class-A guy.

That, and he's a scary-good player.

[dragon6]

In response to Bass Viking. Yeh he came for the chicken and friends. Phil played with George Benson for many years.
Google Phil Upchurch and check it out he's paid a lot of dues.

[moogboy]

i met the guy who does the music for Eminem through my uncle. i went to his house and he had, like, $15,000 in a computer alone! he had a bunch of software that was BRAND SPANKING NEW! his kid was rehearsing with a band, so i got to play Wont Get Fooled Again on the drummers kit with my uncle on guitar. that was tons o' fun. i went totally Keith Moon on the drums too. i didnt even touch the hihat.

[iamthebassman]

While I've met many "celebs" at shows over the years the one that will fit this forum well is when about a year ago I looked out in the crowd and saw THE Chuck Rainey! And he's looking at me! Oh crap. Is that really him? Yep, that's him. He stays for most of the set, gives me a smile and a thumbs-up, then he and a couple guys head for the exit. Later at the bar the manager asks me if I knew Chuck Rainey was in the crowd. I said I'd have rather found out after the set!

[QORC]

I had lunch on the set with Campbell Scott and Jennifer Jason-Leigh when I was an extra on "The Love Letter" (1998). They had a scene set up that was complex and told none of us to move and brought lunch out. So I rapped with them, more Scott (son of George C. and also an actor) than JJL (who was clearly the big star), but they were both pretty nice. We talked about books.

granted, not musicians at all. But a chance meeting with famous folk.

The only brushes I have with musicians or famous artists are as follows:

1. 1996. I was staying the Marriott Hotel in Warsaw, Poland. Who took over the top 2 floors but Michael Jackson and his entourage. Then there was a police cordon in front of the hotel after that, 24-7 making it harder for me to go in and out. One day, while on my way out, I happened to be in the lobby and who walked through but Michael Jackson and his entourage. He's not particuarly tall. Could hardly see any of him. He had the hat, the sunglasses and the black hankerchief across his face and the gloves. The only skin I saw was his left ear. He passed within about 10 feet of me.

2. 1986. I was at the Bayou in Washington, DC for a Ramones concert. Small club. A friend of mine had his band opening for them. He invited upstairs to where the dressing rooms were. I saw the Ramones guys hanging out and walking around. I shook Joey's hand. That's about it.

3. 1992. Same day as the LA riots. I was staying in the same Philadelphia hotel as B.B. King. I saw him in at the lobby front desk at one point, but that's it.

[Phalex]

I ran into (almost literally) Bob James in the walkway between his hotel and the concert venue he was playing. Nice guy.

[ctbass]

This past year has been pretty amazing for me. We did a private gig with the Brand New Heavies. They played before us and as we played they came on stage with us, jammed and we all hung out afterwards.

Of course the Bx3 show provided plenty of hang time since there were about 50 people at the show.

And finally, Francis Rocco Prestia, who played on two tracks of our new CD, came to the release party, played through my rig as I stood next to him as the band ran Down to the Nightclub, What is Hip and Funkiphize. And to think, I do this part time. I love playin bass!

[zachbass02]

I was at Taste of Tokyo in Nashville with a drummer friend of mine last Friday. We got to talking about music this and music that. Eventually the conversation swings around to motown stuff. We're talking and I happen to look over my left shoulder and two tables away is Bob Babbit sitting talking to Ed Green. So naturally, I snag up a pen and piece of paper and make my way over to the table for an autograph. It was kind of un-nerving and really cool to be talking to someone like that that has influenced and helped steer the direction that modern electric bass has gone. Bob was a super cool and nice guy.

I later found out from my drummer friend, that as he was driving away, he had stopped at a red light and was reaching down to grab his cell phone when he got slightly rear ended, nothing major, just a tap and not enough to do any damage. So both parties got out to see what had happened and who was it but Ed Green that we had just seen with Bob Babbit. For those who don't know who he is, apparently he's kind of like Bob to the drumming world.

I currently live across the street from Larry Paxton, if that counts for anything. Google him if you don't know who he is. Some amazing credits.

I take lessons from Adam Nitti. That guy is amazing and an awesome teacher. He has definitely helped me get to another playing level.

I also take lessons from Tony Marvelli. Check out Denver and the Mile High Orchestra for a few of his credits. Monster player and super awesome guy.

I mentor one of my main influences' kid at my church, Otto Price, Sugar Bear from DC Talk and various other recordings. Guy is a sick player and great guy too.

Anyways, those are my cool running into musician stories in Nashville. I'm sure there's more and will be more to come...

[bass_ke]

I'm lucky enough to work for an Australian Government agency at Australian International airports, through this I have been lucky enough to meet Billy Sheehan and chat to him for 10 minutes or so

I've also had a chance to have a quick chat with Steve Vai, although he wasn't very talkative! understandable after a flight from LAX

Cheer's
Stu

[Delberthot]

I had a good chat with Jim Marshall (Marshall Amps)and Bert Weedon ("Play in a Day" instruction books etc) at the last ever Scottish music show about 8 years ago.

I also met Geoff Whitehorn who has played guitar with quite a few bands including one of Paul rodger's bands. He signed my copy of his solo album.

My band also had a good laugh with Ray Lewis who was one of the Drifters between 1978 and 1988. We backed him later on that night. I was kind of dissapointed that he didn't have as powerful a voice as I had imagined he would.

When I was 15, I got lessons from James Finnegan who was in the Scottish band "Hue & Cry" they were big in the 80s in the UK.

One musician I wished I had a chance to speak to was Flea. During the "By the Way" tour, I went to see the Chilis in Glasgow.

We walked towards the place where the concert was and saw that the doors had opened. We walked in and stood around as there was still some time before the support act (the Mars Volta).

Out comes this short guy from behind a curtain wearing a Kilt and holding a cup of tea - It was Flea. I don't think he realised that the doors had opened. He quickly disappeared behind another curtain. I must've been 15 feet away from him.

[Tnavis]

A few years back, when I worked at GC, I sold some strap locks and a strap to "Hutch" Hutchinson. Great guy, we talked about cabinets.

[God of Rapture]

Met the guys from Opeth a few times.

Saw Gene Hoglan and yelled, "Dark Angel Rules!" and he gave me a high five.

[cdef]

Back in 1969 we had a gig at the Golden Circle in Stockholm, which was a famous jazz club at the time. Taj Mahal was at the Concert Hall earlier in the evening, with Jesse Ed Davis on guitar. We went to see them, but had to leave early. Then after our set I spotted Taj jiving on the dance floor and sort of sidled up to him. He asked me: "Hey, how long you guys been playing?" I said: "Oh, about a year, as a band." Taj said: "Not bad, man." I was so stoked I had to go and tell the other guys immediately. Then John Simon (Paul's brother, Taj's pianist, producer of the Band) came backstage to correct some of the more obscure lyrics for "Chest Fever", which we'd played. We sure felt like we'd made it on some level.

[BigBluePossum]

Way back when (and I was all of 12), I met the drummer for the Plasmatics when they opened for Kiss in OKC in 1983.

I met Stryper in the early 90s at a meet and greet in OKC and the Vegas version of the Blue Man Group after their shows in 2002 and 2006.

In 2000, I met Stevie Wonder at the Atlantis in the Bahamas (as well as non-musicians Dick Vitale and also stood about ten feet from Tiger Woods and his two huge bodyguards).

Last year, I hung out with Orange Avenue for a bit after one of their gigs. OA are the "house band" at Citywalk at Universal Studios in Orlando, FL. OA played mostly covers, but had some solid originals also. Their bassist played a Warwick Corvette.

I also played a hole of golf with former OSU basketball coach Eddie Sutton.

[SBassman]

I have met very few in life.

Most notable in recent years was - walking into Victor Wooten in town before a gig. He was walking around the town with his gig bag on his back. That was fun.

[Uncle Ernie]

Would sharing a flight to NYC with Ron Jeremy count?