Joe Mondragon story

[fergus currie]

This is a true story about bassist Joe Mondragon. I heard it form Ian Carr the jazz trumpet player and journalist who died in February. Ian was know for his work with Brittish jazz rock group 'Nucleus' along side bassist/composer Graham Collier.

Here's the story.

Joe was a Red Indian (Apache, I think) and a great bassist but he was always talking about being the only real American in the band and how great the Indian peoples were to live off the land and in the wilderness. His pride started to get annoying for the other musicians around at the time. The story goes that just before a gig with drummer Shelly Manne Joe was about to smoke something (a joint probably). He came into the dressing room and asked if anyone had a light. Shelly immediately handed Joe his drumsticks! Brilliant, ultra-fast thinking.