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Double Bass Peacock Blows off Costello...

#4
More unnecessary evidence that Pee-cock is a condescending jerk.
He obviously knows nothing about Elvis, who comes from a jazz family and who happens to be married to a famous jazz singer, and who has ventured into just about every musical genre with some degree of success and credibility.

Gary Peacock may be technically well-endowed, but the fact that he played with a few big names does not give him license to act like an ass.
 
#10
We all know how this stuff goes: you get asked to do a gig that sounds great and some distastfull crap gets sprung on you at the gig or after it gets booked.
You can do worse than Costello, but really, what is in it for Gary?
The guy was 68 at the time, carrying the bass around NYC to play in a high level Lee Konitz group is one thing. Backing up a rock singer, even a good one is another. He certainly doesn't need the payday, and Konitz was quoted as saying he supported Gary's decision.
 
#11
damonsmith said:
We all know how this stuff goes: you get asked to do a gig that sounds great and some distastfull crap gets sprung on you at the gig or after it gets booked.
You can do worse than Costello, but really, what is in it for Gary?
The guy was 68 at the time, carrying the bass around NYC to play in a high level Lee Konitz group is one thing. Backing up a rock singer, even a good one is another. He certainly doesn't need the payday, and Konitz was quoted as saying he supported Gary's decision.
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Well, I can certainly see your side of it, and God knows I have had my share of bulls**t pulled on me at gigs. But what's in it for Peacock? A whole set of new fans, for starters. Guarantee Elvis has a lot more fans than Gary ever had. I would look at it as an opportunity to bridge the gap so to speak, to expose a lot of people from either side to the other. I think he just acted childishly. It could have been handled a lot more professionally.
 
#13
MingusAmongUs said:
Well, I can certainly see your side of it, and God knows I have had my share of bulls**t pulled on me at gigs. But what's in it for Peacock? A whole set of new fans, for starters. Guarantee Elvis has a lot more fans than Gary ever had. I would look at it as an opportunity to bridge the gap so to speak, to expose a lot of people from either side to the other. I think he just acted childishly. It could have been handled a lot more professionally.
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I don't think Peacock built the body of work he has thinking about getting new fans, or made any of his artistic choices based on that in 5 or so decades of playing creative jazz.
I heard he was not disrespectful, and just declined to play those tunes.
 
#16
damonsmith said:
We all know how this stuff goes: you get asked to do a gig that sounds great and some distastfull crap gets sprung on you at the gig or after it gets booked.
You can do worse than Costello, but really, what is in it for Gary?
The guy was 68 at the time, carrying the bass around NYC to play in a high level Lee Konitz group is one thing. Backing up a rock singer, even a good one is another. He certainly doesn't need the payday, and Konitz was quoted as saying he supported Gary's decision.
Click to expand...

+1

I have no idea of what went on behind the scenes between Iridium, Gary, Elvis, managers, etc. I think there is more than meets the eye here, and we should not pass judgement until we know all of the facts (which may never happen).
 
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#17
Marcus Johnson said:
I have to admit, even though I like Elvis Costello..... I wouldn't want anyone getting between myself and an evening of playing with Lee Konitz.
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-Probably what Gary was thinking, it sounds like a hot band, even Frizzle should sound good in that context.
In some ways he is just a bass player like the rest of us who wants to play good music. I remember talking with Cecil Taylor a few years ago about his next few projects and he was just as excited as I would be to have gigs comming up with Max Roach, Elvin Jones, Bill Dixon and Derek Bailey.
 
#18
Sounds like there was a breakdown in communication, for one thing. The person organizing the gig should have cleared everything with all the players first. If Gary didn't want to do it, fine, there are plenty of other first call bassists out there.
I often think that when you decide not to play, you never know what you are turning down. My favorite example is the 1953 Massey Hall gig in Toronto. It was a one time job paid for by some fans in Toronto. The players that performed didn't know it was going down in history, they just looked at it as another gig. Some weren't even the first choice, but got the job because the original person turned it down. Who would want to admit later they were the first choice, but decided not to take the job?
 
#19
Here's another POV:

Link Removed

It's he said/she said of course, but it seems to me that Elvis shows more class here. Peacock had to know about this in advance and could have avoided a scene by making his opinions known then. Maybe he suffers from mood swings, maybe he was just having a shi**y day, or maybe he wanted to rustle up some controversy for publicity's sake. Who knows.
 
#20
I don't know, I read both of the other posted links to get a different perspective. IMO, the NY times article seems written with gathered, second hand information. William Shunn seems the most reliable, in the way he was there for the pyrotechnics. The original writer claims he was in the room before Shunn to witness the sequence of events, though he says he did not hear the Peacock/Costello exchange.

I don't know much about Peacock, other than some recordings that a friend has (world class skills). I'm not a fan of Elvis Costello, but I'm hoping Mr. Peacock had some other reason for not wanting to play, and that it wasn't that the material or the artist was 'beneath' him. It was supposed to be one or two tunes, and a sort of thank you with the BD cake and all. Seems kind of egotistical and mean spirited.

On the other hand, we don't really know what went down and Mr. Peacock could well have had a good reason for doing what he appeared, by published accounts, to do.

As a hired bassist, IMO shouldn't you try to do whatever is asked? If it ends up you don't like it, you decline future gig offers. It's like we're missing some vital piece of information that might shed some light on this.

Oh well, lunch is ready!
 

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