Gary Hammon on Joe Brazil

Gary Hammon talks about Joe Brazil around the 16:45 mark.

Lonnie Williams talks about Joe Brazil

Reggie Workman on Joe Brazil

During a panel discussion of A Love Supreme hosted by Bill T. Jones, bassist Reggie Workman told a story about Joe Brazil bringing a car full of books to a meeting on Black Culture. I plan to share more of this story soon. In the picture are (left to right) Bill T. Jones, Ashley Kahn, John Lewis, Reggie Workman. Photo by Yasuhiro Fujioka.

Phil Lasley talks about Joe Brazil

Detroit saxophonist Phil Lasley talks about Joe Brazil at 18:25 on this podcast from Detroit Jazz Stage. http://castroller.com/podcasts/DetroitJazzstage/2789889

Kenn Cox talks about Joe Brazil

Detroit was a university without walls

"I had a rich environment, it was like a university without walls, I have to say that and we all looked and there are guys you don’t even know about who were there that we played with and were helping each other and teaching us. It was just a great exchange. It was all about the music and reaching for that level of being really good. So we had a lot of discussions about material, about songs, and I think we developed some pretty sophisticated taste, in terms of what’s good and what isn’t and how to discern the good from the mediocre. And all of that is learning, especially when you’re a teenager is invaluable. So like I say, it was like a university. So when we got to New York we really felt like we were prepared." - Kenny Burrell, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History

Sonny Red

Anders Svanoe published research of Sonny Red in The Annual Review of Jazz Studies in 2007. Like Sonny, Joe's family moved to Detroit from the south. Anders conducted many interviews with Detroit musicians. Below are mentions of Joe Brazil from Anders' research.

"I remember seeing Red a few times down at Joe Brazil's. I first started to play drums by going down to Joe Brazil's. The way I got there was Doug Watkins, the bass player, pulled me over there since Doug and I went to the same high school. Anyway, he was telling me to go sit  in, and I told him that I wasn't ready yet. But he told me to come on  by there anyway. So I went there and sat in with Barry on piano, Joe Brazil [on alto saxophone], Donald Byrd [on trumpet], and Doug Watkins on bass. They played a tempo, extremely fast, and somehow or another I kept that tempo, and that's what opened the door for me. They said that the next time they were going to give me a call, and they did." - Frank Gant

"Joe Brazil was important on the scene and a good friend of Coltrane's. That was perfect for Trane. This was a place, just free to him, to play as long as he wanted to." - Tommy Flanagan

"I remember one session that we did at Joe Brazil's place. We did a lot of jam sessions down there. Sonny was there and sometimes Barry, Ko-Ko [Kenneth "Cokie" Winfrey], the tenor player, used to live down at Joe's place, so he'd always be there for the sessions. That was around 1955 or 1956. I lived right down the street, so I was there a lot." - Kiane Zawadi

Maupin Meets Coltrane at Brazil's House

Detroit saxophonist Bennie Maupin talks about meeting John Coltrane at Joe Brazil's house. (Thanks to Chris Devito for sharing this information)

According to Bennie Maupin

"Joe was a catalyst. He helped the scene."

Jerry Heldman RIP

Seattle Times photo

Jerry Heldman played bass with Joe Brazil. His daughter reminisced on his passing. He set up a website about the club where he played with Joe. I think the mp3 files there include Joe.

Felton Jones

I spoke with Felton Jones by phone. Felton (trumpet) and Eddie Chambliss (tenor) used to hit the afterhours sessions at Joe Brazil's basement in Detroit. Even though they were young and not as skilled as many of the musicians there, they were accepted as peers.

Felton says it was dark in the basement with a light only on the piano. About 20 people fit in the room standing shoulder to shoulder.

When you went up to play with the light on you it "felt like being in jail. You had fear if you played. It was CLASSICAL... HARD... BEBOP!"

In the 1950's many of the Detroit musicians formed a club. Joe Brazil was president. They acquired a beer and wine license, rented churches, charged $1 admission and sold hotdogs and chips to audiences during performances.

Detroit Neighbor

John Miller was seven years old when he lived two doors down from Joe on Fleming Street. Last weekend at the Detroit Jazz Festival Talk Tent, he mentioned Joe's name to some of the musicians there and saw their faces light up. He went home and Googled "What happened to Joe Brazil?" and found this blog. We spoke by phone and hope to look up more neighbors and visitors to Joe's basement.

Bob Antolin

In an 2000 article in Northwest Asian Weekly, Bob Antolin talks about Joe Brazil.

"At the University of Washington, he studied with Joe Brazil.

'He was a good influence,' says Antolin. He would bring Bill Evans, Joe Henderson, Dexter Gordon, Chico Hamilton... (to class)... (when) they came to town to play in local pubs.... It was quite an occasion to see them and hear them up close and in person.'

Antolin laments about losing contact with Brazil, who was not tenured by the university following a huge controversy.

'Joe had a direct connection with the musicians. In terms of academic environment, what better way to (learn) than by bringing in (those) musicians like he did.'

Fortunately, Antolin took lessons with Brazil while he was still there.
'He was introducing all the jazz bebop vocabulary.... It was a very enriching situation.'"

Ken Kubota

In a 2011 issue of International Examiner, Ken Kubota mentioned Joe Brazil.

"Kubota initially started piano lessons in second grade and began saxophone in fourth grade. He continued to study saxophone with University of Washington Professor Joe Brazil, who was a great influence, he noted.

"I learned so much from him," said Kubota.
Brazil would invite musicians travelling through town to speak in class, like McCoy Tyner.
"I always appreciated that," he said.

Note from Pete Leinonen

I was at the UW when Joe was teaching and attended many of his classes, even playing for a couple, although I wasn't enrolled in them. After Joe left I was asked by some faculty members who I thought they should hire. I had some credibility with the faculty because I was also Bill Smith's bass player. I advocated for Monk, but they really wanted Herbie, who was practically a pop star by then.

Joe was a dear friend and I'm glad you're  keeping his name alive. I played with a band of veterans of various Joe Brazil groups at his first memorial, where everyone was rather shocked by his lack coverage in the Seattle press. That was my first reunion with George Griffin after his return from California. Ed Lee organized and led the band.

I met Joe early in 1962. I was working a summer job at Boeing then as a design trainee (a short lived career) when I started hearing about Joe from coworkers who were jazz fans. It seemed like everybody knew him even then. I heard him play in a lot of small clubs in those days, and some early jazz concerts. Eventually I would play myself in some of the same rooms, including the Mardi Gras and The Checkmate.

Black Panther Aaron Dixon on Gary Hammon

In My People Are Rising: Memoir of a Black Panther Party Captain, Aaron Dixon talks about Gary Hammon, Joe Brazil's student.

"It seemed that everybody who could play an instrument was in a band, and it wasn't long before Elmer [Aaron's brother] had his own group. They were called the Regents, with Biggy Lewis on guitar and Dennis Blackmon on keyboards, Gary Hammon on tenor sax, and Ralph Brooks on drums. These cats were one hell of a band. Most would go on to make names for themselves. As a matter of fact, the Central District was loaded with great musicians. There must have been eight or ten bands in the area, each with its own unique sound. I sometimes traveled with Elmer's band on their gigs and developed a close relationship with the sax player, Gary Hammon. He went out and got a soprano sax and started teaching me how to play. Sometimes we would go to a dusty, funky little jazz club, both of us carrying our saxes. While Gary played a few numbers, I wished for the day that I would get good enough to sit in."