That Old Black Magic - ASHLEY ALEXANDER BIG BAND

[AndrewMeronek]

Who knows anything about this recording and/or band? Ran across this trying to find a recording of this Mantooth chart. I wasn't sure if it had actually been done, and viola! Featuring (to my ears, I'm not sure) the featured solo part on a superbone?

[JohnL]

Ashley Alexander certainly regularly played a Superbone. It's been said that he was the player who most effectively exploited the instrument's valves+slide capability.

[Sniffynose]

Great post!

First thing that always comes to mind when I hear this song is this
Blue Devils 1988

Scroll to 2:21 minutes in

[JohnL]

To add more...

Ashley Alexander was on the faculty at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, California (near Los Angeles) from 1975 until his death (at the age of 52) in 1988; before that, he was jazz studies director at the University of Northern Iowa.

As I recall, he was very active as a clinician (he was teaching at a summer camp in Canada when he died) and a lot of people passed through his programs at UNI and Mr. SAC. I'm sure there are people here on the forum who knew him personally.

[AndrewMeronek]

First thing that always comes to mind when I hear this song is this
Blue Devils 1988

Cool bootleg! I never did drum corps, too hard.

[AndrewMeronek]

LPs of this apparently aren't worthless if one presumes EBay reflects some semblence of the current market.

Was this never released on CD in the States? Seems like CDs are available in the U.K.

[boneapart]

LPs of this apparently aren't worthless if one presumes EBay reflects some semblence of the current market.

Was this never released on CD in the States? Seems like CDs are available in the U.K.

I have it on CD, DAP 34002-2 (1995) "Made in Texas, U.S.A." Most of Frank Mantooth's arrangement are available as well.

[tbdana]

I was recently turned onto this Alexander/Mantooth chart on "Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most" when I had to (or, actualy, got to) sight read this on a gig I was subbing on. I like it, and even my spouse likes this tune, and she's not a big band fan.

[timbales]

I love this album. Superb playing, wonderful arrangements, and recorded really well. Deserves a listen. You may be surprised.

I'm on the Ashley Alexander trail to see what kind of left hand brace he has on his Holton Superbone.
I have a Mendini clone of a SuperBone
that actually sounds okay and the intonation is okay as well. Except, it is really heavy. Really heavy for my 71 year old left hand.
So I'm having Dana Hofer in Des Plaines Illinois (Chicago near O'Hare) Mount a NeoTech strap/handle on the valve body area. He is a good designer. More about that later.
Re Ashley Alexander's Holton. He also has two counter weights on the back end, and a slide "stabilizer" mounted to the slide and the third valve area.
Thanks
I will report back

Tim Bales
timbales.net

[boneapart]

Ashley Alexander and Frank Mantooth were a great team. Sadly, they both perished in their mid 50s.