flict between playing Motown and jazz. If I were to just play jazz all the time, I'd love it of course, but it would eventually become a routine thing unless I was able to play with a lot of different people. So by doing my thing out on the road, it works out well. I do the thing with Diana Ross, make my bucks, and then the gig is over with. After hours, I look for all the jazz clubs. In quite a few cities I’m known more for being a jazz player than for the other thing...The people here in Portland have never really heard me play a lot of jazz on that level. They’ll see me doing the slow tunes, with brushes, and they’ll go, “Oh well, Mel Brown, he's a good trio drummer. ” Maybe they’ve heard me with the Big Band, but they haven’t really heard me dig in like I did with Richie Cole. And that’s where I want to go. I’ve played with Dexter (Gordon), I’d like to play with people like that for a while. But first off I'd like to put myself in a financial position where I can get all the way into it. They don't make a lot of bread, but I’d like to check it out mainly because half of the guys recording right now were students of mine when I was with the Temptations. The Richie Cole gig was fun. “ You play the drums the way I want to hear them behind him," he said. It's not like he wanted me to play this way or that way; it was just a natural thing and I heard it. The way I played it was as if to say, “Hey, I know exactly where you’re going." And that really gassed him. So we had some fun. And that’s why Dizzy’s so popular too. Wherever Dizzy plays, people are going to come out, because besides playing good music, he's going to have something to say, he's going to talk in the microphone. A lot of groups come out and play, but they won't say anything in between. So again I look at Cannonball, and say, “Hey, that’s the way I want to have fun." Because that's what music is supposed to be, fun. “...it’smyjobto pass it on.’’ /just recorded ten tunes with my trio. Phil is twenty-three ■(Phil Baker, bass), and George is twenty- four (George Mitchell, piano), they’re guys I brought along. That’s been a big help to me in getting the kind of group sound I want. Older, established musicians have a steady way of doing things, and it’s hard to change them. But with George it was different: I followed him when he was still in high school. We did some talking and I said, “Check out some of the older players, go back and find out where the music comes from.” And that's what he did. He really studied. And they're both really coming along. So even if I could get all my bread from playing, I probably wouldn’t let teaching go, because I enjoy passing on some knowledge, knowledge that I don't own. It was passed on to me, so it’s my job to pass it on to the younger player who's really serious. I get a big reward out of seeing somebody grow. But one of the stipulations I make is that once a student of mine gets it together, if somebody comes to him and wants some answers, I want it passed on to them. I try to teach a player to be a good person. “...another corner.’’ lot of kids parents now are people I grew up with, because when I was growing up I We didn’t have to worry about a gig, because the guitar player owned the club. He was about the most un talented person I’d ever seen! Couldn’t sing, couldn’t play the guitar, and he wasn’t funny. Now he’s making a mint! That was Tommy Chong from Cheech and Chong. was totally ensconced in the community. A lot of the wrongdoing among teenagers now is because they don’t have a sense of direction and no one takes the time to spend with them...I haven’t been able to put a lot of time into these kids because I’ve been so busy on the road...The main thing is, I just don’t have much time to myself. I’m treading water now because I’m trying to do too many things at once. Right now, I don’t have a good, clear-cut plan for what I want to do with my life. I do want to play more again, I definitely like to play. I’d just like to get away from the business for a while. Like Ringo said, every seven years your lifestyle changes. So the business thing went from twenty-eight, and I’m thirty-seven now. I’m starting to turn another corner. But I want to make sure it's a positive corner. At a younger age you can always recoup, but at this age I’m covering my bases. And I think I'm in a pretty good position: I’ve got the drum shop, I can still teach, and of course I’ll always be able to get a gig, because I don't have any trouble reading, and basically I can play any style of music. I’ve done so much in my life, nothing’s going to throw me for a loop. ■ VERITABLE QUANDARY NEW DINNER MENU FOOD & DRINK MON.-SAT. 11:30 am - 2 am SUN. 6 pm - 1 am 1220 SW FIRST AVE. 227-7342 Clinton St. Quarterly 21
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