Don Menza hangs it up...
PIANORUTH
The 68-year-old genius of jazz, who splits his time between homes in Las
Vegas and Los Angeles, says he is finished.
He put away his famed saxophone following his last gig -- the annual
Desert Big Band and Jazz Party last month in Palm Springs, Calif.
"I got into music because it was fun. I enjoyed the challenge of being
able to go out and create all this music," Menza said. "But the whole
jazz culture suddenly is part of the pop culture. The record business is
more concerned about how we look than how we sound.
"Music has become part of the visual arts. They ask you, 'What kind of
act do you do? What kind of show do you do?' "
His has always been a class act, and his shows have been as diverse as
the production revue "Splash" and "Jazz on the Strip," a Monday-night
jazz showcase in the former Le Bistro Lounge at the Riviera.
Menza says his decision to walk away from something that has been a part
of his life for so long was not easy.
"It was brought about by a series of events," he said. "I've been doing
this for 53 years, but that's not the problem. My health is good -- I'm
concerned about where music has gone. I'm not at all impressed by the
pop/rock culture."
He still loves music, but that isn't enough to keep him onstage.
"Before I learn to hate music, I would like to go back and listen to it
the rest of my life," Menza said. "If I feel the urge, I might play
again."
But he says that isn't likely.
"At this point, I don't even want to play for pleasure," Menza said.
And playing professionally part time is out of the question. He says if
you're going to perform at all, you have to practice several hours every
day "if you want to stay on top of it. You can't just play on a Saturday
or a Tuesday."
Menza, a native of Buffalo, N. Y., has been a serious musician since the
age of 12, studying saxophone in high school and at the State University
of Fredonia.
While in the service and stationed in Germany, he played with the 7th
Army Jazz Orchestra, a band that included such musical heavyweights as
Don Ellis, Leo Wright, Eddie Harris, Cedar Walton and Lanny Morgan.
In 1958 he returned to the United States, was discharged and -- for the
first time -- quit playing.
"In the two or three short years I was gone from this country, I was
amazed at how the jazz scene had diminished," Menza said.
But then he heard saxophonist Sonny Rollins play.
"And I remembered why I wanted to play the saxophone," Menza said.
He joined the Al Belletto sextet and then, in 1960, toured with Maynard
Ferguson. He performed briefly with Stan Kenton, led a quintet in
Buffalo for a couple of years and then, in 1963, moved back to Germany.
A lifelong fondness for Europe had developed during his tour of duty
with the military. Now that he's retired, he may spend even more time
overseas.
"It was the first time I was treated like an artist, with respect,"
Menza said. "It's a whole other lifestyle. The rest of the world looks
at jazz as a true art form, but not in this country.
"When I came back from a five-year stint in Europe in '68, I couldn't
buy car insurance in this country because I was a jazz musician and jazz
musicians were in a high-risk pool. It was insanity."
After his return, he toured briefly with the Buddy Rich band and then
settled in L. A. and became a musician with the three major television
networks and several recording companies.
He performed with productions in Las Vegas until he began to burn out on
commercial gigs in the late '80s.
A yearlong position as artist in residence at UNLV may have hastened the
burn.
It was in 1990.
"It was a stretch for those people -- they don't want someone like me,
someone who has been on the buses on the road, showing kids how it
really was," Menza said. "I don't teach out of the book.
"I told them how it is and how it was, but those people don't want to
hear about that. I feel bad for kids going to school. They all come out
sounding the same, like coming out of a Chevy plant -- the more I talk
about it, the more I'm convinced I don't want to play anymore."
It was about that time, more than 10 years ago, that he was with the
orchestra in "Splash."
"That was my last commercial gig," he said. "After that, I said no more.
When that gig ended, I promised that would be the end of it -- from then
on I would only do jazz gigs."
For the most part, he has been true to his word.
"I've survived 53 years in the business, most of the time calling my own
shots," Menza said. "I wasn't an innovator or a trailblazer or world
beater -- I was a traditional, mainstream player, sometimes high energy,
sometimes not.
"There are so many things I haven't done, like writing for an orchestra,
but I'm tired and I don't want to do it now. I ran out of energy -- I
wasted so much energy on bad gigs. We all did. If you are going to be
conscientious about playing, you're going to spend a lot of time doing it
-- it's hazardous to jazz playing."
He says he isn't bitter about anything.
"I just don't want to have to deal with it anymore," Menza said. "I have
no regrets. It was wonderful. I gave a lot. I gave it willingly -- all
the playing, all the writing, the teaching."
Last week he came to Las Vegas for a few days from his home in Los
Angeles.
"For the first time, I didn't have my saxophone with me," Menza said.
"It was like I had left a friend behind -- a good friend. But I didn't
miss him."
Larry Smithee
That's really sad.
Larry
Patskywriter
Larry >>
i don't know if it's really all that sad. he had a great gig for 53 years ...
reminds me of the time my granddad died at age 103. naturally, my mom was
pretty broken up (i was, too). i said to her, "we got to know granddad for a
whole lot longer than most folks get to know their dads and granddads. let's
not be greedy." mom said, "i know," she smiled and dried her tears.
pat
Brian Rost
> << That's really sad.
> Larry >>
>
> i don't know if it's really all that sad. he had a great gig for 53 years ...
The fact that the guy loves music so much but can't stand playing it any
more seems sad enough to me.
--
Brian Rost
Stargen, Inc.
**********************************************************************
Glenn Wilson
interested.
Glenn-
www.jazzmaniac.com
"Brian Rost" <fr...@flintstone.com> wrote in message
news:403A6969...@flintstone.com...
Nick
>
> The 68-year-old genius of jazz, who splits his time between homes in Las
> Vegas and Los Angeles, says he is finished.
Thanks for posting that, pianoruth.
Menza has always been one of my favorite tenor players -- the total
package of great sound, incredible technique and feel, etc. I saw him
live about eight years ago and he was still at the top of his game --
unusual for players of his age.
I'm a little surprised that he's only getting fed up with "pop
culture" *now* -- mainstream jazz artists have been voicing similar
complaints for decades.
The saddest thing for me is not that he's retiring (at 68, it's not
exactly premature by average standards) but that he has left us so few
recordings through which to enjoy his ample talents.
I've read interviews where he bemoaned the difficulty of getting to
play straight-ahead jazz and the need to play so many commercial gigs.
He says he's "not bitter" but it sounds like he's not very happy with
the percentage of his talent and energy he's had to compromise in
order to make a decent living. If a player of Menza's talent has this
problem, it does not bode well for the rest of us.
Glenn Wilson
ews:1d97fb30.04022...@posting.google.com...
The saddest thing for me is not that he's retiring (at 68, it's not
> exactly premature by average standards) but that he has left us so few
> recordings through which to enjoy his ample talents.
Nick - you're right. That's a real shame. Hopefully he'll do some writing
as he suggested and we'll get to hear that.
>
> I've read interviews where he bemoaned the difficulty of getting to
> play straight-ahead jazz and the need to play so many commercial gigs.
> He says he's "not bitter" but it sounds like he's not very happy with
> the percentage of his talent and energy he's had to compromise in
> order to make a decent living. If a player of Menza's talent has this
> problem, it does not bode well for the rest of us.
I've met Don a few times, but don't really know him. Jazz is a funny music.
It's so personal that many times a player's strengths and weaknesses as a
human being have a lot to do with the music he/she creates and the extent to
which that person is able to get his/her music heard.
Tom Chapin was a very good friend of mine and he was the kind of guy who
always had a project going. He was always recording and documenting his
muic, wheter it was producing his own cassettes or self-publishing books of
his tunes. The fact that he was 'discovered' by the downtown/Knitting
Factory crowd, for lack of a better term, was a great reflection of his
detemination to get his music out to the public. Tom was a tremendous
player, which didn't hurt either but he could have easily gotten lost in the
crowd as many other talented players do.. I never met anyone who had more
joy in creating music Ironically and tragically he was taken by disease
and silented, but his legacy is substantial for the few years he was able to
record.
Sounds like Don has lost the joy of playing. I hope he finds it again.
Glenn
www.jazzmaniac.com
Joe
die,LOL...hes 68 and hes got 2 homes, thats more than most jazzers
have,most never make it to 40!
patsky...@aol.com (Patskywriter) wrote in message news:<20040223123317...@mb-m12.aol.com>...
Simon Weil
><< That's really sad.
>Larry >>
>
Simon Weil
Larry Smithee
> > << That's really sad.
> > Larry >>
> >
> > i don't know if it's really all that sad. he had a great gig for 53 years ...
>
> The fact that the guy loves music so much but can't stand playing it any
> more seems sad enough to me.
Yeah, that's what I was referring to as sad. That he had apparently
lost the fire for music making. It's fine to retire but to lose ones
love for performing music is really sad. The academia thing is
understandable, though. The academic environment is a much different
place than the real world. Some artists can thrive in it and some just
can't deal with that brand of politics. I always loved Menza's works
and I hope he can find new thrills and rewards for his high energy
personality.
Larry
cole
Patskywriter
lost the fire for music making ... >>
larry, in addition to what i said, i actually do agree with you, too. i love
playing music and would hate to lose that spark. (btw, i really like the work
don menza did with moacir santos. nice stuff.)
pat :)
Matt Snyder
his disgust with it. Artie Shaw did the same thing about 50 years ago
and for similar reasons. His comments were strikingly similar to
Menza's, in fact. He said in 1985:
"People ask me, "Do you miss it?" That's like asking a man who had to
cut off his right arm because it was gangrenous if he misses it -
obviously he does. But he didn't want to die. So I simply had to get
out of the music business. And, of course, when a guy gives up several
million dollars he has to have compelling reasons. My compelling
reason was I wanted to live, not die. It's that simple. I suppose that
sounds awfully pat but it's true. I am convinced that if I had stayed
in it, I'd be dead by now."
Matt Snyder
Mr Zed
Ron Hearn
> Man just reached retirement age. No need to shed tears over that.
I'm just glad no one has told Hank Jones or Sonny Rollins about the
retirement age thing.
ron
Toni Lassila
Don't mention anything to Johnny Griffin either, I've got tickets to
see him on his upcoming 76th birthday.
katie k
Hey Glenn... are you a fellow Eastman Alumni from all those years ago?
If you are: I even remember "Glenn and Ginger"... if you are not...
sorry to disturb...
Katie K
Glenn Wilson
with Buddy in 1979-80, where I met Don. He wasn't on the band then but used
to hang out when we were in LA. Glenn and Ginger sounds interesting though
:)
Glenn
www.jazzmaniac.com
"katie k" <kati...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:450b6ed6.04022...@posting.google.com...
katie k
my "glen(n) wilson" went to eastman as (I think) a clarinet major and
became a jazz/pop piano player in DC years later with his wife Ginger
singing.
heard buddy's band a ton of times, but before you were in it... the
other featured sax player I saw a lot with that band was the great Art
Pepper...I even saw Buddy get busted one night ONE THE BANDSTAND in
Rochester NY around 1971 or so...
they threw it out because his suitcase (where they found something)
was unlocked at the airport...
best of luck,
katie k
sum1
I hope someone pulls Jimmy Smith aside and mentions it.
Ron Hearn
I am sure you do.
Larry Smithee
> I hope someone pulls Jimmy Smith aside and mentions it.
Are there any other jazz icons you'd like to eliminate?
Larry
sum1
> su...@lycos.jp (sum1) wrote in message news:<544b2430.04022...@posting.google.com>...
> > rwh...@shaw.ca (Ron Hearn) wrote in message news:<4ba049bc.04022...@posting.google.com>...
> > > stil...@hotmail.com (Mr Zed) wrote in message news:<4101ac59.04022...@posting.google.com>...
> > > > Man just reached retirement age. No need to shed tears over that.
> > >
> > > I'm just glad no one has told Hank Jones or Sonny Rollins about the
> > > retirement age thing.
> > > ron
> >
> > I hope someone pulls Jimmy Smith aside and mentions it.
>
> I am sure you do.
Your surety is reassuring.
Mike C.
substance, that requires a little bit of thought and maybe more than one
listening.
--
Mike C.
http://mikecrutcher.com
"As much as I love music, I never really thought it was my life. I thought
it was the vehicle I used to express my life" - Herbie Mann
"Larry Smithee" <lcsm...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:3cdae13f.04022...@posting.google.com...
Dez Dankworth
news:Sjy0c.6920$ko6.154895@attbi_s02
> Probably Pat Metheny, for starters.
Absolutely; for once we agree. Apart from his smooth jazz output, I
really don't know why he bothers to get up in the mornings.
--
Posted via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG
sum1
If I think of any more who spend half their set doing lame-ass schtick
and the rest diddling on their instrument I'll let you know.
sum1
> Probably Pat Metheny, for starters.
Last time I saw Pat he played a full set of interesting music
(something you can do only in your recycled teenage daydreams).