Jam Session Pt II - The Green Machine

Lisa and I were about to leave the Jam Session photography exhibit that we had crashed when she bumped me to look at a plaque laying on a table right next to the door. It was a Handy Award - lifetime achievement for my friend Herman Green. I laughed and smiled and then I hear this familiar voice. It was Herman.


Herman is the man. He has played with everybody. I mean everybody. When he came back from Korea, he came through San Fransisco. He wisely stayed for a while as the leader of the house band at the Blackhawk. When Herman tells you a Coltrane story, it is first hand. He also ran the music lineup at the late night jam club out there. Check out this photo (sorry, I got the glare) of him with Trane at the bar of the Blackhawk.


He of course got onto me for not coming to see him lately. I made the excuse of kids and work, but that we were free that night. He was actually sitting in that night with the same fusion band that I used to see every Sunday night all through my twenties: Freeworld. It was good to see the guys still stretching out some tunes on Beale Street. They have had to add more Memphis tunes due to the touristy nature of Beale these days (think Bourbon Street in New Orleans), but Herman was able to really dig in on a few tracks. We had a great time. If any of you guys ever get to memphis, you can do far worse than Freeworld on Sunday nights.

Check out this link on Herman. I own some Lionel Hampton vinyl with Herman on it as well as some bootleg cassettes of my favorite Herman era, the psychedelic rock they were playing in the late 80's. Oh, and there are also some cd's out there of his Green Machine and quite a few Freeworld CD's...

Peace,
Me