Roger Bissell's final performance at Disneyland


Recommended Posts

Smokin', REB!

Roger is a top-notch jazz trombonist. I had the pleasure of hearing him perform live with the Side Street Strutters at the last two Central Illinois Jazz Festivals in Decatur.

If you would like to hear more of Roger's playing, he has a Cd, "The Art of the Duo," that he recorded some years ago with pianist Ben Di Tosti. Samples from this Cd can be heard here:

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rbissell

Ghs

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I forgot to mention that "The Art of the Duo" got the following comment from jazz legend Dave Brubeck:

"[Their] CD is fantastic...Anyone really interested in adventurous, beautifully played, swinging jazz will be thrilled with this great duo..."

Another jazz great -- composer, arranger, and pianist Clare Fischer -- was even more effusive in his praise:

"I am perfectly delighted...a number one + one + one, etc....I have never heard trombone playing like that - ever...a trombonist and 3/4s if I have ever heard one...Tone was superb, ideas equally..."

I should note that I am not getting any kickbacks for my advertising. I am, however, open to the idea. :rolleyes:

Ghs

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, legend has it that Roger was actually the first guy to come out with outrageous requirements on his performance riders. Something about "no F*%^&ing Wire Coat Hangers," I think it was.

I wonder if you'll miss it, Roger? It was a good run, though, and I'm sure you are always doing other things, anyway. Sure enjoyed the video.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Roger, I wish you all the best in your coming retirement.

Folks, I know Roger very well, and he will continue to be exceedingly intellectually active! This is simply a career change for him!

Dennis

Link to comment
Share on other sites

.

Congratulations, Roger, on reaching retirement. I remember talking with you about this shining day seven years ago. I am glad you lived to this smile.

In a couple of weeks, I will return to the place at the lake where I spread Jerry’s ashes twenty years ago. We were both forty-one years old when he died. That was a generous amount of a man’s life. Now it seems we were so young. Long life is good with enough health and memory. Wishing you long life, health, and memory. And new creations.

Stephen

Edited by Stephen Boydstun
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guys, I ~will~ miss Disneyland, but not for the music, and ~certainly~ not for either the DL Band uniform I wore each morning or for the ghastly orange outfit I wore each afternoon in the Pearly Band. (Nice try, Michael! :rolleyes:

No, it will be for the incredible "eye candy" we get to enjoy, year in/year out, in Southern California's pleasant climate. (Pleasant, except for the days of 100+ weather. Gaaaaah!)

As for "retirement," Dennis is right. It's just a career shift. I will probably be playing trombone nearly as much in Nashville as I have been in Anaheim -- just not outdoors nearly as much! (And outdoors playing is very tough on brass players. I've had two trombone playing friends lose their "chops" after several years of struggling with the outdoor acoustics.)

And yes, I have a new CD in preparation. Just today, my engineer and I transitioned into "mixing" mode, after ~months~ of writing, "sequencing" (incorporating computerized parts), "overdubbing" (live parts), and editing. We did a first thorough "mix" on two of the eight tunes for the CD, and we plan to hit it again tomorrow and try to knock out another couple of tunes.

My estimate is that we will finish the mixing by about June 20, and then it will be all artwork and production, with a release -- I hope -- by about July 4. It will be available from CD Baby, as is my previous CD, about which George and Robert said such gracious things. (True things, but gracious nonetheless. ;)

And there will be more (I hope ~many~ more) CDs, as well as essays for JARS (and eventually books), which I will resume work on once we're relocated in Nashville. We plan to move there about August 1, so it will be a very busy summer indeed. Looks like I quit my day gig just in time!

Thanks, everybody. REB

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yer great, Roger! Of course, I don't know what I'm talking about.

--Brant

I drove to Nashville once--and kept on going

Brant, I admire your willingness to join the party with an uninformed compliment. Now, that's comraderie! (And I'll take anything I can get. :drool: )

But I must say a few words in Nashville's defense, regardless of whethr Brant was dissing her, or simply stating a pointless autobiographical detail...

Nashville is a ~lovely~ city -- about a million folks in the greater metropolitan area. Folks are ~very~ friendly there, much more generous and welcoming and inclusive than supposedly liberal, humanitarian Los Angeles. I had a booming musical career there in the 70s and 80s, and would have stayed except for increasingly unmanageable consequences of bad personal choices. (But we've been divorced now for 20 years.) Its politics are primarily moderately liberal Democrat, though the southern tier of communities in Davidson County are more conservative-Republican, and there is also a smattering of Objectivists and Libertarians with whom (which?) to commiserate. And yes, it is reputed to be the Buckle of the Bible Belt -- with several major Protestant denominations having their publishing houses located there -- but there are also enough atheists, and other secular oriented folks to hang with, that one need not feel alienated socially or intellectually. I never did. I even got along well with the religious and liberal folk, who are decent people...most of the time. ;)

I guess I'd sum up my attachment to this city -- in which 3 of my kids and 4 of my grandkids and scores of loved friends and colleagues live -- with this paraphrase of Brant's offhand quip: I drove to Nashville once -- and kept on returning. :tongue:

REB

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yer great, Roger! Of course, I don't know what I'm talking about.

--Brant

I drove to Nashville once--and kept on going

Brant, I admire your willingness to join the party with an uninformed compliment. Now, that's comraderie! (And I'll take anything I can get. :drool: )

But I must say a few words in Nashville's defense, regardless of whethr Brant was dissing her, or simply stating a pointless autobiographical detail...

Nashville is a ~lovely~ city -- about a million folks in the greater metropolitan area. Folks are ~very~ friendly there, much more generous and welcoming and inclusive than supposedly liberal, humanitarian Los Angeles. I had a booming musical career there in the 70s and 80s, and would have stayed except for increasingly unmanageable consequences of bad personal choices. (But we've been divorced now for 20 years.) Its politics are primarily moderately liberal Democrat, though the southern tier of communities in Davidson County are more conservative-Republican, and there is also a smattering of Objectivists and Libertarians with whom (which?) to commiserate. And yes, it is reputed to be the Buckle of the Bible Belt -- with several major Protestant denominations having their publishing houses located there -- but there are also enough atheists, and other secular oriented folks to hang with, that one need not feel alienated socially or intellectually. I never did. I even got along well with the religious and liberal folk, who are decent people...most of the time. ;)

I guess I'd sum up my attachment to this city -- in which 3 of my kids and 4 of my grandkids and scores of loved friends and colleagues live -- with this paraphrase of Brant's offhand quip: I drove to Nashville once -- and kept on returning. :tongue:

REB

I spent a lot of time in Nashville during the 1980s, while I was working for Knowledge Products. I was living in Hollywood, but I spent around 10 days of every two months in Nashville in order to assist with the recording sessions. I fell in love with the city and seriously considered moving there at one point. Because of the music industry, Nashville has a cosmopolitan atmosphere that I found appealing. And the people were extraordinarily friendly. In fact, they were so friendly that it took a while for me to shed the cynicism that I had acquired from years of living in Hollywood. There, if strangers go out of their way to be nice, you figure they are attempting to manipulate you for some purpose of their own. But that wasn't the case in Nashville.

Ghs

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 7 months later...

UPDATE!

It turns out that May 31, 2010 was ~not~ my "final performance at Disneyland." Only my final performance with the Disneyland Band, or as an employee of Disneyland.

I'll be appearing there on the Carnation Plaza stage, with The Side Street Strutters Jazz Band, on Saturday, March 5, 2011, to provide nearly 3 hours of hot swing music and lovely ballads for listeners and dancers.

Should be fun! :-)

REB

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now