Unconventional . . .

Carlos Alomar and Nile Rodgers, former collaborators with David Bowie, recently commented on the latter's work habits during his creative heyday. “In order for him to stay up all night and finish the tasks at hand, it (cocaine) was a huge factor. Its function was to keep you alert, and that’s what he was doing. It did not stop his creativity at all.” Alomar admitted that it occasionally affected their concerts. If Bowie forgot a lyric, it fell to Alomar to pick up the lead vocal until Bowie could find his place in the song. Bowie gave up drugs in the late ’70s, but by then they had already done some permanent damage. Rodgers, the Chic mastermind who produced Bowie’s smash hit 1983 album, ‘Let’s Dance,’ said, “He told me there are years of his life that he doesn’t remember. He said, ‘I know that’s me singing, I know that’s my record and my picture, but I don’t remember writing the songs, I don’t remember going into the studio.’”

Bowie came to the public's attention in 1969 when his song "Space Oddity" reached the top five of the UK Singles Chart. After a three-year period of experimentation he re-emerged in 1972 during the glam rock era with the flamboyant, androgynous alter ego Ziggy Stardust, spearheaded by the hit single "Starman" and the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Bowie challenged rock music conventions of his time and created the largest cult in popular culture. But in true creative fashion, Ziggy was only one facet of a career marked by continual reinvention, musical innovation and striking visual presentation.

In 1975, Bowie achieved his first major American crossover success with the number-one single "Fame" and the hit album Young Americans, which Bowie himself characterized as "plastic soul". The radical shift in style initially alienated many of his UK devotees. He then confounded the expectations of both his record label and his American audiences by recording the minimalist album Low (1977)—the first of three collaborations with Brian Eno over the next two years. Low, "Heroes", and Lodger, the so-called "Berlin Trilogy" albums, all reached the UK top five and received lasting critical praise. In the late 1970s, Bowie had UK number ones with the 1980 single "Ashes to Ashes", its parent album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), and "Under Pressure", a 1981 collaboration with Queen. He then reached a new commercial peak in 1983 with Let's Dance, which yielded several hit singles. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Bowie continued to experiment with musical styles, including blue-eyed soul, industrial, adult contemporary, and jungle. Bowie's latest studio album The Next Day was released in March 2013.

(thanks to http://ultimateclassicrock.com/david-bowie-cocaine/?trackback=tsmclip and wikipedia.com)

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OHO's "Ocean City Ditty," the CD single is now available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/oho4
(and, if you're in town, at Trax On Wax on Frederick Rd. in Catonsville, MD) OHO is Jay Graboski, David Reeve & Ray Jozwiak

My latest solo release, '2014' of original, instrumental piano music, can be downloaded digitally at:

(or you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
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That takes a lot of brass. . .

. . . and ALSO in October (11th, 1941), Joe's brother Lester was born in the historic village of Bartonsville in Frederick, Maryland, Bowie grew up in St Louis, Missouri. At the age of five he started studying the trumpet with his father, a professional musician. He played with blues musicians such as Little Milton and Albert King, and rhythm and blues stars such as Solomon Burke, Joe Tex, and Rufus Thomas. In 1965, he became Fontella Bass's musical director and husband. He was a co-founder of Black Artists Group (BAG) in St Louis.

In 1966, he moved to Chicago, where he worked as a studio musician, and met Muhal Richard Abrams and Roscoe Mitchell and became a member of the AACM. In 1968, he founded the Art Ensemble of Chicago with Mitchell, Joseph Jarman, and Malachi Favors. He remained a member of this group for the rest of his life, and was also a member of Jack DeJohnette's New Directions quartet. He lived and worked in Jamaica and Africa, and played and recorded with Fela Kuti. Bowie's onstage appearance, in a white lab coat, with his goatee waxed into two points, was an important part of the Art Ensemble's stage show.

In 1984, he formed Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy, a brass nonet in which Bowie demonstrated jazz's links to other forms of popular music, a decidedly more populist approach than that of the Art Ensemble. With this group he recorded songs made popular by Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Marilyn Manson, and the Spice Girls, along with more "serious" material. His New York Organ Ensemble featured James Carter and Amina Claudine Myers. (from Wikipedia.com)




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Leaves also fall in October. . .

. . . but musically speaking, Joseph Bowie, the youngest member of the Bowie musician family, began is career in St. Louis, Missouri where he was born October 17, 1953 and raised by his father William Lester Bowie, Sr. & mother Earxie L. Bowie. Joseph’s father was a music teacher and he was greatly influenced by his older brothers Byron (saxophonist & arranger) and older brother Lester, internationally acclaimed jazz trumpeter.

Joe made his first international tour with B.A.G, in 1971 with Oliver Lake, Baikida Carroll, Bobo Shaw, Floyd Leflore & Julius Hemphill moved to Paris to begin his his first major tour with a jazz ensemble. During this time in Paris, Joe worked with other jazz notables; Alan Silva, Frank Wright, Bobby Few and others. He also worked with Dr. John in Montreaux in 1973.

In 1973, Joseph with drummer Charles Bobo Shaw moved to New York City and with the help of Ellen Stuart of La Mama Experimental Theater Group extablished the La Mama children’s theater on the lower east side of NYC. During this period 1973-76 Joe collaborated and performed with Cecil Taylor, Human Arts Ensemble,Leroy Jenkins, Stanley Cowell, Sam Rivers, Ornette Coleman & many more jazz personalities in New York at that time. Joseph became a notable member of the new jazz community in NY. In 1976 he moved briefly to Chicago where he became a Rhythm & Blues specialist, leading bands for Tyrone Davis and other R& B artists. Returning to NYC in 1978 Joseph began working with Punk/funk artist James Chance and soon became a fixture on the new wave scene in NY. Defunkt was born during that time. During the next 25 years, Defunkt has recorded 15 CD’s and Joseph has become a funk officianado throughout the world collaborating with funk entities such as Dave Doran, Sigi finkel, Wolf Wolf, Jean -Paul Bourelly. (from http://www.allaboutjazz.com)




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The blatant truth. . .

. . . Make no bones about it, I am here mainly to try to get you to listen to, and purchase, my music in some form, or fashion. Don't take that the wrong way. I like you. If you're reading this, as a matter of fact, I like you quite a bit. So I do try to be somewhat entertaining and/or informative. Although I write something here everyday, I still toil constantly at, first: creating music, and second: trying to place my name and music in front of as many people as I can, and in keeping with my generally lazy nature, as simply and easily as I can.

One of the tactics, for lack of a better word, of getting one's name in the public eye, is to be listed at the top of the list when searched for on Google. So I did some 'research'. Using various search words, I logged where my site appears on the Google list that is returned.

Searching Ray
My site appears at position #10

Gonzo
#12

Jozwiak
#1 (no surprise)

Creative
#12

Original
#11

Eclectic
#15

Sometimes, I'm not sure I know what I'm doing. Sometimes it all seems futile. These results were somewhat gratifying though. I think maybe I'll try it a little longer. (HA!) Why am I doing this anyway?



download your
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ANOTHER SHOT
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