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Dean Nardi

I am a retired journalist, first covering pro sports in Boston for a daily newspaper then publishing two magazines.

About Me

I was first exposed to playing in a jazz combo while in high school. Music appreciation class was mandatory in Junior year, but there was a way to get full credit and never have to attend a class. The teacher's son, a shy, bespectacled piano player by the name of Stanley Bubien, loved Oscar Peterson, especially the series of albums he released in 1959-60 playing the songbooks of the top composers like Gershwin, Berlin, Rogers and in particular Harold Arlen. Peterson usually recorded as a trio with Ray Brown and Ed Thigpen as the rhythm section, while Herb Ellis often sat in on these sessions. Since I was the only high school Junior in the city who knew a guitar could be used to play more than just rock 'n roll, my ticket to a free period three times weekly was punched. The drummer was a pot-brain-damaged kid named Craig Pineo, who loved to bust Stanley's balls by calling us the Stosh Bubien Trio + 1. On bass was a boy who looked like he skipped a few grades and probably some meals as well. Donald ”Mouse” Headley had shown up at the music room looking for a get-together of people wanting to be in the chess club and instead of finding a chessboard, he left with a fretboard on the neck of a Fender bass. Frankly, we sucked. We met weekly at the home of Stan's parents, ate the snacks put out for us, flirted with his cute younger sister, spent 15 minutes trying to tune up, then noodled around while Stanley went about playing every part to Arlen classics like “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea,” “Let's Fall in Love,” “Come Rain or Come Shine” and, of course, “Over the Rainbow.” He was very good on the piano but just couldn't manage to play while leaving room for other instruments. When he finished a song, he'd turn around and mumble something like “It's Only a Paper Moon” in C Major, just the head, which the drummer took to mean it was time for a bathroom break and a cigarette. Pineo got up and left so Mouse would unfold his portable chessboard and challenge me to a game. Stanley/Stosh would say something like he wanted to keep his hands warm and resumed playing, beautifully I must say, while waiting for us to come back from break. Needless to say, the combo didn't last the entire school year, but for whatever reason no one seemed to care that we never went back to class. I was pretty bummed, though, about only getting a C for my final grade.

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My Jazz Story

I love jazz because no matter how relentlessly I practiced the guitar, when I try to improvise it sounds lame. So, I appreciate those who do so effortlessly. I was first exposed to jazz by my parents, who used to have the neighbors over to sing Tin Pan Alley tunes, which led me to Duke Ellington, Jimmy Smith, Wes Montgomery. I met John Abercrombie at Blues Alley in the 1990's in a trio with Adam Nussbaum and Dan Wall. I was by myself hanging out and met him after the first set. He told me how much he liked the playing of Jim Hall and Wes Montgomery and a 2 or 3 others I've forgotten. The best show I ever attended was by Oregon at the Théâtre Saint-Denis in Montréal in 1974 with the original lineup of Collin Walcott on tabla, sitar and dulcimer, Glen Moore on bass, clarinet, viola and piano, Paul McCandless on woodwind instruments and the great Ralph Towner on guitar, piano, synthesizer and trumpet. They played for 2 hours on a magical evening with light snow falling as we left. The first jazz record I bought was Back at the Chicken Shack by Jimmy Smith. Probably because I was in the church choir and loved the Hammond organ. My advice to new listeners is if you are like my wife and think jazz music sounds like a bunch of pots and pans falling off the shelf, jazz may not be for you. Or whatever else you have in mind. How to find the time to finish listening to every un-played record in my massive collection before buying any new releases. The new Jenny Scheinman album doesn't count because she's in my top 5 faves and her publicist is sending me the CD to hear before I interview her.