Phillip Wilson, Joe Charles and Sonny Hamp honored by Sykes and BAG
Special to the American
Gary Sykes joins BAG for a tribute to St. Louis drummers Phillip Wilson, Joe Charles and Sonny Hamp on Sunday, October 21 from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Rosebud Café at Scott Joplin House State Historic Site, 2658 Delmar
Blvd.
Sykes is widely considered to be the finest drummer working in St. Louis. He has performed with many members of the original BAG movement and is one of the most sought-after percussionists in the St. Louis area. He has been recognized by the press as St. Louis’ best drummer and has played with a who’s who of jazz musicians, including Oliver Lake, Julius Hemphill, James Moody, Eddie Harris, Pharoah Sanders, Lester Bowie, John Hicks, Andrew Hill, Dakota Staton, Duke Jordan, James Moody and bluesman Albert King.
Those to be honored at the tribute – Phillip Wilson, Joe Charles and Sonny Hamp – are legendary among St. Louis’ creative jazz musicians.
Phillip Wilson, who died at the age of 50 in 1992, was probably best known in the jazz world for his work with Lester Bowie, along with classic recordings by Julius Hemphill, Anthony Braxton, and David Murray.
He was the original drummer with the Art Ensemble of Chicago, before he left to tour with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band.
When Valerie Wilmer asked master drummer Billy Higgins who his influences were, Higgins said, “And there’s this older cat in St. Louis called Joe Charles. He can really play. He works on a fish truck most of the
time, but he can really play his heart out.”
John Coltrane heard Joe Charles play on one visit to St. Louis and is said to have asked Charles to play for him, but the homebody declined. Charles remained in North St. Louis, and as his health declined through diabetes, he became a guru to a generation of young players to traveled to his small home and woodshedded with him. The nucleus of these young players, David Parker (Pablo Also), Dave Stone and Eric Markowitz, did much to preserve his memory and produced two recordings of Charles.
Sonny Hamp (Clarence Hamilton) was well known to many in the heyday of Gaslight Square. Red Gardner, a St. Louis bartender in the late 1950s and early 1960s, said, “I lived upstairs over the Dark Side. Sonny knew that I would be up there, so one day they came over to ask me if they could use the piano. It was Sonny, Grant Green and John Coltrane. They just wanted to work out some riffs, so they came up and jammed.”
Sykes will be jamming at Scott Joplin House, bringing in the spirit and influences of these great drummers. Give the drummer some, indeed.
For more information, contact Scott Joplin House State Historic Site at (314) 340-5790 or email bag_blackartistgroup@yahoo.com.