Category Archives: Uncategorized

Nature’s Table Archive Vol. 22: Joel Spencer Quartet, November 1, 1980 (RIP Kelly Sill)

Posted on by

Word came on September 28 that Table veteran bassist Kelly Sill had passed away at age 70. Sill was a fixture on the Chicago scene for decades, recorded with everybody, and was highly admired and respected by just about everybody he encountered. He also played many, many gigs at the Table in his day. For a time, Kelly was connected with Joel Spencer.

Volume 22 of the Table archives finds Kelly Sill with Joel’s quartet at the Table with some table regulars: saxophonist Ron Dewar and pianist Donnie Heitler. With Joel on drums, this is a C-U jazz all-star lineup in their prime.

A few tunes suffered from serious phase noise on the cassettes we dubbed, and were not listenable. The taper also stopped and started the recorder after every song, so beginnings and endings of songs are clipped. I tried to add a bit of fading to make it more palatable to your ear. Nevertheless, we were able to pull a solid two hours of music from this gig.

You will be missed, Kelly.

Joel Spencer Quartet – Live at Nature’s Table November 1, 1980

Nature’s Table Archive Vol. 21: Rachael Lee Quintet, 1st Nature’s Table Reunion August 11, 2007

Posted on by

I was recently given several cassettes from Rich Palmer of some recordings of CU’s own Donnie Heitler, the great pianist. Among the collection was a set of Donnie with Rachael Lee at the Autumn Tree restaurant in November 1982 (you can find that show here). That was so well-received that I recalled I had recorded Rachael at the first Nature’s Table Reunion show, held at Mike N’ Molly’s Pub in Champaign, just a couple doors south of WEFT radio on Market Street.

I listened to it, and it was delightful. So here it is, for all to enjoy. While not recorded at the Table, being part of the first Reunion show is good enough for me to post it here. This set features Donnie Heitler on piano, Jeff Helgesen on trumpet, Ed Schaller on bass and Gary Peyton on drums.

I have more material from the first Table Reunion, so look for that coming down the pike soon.

Rachael Lee Quintet – Live at Mike N’ Mollys August 11, 2007 (First Nature’s Table Reunion)

Nature’s Table Archive Vol. 19: The Jack Webb Band – February 22, 1980

Posted on by

Again, after a prolonged absence, we can offer new music to fans of Nature’s Table. This one is the earliest-known recording of music at the Table. The Table opened in September 1979; sometime shortly after that, Terry saw this band perform at another local venue (was it The Ground Round?) and decided that it would be a good idea to add live music to his new establishment.

It took a bit to get music going. The fist show didn’t happen until January 1980. This show was recorded in February, so this was recorded only six weeks after Terry started having music at the Table.

The Jack Webb Band is traditional jazz from the 1920s. It’s fun, lively, with tons of energy. The band also features several table regulars, including Marlene Rosenberg on bass, Scott Mordecai on drums (later of Bontuku-fame), and the one and only Ron Dewar — playing clarinet in this group, not sax.

Thanks to Joan Hickey for this wonderful, historic recording.

The Jack Webb Band – Live at Nature’s Table February 22, 1980

EDIT October 7, 2021: I wondered aloud if it was The Ground Round in Champaign where Terry first heard the Jack Webb Band. I received this email from Mike Miller, the banjo player of the Jack Webb Band:

“… it wasn’t the Ground Round where Terry and Shelley first
heard the band.

The band did play at the Ground Round but it was the regular Thursday
night gigs at Zorba’s where Terry and Shelley started to show up in the
audience.

Those Zorba’s gigs were a blast! A giant party, not unlike what later
happened at the Table when the Webb band played there every Thursday night. “

Thanks for the clarification, Mike!

Nature’s Table Archives Project on WEFT-FM

Posted on by
Sean Kutzko (L) and Jeff Machota (R) discuss the Nature’s Table Archives Project on Machota’s jazz show on WEFT-FM, July 31, 2019.

Jeff Machota, the host of the Wednesday Morning Prayer Meeting jazz show on WEFT 90.1 FM since 1991 and a former Nature’s Table employee, interviewed Sean Kutzko of the Nature’s Table Archives Project on his show on July 31, 2019. The 90-minute segment includes several selections of music recorded at the Table in the Archive, as well as conversation about ongoing efforts and why people are still talking about the Table almost 30 years after it closed.

Tracks included in the segment include:
The Jack Webb Band – “Tiger Rag” February 22, 1980
Jeff Helgesen Quintet – “Ah-Leu-Cha” and “I Remember Clifford,” October 4, 1990.
The Quintet (w/Ray Sasaki & Morgan Powell) – “Willow Weep For Me” May 1980
Ron Dewar Quartet (w/Guido Sinclair) – “I Love You” September 28, 1980
Sorgum – “So What > Impressions > So What” April 5, 1986

All recordings are from performances already posted in the Archive.



Listen below:

Jeff Machota interviews NTAP’s Sean Kutzko on WEFT-FM’s Wednesday Morning Prayer Meeting jazz program, July 31, 2019.

Nature’s Table Archive Vol 18: Nebula with Tom Paynter – March 5, 1990

Posted on by

We’re pleased to offer another example of one of C-U’s more complex jazz composers, Tom Paynter. Tom passed away suddenly on May 25, 2019, and the pianist and flutist left behind his vast, impressive body of work. Paynter’s compositions cover a lot of musical territory, from delicate solo pieces to intense, full-on aural assault.

This recording highlights the more complex side of Paynter’s work. The band’s official title is Nebula: The Music Of Diffused Gassers, led by Tom Paynter. The recording is mostly Tom’s original compositions, although there are covers by Ornette Coleman, Chick Corea and Charlie Parker as well.

C-U’s Ben Grosser was one of the musicians in Nebula. Here’s what he had to say about Nebula, and playing with Tom in general:

Nebula, the Music of Diffused Gassers was a quartet in action around 1990-91. Led by Tom Paynter, the group focused on avant-garde / free / experimental jazz, and, as far as I can recall, all of the band’s charts (aside from occasional standards) were written by Tom. The environment Tom created here was quite supportive of experimentation, as evidenced by our flexible approaches to form, the way we blended tunes together, and the multi-instrument roles each member took on. During a performance, any member of the band might tweak the group’s trajectory, even when doing so meant we turned Tom’s carefully crafted chord changes into something, well, less careful. The core group included Alex Lazarevich on tenor sax and bass/Bb clarinets, myself (Ben Grosser) on trumpets and tenor sax, and Danny Deckard on drums and percussion. All but Danny had an occasional turn on the keyboards, and all of us also sang and played wood chimes. Taimur Sullivan [now member of the highly acclaimed PRISM Quartet] sat in on alto sax for part of this session. I should also note that Tom’s synthesizer chops were in full force with this group. He was extremely adept at crafting timbres with his ARP 2600 synth, and could be seen patching new sounds on the fly during performances. This tape may be the only recording of the band. We played a number of gigs at the Table–and also did a live session on WEFT–but I am unaware of any other tapes.

Enjoy this rare recording of Tom Paynter with some extremely forward-thinking and experimental musicians. Please attend the Tom Paynter Memorial on Sunday, June 21, 2019 from 2pm – 6pm at the Iron Post, 120 S. Race St, Urbana.

Nebula: The Music of Diffused Gassers – Led by Tom Paynter. March 5, 1990

Two Tracks by Tom Paynter

Posted on by
Tom Paynter

The C-U jazz community is still feeling the loss of longtime C-U player and composer Tom Paynter, who died May 25, 2019 at the age of 50. A brilliant pianist and flutist, Tom was equally comfortable in straight-ahead jazz, Brazilian music, or the avant-garde.

We were happy to discover just over twenty minutes of Tom’s quartet as filler on a cassette from Gary Peyton’s collection. The only date listed was “Summer 1990.” These two tunes — “Stella By Starlight” and “Song For My Father” — feature Tom on flute, plus Table regulars Peyton on piano and Danny Deckard on drums. The bassist is merely listed as “Kita;” thanks to some digging by Jeff Helgesen, we believe this is Kita Makoto, who was a student at the U of I at the time and played with Guido Sinclair. A mystery trumpet player sits in on the second tune.

Tom was one of a kind. Be sure to attend his memorial at The Iron Post on Sunday, July 21, from 2-6pm, and listen to his oral history interview from November 2016 with Jeff Machota.

Enjoy these two tracks. We have more of Tom’s sets on cassette we’re digitizing and will be posting more of Tom’s music here as soon as we can.

Tom Paynter Quartet – Live at Nature’s Table – Summer 1990

Up and Running Again

Posted on by

Hi all-

So I just moved back to C-U after being in Connecticut for twelve years. Life got hectic for a while, but things are back on track again. Met with Jeff Machota yesterday and we’re going to start getting things operational again.

We’ve lost several great Table-era musicians recently. Pianist Don Heitler, Pianist/drummer Gary Peyton, multi-instrumentalist Tom Paynter, and Ghanaian master drummer and composer Oscar Sulley Braimah. All of these musicians were regulars at the Table, and it hurts that they are gone now.

Jeff gave me a couple of tapes yesterday. I’ve already dubbed one of them down, and hope to have it posted soon.

It’s good to be back home. Look for more output from us.

Sean

Brad Wheeler Talks Table

Posted on by

Another NTAP oral history recording from Jeff Machota, this time with saxophonist Brad Wheeler, a stalwart from the Table’s early days. Recorded September 16, 2016 at the Urbana Free Library in Urbana, IL. Look for it on the Oral Histories page.