Memories Of Times Past & Notes About Things Present

Memories Of My Earlier Life and Friends/ Notes About My Current Life And Friends by Steve Habib on Friday, December 16, 2011 at 10:48pm I am so happy to be a musician. I want to continue to try and help people through music, which I believe can unharness an individual's healing capabilities. I am grateful to be alive. I remember being at John Coltrane's home in the Dix Hills section of Huntington, Long Island and he was telling me about "THE FATHER, THE SON and THE HOLY GHOST" a song he was working on. He had just moved into his new home that year and several times a week, we talked and Johnny DeFranco who lived in Elmont, used to pick up Elvin in The City then drive to my house not far from Farmingdale, then we would all hang out in Trane's den/music room and listen to silence,sometimes for an hour or two and he would always enjoy smoking that cigar of his. Sometimes Jimmy Garrison was with us. He had a place in what is now SOHO in NYC. Elvin was married to Shirley Jones at the time and John was just becoming a father for the first time. I believe John, Jr. was born first, then came Ravi a year later and another child was born the same year he died in 1967. It all happened so quickly over a very short period of time but it was a time period I will never forget. My childhood friends, Reggie Golson(RIP), and Stephen Daniel James were also close friends of both Elvin and John. We all knew how special Trane,,Elvin,Jimmy and McCoy were at the time and how special McCoy is today as a living legend. I am grateful to have another friend who is alive and well today, in 2011/2012, Master Dr. Marvin Smith, a 42 year friend of mine and a LIVING LEGEND that I feel everyone should pay attention to and honor. His Birthday is December 29th,2011 and he will be 62. There will be a special perfomance at The Bull & Buddha on Main St. in Poughkeepsie, NY December 29th to honor this MASTER DRUMMER who played with Sun Ra, Archie Shepp and so many others. He has his own record label, Bumar Records and his own 48 track studio. This performance starts at 9pm and I hope that all the people that know him show up and that all of you that never met him also show up. Marvin has recorded on over 1200 videos and most of those videos will be available on his Bumar Label for folks that do not have a chance to come to his live performances because of geographics. Marvin is also appearing at The Bull & Buddha on December 22nd, a week before his Birthday Party Concert. I am over joyed to be a part of his life for 42 years and I still feel the presence og my other childhood friends that have passed: Elvin Jones, John Coltrane, Jimmy Garrison, Reggie Golson,Kenny Kirkland and Michael James, Stephen Daniel James brother and the sons of Ruth Ellington,Ruth Ellington,Mercer and Duke, Willis Conover, and Walter Booker, Jr. DR. MARVIN SMITH also known as "BU GA LU" is here with us now. I ask that those of you who have access to the NYC to Hudson Valley New York area, come and enjoy this LIVING MUSICAL GENIUS and MASTER EDUCATOR. LOVE ALWAYS and ALWAYS LOVE, HABIB