Showing posts with label Giuseppi Logan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Giuseppi Logan. Show all posts

Monday, April 20, 2020

RIP Giuseppi Logan


[EVG photo from 2013]

Free-jazz legend Giuseppi Logan, a onetime East Village resident and fixture in Tompkins Square Park, died Friday at the Lawrence Nursing Care Center in Far Rockaway. According to his friend Matt Lavelle, Logan died from complications of COVID-19. Logan was 84.

Here's a brief overview via an extensive obituary at WBGO:

Logan leaves behind a small body of recorded work, but his standing in the improvised avant-garde is considerable. He emerged just as free jazz was beginning to crest as a movement, and even amidst a crowded field of iconoclasts, he distinguished himself as an original.

An April 2012 feature in The New York Times delved into Logan's mysterious past, in which he disappeared for decades and spent time in a mental institution.

His long journey eventually brought him back to the East Village, where he was a regular in Tompkins Square Park, playing a setlist heavy on "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."

Matt Lavelle, a trumpeter and clarinetist, helped Logan get back into music with his first proper gig in some 40 years at the Bowery Poetry Club on Feb. 17, 2009, per WBGO's report. They also recorded an album for Tompkins Square Records titled "The Giuseppi Logan Quintet."

“The main thing for me, to be honest, was just to make Giuseppi feel good and to give him some money and some CDs to sell in the park,” Josh Rosenthal, founder of Tompkins Square Records, told WBGO. “He made his first record in 45 years, and that was enough. But the record was surprisingly well received.”


[Photo from 2012 by Bobby Williams]

Logan had hip problems, and sometimes got around with the assistance of a walker. The 2012 piece in the Times provided a snapshot of his typical day:

To get from Tompkins Square Park to his room on East Fourth Street, a trip of just a couple of city blocks on foot, Mr. Logan hobbles west to a northbound bus on Avenue A, then gets on a bus at 14th Street that drives east to Avenue D and then turns south. It can take half an hour. Most days, this is the extent of Mr. Logan’s universe.

Through the years, many East Village residents pitched in to help Logan. For instance, in September 2013, residents collected money for Logan after he was jumped on Ninth Street. A resident also gave Logan a spare tenor saxophone.

In 2014, someone stole his saxophone, which left him with a different instrument...



He said that he played the flute in the 1960s in Paris, but was a little rusty. Neighbors eventually secured him another saxophone.

By the fall of 2014, he was no longer spotted in Tompkins Square Park. Several years went by before we learned that he was living in a senior residence in Far Rockaway.

Logan is served by two sons, Jaee and Joe.

Here's a short film from 1966 by Edward English that shows Logan in Tompkins Square Park...

Sunday, December 24, 2017

From the archives: Giuseppi Logan in Tompkins Square Park



This photo of Giuseppi Logan is from December 2013.

I have not seen (or heard) him play his saxophone in Tompkins Square Park in more than three years. (You can read more about the jazz artist in this feature at the Times.)

Back in the fall, I learned via Facebook that Logan, now 82, is living in a senior residence in Far Rockaway. Matt Lavelle, a jazz musician, has been to visit Logan ... he also bought Logan a new flute.

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Giuseppi Logan, now with a flute


[EVG file photo from Sept. 7]

We're used to seeing jazz legend Giuseppi Logan in Tompkins Square Park with a saxophone. We hadn't seen him for awhile … then yesterday morning, we spotted him with …



We asked him where his sax was … well, you know how soft-spoken he is … he simply said that "they took it," and didn't elaborate any further about what happened. He said that he played the flute in the 1960s (did he say in Paris?), but was a little rusty.

We posted this photo yesterday on the EVG Facebook page, and several people are looking into getting him a replacement. And it's not the first time that people have come together to help Giuseppi.

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition


[Giuseppi Logan in Tompkins Square Park yesterday ... photo by Penny Rand]

Is Clinton Street Baking Company expanding into Min's Market space? (BoweryBoogie)

Joey Ramone Birthday Bash returning to Bowery Electric (Brooklyn Vegan)

East Side Stories — The 2014 East Village Theater Festival continues through May 4 (Metropolitan Playhouse)

The Incubator Arts Project decides not to renew its lease at St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery (The New York Times)

An interview with Bella Meyer, Marc Chagall's granddaughter and the proprietor of Fleurs Bella on East 11th Street (The Jewish Daily Forward)

An interview with the co-author of “Gentrifier? Who, Me? Interrogating the Gentrifier in the Mirror" (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Here's your Summerstage schedule, including for East River Park (The Lo-Down)

RIP Pearl Paint (Tribeca Trib)

The last L-shaped streets in the city (Scouting New York)

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

East Village neighbors come together for Giuseppi Logan


[Photo from Sept. 7]

Word circulated on Saturday morning that Tompkins Square Park regular Giuseppi Logan had been jumped earlier in the day on East Ninth Street. The soft-spoken musician didn't offer many more details. (Apparently nothing had been taken from him since he didn't really have anything.)

Upon hearing this, many residents via Facebook came together and took up a collection for the 78-year-old Logan during the annual 9th Street A-1 Block Association Block Party.

On Sunday morning, an East Ninth Street resident presented Logan with the money that people had collected.

"Giuseppi was quite grateful and said repeatedly 'God bless you, God bless you all, this really helps me,'" said the resident who delivered the money.

Also on Saturday, resident Patrick Salt Ryan gave Logan a tenor saxophone (someone had left it in bar Ryan worked in some years earlier). Logan was quite pleased with the gift...


[Via Facebook]

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Reader report: Jazz legend Giuseppi Logan jumped on East 9th Street



EVG reader Bayou talked with a bloodied Giuseppi Logan in Tompkins Square Park... The 78-year-old Logan, a familiar sight in the Park with his saxophone, said that he had been attacked earlier in the morning on East Ninth Street ... He said the assailant(s?) didn't take anything — because he didn't have anything... Bayou brought him bandages and a little something to eat... The soft-spoken Logan didn't provide any other details.

-----

For further reading in the Times from April 2012:
Giuseppi Logan’s Second Chance

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Giuseppi Logan ready for the day in Tompkins Square Park



EV resident Brian Kubovcik shares this photo from this morning... where Giuseppi Logan is setting up in Tompkins Square Park.

Per Brian: "Always brightens my day to see him out there."

Agreed!

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Saturday, November 24, 2012

A moment with Giuseppi Logan in Tompkins Square Park


A familiar sight in Tompkins Square Park... the renowned jazz musician will be sitting in on a set with the Matt Lavelle Quintet tomorrow night at 10 at the Stone on Avenue C ... (Details here.)

Also picked up two of his CDs for holiday gifts... he's selling them for $10...

For further reading in the Times from April:
Giuseppi Logan’s Second Chance

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Giuseppi Logan's comeback

[Photo from March by Bobby Williams]

There's a detailed feature in the Times today on Tompkins Square Park regular Giuseppi Logan. The 76-year-old who released two pioneering free-form jazz records in the 1960s is primed to make a comeback with a new CD and a Kickstarter project...

John Leland's articles delves into Logan's missing 30 years (his wife had him committed into a mental institute) ... and the long journey that brought him back to the East Village...

Here's a passage from the article about his days:

TO get from Tompkins Square Park to his room on East Fourth Street, a trip of just a couple of city blocks on foot, Mr. Logan hobbles west to a northbound bus on Avenue A, then gets on a bus at 14th Street that drives east to Avenue D and then turns south. It can take half an hour. Most days, this is the extent of Mr. Logan’s universe.

We've posted this video before... seems appropriate to do that again...

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Giuseppi Logan, back in Tompkins Square Park


We can't remember the last time that we saw — or heard — Giuseppi Logan in Tompkins Square Park. He has, of course, been a fixture in the Park for years. There was a rumor that he had passed away, though no one could confirm this.

Turns out that he was in the hospital with hip problems, and he made his way back to his usual bench this past weekend. Bobby Williams caught up with him yesterday.

Here's more on the legendary jazz musician's past via WFMU. WFMU also posted this incredible video of Giuseppi and his son from Tompkins Square Park circa 1966 (I know that I've posted this video before, but it seemed fitting now...)