Emperor Nero
alto saxophone (Detroit)
Alto saxophonist on the Detroit scene, known as Emperor Nero (the old captions of one class give the name as Emperor G Nero); Barry remembers him in a local band that played with Charlie Parker at the Crystal bar.
- mentions
- 2
- recordings
- 2
- Barry speaking
- 2
What Barry says
Barry recalls Bird coming to the Crystal in Detroit and playing with a local band that included Emperor Nero, an alto player. What surprised him was how well all those local players sounded with Bird, whose charisma lifted everyone.
Describing a night at the Crystal on WKCR, Barry places Nero on alto while Lee Konitz sat in, and Bird, standing at the back by the kitchen, simply started playing from there with a huge sound.
In a Rome class, Barry begins a story about the first time he played Stella by Starlight with someone: an alto player who had just learned it in G, the original key. The old automatic captions name him as Emperor G Nero; the newer transcript loses the name there.
In his own words
I remember one time when he [Bird] was at the Crystal, he was at the back of the room when Lee Konitz had come in and was sitting in with him. Emperor Nero was playing alto, too.
All those cats played so good with Bird. It’s just unbelievable because Bird was sort of charismatic.
Every mention
2 moments in the recordings, 2 of them Barry speaking. Each says who is talking.
Interview: Bird, Hawkins, Monk and New York
- 7:15
Bird once came to the Crystal and played with a local band that included alto player Emperor Nero.
11 March 2016: Stella by Starlight
- 2:12
Starts a Stella by Starlight story about first playing it with an alto player (the old captions name him ‘Emperor G Nero’).
In the interviews and notes
Asked whether Bird had a big sound in person, Barry recalls a night at the Crystal when Lee Konitz was sitting in with Bird and Nero was also on alto, and Bird began to play from the back of the room.
Method ideas nearby
Ideas of the method taught in the classes where they come up, with how many mentions fall in each.