SKF NOTE: – In this second session Frankie and I focus on his formative years. Key names discussed here are Maynard Ferguson, Moe Koffmann, Thelonious Monk, The Five Spot, John Coltrane, Wilbur Ware, Shadow Wilson, Charlie Mingus, Dannie Richmond, Sonny Rollins, Local 802, Jake Hanna, Birdland, Joe Zawinul, Jaki Byard.

Over the next few weeks I am making available my full interview, no edits, with Frankie Dunlop. The interview took place in 1984 in two sessions. The first session, on October 16, 1984, was at my former in-law’s New York City apartment.

The December 13, 1984 second session took place at my rented cottage home in Washington, CT.

I’ve cleaned up the sound from the original audio cassettes with compression, and also noise reduction, to minimize tape hiss. Now and then there are sound hiccups. Otherwise the sound is intact. The taping starts and stops are not seamless. Our conversation does not flow undetected from one side of a tape to the next, or from one tape to another tape. While interviewing, I tried to keep my eye on the time, but didn’t always succeed.

However, where Frankie was making an important or interesting point and a tape abruptly ended, we picked up the point when the next tape started rolling.

There are seven approximately 45-minute sessions in total, roughly three-and-a-half 90-minute tapes.

I will give each session a full listen before uploading them, and provide topic highlights — an index — for listeners.

I believe this is the only taped interview with Frankie Dunlop in existence. Since 1984 no other taped interviews have surfaced. For that reason I would like to make these tapes available to the public for posterity. Especially for drummers and music historians.

I wish someone had recorded Frankie in Monk’s Quartet with John Coltrane. Musician’s Union Local 802 insisted Frankie hadn’t been a NYC resident long enough to work that gig. Shadow Wilson was Frankie’s replacement. And I would like to have heard Frankie in Sonny Rollins’s Trio.

I’m happy to answer questions. The best way to contact me is through this blog.