Joseph Wilds Sallenger

The Bands

I wasn't always old and dorky looking.
Once upon a time I was young and dorky looking!
I played in rock and pop and and folk and jazz and fusion bands!
Friends would gather and we would compose and record music!
The term regularity wasn't even in my vocabulary!

Bold Breed c. 1971 top 40, soul and beach music. Love the pleated speaker cabinets! This was in our rehearsal hall, so at least we weren't wearing the matching leisure suits. Lineup in this shot are Randy, Kenny, Mike, Gene, Scott, me, Frank and Billy.

Mood for Love - Mr. BG sings his juke box hit on Bold Breed Records.

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Johnny Alligator and the Jump Back Five c.1973. Lots and lots of Stones and Southern Rock. I went back to Wake Forest and they continued on down the rock and roll highway. Kid on the right was just hanging around the railroad station, had more attitude than the rest of us put together.

Them Changes - the extended version (c.1974 board mix).

JA 2010

When we got back together for a one-off Florence facebook reunion gig in 2010, we looked a bit different....

Mustang Sally - Ronnie returns to the old groove (board mix).

Why Does Love Have to be So Sad - Robert gets his thang back (board mix).

For better or worse, Johnny Alligator was caught Knocking on Wood on YouTube....

Axis came into being as a post-college-wage-earner-crisis and took advantage of the driving female vocals from bands like Heart, Benetar and Quarterflash with a dash of flavor by Emmylou and Juice. Lineup was Corey Delson: drums; Randy Maxey: guitar, vocals; Julie Poston: vocals; Joe Sallenger: bass, sax, flute, vocals; and Thomas Tallant, guitar and vocals.

Babylon - a capella direct-to-cassette!

Dark Horse picked up where Axis left off. We could still pull off four part harmonies. Lineup was Cheryl Fields: vocals; Randy Maxey: guitar, vocals; Joe Sallenger: bass, flute, sax, vocals; Tom Tallant: guitar, vocals; and Jimmy West: drums.

White Rhythm And Blues - another cover song.

Paolo André, Craig, Joe, Randy and Terry

FMU Faculty Jazz 2009 just sort of happened when the new piano prof showed up on the scene for Fall term 2009. I have a few tunes from an October 2009 recital recorded with a little digital recorder on the back wall of a concert hall, and our campus technology kids uploaded Spain to YouTube. Fidelity and balance leave something to be desired, as does virtuosity, but we had great fun after just one rehearsal! Paolo André Gualdi on piano, Craig Alberty on sax and wind controller, Randy Oswalt on drums and Terry Roberts on bass, and Joe Sallenger sitting in on flutes and vocals.

My Funny Valentine (Rodgers & Hart) Introductory Remarks

Footprints (Wayne Shorter)

Bye, Bye Blackbird (Henderson & Dixon)

Spain (Chick Corea)

FMU Faculty Jazz 2010 happened in November 2010 after the new sax man Gregg Gelb replaced Craig Alberty on faculty. Here is a little video of my first public attempt to play vibes, with a solo about half way through.

Homebrew. Probably as much fun as live performances were the recording sessions, covering other bands or working out original material in a cabin or attic or beach house or wherever two or three could be gathered together. We eventually graduated from reel-to-reel to cassette to true multitrack with computer smpt syncronized keyboards.

Here are a few of our homebrew tracks, thanks to Thomas, Ken, Randy, Melanie, Julie, Tommy, Judy, Jim, Sheryl, Skip, Corey, Jimmy, Eddie, Sissy, etc.:

Horizon - Thomas: music, lyrics, guitar, drums; Melanie: vocal; Joe: bass, keyboards; Ken: flute.

Go Away a Little Closer - Joe: music, keyboards, alto sax, background vocal; Melanie: lyrics, vocal; Thomas: background vocal; Eddie: drums.

Must Be Joe - Joe: music, keyboards, vocal, alto and bari saxes, percussion; Melanie, lyrics, vocal.

The Letting Go - Thomas: music, lyrics, vocal, guitar, drums; Joe: keyboards, bass; Skip: lead guitar.

Painter In Black - Thomas: music, lyrics, vocal, guitar, drums; Joe: bass, keyboards.

The Mandingo Consort banded together to perform for a few friends with matrimonial inclinations. Here's a sample.

What Wondrous Love Is This - Ken: flute, vocal; Thomas: flute, vocal; Joe: alto flute, vocal.

Then we diverged to various states and started going to bed earlier. Now I Collect Flutes, manage the Francis Marion University Fine Arts Center, run the website for the Anglican Church of Our Saviour, and help my wife out at Bygones.biz so she can feed more homeless animals. Go figure.

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