Miracle of the Fishes

When I first joined the Woody Herman band in the fall of 1975 I noticed that the bari player (the late John Oslawski) always carried around this strange looking percussion instrument. When I asked him about it, he told me it was a cuica and was used in Brazilian samba schools. This was all new to me so John became my new best friend for a while as he educated me about Brazilian music. He told me about an album called Native Dancer. It felt like a drug deal. I was so excited to try Herbie and Wayne laced with some Milton Nascimento.  It didn't disappoint. So my first chart for Woody Herman was on Miracle of the Fishes, and John actually got to play his cuica on stage with Woody. That was sweet. I was exploring Brazilian music for years before the PMG. - LYLE