Plas Johnson is a famous recording saxophonist, recognized as the horn behind the Theme of The Pink Panther. Early 2013, I flew to Los Angeles after my band mate and mentor Jackie Kelso (Wrecking Crew Saxophonist) to visit at Plas Johnson's house to pick up some mouthpieces from Jackie's collection. While we were hanging Plas said let's play and put on the Aebersold track with Cherokee in all 12 keys. I just recently found the two recordings on my old old iPhone. Folks had asked me on Facebook were they any recordings? Here's the first one of two that I found. Remember Plas was basically retired at ths point in his life and wasn't out playing much like he used to, and we were just having some fun, and I got a great lesson from him. I had a ball and learned that I should play some melody, and stop running my ii-V patterns, although that's hard to stop. After Cherokee we played It’s You or No One from Aebersold Burnin’ CD. A very fine day.
I've included the 12 minute clip of us practicing and playing along with Aebersold Cherokee in 12 keys, and then It's You Or No One. Plas takes first solo on Cherokee, then we alternate each key. It was fine day and a brillian learning experience.