[Dixielandjazz] Jim Beebe's lamentation

[Charlie Hooks]

Couldn't have said it better myself, Don.  In fact, probably couldn't have
said it as well.  That sound of Jim's is such a strong clean sound, so well
centered--not "growly" unless he wants the effect.  And his choice of notes
for the classic trombone lines is unerring.

Charlie


on 8/7/02 7:11 AM, Don Ingle at dingle@baldwin-net.com wrote:

> I have to share a few thoughts about my old friend and fellow Jazz Ltd.
> house band alumnus, Jim Beebe.
> Jim wrote >"My trombone sits over on a stand looking at me and says, "don't
> you come near me..." <
> That is a sad thing in many ways. First, because Jim was one of the better
> slide men I ever worked with or heard. His was a somewhat raw and gutsy
> sound that was just right for the style of music we played. No smooth, Urbie
> Green sound, but elemental tailgate of the highest plane.
> Second, Jim was one of the easiest guys to work with that I have ever had
> the pleasure of sharing a bandstand with.
> We had many a fine exchange of differences of opinion on a variety of
> subjects, and our debates were joyous exchanges. Jim is a thinker...so his
> debate points were often more interesting than the subject by far.
> Jim's retirement is not his choice, but rather that of a set of lungs that
> have been hard hit by several problems. It's hard enough to fill a trombone
> in any case, but with a pair of ailing lungs...well it just is too much.
> When he told me he was looking for a lampshade (the old saw about brass men
> who made lamps out of their horns on retirement)
> I knew it was getting serious, for no one loved playing more than my friend
> James.
> If he comes over as a curmudgeon at times, so be it. He's paid his dues, and
> like many of us he's earned his road warrior scars; so I just grin when I
> read him on a rant. Been there, done that, etc.
> But Jim speaks from experience...and more often than not from the heart. How
> many of you caught his referral to Big Bill Broonzy? A Chicago blues legend.
> He could have mentioned Lil Green as well, since he knew most of the great
> Chicago blues artists of  the 40's-60's period, and respected their music.
> I am happy to call Jim my friend. I treasure the near-three-years I worked
> with him in the '60's at the legendary Jazz Ltd. That he is not still
> blowing that trombone is the hard part, but I heard him at his prime, and
> wait for his next flow of memory or comment as an extension of his
> playing -- if in another form.
> So -- "shoot off" that mouth" of yours, as you said, anytime you want to
> Jimmy. I'm listening.
> Don (time to tug the Reinhardt collar) Ingle
> 
> 
> 
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