[Dixielandjazz] Re: Not enuf to hurtt my playin'

[Charlie Hooks]

on 10/8/02 6:47 PM, Will Connelly at willc@nova.edu wrote:

> 
> I had the impression from Joe Darensbourg, who introduced me to Louis,
> that Louis could read okay.

Sure he could, and that's what I meant by the quotation--which may have been
ill-attributed to Louis; Wingy said it to Whiteman, but maybe he stole it
from Louis; or maybe it was a line that was going the rounds, a great line,
so it deserved to!  I know I've used it myself every time I've had the
chance. Chances don't happen as often as you might think.

But a great one happened last year.  My wife directs the choir at St. Luke
Parish, and she has in it an extremely elegant (and quite wealthy) lady who
is now "of an age" but was in her youth a singer with the Lyric Opera of
Chicago.  She still has a good voice, and is a highly trained singer.  I
like her, really; and, for a broad in her early eighties, she's quite a
dish.  A guy could do worse--a lot worse!

But she is, indeed, "a bit much," and I couldn't help myself when she looked
down her elegant nose at me and asked, "Do you read music?"  I answered in
my most gravel-voiced Louis imitation: "Not 'nuff to hurt my singin' any."
Several jazz fans in the choir went down.  It was fun.

Charlie