[Dixielandjazz] Speaking of Quotes

[Stephen Barbone]

Bill Gunter wrote:

Speaking of quotes ("Not enough to hurt my playing," etc.) I'm sure
there  must be others that fall into the "amusing" category. Here's one,
probably  apocryphal, that I think is funny:

An orchestra member says to the conductor who has just admonished him
about
dynamics:

"Waddaya mean 'Dynamics'? I'm playing as loud as I can!"  (rimshot)

List mates, Gunter & Hooks et al.

And then there was Louis Armstrong at a Fletcher Henderson rehearsal
just after he came to NYC in the 20's.  Louis was playing as loud as he
could during a certain passage. Henderson stopped the orchestra and said
to Armstrong. "Hey, that passage is marked 'PP', which means play it
softly."

Armstrong's reputed reply? "Oh, I thought it meant pound plenty."

Now Armstrong probably honed his reading skills with Henderson. He was a
good reader after that. As you may recall, he and the All Stars read
"Hello Dolly" quite easily in 1963. And before you say, 'Oh, that awful
tune."  Take a listen and hear a wonderfully original improvised solo
from Pops on the record, at a time when he was no longer improvising
very much.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone