[Dixielandjazz] Speaking of Quotes

[Charlie Hooks]

on 10/9/02 8:59 AM, Stephen Barbone at barbonestreet@earthlink.net wrote:

> "Hey, that passage is marked 'PP', which means play it
> softly."
> 
> Armstrong's reputed reply? "Oh, I thought it meant pound plenty."

   ...and then there was the guy who read "tacit" as "take it" and stood up
to blow...

    To change the thread just a hair (so to speak), there are a couple of
great stories making the rounds about Bud Herseth, principal trumpet with
the CSO (Chicago Symphony Orchestra), one of which details his facing down
Fritz Reiner, who was, even among conductors, known as an especially
prominent a--hole.  He kept rehearsing and then re-rehearsing a passage in
which the trumpet must pass from a rather low note to really sting a very
high note; and Herseth, during the break that followed, walked off down the
corridor, playing that leap and sting, re-playing it, and calling over his
shoulder, "I'm not going to miss it, Fritzer!" (leap and sting) "I'm not
going to miss it!" 

    But my own favorite Bud Herseth story (and I didn't see this, but Steve
Jensen did and could barely repeat it from laughing) concerns the time when,
during an especially quiet and moving passage, the entire orchestra down at
ppp., Herseth's cup mute somehow fell to the floor and began to roll.  Now
the stage at Orchestra Hall (as it was then called) slants a bit toward the
audience, and the roll just kept on going, seeming to last forever.  When it
finally stopped, Herseth got out of his seat and retrieved it, quietly
returned to his chair, and carefully placed the offending mute on his
DESKMATE'S stand.

    Jensen said he heard at least one little old lady at intermission
remarking how "Wasn't it nice of Mr. Herseth to go and get that mute for his
friend...?"

    Jensen's own favorite was of his having encountered Herseth in a super
market parking lot and, seeing his idol in the flesh and just HAVING to do
SOMETHING to prolong the moment, called out foolishly, "Mr. Herseth!  Mr.
Herseth!  I'm a trumpet player!"  And Bud, already pulling away in his car,
called out the window, "Practice, my boy! Practice...!"

I miss Steve Jensen.
Charlie