[Dixielandjazz] Resting Chops

[Don Ingle]

In my time in the house band at Chicago's Jazz Ltd. we played five night a
week, six hours a night. we had Thursday and Sunday off (with an off night
band led by Lil Armstrong or Art Hodes on Thursdays).
I had chops of steel in those days. So did Jim Beebe who worked in the band
with me.But in this area of Northern Michigan, we are lucky to get one night
a month and a three hour gig requires several days of long tone exercises to
get the chops back up. Working all the time keeps chops in good shape...so
Barbone's guys are lucky to live in an area here the population is large
enough to support
that much work.
But then was then and now is now...I was still in my 30's then, and in my
70's now. Enjoy playing but no incentive to do drills and long tones every
day..."just in case the phone rings." Not with trout and salmon in the river
to catch and grouse for my dog to flush for me. Cross country skiing can't
be all that far off, either.
We may not  have that much work in this part of the world, but we sure eat
good!!
Don Ingle
----- Original Message -----
From: "Stephen Barbone" <barbonestreet@earthlink.net>
To: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz@ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Monday, September 23, 2002 11:38 PM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Resting Chops


> Forgot to mention in my previous post about chops. Occasionally, I work
> as a sideman in more commercial Dixieland Gigs. Party stuff, with one of
> the Lanin groups or a Meyer Davis group, as do some of the sidemen. in
> Barbone Street. Often these are "continuous" music gigs for "high
> society" folks.
>
> That is to say the band plays 55 minutes out of every hour. Even if you
> are not blowing hard, that's a lot of work when it is a 3 hour gig, and
> you get 2 hours more of overtime because they love the band. Here again,
> we work the sub units within the band when someone needs a break.
>
> But the main thing is that if you work enough gigs, you can almost play
> forever. One of Barbone Street's trumpet calls is over 75 and can out
> blow guys 1/3 his age. And he is no slouch. He has done it all,
> including going over the pond to England & Europe for "Society Gigs"
> with Lester Lanin, et al. He played both Princess Diana's and Fergie's
> weddings. (To Princes Charles & Andrew).
>
> That's how he makes his money. He is a fine jazz player who came up
> through the big bands first, Johnny Long, and both Glenn Miller and
> Tommy Dorsey retro bands in the 40s/50s, as well as small band jazz here
> in the Philadelphia area. He gets his kicks playing with us several
> times a month, ogling the girls like the rest of us.
>
> Cheers,
> Steve Barbone
>
>
>
>
>
>
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