[Dixielandjazz] Re: Self taught musos

[Stephen Barbone]

> Charlie Hooks wrote:
>
> on 7/12/03 3:32 PM, Ken Gates at keng at iswest.com wrote:
>
> > Seems to me, proper instruction has more advantages.  But there
> > are amongst us some terrific self-taught musicians.
> > Ken Gates
>
>     I'm self taught, and would love to think I'm one of those terrific ones.
> But I'll never know now, will I, nor will the rest of the world ever know,
> just how good I might have been with proper lessons....bless 'em!
>
>     ...way it goes...

Hey man, Charlie Parker was self taught too. As so were Bix, Bechet, Chet Baker, Louis and
a whole bunch of other greats. Who knows, you might have been a lesser jazz player with
formal training and relegated 100% to commercial stuff, or S--- Music as it is referred to
in the East.

If one is self taught, and had the discipline to learn to read, memorize the chords, and
practice scales, I suspect one can play jazz unfettered by conventional rules. The above
giants were all innovators, and so is, I suspect, Charlie Hooks.

Cheers,
Steve