[Dixielandjazz] Another great one gone

[TCASHWIGG at aol.com]

In a message dated 8/30/04 12:52:16 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
s3856lpa at webtv.net writes:

> It's an awful feeling to see these wonderful people go, but go we all
> must, I guess.  My concern is who will replace them?  Charlie Hooks
> says, "Nobody!"
> 
> Regards,  Harold Smith
> 
> 
> 

Perhaps younger guys like:

Duke Heitiger
Evan Christopher
Tim Laughlin
Kermit Ruffins
Nicholas Payton
Matt Perrine
Rick Trolsen
James Andrews
Corey Henry
Kenneth Terry
Glen Andrews
Trombone Shorty
Wynton Marsallis
Irvin Mayfield
Allen Vache
and I am sure a lot of others could well be added to this quick list off the 
top of my sad head at the loss of our most recent friends and peers.


And a host of others that are out there in the trenches playing the music 
everyday and still waiting to be discovered and revered for their own 
contributions to jazz just like our dying  musical heroes did in their younger days.

Jazz does not stop because WE stop playing it folks, the torch does indeed 
get passed on down, sometimes it just takes time for it to be seen burning 
brightly from these younger  guys ( and Gals)  who need greater promotion and 
exposure to younger audiences to self perpetuate the legacy we have been blessed to 
inherit from remarkable players and people like Jim Beebe and many of the 
other great players we have lost in just the past few years.

This is the toughest business in the world folks to become successful in and 
respect is a very often fleeting thing.


Optimistically,

Tom Wiggins
Saint Gabriel's Celestial Brass Band


Your only as good as your last gig.