[Dixielandjazz] Al Hirt and Don Goldie

[Jack Tracy]

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Vaxtrpts at aol.com<mailto:Vaxtrpts at aol.com> 
  To: dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com<mailto:dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com> 
  Sent: Monday, September 19, 2005 10:01 PM
  Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Al Hirt and Don Goldie


  Boy, you are talking about two of my favorite trumpet players here.  I  was 
  lucky enough to become pretty close to both of them in the later years of  
  their lives.  Don and I would talk on the phone, sometimes for hours, about  music 
  and trumpet players and sometimes about his medical problems, which were  
  many.  I really loved that guy!  Every time that we had a chance to  play 
  together, it was sheer magic for me.  He was never competitive, but  always giving 
  and sharing in the performance. 
  ################

  I'm another Goldie admirer. One day in 1960 or thereabouts when I was producing a small group session with Buddy Rich for the Argo label, Goldie walked into the studio. I introduced him to Buddy, telling Rich that Don was playing in town (Chicago) with Jack Teagarden. Buddy nodded and said to Goldie, "Why don't you go get your horn and play a couple of tunes with us?" Don thought that would be just fine, and went to get his trumpet from the car.

  When he had left I asked Rich if he had any qualms about asking someone he'd never heard before sit in on  a record date. Replied Buddy, "Jesus Christ, if he he's good enough to play with Teaqarden he sure as hell is good enough to play with me."

  Goldie came back, played and soloed excellently on a couple of tunes, and I had seen another little vignette that so well displayed the respect and mutual regard that can be shown among jazz musicians.

  Jack Tracy