[Dixielandjazz] Who taught Louis, Bolden, Ory

[Mike C.]

Louis Armstrong said in the book of his writings "Louis Armstrong In His Own Words" that Bunk Johnson really didn't 
teach him anything. Louis did say that Bunk had a pretty tone and that kind of inspired him but that was it. It's been 
awhile since I read that book, but I do remember that passage very clearly.

Mike

>  -------Original Message-------
>  From: Chris Tyle <silverleafjb at yahoo.com>
>  Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Who taught Louis, Bolden, Ory
>  Sent: 16 Mar '06 12:55
>  
>  In response to this earlier querry...
>    
>    The most important key to learning to play jazz is listening.  That's what all great jazz players did. They went and 
listened to other  musicians playing around New Orleans and in Ory's case, LaPlace,  Louisiana before he moved to the 
city. They working on being able to  hear what was appropriate to play. Musical theory was secondary. 
They  developed their "ears." In general they didn't study theory, with some  vary rare exceptions, mostly by those 
who became pianists or arrangers.  But they developed their "ears" to the point they could tell what  worked and what 
didn't harmonically.
>    
>    Bolden and Ory lived in uptown New Orleans, in a neighborhood where  there was a large number of fine 
musicians: King Oliver, Clarence  Williams, the Dodds Brothers, Larry Shields (who lived next door to  Bolden), Papa 
Celestin, et. al., lived within a 20 block radius.
>    
>    As a past member of the faculty of the San Diego jazz festival jazz  camp I've tried to stress the importance of 
listening to the  acknowledged masters of jazz to learn how to play. I can always tell a  player who has listened and 
learned from great players. For every great  jazz musician there is some special player or players they have 
been  influenced by. For example:
>    
>    Louis Armstrong: King Oliver, Bunk Johnson, Buddy Petit
>    Benny Goodman: Jimmie Noone, Johnny Dodds
>    Jelly Roll Morton: Tony Jackson
>    Lester Young: Frankie Trumbauer
>    Miles Davis: Harold "Shorty" Baker
>    
>    Interestingly King Oliver took lessons from Italian-born trumpeter  Frank Guarente when he lived for a couple of 
years in New Orleans.  Oliver reciprocated by helping Guarente learn how to play jazz, and he  was an adept pupil, as 
evidenced by his fine playing on the recordings  made by his group, The Georgians, available 
at  www.redhotjazz.com/georgians.html
>    
>    Regarding the question about whether Louis Armstrong went to college,  he did not. No jazz players of the 
"golden era" learned how to play in  college. 99% didn't even attend college, as there was no educational  facility 
teaching jazz until probably the 1970s. Armstrong learned how  to play trumpet in the Jones Waif Home in New 
Orleans, then studied  with King Oliver and when he was worked for the Streckfus steamboat  company for Fate 
Marable (please note the spelling), he was given some  instruction from saxophonist/mellophonist David Jones, 
specifically to  improve his reading. .
>    
>    Cheers,
>    Chris Tyle
>    
>  
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