[Dixielandjazz] Oscar Peterson interview on Individuality

Fri Dec 28 22:39:18 PST 2007

A friend of mine who was the principal clarinet player with the St. Louis 
Symphony had a band that played a lot of Goodman stuff.  The solos were all 
transcriptions and the musicians were wonderful.  They played the tunes 
exactly like the originals.  I thought it was great as a listener but I 
never stood in line to be in that band.

I speak for myself.  I haven't heard anyone improve on the Miller solos and 
I prefer them well played to the musings of other people.  Have I played 
jazz through the solos.  Yes but when I am the listener I prefer the Miller 
solos.  Do I improve on them?  No not any more than I could improve on 
Mozart.

You said something about the solos on your CE and they blew me away at the 
incredible technique of two very fine musicians.  I enjoyed listening to 
them and I will enjoy it more but I'm not playing it.  I can enjoy a solo 
weather it's written out or not if someone else is playing it.

What I was saying is that I don't particularly like to play written solos 
myself.  I've played with several ghost bands that have come through the St. 
Louis area.  Almost all of their solos are written out.  Well here I am 
sight reading like crazy and what comes out is just a bunch of notes and not 
always the right ones.  I don't find that to be a very satisfying 
experience.  Most of the time I am very capable of improvising a solo in the 
style that we are playing which will come off a lot smoother.  It irritates 
me when a leader wants a solo to be exactly like the paper.  I don't even 
like for guys to read a Dixie chart exactly like it's written.  I would much 
rather have them have fun with it and show off a little.

I was playing with one of the ghost bands and they had very low stands. 
About sitting knee level.   The solos weren't all that difficult but the 
leader insisted that I stand up and play them.  Trouble was when I stood up 
I couldn't see the notes very well.  So here I am folded in two in a bow 
trying to read the spots.  The band leader is hollering at me to stand up. 
So Jazz kicked in.  Now he's hollering at me to play what's on the page. 
Next solo I stayed seated and the jerk starts hollering at me to stand up 
this time he's on a live mike.  Did it make any difference when I told him I 
was having trouble seeing the chart.  Absolutely not.  This continued almost 
the whole three hours.  I'm sorry I don't find that to be fun.

That's all different if you are recreating something like Bob Coleman's 
group (mentioned above).  I played hundreds of solos where I have played 
them as accurately as possible but that was all in legitimate music and was 
180 degrees away from jazz.  Did I like it.  Well sometimes but most of the 
time I felt like a part of a phonograph, that is going through the motions 
to reproduce something.

When I was in college I played with bands that wanted the sax solos like the 
records.  It was money and I didn't hate it.  But I think that's what all 
the girls working the street say too.  You do what you have to do.

Symphony musicians spend their whole lives trying to play solos as perfectly 
as possible and do it over and over.  Been there,  done that, got the T 
shirt.  I just don't want that kind of musical existence.  That's why when I 
put down the Oboe I never looked back.
Larry
StL
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Robert S. Ringwald" <robert at ringwald.com>
To: "Larry Walton" <larrys.bands at charter.net>
Cc: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2007 8:14 PM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Oscar Peterson interview on Individuality

> Larry Walton wrote regarding playing other people's solos.
>
>>.... but doing someone else's solos just isn't fun to me....If you want
>>exact, buy a recorder.
> (snip)
>
>
> Sometimes people's writing gets misconstrued.
>
> I think some people on DJML who advocate learning other people's solos,
> especially the great ones, don't necessarily mean playing them onstage. 
> But
> learning them can be a great learning or teaching process.
>
> unless of course you are doing a recreation band gig or recording.
>
> For instance, on the Fulton Street new CD, our tpt player does a couple of
> Armstrong solos.  The reason is because they are so great that just about 
> no
> one could match them.  Every time I hear Louis do them, or our trumpet 
> player
> do them, it honestly gives me goose pimples.
>
> I think we only do it twice on the recording, plus the famous clarinet 
> solo on High
> Society, almost note for note.
>
> Bob Ringwald
>
>
>
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