[Dixielandjazz] Playing without practicing

[Stan Brager]

When Johnny Hodges sat next to Ben Webster in the Ellington band, he's
marvel that all Ben did was to blow a single note as his warm-up.

Stan
Stan Brager
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Larry Walton Entertainment - St. Louis" <larrys.bands at charter.net>
To: "Kent Murdick" <kmurdick at jaguar1.usouthal.edu>
Cc: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2007 11:06 AM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Playing without practicing


> I was in a repair shop one day and a guy brought in an alto sax that had
> obviously been in the basement for years.  He said he hadn't played since
> college and had played a bit professionally but hadn't played for 30
years.
> He wanted to give it a try but wanted his horn looked at.  He got out the
> horn and proceeded to produce a sound most sax players would kill for.
>
> It can happen.  I know a trumpet player who sounds great and has good
range
> and never plays except on gigs which are only occasional.  I haven't a
clue
> as to how he does it.  I have known him for years and he doesn't practice
> but rarely.
>
> Unfortunately most of us don't fall into that category.
> Larry
> St. Louis
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Kent Murdick" <kmurdick at jaguar1.usouthal.edu>
> To: "Larry Walton" <larrys.bands at charter.net>
> Cc: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
> Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2007 9:10 AM
> Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Playing without practicing
>
>
> > I've known people who almost get away with this (note the word almost).
> > The sax player with the New Orleans Jazz Vipers bought a sax about 20
> > years and wandered into the streets and started playing with people -
> > badly at first and then better and better.  But I'm sure that he worked
a
> > little bit at home and probably does a lot of prepartation now days.
> >
> > If you have perfect pitch or very good relative pitch and a lot of
talent,
> > I don't see why you couldn't play reasonably well almost immediately
> > without much practice on, say, an alto sax .  That octave and half  on
the
> > alto (d' to a'') is pretty easy to get.. I was playing "Fly Me To the
> > Moon" on the second day  I picked up a sax.
> >
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