[Dixielandjazz] Louis Armstrong

[Steve Barbone]

 Richard Broadie at rbroadie at dc.rr.com wrote: (re West End Blues)

> Did you notice the varience between the written solo and the way Louis
> actually executed it?  A fairly good demo of how difficult it is to
> transcribe the timing/phrasing of Mr.  Armstrong.

Hi Dick:

You nailed it shut. Jazz is so much more than written dots. Same for Swing
which folks write as triplets. IMO, one can read dots and play what one
reads expertly, but that still won't make one a real jazz musician, or a
swinging player. 

And jazz musicians like Armstrong, Monk, Pee Wee Russell et al, are almost
impossible to copy because their timing, tonal variation and sense of swing
cannot be written down.

E. G. Once, when someone asked him how he managed to get a certain special
sound out of the piano, Monk pointed to the keyboard and said: ³It can¹t be
any new note. When you look at the keyboard, all the notes are there
already. But if you mean a note enough, it will sound different. You got to
pick the notes you really mean!²

Cheers,
Steve Barbone