[Dixielandjazz] Good musical direction

[billsharp]

  In response to: "Bob Romans" <cellblk7 at comcast.net>
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Grady Gardenhire, young 'bone player

Bob - -Tell him to get Jack Teagarden, far superior to T. Murphy.  
(Probably in my estimation only.  By this mere statement alone I 
anticipate a severe DJML backlash from Murphy-ites,  but hey, opinions 
are opinions, and this aint' Iraq, where you can't have one. Go ahead 
and lash - -I do have a delete button).  What was incredible about 
Murphy was all the musicians he had in his band.  Every one of them was 
a ringer, so the kid can't go wrong on that point alone.

Another interesting thing I think that we frequently do with kids is 
point them only in the direction of musicians that play their 
instrument. . . . . "He's on trombone so immediately give him piles of 
records with trombone players."    It wasn't until much later, almost 
too late that I found out how much you can learn from other outstanding 
musicians, like Lester Young on saxophone.

  I've told every musician I've ever encountered, especially brass 
players, that if they want to learn to play smooth phrases, you can't 
beat Lester.  I might tell an aspiring player like Grady that, after 
you've paid your dues to listening to trombone players, forget about 
trombone players for awhile and see what you can pick up from other 
instrumentalists.  Listen to good players on albums with no trombone 
players on them. Learn from them also.  This also teaches them to 
listen more closely to what others (not just their instrument) are 
doing.  It's all one big musical package.

  . . . .now let's see, where'd I put those Lester Cd's . . . ..?