[Dixielandjazz] Horns in tune

[ROBERT R. CALDER]

Once upon a time some New York musicians, mostly individually distinguished, not only got together to jam in private but got themselves a tour. Ooh, dear . . .   but the worst thing was this soprano player whose horn was so out of tune with itself it clicked with beats.....
I got the impression (from a major study of Verdi) that slide trombones came in because  whatever the manageable problems  might have been of keeping one of them in tune,  a section of three together  could be something of a nightmare. 
The very great Roy Williams, incidentally, among other things the Ben Webster of the slide trombone, has said that his major influences were valve trombone players, Cutshall to Brookmeyer. Which is I think the other way round from Uncle Bob, with his lovely notion of the ideal established of his seniors as being not knowing where the player ended and the horn began.   
 
       
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