[Dixielandjazz] Jazz Quotes & Al Hirt

[jazzdude39]

John,

My stint in New Orleans from 1966-67 allowed me similar experiences as you 
state, with Al Hirt. On many occasions I enjoyed sitting in and listening to 
Al and Pee Wee with other young musicians who dropped in to enjoy the 
hospitality and encouragement Al presented. He said on more than one 
occasion that he thought his playing was more technical than tasty, but 
proved he was capable of many approaches to playing and seemed to enjoy 
meeting the younger players and sharing idea's. Danny Barker was the first 
to take me to Al's late retreat and often Connie Jones, George Finola, 
Irving Fazola, Cougar Nelson and Jim Haislip and would be there along with 
players from some of the big bands playing around town. The booze was always 
flowing and humor abounded as Al had a great sense of humor. I learned a lot 
from him and will never forget those great times back when. I rarely heard 
the Al Hirt on records that I heard then.

Dave Hanson
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John McClernan" <mcclernan1 at comcast.net>
To: "Dave Hanson" <jazzdude39 at att.net>
Cc: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 14, 2009 3:13 PM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Jazz Quotes & Al Hirt


> Just to play devil's advocate....
> I worked for 6 months across the street from Al Hirt's NOLA club in  1971. 
> When we finished work, many nights we went over to his small bar  on the 
> side street (Saint Louis St.?) and sat in with Al's combo. He  was always 
> gracious, encouraging to young players, and very musical in  his own 
> playing. He also knew a ton of tunes. The commercial Al Hirt  (a la 
> "Cotton Candy") was nowhere to be found in those jam sessons. I  certainly 
> enjoyed those sessions with Al much more than the ones with  Pete 
> Fountain.  (Duck! Here come the brickbats!)
>
> Cheers,
> John
>
>
>
>
> On May 14, 2009, at 8:37 AM, Marek Boym wrote:
>
>> I can identify with that!  I tried listening to Hirt's records on
>> Audiofidelity, and didn't like even one.
>> Cheers
>>
>> On 14/05/2009, ROBERT R. CALDER <serapion at btinternet.com> wrote:
>>> Charles Mingus was not the only musician who did not like Al Hirt's 
>>> music.
>>> Humphrey Lyttelton was very friendly with Buck Clayton, and  remembered 
>>> that Buck's preferred manufacturer of trumpet  mouthpieces sent Buck 
>>> free mouthpieces every so often. Into each of  these was cut a facsimile 
>>> of Al Hirt's autograph.  Once Buck had  his new free mouthpieces he took 
>>> them to be modified, which meant  simply having the Hirt signature 
>>> gouged out.
>>> Ouch!
>>>
>>>
>>>
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