[Dixielandjazz] When to pack it in

[Stephen G Barbone]

I guess I'm in the minority here along with Ginny.  IMO, musos should  
keep performing as long as they enjoy it.

There is an article that Louis Armstrong contributed to in the  
December 1969 issue of Esquire Magazine about aging and advice to the  
young. Pops responded to aging and music thusly:

"My belief and satisfaction is that, as long as a person breathes,  
they still have a chance to exercise their talents they were born  
with. I speak of something which I know about and have been doing all  
my life, and that's music. And now that I am an elderly man I still  
feel the me about music and its creations. And at the age of 'sixty  
nine' I really don't feel that I am on my way lout at all. Of course a  
person may do a little less - but the foundation will always be there."

He then went on to a short description what he had done musically and  
ended with his 69th birthday party at his house in Corona saying:

"All of the kids in Corona came in front of my home and wished me a  
happy birthday . . . saying carry on until you're a hundred years  
old. . . . I have seen 3 generations come up in the block where I  
live. Many kids grew up, married, and brought their children to visit  
Lucille and I. And these kids grew up - Satchmo fans. I just want to  
say that music has no age. . . . There's no such thing as on the way  
out. As long as you are still doing something interesting and good.  
You are in business as long as you are breathing. Yeah."

Assuredly, Louis in 1969 was nowhere near the player he had been in  
1929. Those of us who concentrate on his early genius know that.  
However, he had legions of young fans in 1969 who appreciated him from  
what he was doing at that moment, not specifically for what he had  
done before they were born. Chances are most would never hear the Hot  
5 / Hot 7 sides, but would love 'Hello Dolly', "Blueberry Hill' and  
'Kiss To Build a Dream On.'  So what?

As a muso, I have fears about playing when I can no longer play. When  
I was 65 I wondered if I would still play at 75. And now, at 77 wonder  
if I will play at 80. But every time I get up on the stand, those  
fears disappear.

Why should a muso pack it in because he can no longer do musically  
what he did as a youth, or before a stroke, or???

Think of what we would have missed if Oscar Peterson decided to quit  
after his stroke. Or if Louis had quit in 1965? Neither played with  
the dexterity and creativity that they had in their respective 'golden  
years' but both (and many others) still made enormous contributions to  
music.

No sir, don't feel sorry for Pops or others in their later years. He  
was having a ball with legions of new, young fans. As was, I expect,  
Earl Hines, Oscar Peterson, Clark Terry, Sidney Bechet, Bunk Johnson,  
George Lewis, Dave Brubeck and a whole bunch of 'old' musicians who  
had lost some of the fire and technique of their youth. And though I  
am not in their league, that includes me.

Nor should weever feel sorry for the musos of Preservation Hall. I  
remember some 30 odd years ago discussing them with a 'talking head'.  
He dissed them because they made a lot of mistakes in their old age,  
Sweet Emma couldn't sing, etc., etc., etc. I simply smiled and said,  
don't feel sorry for them, they are the best known Dixieland Band in  
the world. And they have the largest audience in the world. You may  
not appreciate them, but millions do.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband