[Dixielandjazz] When to pack it in

[Joe Carbery]

Amen, Steve. Do it as long as we enjoy it!

Joe Carbery.

On Tue, Jan 25, 2011 at 6:04 AM, Stephen G Barbone <
barbonestreet at earthlink.net> wrote:

> 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
>
>
>
>
>
>
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