[Dixielandjazz] Visiting Musicians and Trumpeters

[Ken Mathieson]

Hi All,

I'm not going to take sides in the ongoing discussions/dissensions in 
these threads. Instead I'd like to offer some thoughts in mediation: 
musicians, like non-musicians, have their favourite players and it's 
personal taste which drives those choices. However, where musicians tend 
to differ from non-players is in matters of technical prowess: musicians 
are readily able to admire the technical prowess of a virtuoso player on 
its own merits as they understand the challenges presented by the 
instruments and the ingenuity of the virtuoso in conquering the 
instrument's limitations and in making that achievement sound simple. 
For musicians, admiration of technique and admiration of artistic 
expression are two different things which are not necessarily mutually 
exclusive. What musician, especially a pianist, doesn't admire Art 
Tatum's musicality and colossal technique?

For non-musician jazz fans without an insight into the actual process of 
music-making, it's understandable that artistic taste will prevail over 
admiration for displays of technique. However, where we all come 
together is in a shared appreciation of *it ain't what you do, but the 
way hotcha do it*. One of the best illustrations of this that I ever 
witnessed was at the Nairn Jazz Festival in 2001. Ruby Braff was on the 
bill, but I knew he was very ill with a terminal condition, so I went 
along to the concert not expecting him to contribute a great deal 
musically, but I wanted to say goodbye to him as I knew I wouldn't see 
him again. He was wheeled in in a wheelchair and had to be lifted into a 
chair onstage where he was kept upright by pillows. He was visibly 
smaller, thinner and weaker-looking than when I had last seen him. He 
had Scott Hamilton, John Bunch and a fine rhythm section in support, but 
he was left very breathless by his emphysema. However, when he soloed, 
his sound was intact but his technique was considerably restricted. 
However, he played shorter phrases in a limited range and made wonderful 
musical sense. When Ruby was soloing, Scott's face positively beamed 
with pleasure and Ruby stamped his unmistakable personality on the 
entire gig in a triumph of the human spirit over adversity. Within the 
restrictions imposed by his illness, he played with control and an 
invention which could only have been produced by Ruby Braff. Nobody else 
ever played like Ruby and, on his last gig, he still told his story and 
was still a one-off.

Cheers,
Ken