<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=3>In a message dated 2/15/03 9:43:21 AM Central Standard Time, patcooke@cox.net writes:<BR>
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<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">>>now on his playing technique....was it better than Luis himself???!!!<<<BR>
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A lot of players reach a plateau in their careers where they stop<BR>
practicing, and stop improving. Sometimes they even stop listening. In<BR>
some it may actually regress.<BR>
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Ruby played like Louis would have played if Louis would have continued to<BR>
improve. I'm ready for the flack!<BR>
Pat Cook</BLOCKQUOTE><BR>
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Here is some flack. Yes, some top players reach a stage where they limit their practicing but I don't know of any who stop completely. Playing on the job is practice. <BR>
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Ruby Braff would throw you out of the club for your statment that , "Ruby played like Louis would have played if Louis would have continued to improve." He would not have tolerated a statement like this. As I see it, Louis continually refined his trumpet playing. Little by little he cut out the excess and got down to the heart of music...the expression of the melodic line. Wynton Marsalis, whom I generally despise, stated it very well in the film, "Satchmo" , he said something to the effect that ' many of the daring and original things that he played early in his career were now implied in his phrasing.'<BR>
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Have you really listened to his 'Autobiography' work from the 50s. Some of these are better than the originals. This is very extraordinary.<BR>
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Louis Armtrong made hundreds of recordings over a long period. Every one of them is a gem in some way. We are very lucky to have them and they will be preserved through each change in techology. LIke any great work of art or spirituality, the beauty or message in them unfolds with time and repeated focus on them. I can remember a time when I didn't care for Louis at all. I started buying his records because he always had a good trombone player. LIttle by little his genius revealed itself to me. <BR>
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I am at a stage in life where I am disposing of much of my recordings and stuff. Not Louis Armstrong, though.<BR>
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Jim Beebe</FONT></HTML>