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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Jim Beebe and I agreed to send each other stories
- he with his Jack Teagarden almost lesson and I with my Trummy Young
recollections. Jim posted his to the list while I sent mine priavately to
Jim. While IMHO Jim's is far more interesting, at his suggestion, I'm
posting this for you folks. Hope you enjoy. Dick
Broadie</FONT></DIV>
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size=2>********************************************************</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I met Trummy in LA several times at jazz concerts,
usually with tribute bands to Louis. Trummy was living in Hawaii at the
time. I knew him to shake his hand and I just felt good that he knew who I
was. He always looked at least 30 years younger than he was and, based
upon his physical apperance, I was amazed to learn that he was in his 70s
when he died around 1984. </FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I recall that we had a conversation about Jazz at
the Philharmonic and that Trummy said he worked with Charlie Parker, Roy Eldrige
"and all the guys at JATP." He amazed me back stage after a performance
with a trad group when he played Bird's Donna Lee at full tempo - flawlessly -
and "confessed" to me his love of bop. He indicated that he loved Louis
and considered himself a very lucky man to have played with such wonderful
musicians all his life. He told me about playing with Earl Hines and
then discovering modern jazz and going that way until he joined Louis. I
asked him if he didn't feel like he was going backwards in his musical
development when he left bop to join Louis. His reaction was
something akin to saying nobody goes backwards when they're joining God!
(A good answer to a bad question)</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Trummy was quite proud of the fact that he played
trombone with Louis longer than anyone else. On the down side was the
musical "rut" he found himself in with Louis virtually playing the same songs
and in some instances, the same notes, night after night. He told me
that when he worked with Benny Goodman, that BG frequently played identical "ad
lib" solos night after night - telling Trummy that when you get something
about as good as it's going to get, there's no reason to mess with it.
Louis felt much the same way. Louis, of course, was expected to play the
same opening on "West End Blues" and other such standards of his, and Louis was
not one to let his audience down with anything less (different?) than what
they expected. The last time I saw Trummy a few months before his death,
he told me that he was enjoying his retirement, meaning that he was infrequently
on the road, and that he never realized how good it was to simply stay
home. I believe he called Hawaii his home for at least 30 years and that
he was gigging there with his own small groups most of the time after he left
Louis. </FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>When I started the above, I didn't realize how much
I had to say about Trummy. I likely didn't spend 30 minutes alone with him
in the 5 or 6 times we met. While I shared the bandstand with him at
several jazz festivals, (same stand, different bands) I
never performed with him. I almost got to play with him at Louie's
70th birthday party at the Shrine in LA. I was Barney Bigard's stand-in,
should he be unable to play. Barney had an extremely sore lip at the time
and asked if I could cover for him. So I was in the wings but didn't get
to play. On the other hand, I met Hoagy Charmichael at that time and we
became good friends when I moved to Palm Springs the following year.
But that's another story. </FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Now that I think about it, I'm not sure Trummy made
it to the Louis 70th tribute. It seems that it may have been Tyree Gleen
on that occasion. I remember vibes being on the stage. Maybe Hamp
was there. I sure wish my memory was better. I don't mind sharing
the above with you, Jim, inasmuch as 90% is likely accurate, but I'm not willing
to claim that extra 10%. The one thing I am certain about is that my
memory is better on the years 1970-1985 than it is on what I ate for breakfast
yesterday am.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Dick<BR></DIV></FONT></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>