http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7QjMZ4ckZc


Yesterday I went for a haircut at Tony's barbershop.....Tony's partner didn't show up for work so he was there working alone & being it was a holiday week the shop was packed with people...
Tony (65) loves Big Band Music and he plays continuous CD's of all the Great Bands thruought the shop.....I had to wait about an hour for my turn to get cut so I put my head back in the seat and closed my eyes all the time listening to the Big Band Songs like Tommy Dorsey's Band.....man I'll tell you these cats can REALLY blow!!!!
If you really listen close and try to single out each instrument it is such a real pleasure & I have a big appreciation for them. What the heck happened to music throughout the years....?It really makes you wonder?....Please enjoy the video & check out the clarinet & trumpet player & of course Tommy on Trombone. On top of that he had the two greatest singers Frank Sinatra & Connie Haines in the band also, I sure wish I was around back then they were good times for Music for sure...

[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 11-26-2008).]

Sequencers and arrangers happened, that's what!

Back in the day, SOMEBODY had to play each part. Or it didn't get played...

Now we stick down one finger (or some of us do, anyway!) and pretend it is us playing! And some of us actually believe that we ARE...

Donny, when it comes to this style of music it becomes real apparent that we were probably born 50 or 75 years too late

Steve.....
besides that the quality of talent back then was incredible.Just listen to those guys play wow! SA sounds?

You think any of US are good enough to have played with Dorsey's band...?

I'm sorry, but musicians were musicians back then... How many of us could sit down and play a big band gig on piano? Most of us here would have been born 50 or 75 years too EARLY, if we had been born back then... There was no one finger chords, there was no sequencers, you played every note they heard.

Happy days...

Diki let me clarify I was referring to the style of music, I enjoy that style of music, not necessarily that I'd play in a big band or had the talent to do so.

Steve these guys were the best of the lot watch the video again.....they did this every night and were a well oiled machine who could play together like it was second nature. During practice in high school orchestra bands, I played Alto sax & Percussion/ Timpani the conductor would go through the whole band and make you play YOUR parts SOLO in front of everyone to see if you were playing your part PERFECTLY, no slackers hiding behind anyone you had to pull your weight big time by yourself before you played all together. High modern Technology has made the music world all slackers of a sought & in my opinion ruined "REAL" playing as it used to be

Well, I know how to read music...

I know how to play piano...

I can also sing or harmonize...

I know how to listen...

...just like many of those guys in the storied big bands.

I'm sure several of us, who can and do perform on an acoustic piano and know the music could make a pretty good run at it. I've been playing acoustic for a long time...I've never used anything but on any gig with more than a duo...

The biggest difference would come down to talent. As it should. Would any of us be a superstar? Who knows? I do know there were alot more really good players than "great" players...

Were some of these guys absolute monster players? yes, no doubt...My point is those of us who don't use one finger, let's say...put us in the same environment, same rehearsal opportunities with those bands...I think many of us could not embarrass ourselves...

BTW, I wouldn't know how to work my Tyros 2 with one finger if I had to, lol...

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Bill in Dayton

[This message has been edited by Bill in Dayton (edited 11-27-2008).]

I probably was. I was first chair trumpet player in the All-State Concert Band in Oklahoma as a sophomore in High School.
There wasn't much I couldn't play. I once got a compliment from Harry James, but he may have just been being nice to a kid.
I turned down college scholarships to play basketball instead and I lost a couple of front teeth in college playing basketball, so never was the same after that.
I incorporated the trumpet into several bands I worked with after college. The chops were still there, but the lip no longer held up after a few minutes.
I also found that people paid you to play organ or guitar and sing, but not so much for playing trumpet.
Still, the experience of playing in a ensemble is priceless. I also learned to play other instruments, including drums, guitar, bass and baritone. I'm sure I still use a lot of that experience as an arranger player.
DonM

Donny,
I love that stuff! I could listen to it every day.

And I'm only 60!

There was a lot of talent back then....also, the story of the Funk Brothers (Motown)is cool and wow, what a contribution they made! But few know about them, Sad.

Lee

I agree, great bands great musicians!!

There still there but hard to find! Today mediocrity rules the roost in popular music. If you dig you will still find some really fine talent!(Ever watch the RAV channel on HD?)

Lee, Don, Bill.....

I love to listen to the Big Bands...you have to also remember there was nothing else back then like all the choices we have today if you wanted to play music you had to take lessons & really learn How to Play.

Donny,
Sounds pretty good doesn't it??? The idea of really learning to play.

I know I have a ways to go. :-)

Lee

Lee it should be the NORM.....
not an Option

There was a group called the WNOP big band in Cincinnati a few years ago. Haven't heard much about them since the demise of the WNOP jazz festival. the power of a group like this-16 traditional pieces-is amaising.

WNOP was a small (1000 watt, I think) traditional jazz station operating from a boaat under the bridge from Kentucky to Ohio.

R