Age & Lead Playing

jhatpro · Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 5:18 am Post subject: Age & Lead Playing

A comment by someone in another thread to the effect that 66 may be too old to play lead has me wondering why and also whether there are players 66 or even older playing lead somewhere. Anyone know of any?
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Yamahaguy · Heavyweight Member Joined: 09 Dec 2004 Posts: 3319

Lew Soloff is 68 and can still wail...

Mike Lockman · Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 5:38 am Post subject:

Doc, Maynard etc
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Paul Tomashefsky · Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 5:39 am Post subject:

Isn't Doc Severinsen 82 or 83 now? He doesn't seem to be having any trouble nailing high G's and A's . . . saw him last year at Rhode Island College with their Jazz Band. . . .The Guy is still Swingin' and peeling paint

P.

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gbdeamer · Heavyweight Member Joined: 31 Dec 2007 Posts: 1560

Interesting topic.

While there are obviously lots of cats in their late 60's who can play lead, I don't typically see them doing so.

mbradd · Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 6:05 am Post subject:

I would guess that with anything, age becomes a factor when you start to physically have problems (i.e. back issues, hips, shoulders, internal health/organs, etc). Doc doesn't look his age. He has obviously taken very good care of himself physically/health-wise. It might be a different story if he wasn't in such great physical shape. I had the pleasure of playing with Snooky Young while in college. He was in his 70's. He might as well have been in his 90's. He was not in great shape, and while he still played circles around me, was far from his prime. So....if you want to play lead, or at all, well into your golden years, the moral of the story is what every doctor will tell you regardless of what you do for a living. Eat right, exercise, moderation, yadda-yadda...
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bamajazzlady · Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 6:08 am Post subject:

It depends on the health of the player in regards to their lifestyle. Nobody wants to see and/or hear any player struggling as a lead if they knowingly abused their health over the years.
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jhatpro · Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 7:07 am Post subject:

This reminds me of a story my fellow retirees keep emailing me: a guy ask his doctor if he'll live into his eighties. The doc asks, "Do you smoke, drink, eat a lot of red meat and run around with younger women?" The guy says, "No," and the doc says, "Then why would you give a rip?"
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"Unfortunately, music is not my first language."

Mark Curry · Heavyweight Member Joined: 15 Feb 2007 Posts: 1058

I play with a bunch of guys in their 70's and older.

While their "mobility" (due to hips, knees, etc.) may not be what it once was, their playing is great, tempered with experience.

One of these guys I split lead with. He's 69 this year. He has always had a better extreme register (and ridiculous endurance) than me, but I am the better reader, and perhaps stylistically more correct in a couple of musical genres.

Guys like the Condolis, Walt Johnson, Snooky Young, Buddy Childers, Carl Saunders, Doc, Maynard- there's quite a few players who have played excellent lead well past there 70's.

Dickie Mills is our senior jazz player in a couple of bands and he just turned 83. Our junior jazz player is about 60.

We ALL enjoy the occasional "taste" now and then! Eat the fatty foods, even processed meats!

To quote Ray Charles. "Nobody gets out of this one alive."

Play your a&& off til the end. Be happy.
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spitvalve · Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 7:50 am Post subject:

Here's Snooky on his 70th birthday. At the end of this tune he nails a one-handed double Bb.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii867y0l_eg&feature=player_embedded#!
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JobyMF · Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 8:28 am Post subject:

Snooky is an all time favorite.
Sometimes I think I was born in the wrong era.

spitvalve · Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 8:39 am Post subject:

Would love to get back to the pre-synthesizer days when trumpet players had steady gigs.
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Ed Hernandez · Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 10:04 am Post subject:

Craig Swartz · Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 10:40 am Post subject:

Lead in what? A community big band? There may not be a choice as to whom to use. In something on the order of a working, pro-level group? I am not aware of anything that dictates one must stop playing lead because they hit a certain age. If one is still capable of lighting it up when ever it's needed, why would anyone care about the age of the player?

Now, starting out to become a lead player at 66 with no real previous experience? That might be a stretch. There's more to being a "lead player" than blowing out a few high notes- there is an entire mindset and psyche involved if one is good at it.

John Mohan · Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 10:46 am Post subject:

dershem · Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 5:03 pm Post subject:

A guy I gig with regularly is in his mid-70's, has only one lung, and plays his ass off.

DWallace · Regular Member Joined: 15 Mar 2008 Posts: 59

I saw Doc last month in Arkansas. He is 84 and I think he played lead all night.(LOL) He played it really well and said he has no intentions of stopping.
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tommy t. · Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 6:58 pm Post subject:

This is a picture of a 69 year old snowboarder carving a frontside on a 30 degree slope at an altitude of about 10,500 feet at SnowBird last week.

He finds this discussion pretty speculative, but amusing.

Tommy T.
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gchun · Guest

Not sure of their exact ages, but I know guys like Tom Porrello and Bob Milikan sound great and they aren't spring chickens! They are still the best in the business.

Garry

agolden · Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2012 10:28 pm Post subject:

Jay Saunders
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