Am I going to Jazz Hell?

[Trumpetstud]

If I don't really care to listen to Louis Armstrong am I going to Jazz Hell? I really like more contemporary jazz. Terrell Stafford, Terance Blanchard, Wynton Marsalis. I like Miles' music but I don't really care for the Fusion stuff.I like Dizzy but I don't ever see myself being able to play BeBop (fast)!

Anyway, how horrible am I?

[TrumpetMD]

Are you going to jazz hell? If you have to ask, the answer is probably yes.

More seriously, not every likes everyone. As trumpet players and musicians, you respect their abilities, creativity, and accomplishments. But we all have our own personal preferences.

Mike
_________________
Bach Stradivarius 43* Trumpet (1974), Bach 6C Mouthpiece.
Bach Stradivarius 184 Cornet (1988), Yamaha 13E4 Mouthpiece
Olds L-12 Flugelhorn (1969), Yamaha 13F4 Mouthpiece.
Plus a few other Bach, Getzen, Olds, Carol, HN White, and Besson horns.

[Jaw04]

No, and it's good you are honest about your taste. However, keep an open mind and know that you will change and grow. I used to not dig a lot of players. Who and what I like has gone through many iterations. I suspect at some point you will go on a Pops kick...

[Trumpetstud]

Thanks TrumpetMD

[weeeeve]

What I might add is- it's fine to not really dig Louis Armstrong, but hopefully you can learn to appreciate him. Learn to appreciate how he influenced the trumpet going forward; the beautiful way he could interpret a melody (both playing and singing); the joy in his playing. I think the more you can listen to and appreciate the history of jazz and of the trumpet, the more you will be able to enjoy all that it has to offer, past, present, and future.

Steven
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Steven Laurent

Bach Strad Model 72
Holton Firebird

My music: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5vmwM185PWOnMCC1I8Cwjr

[kehaulani]

You're just starting. Start where your passion is. Later you can widen your awareness and knowledge. It will help you but you're not tied down to it.
_________________
"If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." Bird

YTR-8310Z II Bobby Shew
Getzen Capri Cornet
Adams F-1 Flghn

[Bill Ortiz]

Louis Armstrong is an important element to jazz, including the contemporary artists you mentioned. Those artists understand the significance and influence Louis has on the lineage of jazz trumpet. I would recommend that give him more listening time to understand his influence and contribution.
_________________
Martin Committee Deluxe#2-'56/14B Schilke mp
Martin Committee Deluxe #3 -'63
Schilke HC1 Handcraft
Couesnon Paris Flugelhorn/14F custom mouthpiece
Bob Reeves Sleeves and PVA

[Richard III]

I always say listen extensively before giving an opinion about a player. I've always said I don't like Miles. I made myself listen to a lot of his material and I still don't favor that style, but at least I can point to specific reasons. The reasons are not his playing, but the style of that period in jazz.

I was recently trapped on a cruise ship without my usual sources of listening material. I did have The Essential Louis Armstrong on my phone. I started working through all the recordings and found it fascinating to hear his progression over time. I appreciate his work so much more now.
_________________
Richard

King 2280 Euphonium
Conn 10J Tuba
Nova Cornet and Trumpet
Cleveland Toreador Trumpet and Clevelander Cornet
Conn 22B Trumpet and 77A Cornet

[krax]

Sometimes people just never really connect on a personal plan even if they respect and maybe even appreciate each other. The same can be said about music. One might still appreciate it from an analytical point of view, but if the connections aren't there, there's no "Wow!". However, in both cases, it can change, suddenly or very slowly, due to personal change, changes in society, changes in knowledge and the list goes on.

Music is emotions and emotions change with time. Louis Armstrong, he's such a force in his own way. There's so much pure joy in his music whatever the theme is and there might be many decades in a life when that kind of joy just don't touch a person. One might feel that it's too much, that it's just nothing (where's the darkness?) etc. but that day when one is at the same page, then it's incredible, like nothing else. That may happen suddenly, slowly or never.

Sometimes we never connect, sometimes we do.

[PH]

There are lots of players that are important in the history of the music that I don't relate to musically. That's a matter of taste and your personal taste (and choosing your own role models) is how one develops a personal voice. Armstrong is interesting to me as he relates to the anthropology of the jazz tradition. I also have learned his music as a prerequisite job skill for freelance jazz/commercial work. But I don't find his music that interesting as a model to emulate.

See you in hell!
_________________
Bach trumpet artist-clinician
Clinical Professor of Jazz Trumpet, University of Illinois
Professor Emeritus of Jazz Studies, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music
Faculty Jamey Aebersold Jazz Workshops 1976-2019
JazzRetreats.com

[GizB]

To paraphrase Curtis Mayfield, if there's a jazz hell below, we're all going to go!

My secret shame is that I'm also in the camp of not being a Louis Armstrong fan. As somebody else noted, it's the style and era I'm not a fan of, not the musician. I do recognize Louis's place in the jazz pantheon. Whenever I hear Louis on the radio (yes, I still listen to radio!), I make a point to listen to see if he grabs me. After 50+ years, he hasn't yet.

I have no fight with those who, for example, don't care for Miles' electric Stuff - I happen to like all of Miles's music - there are few of us who truly like everything. For those of us who have personal dislikes, we'll just be in different corners of jazz hell!

[kehaulani]

I liked Harry James and Ray Anthony, Bix Beiderbecke. But it was listening to Pops' St. James Infirmary late one night when I was supposed to be sleeping, that made my blood curl. And I really appreciated just how deep jazz could be.

Preferences? Bix more than Pops. Chet more that Wynton. Coltrane more than Getz. So what? You can learn a great deal from each of them.
_________________
"If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." Bird

YTR-8310Z II Bobby Shew
Getzen Capri Cornet
Adams F-1 Flghn

[patdublc]

A long time ago, maybe around 1990 or so, I was in a master class that Wynton was presenting. He said that his goal as a player was to create an identity so unique that you knew it was him from the first note. Then he said "you know, like Pops whether he's singing or playing".
I kind of scoffed at that as I believed Wynton to be a superior player. This turned out to be the beginning of my journey to understand Pops better. It's been a fun journey. Today, I'm older, wiser, and a huge Pops fan.
As one person said, perhaps you will go on your own binge at some point and become more of a fan. Or, maybe not, we all have a right to like (or not) any player.
_________________
Pat Shaner
Play Wedge Mouthpieces by Dr. Dave exclusively.
Experiment with LOTS of horn makes and models.

[spitvalve]

Tastes change over time as understanding increases. When I was a teenager I heard Chase and was astounded because I didn't know trumpets could do that, having started as a Herb Alpert fan in elementary school. So I read that Bill Chase played with Woody Herman. My dad had some Woody Herman records from the 40s and 50s so I listened to those and learned stuff. I worked my way back through jazz trumpet history back to Louis and then forward again. In my early college years I couldn't comprehend bebop, and only listened to Dizzy in small doses. Then a friend turned me on to Clifford Brown and I was hooked. I have my favorites, but I try to listen to all of them at least a few times to grasp what they're doing. As I studied more and listened more I finally began to understand and appreciate Dizzy. Diz, Roy Eldridge, Clark Terry, Clifford, Miles, Woody Shaw, are included in my current library along with disproportionate amounts of Doc, Maynard, and Chase. I love them all, some more than others.
_________________
Bryan Fields
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1991 Bach LR180 ML 37S
1999 Getzen Eterna 700S
1979 Getzen Eterna 895S Flugelhorn
1969 Getzen Capri cornet
Eastlake Benge 4PSP piccolo trumpet
Warburton and Stomvi Flex mouthpieces

[AndyDavids]

[starkadder]

There's always room in Jazz purgatory.

[EdMann]

I believe that he's too important to ignore. He essentially invented modern popular music, jazz, bebop (yep, listen to the opening cadenza of West End Blues and tell me otherwise), modern scat. He possessed an upper register that virtually no one else had, a sweet sound that wasn't too brassy, and he was simply made of music. Everything was about melody.

One of the finest jazz players of the modern era, Lew Soloff, exclaimed that Louis was THE deal and he advised me to listen to him as often as possible, started with the Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings. They are incredible, and you hear modern licks in much of what he does. Give him a chance with these recordings.

ed

[Tony Scodwell]

I was on the Sam Donahue led Tommy Dorsey band during an English tour in 1963. A month previously I was there with Stan Kenton playing mellophonium which were featured. I was the lead player and soloist and got a bit of recognition in the magazine Melody Maker. When there again the next month I was asked to do a four person blindfold test also with Melody Maker. The four of us included Larry O'Brien, Tommy Check, Charlie Shavers and myself. They played a really good British dixieland band recording and I was stupid enough to say "nothing makes me sicker than the flu as dixieland". Charlie looked at me and said, "the best airplane ever built was the Wright Brothers plane". Like I said, stupid kid.

Tony Scodwell
www.scodwellusa.com

[Halflip]

[Subtropical and Subpar]