Skinfix, 77

Man! that is so Cool! This is hard, because I absorb a lot of jazz off the radio or cd. But I used to go to jazz clubs a lot in Toronto and Montreal, and meet the musicians (can't think of any just now). One of the hottest trumpet blowers I ever saw was in a club in Hong Kong. I used to roadie for a guy who was in the scene in Sweden, where, apparently, a lot of great jazz happened in the '60's. I am a jazz musician, but not so much in the big-time scene. I am in a trio in a small city. We play various gigs, on the street, retirement residences - where our keyboard man drags out stuff that nobody's heard since the 1930's! pool parties. Any place where they want a good sound while the event goes on. My instrument is upright acoustic base. I just play by ear, picking out a base harmony to the tune. The standards are easy to follow. The rhythms of many of the tunes of the past 70 years were fairly structured, and easy to remember. Playing by ear allows me to keep an eye on how the crowd is responding to what we play. I can't say I follow a lot of the diversions of the jazz idiom of the past 40 years.