[Dorsey was a special influence.] If you wanted to be a bandleader, he's the guy you needed to work with, ... You could learn a lot from him. As a brass player, it was like going to college. Every day, it was like private lessons. |
As I look back now, some of those dates, the players - I think I didn't realize how fully significant that all was. My God, some of the playing you heard. You had to take it in, and it had to do something to you. |
But I'll come up with something. |
Dorsey's sound kind of stayed with me. Plus, I have a flamboyant personality - and that gets in there, too. Your sound is a reflection of your personality and your environment. What you hear first in your life stays with you. The type of sounds you hear will have an influence on you later. |
Everyone was close friends, |
He always had his eye out for something new. He never pushed it away, but he embraced it. It became a part of how you program pops orchestras. |
He got a very large meat cleaver and made us get back on the bus. That was heartbreaking, ... Maybe an hour's drive from New York. I'll never forget it. |
He was a very private person, but then, you know, he belonged to the whole United States. The United States thought they owned Johnny Carson. |
I don't know. |
I don't suppose I'll ever get over it. I mean, the boss is gone. But he wouldn't want anybody hanging any out, any black crepe for him. |
I still play jazz, and I've always got that trumpet very handy, but I'm coming to feel the classical venues are where my main focus is, in the realm of symphonic pops. |
I was snowed in a couple of years, just like everyone else, |
I'm a Swede who loves Italian food; it's the culture I identify with mostly. I love the people and everything about them. |
It hasn't been much of a retirement at all. I thought it would be, but it just didn't work out that way. I'm doing a lot of work, and there are always some great possibilities out there. |
Music and the arts are not just something to make people feel good. They elevate the soul and broaden the entire personality. It's easy to say they aren't needed because culture seems intangible. But not having it deprives young people of a cultural heritage. |