I'm in a period of cool 50's and 60's jazz myself... Miles, 'Trane, Bird, and Brubeck...
I'm with you, I'm working on my second degree in Jazz Studies. Of course, you can't get half-way to where I am without understanding that Bach's music is responsible for the
development of music theory, and therefore, well... any music that requires more than a tapping foot to listen to.
There are a couple of interesting stories of jazz musicians with guns.
Sidney Bechet, perhaps the greatest clarinetist who ever lived, had an unbelievable temper. This explains it a bit:
(Full story found here -
http://www.nps.gov/jazz/historyculture/bechet.htm )
"Oh I know I can be mean- I know that. But not to the music"... Sidney Bechet
Trouble, it seems, sometimes lurked in the shadows during Bechet's life. Several altercations with police had previously plagued this jazz genius, once in New Orleans and once in Europe-which earned him a brief deportation back to the states. In 1930, Bechet's problems came to a boil during an incident in which the circumstances still remain cloudy. Whether the cause of the fracas was a dispute over chord changes or over a woman, neither scenario is unbelievable considering Bechet's temperament. What is not in doubt was the fact that Bechet wounded 3 people as a result of a gun duel and none of the victims were the intended target. Apparently Bechet's accuracy on his instrument did not extend to pistols. One of the wounded, another musician who was shot in the leg, publicly contemplated filing a lawsuit against Bechet upon his release from prison. Bechet, incensed upon learning of his plans, sent word back to drop the suit or watch out for his other leg. This aspect of Bechet's persona, a darker side with sometimes violent tendencies, somehow was revealed in his music as well. Listening to this jazz master one not only can hear the passionate soul of the blues, but a sense of risk also. Bechet was sometimes attracted to violent gangster figures and often this darker side of the man revealed itself through devilish twists and turns on the soprano. Bechet's ability to display a melancholy seriousness on his instrument remained as ever-present throughout his career as the handgun he often toted.
And
THIS is one of my
favorite stories ever (From allaboutjazz.com):
The history of jazz began with a gunshot. On New Year's Eve 1912, young Louis Armstrong, then singing for spare change with a street-corner quartet, "borrowed" a .38 revolver from one of the many "stepfathers" who regularly visited his mother. In keeping with a time-honored New Orleans tradition, he fired the gun in the air to welcome in the new year. A police detective standing nearby arrested Louis for illegally discharging a firearm, and he was quickly shipped off to the Colored Waif's Home, a reform school outside New Orleans. It was there that Louis received his first formal instruction in music and was given his first cornet by the school's director. Although he had played the instrument before and had already picked up some tips from legendary cornetist Bunk Johnson, it was at the Waif's Home that young Louis began to emerge as the prodigiously talented and visionary musician who would soon change the face of jazz and American popular music.
Jazz history is one of the greatest stories ever told in my opinion. Ken Burns documentary should be seen by everyone who can stand it!
