[TPIN] Was Chet, who doesn't read at all

[Allegro69]

I wouldn't be too hasty to say that Chet couldn't read music - even if not
well. Bear in mind that he played in an Army band when he served his
enlistment (I believe in San Francisco). It is a prerequisite for any
instrumentalist serving in any branch of the military bands program to
demonstrate reasonable sight reading skills in the many genres' of music
these bands play. But swinging over to playing by memory, my long time
teacher starting when I was a kid to after my discharge from the Navy,
insisted that along with Arban's, St. Jac, Gatti, that I memorize standard
tunes. Good teaching for that! While I did my share of reading gigs
throughout my life, most of my work was playing on function bands where
there playing tunes from atop of the skull was an asset. Before smoking in
public places became a 'no no', anyone who relied on reading out of a fake
book might over the long run develop vision problems and chronic headaches
from taking in all that smoke and reading music under very adverse lighting
conditions.