[TPIN] Al Hirt - some recollections

[Richard Uchytil]

His "pop" stuff may not have been considered great by the trumpet community,
but he was one of my early inspirations.  And he still amazes me.  His tone
is incredible, he can play super fast, is always in tune, and never seems to
crack a note.  He was amazing and I still kick myself for not going to see
him at his club when I was in New Orleans - what was I thinking!!
(obviously I wasn't)

Rich Uchytil


On 9/10/07, Vaxtrpts at aol.com <Vaxtrpts at aol.com> wrote:
>
> Al Hirt was one of my favorite trumpet players - ever.  He was one
> of  those
> people who could do anything he wanted to with a trumpet.  I am proud  to
> have
> been able to call him my friend.  Especially in later years before  he
> died,
> we hung quite a few times and talked about trumpet playing and  life.
> He mainly played New Orleans jazz in his club on Bourbon Street, but also
> lots of standards and Broadway show tunes.  One of the most
> amazing  examples of
> "chops" that I have ever seen, was when he would do the "request  set" at
> the
> club.  It was in the round, and the audience was all the way  around the
> bandstand.
> Al would go out into the audience and take requests.   Many times  people
> would just yell out the names of tunes.  He would literally pretty  much
> keep the
> horn on his chops for the whole 50 or 60 minutes, going from one  tune to
> the
> next.  And what a rhythm section it was to hear where he was  going and
> not
> only know all those tunes, but follow everything that he  did.  (There was
> a
> thread a while ago about somebody having to play a job  with no fake book
> and
> how they didn't think that was possible ---- well I can  tell you that
> none of
> us used any fake books in New Orleans - ever!  They  weren't even allowed
> on
> the stand.  You were just expected to know all the  tunes.)
> As far as the Haydn with the Boston Pops goes, that was something that Al
> DID NOT WANT to do.  Remember that he was classically trained and
> had  played
> that repertoire, but hadn't played it for many, many years, when
> that  recording
> was done.  It was part of his contract with RCA at the time, and  the
> producer thought it would be great for him to do the Haydn.  He tried  and
> tried to
> get out of it, but was forced into it by contractual stuff.   He said that
> when
> it was through, he was almost in tears.  I think that was  one of the low
> points in his life.  Now - please do remember the recording  of "Flight of
> the
> Bumble Bee" that was done for the theme of "The Green Hornet"  on
> TV.  There was
> some great trumpet playing.
> The "pop" stuff was also part of his contract and he did make some "real"
> money off of it, which helped keep his club open in New Orleans.  He
> also,  at
> one time, put together a big band of great young players and paid them
> well  to
> play with him.
> He used to affectionately call me "The Kid with the High Notes."  I  wish
> he
> was still around to do that!
> Mike Vax
>
>
>
>
> ************************************** See what's new at
> http://www.aol.com
> _______________________________________________
> TPIN mailing list
> TPIN at tpin.okcu.edu
> http://tpin.okcu.edu/mailman/listinfo/tpin
>