All Episodes
Previous Next
Nov. 29, 1999 - Bill Cooper
01:00:43
Trumpet
| Copy link to current segment

Time Text
The power of the animal is the power of the soul. The power of the human being is the power of the soul.
The power of the animal is the power of the soul.
I'm William Cooper.
You're listening to the Hour of the Time. I'm William Cooper. Well, folks, I hope your
Thanksgiving was as good as mine was.
I had two.
Two Thanksgivings!
Boy!
It was a lot of work, too, I've got to tell you.
But worth every single minute of it.
What in the world is going on here?
Let me try this again.
Last Thursday night, All right.
I really enjoyed listening to my daughter's Thanksgiving present to me for 1998, which was to do the broadcast.
She came to me and wanted to do it.
And by golly, she did it and did a good job.
I was not in here, neither was anybody else.
She did it all by herself.
And she did it really good.
I mean, really good.
I was so proud of her.
I just loved hearing that last Thursday.
The last Thursday I cooked a big turkey and mashed potatoes and gravy, dressing, made a salad.
What a dinner that was!
I mean, it was a big turkey.
I asked Pauline to get me about a 10 to 15 pound turkey and she brought me a 19 pound turkey.
And, uh, but I cooked it.
Stuffed it.
Made mashed potatoes and gravy and salad and, you know, the whole works.
All for me and Crusher and Sugar Bear.
Crusher and Sugar Bear are the two dogs.
I got about four big slices of the breast and, uh, Crusher got hold of that turkey.
Neither one of them liked the salad.
They didn't like the salad.
They didn't eat the salad.
Wouldn't touch it.
Sugar Bear ate all of his mashed potatoes and gravy.
Crusher licked the gravy off the mashed potatoes.
Didn't eat the mashed potatoes.
They both loved the dressing.
Ate every bit of dressing that was on their plate.
And then they tore into what was left of the turkey after I took my four big slices of the breast, which was the whole turkey!
And they ate that turkey, bones and all.
There wasn't anything left.
Not even a crumb.
And it was a wonderful Thanksgiving.
I love those two dogs.
And it was just me and the two dogs.
Now Sunday, yesterday, I did it all over again.
Cooked a twenty pound turkey, which I bought the day after Thanksgiving.
And got it for almost nothing.
Beautiful, big, beautiful turkey.
For almost nothing the day after Thanksgiving.
It was left over.
And they would sell them for nothing.
And I had the potatoes from our garden this year.
I used store-bought potatoes for Thursday's Thanksgiving dinner.
I boiled the potatoes, and Pauline made the mashed potatoes, and we had dressing, of course, mashed potatoes and gravy.
Didn't make a salad this time.
I made two big loaves of homemade bread, and boy, was it good!
And yesterday's Thanksgiving dinner was for all my really close friends here in the Valley.
And, uh, and their children.
So we had a house full of people.
And everybody ate and got stuffed.
And it was wonderful.
I loved it.
I loved cooking for everybody.
I like to cook.
And, uh, everything turned out real well except the gravy had too much salt in it.
I don't know where the salt came from because I didn't put any salt in the gravy.
It had too much salt in it.
Somebody slipped some salt in that gravy.
I don't know who it was.
And I don't care.
The gravy was too salty.
Nobody said a word.
They didn't want to hurt my feelings, I guess.
Nobody said a word about the gravy being too salty.
They all said it was delicious.
And, you know, I didn't eat until after they had all eaten.
And then I took a bite of that mashed potatoes and gravy.
That was okay.
But, you see, the dressing soaks up the salt from salting the cavity so that you don't get germs growing in there while you're slow cooking a turkey.
That's why you have to salt the cavity.
And so the dressing gets plenty of salt.
You never put salt in dressing.
Never.
Because you're going to stuff the cavities of the bird and the dressing is going to get salt from the salt that you put in those cavities to keep the germs from growing.
And so the combination of the too much salt in the dressing and the natural salt that comes from the cavity in the dressing The gravy on top of the dressing was just, oh man, way too much salt.
Dressing by itself was great.
The salt, the gravy on the potatoes was great.
Because potatoes need salt.
And everything evened out.
But when you put the gravy on top of the dressing, oh my god!
I thought, I thought I'd taken a bite of pure salt is what I thought.
Then I thought, oh my goodness, all those people ate this and told me that it was just really wonderful.
And it wasn't, they never said a word about it being too salty.
So I want to thank you all for trying to spare my feelings, but you needn't have done that because it wouldn't have hurt my feelings at all.
I like to cook and I like you to enjoy it and I don't expect anybody to eat anything that's, you know, too salty.
As long as you just put the gravy on the potatoes, it was fine.
As long as you ate the dressing by itself, it was great.
When you put the gravy on top of the dressing, oh boy!
Horrible.
The turkey was just absolutely delicious!
Oh, man, was it good!
And, uh... So, we ate a lot, and had a great time.
And Pauline brought me a copy of the new movie called The Mummy.
After everybody's gone, I watched that.
Full of symbolism, and true to form.
True to form.
When the world was threatened by this evil force, who saved the world?
That's going to be the question tonight.
Who saved the world?
You know, they found the Book of the Dead, and accidentally reading from the Book of the Dead, that's what brought this evil being into existence.
And the world was threatened because it was going to suck the life out of everybody in the world and make them all a bunch of dried up corpses.
But who saved the world?
That's the question tonight.
All of you have seen The Mummy, the movie, the new movie, The Mummy.
If you've listened to the Mystery Series, and if you've listened to this broadcast, you know, over the years, you should know the answer.
It's just as clear as a bell, man.
I mean, they just were ringing that bell out loud for those who understood the symbolic language, and that was a New World Order movie if I've ever seen one.
Who saved the world?
How about them apples?
Also, folks, not too long ago, you know, about 40 years ago, well, actually, let me go way back.
When I was about 10 years old, 10 years old, which I think is 5th grade.
I don't really remember if 10 is 5th grade or not, but I think it's 5th grade.
I saw a movie.
called Young Man with a Horn starring Kirk Douglas and if you have a chance and if you
can find that movie and rent it and watch it, get it and watch it. It's not the story
that captured me. I wasn't interested in the story at all, except in the beginning. I got
in the story because it was about a little boy who used to go and watch these jazz players
late at night and in particular this one who played a horn.
Thank you.
And he fell in love with that music, and they got to know each other, and the jazz guy, who was a black man, in those days the best jazz musicians were all black, taught him to play the horn.
And so he learned how to do it.
But what got me after a while, I lost all interest in the story.
I wasn't interested in the story because I was a ten year old boy and this is an adult themed movie.
I mean, there's no sex or violence or anything like that in it.
It's just an adult type story.
It's about a guy who gets lost.
And for a ten year old boy, nobody's interested in that.
I got lost in the music.
The music touched me way down deep in my soul, and I wanted to be a trumpet player.
So I told my mom.
I went to my mom, and I told her, you know, I saw this movie, Mom, and I heard this music, and it just, you know, it was the most beautiful stuff I'd ever heard in my life, and I want to be a trumpet player.
And my mom said, well, you know, we can't afford to buy you a trumpet.
Those things are expensive.
But nevertheless, I told her I wanted to play the trumpet.
So my mom, being the kind of mom she was, she went to my dad and told my dad, after she had done some preliminary investigation, she found that the cheapest American-made trumpet that was really a good trumpet, solid and, you know, recommended for students and all that kind of stuff, was a Pan American.
And it cost $110.
And there were cheaper ones than that, but they were made in foreign countries and they were junk.
So she wanted to get me that trumpet.
She went to my dad and told me, told my dad, that I want to play the trumpet.
And she, you know, liked music and she wanted to encourage me.
And could she have the money to buy the trumpet?
Well, you should have seen the look on my dad's face.
$110.
Back in those days, which I think was around 1953 or 1954, was a lot of money.
Lots of money!
My goodness, you could make a house payment with $110.
On a big three-bedroom house with lots of lawn and trees and things.
That was a lot of money.
And so the look on my dad's face when I saw that look, I knew I wasn't going to get it from him.
And he said, no, we can't afford it.
And he was a, I think then he was a First Lieutenant in the Air Force.
And I don't really know how much money he was making.
I knew how much money he was making when he was a captain.
He was making $10,000 a year, which he got promoted to not too long after that.
But anyway, about three or four months later, I came home from school one day, and I saw this big bag laying on the coffee table, and it said something music store.
I don't remember the name of it, but it was a music store.
And then my mom came out, saw I was home from school, and she told me to open the bag.
And I opened the bag, and there was this big case in the bag.
And it was like luggage, you know, had these two little snaps that you pull the levers, and the things pop up, just like on a suitcase.
And I opened it up, and it was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life.
It was a Pan-American trumpet.
Made in America.
Recommended for students.
It was not a professional trumpet.
It was a student trumpet.
And it was beautiful.
It was solid.
And it was gold.
And it shined in the light.
And just, oh man, it was wonderful.
And I picked it up and then the first big mistake I ever made was I took the mouthpiece out and Stuck it into the lead tube, which then I didn't know was called a lead tube, and pushed it in real hard and twisted it.
Big mistake.
And then I stuck the mouthpiece in my mouth, not up to my lips, but in my mouth and blew.
And I thought all these golden sounds that I heard in the movie were going to come out.
Well, nothing came out.
It was... That's what I was doing.
I didn't know that you made the sound with your lips in the mouthpiece.
But my mother, you know, arranged for me to take trumpet lessons with a very good teacher.
And I quickly learned how to make noise in a trumpet and it sounded terrible.
Absolutely, indescribably terrible.
And I thought, my God, you know, after hearing the music played in that movie, And hearing what I, the sounds that I was making on this instrument, I couldn't conceive that I could ever make any music.
It was very discouraging.
But my trumpet teacher taught me to carry the mouthpiece around and practice making sounds through the mouthpiece without the trumpet.
So I could take the mouthpiece to school and I could go sit, you know, in the football field or wherever I wanted to, alone.
Nobody was around and I could Practice my scales and perfecting a good tone on the mouthpiece only.
And he told me, he says, if you can do it on the mouthpiece, it'll sound like honey on the trumpet.
And he was right.
And every day my mother would make sure, faithfully, that I practiced for one hour every day.
And I did.
At first it was tough, because your lip gets ragged.
In the beginning, if you try to play a trumpet for longer than five or ten minutes, I mean, your lip is sore and bruised and ragged, and you start off making some noises, which aren't very good noises, and you deteriorate into absolutely despicable, raunchy, terrible sounds.
After a while, you get to be able to do that longer.
sound is no better, your lip is just getting used to being used.
And you're developing the muscles in your cheeks and in your lip to be able to make
the notes.
Then you start working on a good sound.
And eventually I was making what I thought was a good sound, but really it was just barely
passable as a student.
And I was learning the fingering and the notes and how to read music and all of that kind
of stuff and playing things like Yankee Doodle.
I thought this was just beautiful, you know.
Well, you know, years later I could play Yankee Doodle from the same piece of music and make it sound beautiful.
But then, you know, it was... It was terrible.
And, you know, all music students go through this stage where they're not... And this is when they need encouragement the most.
This is not the time.
To complain about the noise.
This is not the time to leave the house when your child is practicing on their instrument.
This is the time to show the most solid support you can possibly give them, because if you can get them through this time, and they start making beautiful music, then you don't have to worry about them anymore.
It's getting them from the time of just beginning, and making all these terrible sounds where they think, oh my god, I'm not cut out for this, I'll never make beautiful music, to the point where they're starting to make some beautiful music, That is the most important period of time.
They need compliments.
You never need to tell them that it sounds bad.
It really does.
But you can't tell them that.
You have to say, oh, that sounds so much better than yesterday.
You're really making progress.
I really liked it.
Whether you did or not, you want your child to become a musician.
That's what you have to do.
And it's not just with music.
It's with anything.
You know, there's the amateur stage where they're not doing too good, and then there's the stage where they start to become good.
When they start feeling like they've accomplished something, then they'll take the ball and run with it.
And of course they still need your support, but they really need it in the beginning.
And so I played trumpet and took lessons for several years, private lessons, and I Signed up for band class in school every year and took band class.
I remember I started when I was 10.
And when I was like 16, I was playing some damn good music.
I mean really good music.
And when I was 17, I could be playing somewhere alone.
Somewhere where there was no people.
And people would stop in the street and gather around just to listen to me playing.
Of course we had a band.
I told you about the band before.
I played trumpet and I sang.
And I've discussed this with you before.
And we were good.
We were really good.
We even cut some records.
And when I was in Japan, the Japanese movie industry always hired our band for every party that they ever threw for any reason whatsoever.
I went to high school in Japan.
That was a great compliment, because there were some great Japanese bands!
Great Japanese bands!
Much better, I think, than us.
One of the reasons they might have hired us is because we were not only good, we were cheap.
Really cheap.
We're just a budget, children.
You know, trying to make our mark on the world.
Well, the last time I played the trumpet, 56 now, the last time I played the trumpet was about 40 years ago.
I think.
40, 35 or 40 years ago.
Right around the time I was twenty, I stopped playing for some reason.
I don't know why.
And I just never picked a trumpet up again.
I don't know why that happened.
I couldn't tell you in a million years.
It just happened that way.
Well, not too long ago, I got the urge to play music again.
And so I purchased a trumpet.
And it's a good trumpet.
Much better than anything I ever had, you know, years ago.
When I was really making some good music on a trumpet.
I purchased a Kiefer.
And a Kiefer is a very rare instrument.
It was made by the Kiefer Instrument Company around 1909.
This company was only in business for 12 years, and they specialize in making cornets.
A cornet is a short, you know, if you didn't know the difference, you might call it a trumpet, but it's not.
It's a cornet.
It's real short, compressed.
And it has a sound of its own.
There's nothing wrong with a cornet.
I like trumpets.
Well, Keeper only made just a few trumpets, and in the entire 12 years of its existence, It only made 1,200 cornets, and cornets was what Kiefer
made.
During this time, they made some trumpets, not very many, extremely rare.
And so it's quite valuable.
And the person I purchased it from had no idea what it was.
I don't know where he got it, but I bought it from him, and I paid a much more than reasonable
price for this trumpet.
Thank you.
Remember, it was made in about 1909 was when this trumpet was made.
It doesn't have any dents on it.
It had been well taken care of.
It still had the original silver plating.
There was only a few spots where it was worn where the trumpet player holds the trumpet and the acids in the skin interact with the metal and you get some loss of plating there.
The inside of the bell, the part that faces the audience if you're on a stage playing for an audience, is 24 karat gold plated.
It's just a beautiful instrument.
And the sound is incredible.
Just absolutely incredible.
Now the day that I got it, Remember I haven't played for 35 or 40 years.
The day that I got it, I put it to my lips and I tried to, and tried is an understatement folks, I tried very hard to make any kind of a sound and I was making the same sound I made on the day that my mother brought me that first trumpet when I was 10 years old.
Terrible!
Obnoxious rotten sounds and I thought, oh my God, I have no lip.
And that's what happens to a trumpet player when he doesn't practice or doesn't play for a long period of time.
Your lip goes bad.
Your muscles deteriorate and you lose all the ability to make that sweet, beautiful trumpet sound.
That dark, that dark sound that penetrates deep into your soul when you're listening to a good trumpet player.
And when I say dark, I'm not talking about your concept of dark.
It's a term in music land amongst musicians that denotes the very best quality of a brass instrument.
And so I started practicing every day, just like I did when I was ten years old, only this time it didn't take very long.
Didn't take very long at all.
My lips started coming back because I was practicing a long time every day and I bruised my lip just like I did when I was ten years old.
And my cheek muscles got sore and my lips felt like they were just loose rags.
And Pauline would come in and say, Hi Bill.
I'd say, I'm horrible little Pauline.
Because my lips didn't work anymore.
They were exhausted.
And when I first got it, You know, showed Pauline and I think Doyle how really bad I sounded.
And I told them that, you know, 35, 40 years ago I was a good trumpet player.
I don't think they believed that.
I really don't think they believed it when they heard me trying to make some noise on this thing.
Because it was terrible.
And after a few days I started to hear some hints of honey.
Bye!
That's that beautiful sound.
I still have my tremolo which is very rare in trumpet players.
It's the most desirable trait that you can have and it separates the very best trumpet players from the ones who are going to be mediocre unless they're playing for a symphonic orchestra.
If you're going to play trumpet popular music in a jazz band or orchestra or You know, in any kind of a club setting or something, you've got to have a tremolo.
If you don't have that tremolo, you're not going to make a lot of money.
You're not going to be very good.
I mean, you can be good.
You can really be good with the trumpet and you can be, you know, read music like a champ and hit all the notes and play technically perfect.
But that's not what reaches down into the soul of people.
You have to play from a place inside you that nobody can get to.
And the music that comes out is from your soul.
If you can't do that, you're not really ever going to be great.
And, you know, I'm not trying to be great.
Although I had aspirations, I think, when I was a boy of being great.
I don't have those aspirations.
I'm playing for myself.
Believe me, folks.
Because I love music.
You all know how I love music.
And I began to hear the hints of honey in the sound, and I heard my tremolo coming back.
And one day I put that horn to my lips, and I played Summertime just as good as I played it all those years ago, and chills went up my spine.
And it was beautiful.
Just beautiful.
I had the honey in the horn, and I mean literally had the honey in the horn.
I was playing for my soul, and anyone who listened could hear that.
Pauline's heard it, Doyle has heard it, a couple of other people have heard it, and I'm not playing for them.
When they hear it, it's by accident.
They happen to come when I'm practicing, because I'm playing for myself.
And I'm trying to express something from my soul for me and for me alone.
And God, I love it.
I just love it.
Now, I'm not technically as good as I was all those years ago.
And there's some things that I find that I can't do now that I will be able to do at some future date.
For instance, go from a high C to a G without a break in my lips.
Sometimes it's hard to find a certain note.
See, when you're playing a trumpet, it's all in the lips.
And you can press those valves all you want to.
If you don't know how to change your lips in order to hit that particular note, you're not going to hit it.
Simple as that, you won't hit it.
That's where I'm at now.
Every once in a while I can do something perfect.
I mean, it just sounds like I was meant to do it from time, from the beginning of time.
And it's so beautiful.
And I just love it.
And it's all coming back to me.
And then, five minutes later, I'll try to do it again, and I'll try to go from a C to a G, and I can't hit that G. There's some weird thing in between.
And it sounds so strange.
But it's fun, and it's fun for me.
Getting all those nuances of the notes back, being able to do half notes and being able to use those valves to express emotion or feeling.
For instance, not depressing the valve all the way down or bringing the valve from one note to another note slowly so that you pass in between like, for instance, like Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White, I think was the name of the song.
The guy would go doo-doo-doo-doo.
That's hard to do.
And my voice doing it doesn't even, doesn't even give justice to what you can do on a trumpet with that.
But I'm learning all of that.
I'm learning how to put my emotions from the deepest depths of my soul out the bell of that trumpet.
And I love it.
It feels good.
Really, really feels good.
Can't tell you how good it feels.
I've been missing that for a lot of years.
Now I have it.
I just love music.
Music is the most exciting thing to me.
Music is what turns me on more than anything else in this world.
I can get lost in music.
Really good music.
I can literally get lost in it.
I can close my eyes and I'm not in this world anymore.
Not at all.
And I'm like that when I'm playing my trumpet.
I can close my eyes and lose myself in the music.
I mean, I'm not really lost.
I just go to another place.
I go to someplace else that's more beautiful and more feeling and more emotional and more depth than this world around me could ever have.
And I sit there and revel in it while I'm playing my music.
And I play with my eyes closed when nobody's looking, and I let my soul take over that instrument.
And except for the technical difficulties that I'm having right now, it's exactly what I needed to give me back some of the most important things that I've lost.
It's working.
I love it.
And the only way that you're ever going to understand that is if you can get lost in the music.
I love it.
Thank you.
And the only way that you're ever going to understand that Is if you can get lost in the music like I do.
If you can go to another place by listening to, it's got to be good music.
You can't just turn on the radio and listen to any old song and close your eyes and go to that spot.
Everybody, it's a different spot.
It's someplace down deep in your soul where nobody else can ever get to.
Nobody else can ever see.
Nobody else can understand.
But if you can do that, then you'll know what I'm talking about.
And if you want to know how it feels on a trumpet, go get that movie, Rent It.
It's called Young Man with a Horn, and it stars Kirk Douglas.
It's an old movie.
It was made back in the 40s sometime.
And if you can listen to that music that he plays on that horn in that movie, and it's not really him playing, it's Harry James.
One of the greatest trumpet players that ever lived, by the way.
Harry James is actually playing the trumpet.
Kirk Douglas is acting.
If you can listen to that music and not, not be taken up by it and put into this other place, then you'll never in your life understand what I'm talking about.
You'll just never understand it, you'll never know it.
But I think a lot of you will be able to do that.
And, you know, you might even like the story.
It's a beautiful story.
It's a great story.
But it's the music in that movie that will carry you away.
And it is beautiful music.
Incredible music.
It's probably some of the best horn playing that's ever been done by anybody.
Harry James.
One of the greatest trumpet players that's ever lived.
Another great inspiration to me was Satchmo, Louis Armstrong, who never had an education in playing the horn.
He learned to play the horn, you know, by ear on street corners in New Orleans.
He became one of the greatest trumpet players in the world.
Somewhere along the line he learned to read music and all that kind of stuff.
But his music also was a great inspiration to me.
I love those, sometimes when I was a boy I'd be lying in bed late at night listening to the radio and they would play these late night, like Harlem Nocturne, Blues in the night.
Somebody with an incredible trumpet would play that on the radio late at night and it would haunt you.
It was haunting.
It would get you way down deep inside and carry you off to the depths of the sorrow and sadness of what that trumpet player was trying to make you feel.
And they were so good, they made you feel it.
I mean, it was incredible.
And one of these nights, maybe I'll play some of that good trumpet music for you so that you'll understand what made me want to play the trumpet.
I wanted to make that music.
I wanted to make other people feel what I was feeling inside.
And you can do that with a trumpet.
Oh, you can do that with a trumpet.
You can do it with a trumpet like no other instrument in this world.
It's incredible.
And for a lot of years, when I was young playing the trumpet, I did that.
I remember one time I was at the teen club, Tachikawa Air Force Base, and there was nobody in the teen club.
And so I went into the ballroom, got up on the stage, and I think I was playing Chances Are on my trumpet all by myself.
And I was putting every bit of feeling I had in my whole being into that song.
And like always, when I'm doing that, I close my eyes.
Didn't hear a sound except my own music and I was in that special place lost in the music.
And when I finished the song and I opened my eyes, man there were people there clapping and carrying on and some of the prettiest girls in school would just have this look on their face like My God, I never knew you could do that!
And we would play for some of the dances and things.
It was really something.
Now I'm doing it again, but this time I'm doing it for me.
I have no aspirations of ever playing in a club or playing for a great audience or anything like that.
I'm just doing it for me because I just love the music so much.
I love being able to bear my soul through that trumpet.
It doesn't matter whether anybody is listening or not.
It does something for me.
It does something for me that nothing else can do.
Nothing else can do that for me.
It's especially wonderful when I can get through something With that honey-in-the-horn sound and just make it all come to life.
I don't know who that is, but I just hung it up because the phones aren't open.
But I will open the phones in just a couple of minutes if you want to call back.
It's okay.
But don't call until I open the phones on any show.
So anyway, that's kind of what I wanted to impart to you, our Thanksgiving and what I'm doing with that horn and all that kind of stuff.
What a wonderful Thanksgiving we had and I was so thankful for the people who were here on Sunday that I was able to cook for and show my appreciation to for all of the good, wonderful friendship and things that they've done that just make me so proud of them and so thankful that they're my friends.
It was great.
And folks, when I say great, that's just about the best description I can give anything.
There are not words for me to describe how I felt.
I even grabbed old Doyle and kissed him on top of the head.
Just was a wonderful day.
And I'm still feeling that glow of just wonderful friendship and good food and all that kind of stuff.
I just really liked it.
And yes, I always will.
So, I'm going to play a little music now and then we'll open the phones.
But first I've got to do this.
Yep, there we go.
And let it sort of seek out a song.
I'm letting it do it at random.
I'm going to play some music, then we'll open the phones.
So as soon as that comes up, we'll get started.
There we go.
Get out of that bed, wash your face and hands.
Oh, hi Bill.
I can't believe my heart is messing with all this fear.
I believe you're the ghost of the devil in my house.
I believe you're the ghost of the devil in my house.
Well...
Hello, you're on the air.
Oh, hi Bill.
Hi.
Your program struck a chord with me tonight.
Oh, really?
Tell me about it.
Do you remember Kiri Biri Bin?
Yeah.
That was one of Harry James' biggest hits.
Yes, it was.
In fact, I think I've got it on CD around here somewhere.
Do you?
That's a great song.
You know, Jimmy Durante, he had a little trick on his routine.
He talked about finding the lost chord.
Uh-huh.
And that movie that you talked about, Young Man with a Horn, with Kirk Douglas.
Yeah.
He was trying to find that lost note.
Do you remember?
He was always trying to find that lost note.
Well, I don't think it was a lost note.
He was trying to hit a high note that nobody's ever been able to hit, but every trumpet player always tries.
Yeah, yeah.
It's the note above the highest note that anybody ever has hit on a trumpet, and that's what he was trying to do.
and he thought that he was good enough to be able to do it.
He was gonna show off in front of his girlfriend and he was gonna hit that note that nobody ever hit
and he couldn't hit it.
And then that's when he went into a tailspin and hocked his trumpet and turned into a bum for a while.
Yeah, but he came back though.
Yeah, he did.
And he reconciled himself.
Yes, he did.
With life and his trumpet playing.
And you talked about, I'm a fan of New Orleans jazz music.
Uh-huh.
I'm not too much into the modern jazz.
I like the old, what they call the traditional, classic jazz.
Well, as far as trumpet playing goes, there's nobody even worth listening to today that I have ever heard except for maybe Wynton Marsalis.
Yeah, you know, I would agree with you on that.
You know, New Orleans jazz, there was a clarinetist in New Orleans years ago, thirty-some years ago.
He died in 1968.
His name was George Lewis.
Oh yes.
And he was a great New Orleans clarinetist.
Uh-huh.
I may even have some of his stuff around.
Do you really?
Oh, that would be great.
Oh yeah, some of the greatest jazz recordings ever made.
He was one of the greatest clarinetists that New Orleans ever produced.
And I had a very, I was very fortunate to meet Mr. Lewis on several occasions.
And I got to talking to him about, you know, jazz music and music in general.
Uh-huh.
That, you know, music is from the heart.
You know, not to sound corny or anything, but it is.
Music is from the heart.
Well, it doesn't have to be.
You can be a technical expert on your instrument and play in like a symphonic orchestra and the combination of the music, of reproducing exactly what the composer wrote on paper, is beautiful.
But you take that same person and put them on a stage and he has to play and please an audience, he can't do it.
Unless it's coming from the heart.
That's where it has to come from.
And that's what makes really good public performances of instrumental artists.
I'm not talking about somebody who's playing behind a singer.
I'm talking about somebody who's carrying the audience.
If they're not playing from the heart, they won't carry that audience and they'll never do another concert.
You're absolutely right.
Uh, Paley Russell was a Chicago jazz clarinetist back in the 30s and the 40s and he said that same thing.
He said the goal is to create your own individual style.
That is the great goal of all jazz musicians.
Now every time I hear a George Lewis record or a Ray Burke record or Jim Robinson, or rather Jim Robinson, you know, one of the great New Orleans players.
I know them immediately because they have a style.
They have an individual style that sounds so much different from anybody else.
It goes beyond the style though I think.
This is just my own opinion.
I think the greatest musicians are able to what I call touch souls.
They're able to project their soul, what is in their Yeah, that's true.
That's true.
Well, I'll let you get going.
You have a great show, Bill.
Well, thanks a lot for your call.
I really enjoyed it.
Yeah, thank you.
You're welcome.
520-333-4578 is the number.
And if you've got anything to add to this conversation, you're welcome to call.
And you can talk about Thanksgiving or music.
Whatever you want to talk about, I want to kind of stay off the normal type spooky dooky subjects that we normally cover on this broadcast.
The reason you're hearing the phone ring, which you normally don't do, is I have the roam phone right here.
I forgot to put it in the other room.
Good evening, we're on the air.
Hey Bill, how you doing?
Hi.
I have the pleasure to know one gentleman who's up in gears now, but he still plays And he's a former first trumpet player for Albino Ray, and I've heard him play once or twice, and I'm going to tell you something.
I'm not a musical person, but it blows you away.
He touched your soul, didn't he?
And they play down at the senior center once a week or so in a town in Florida and I'm
just thinking, I might see what I can do to have them bring a recording cassette and an
electric condenser, an electric mic or something to make a decent recording.
That's something I might be able to forward on to you.
Oh great, I'd love to have it.
You know there are probably not many actual Ben and Dunn guys from that area left walking
the earth.
Yeah.
You know most people will hear a piece of music that they really like.
I mean they really like it.
It just turns them on and you ask them why they can't explain it to you.
It's because it gets inside of you.
It touches something deep inside of you that not even you sometimes know is even there.
And only the best music does that.
That's why there's great music that endures throughout the ages and there's music that just comes and goes.
And you're talking about a great musician.
Yeah.
I don't know how much recording they've done, but thinking about these guys, the people he plays with are of comparable caliber.
I mean, they didn't play for Albino Ray as he did.
But it's sort of like I'd like to get some of the things my dad said on World War II
on video or something because he's not going to be around much longer.
And it's sort of like with these guys I'd sort of like to get them on a tape or a CD
as much as I could because when they're gone buddy that's it.
That's a good project especially getting your dad to talk about things that are important
to you and to the rest of the family to get that recorded, because when he's gone, you'll
Yeah, well I think that's something that all these people out there, if you've got You know, you've got an uncle or a dad or somebody with a part of history or, you know, there's some old guys down the road like this guy I know who, you know, discovered, among other things, he was the first trumpet for Albino Ray in the 40s.
I mean, my God, if, you know, you can, you know, all of you listening out there, if you can get that on film or get, you know, get that on a videocassette or get a decent recording of these people, you know, that's like, You're saving something for future generations.
What you're doing might have a show on a television program 20 years from now.
Do you find music to be healing?
Oh, I think so.
I wish I could appreciate it more.
I've got a couple of 10 years.
My high frequency hearing is gone.
It has been since childhood or teen years, which is unfortunate.
I find it incredibly healing.
In fact, if it hadn't been for music, I wouldn't have survived all these years of doing what I do.
It's so depressing.
I never learned to play anything and I tell you that's one of the deepest regrets of my life, that I didn't take up a musical instrument.
It's never too late.
If nothing else, a box guitar or some little thing, I guess I should do something.
It is never too late.
Just remember, just remember, you know what I said earlier?
When you first start out, you'll swear that you're just so terrible, you'll never make
a beautiful sound, and that's just not true.
If you'll stick with it and practice and take your lessons and never skip a practice for any reason whatsoever, no matter what, you'll get to the point where you're playing some good music and you'll really like it.
I mean, you really will.
And it's hard work.
It's like anything else is worthwhile.
You've got to pay your dues.
I know what you mean.
What I'm trying to tell you is don't get discouraged.
It's never too late to do that.
One final thing.
I knew this guy through an amateur radio club.
That's how I came to know him.
I'm not going to give away his name or who he is by telling you what he was famous for in his professional life.
But the same group, there was a younger man who was the son of one of the older guys in the club.
And this guy was, you know, he learned drums in my hometown in Florida in like the 50s when he was a kid.
And the old man who taught him was one of the main drummers for John Philip Sousa before World War I. It's just, like in this little hick town, there's just You know this is just a theme I've had in my life.
Little hick towns are places you pass through and don't give them a second look or think a second thought.
I thought you would just be amazed, you know, what the history of that old guy in the garden
in the backyard might be.
Oh, that's the terrible tragedy of these old folks' homes.
I've often wanted to, and I can't do it now because it's worn out from my arrest, but I've wanted to take a real good tape recorder into these old folks' homes and capture some of the lives of these people who have been warehoused waiting to die.
I think that is the most criminal thing that we have ever done to anyone in our society.
They should be home.
They should die at home.
They should be with their family.
The family should be benefiting from their years of knowledge and the wisdom that they've accumulated.
The children should be able to see what happens when you grow old.
Most children in this country never see old folks.
Or what happens to them so they develop this feeling that they'll never get old and die.
Well, you know, death has to be candied, perfumed, and above all hidden.
We both know that.
Well, it never was until, you know, somebody started building old folks homes and lazy, irresponsible children learned that they could get out of the responsibility of taking care of their Well, why not?
I mean, after all, Socialist security and Medicare will take care of everything.
But you know, last footnote, I've got to get out, but I'll tell you an interesting story.
this former Albino Ray Burst Trumpeter, about 10 years ago, you know, they were,
Halifax Hospital is the big hospital in Daytona Beach.
And they went over to Daytona Beach, which is about 20 minutes from my hometown.
And, you know, they had some shindigs, like all the doctors and the nurses and whatnot.
And these, you know, he got out there with his, you know, coterie of musicians,
and they played for about 45 minutes, and they were just laying down
the most beautiful music from the band era.
I mean, just amazing.
And it's just like all of these docs and nurses or whatever, they're just sort of all huddled in the back and they're just sort of looking at them like a bunch of cocker spaniels.
Yeah.
And then, you know, a few people were dancing with us and then what happened is they told them, you know, well thanks for your efforts and what not.
And they, you know, put up some Altec lancings on a guy with a CD player or something and Thanks a lot.
Bye bye.
you know the most obnoxious heavy metal top 46 ballads and etc. and all these people suddenly
went out on the floor and started gyrating like a bunch of epileptic orangutans.
Not a usual story.
Well I appreciate that and I appreciate your call.
I've got to try to get some more technology.
I'm going to let you go.
Thanks a lot.
Bye bye.
Bye bye.
4578 is the number if you'd like to call and add your two cents to tonight's broadcast.
Please keep it on an up note, you know, talk about Thanksgiving or music or something like that, but let's stay off the normal topics, okay?
Don't want to talk about that stuff tonight.
Good evening, you're on the air.
Hi Bill, this is Spencer from Kansas City, Missouri.
Hi, Spencer.
How are you doing?
I'm doing pretty good.
It's good to be on your show.
Miss you.
You know what?
I can't hear you real well.
I said I miss you.
Yeah.
I think about you, too, a lot.
I've been praying for you.
I've been praying for your mom.
Thanks.
Anyway, you know what music really helps me out is soundtracks from motion picture scores.
Sometimes you'll find some of the most peaceful, undisturbed and beautiful music whatsoever written for some
of your better and even not so better motion pictures out there.
Henry Mancini fits that bill.
Oh, Henry Mancini is wonderful.
John Williams has done some real good stuff.
Yes, he has.
One of my favorite movies and one of my favorite soundtracks is Last of the Mohicans.
I was always hoping one day to hear you crank that up during the middle of your show sometimes.
I don't think I ever saw that movie.
Oh, it's a good one.
It's all about the French and Indian wars in the pre-Revolution America.
Yeah, well, I read the book by James Fenimore Cooper, but I've never seen the movie.
Yeah, it's a good book, too.
And you know what?
They stuck really close.
What do you mean, good book?
It's a classic.
I stand corrected.
Classic.
Definitely.
You know what?
It was tough for me to read, though, in some ways, because Cooper was an elaborating, old English-type writer, kind of, in a way.
It's like reading the Bible sometimes.
A lot of description.
Yeah, but he was historically accurate, except for some of the love story and whatnot, but the events, the Indians and the sack and the forts, and they stuck to that in the movie, too.
Had some gorgeous music to it, really peaceful sunrise type stuff.
Well, you know what?
What?
We're out of time.
Out of time.
God bless you, Bill, and love you out there, everybody.
Take care.
God bless you, too, Spencer.
Call more often.
Well, that's it, folks.
I hope you enjoyed tonight's broadcast.
I enjoyed telling you about all of these things for the first 30 minutes, and I enjoyed the callers.
These are the kinds of things that I'd much rather be doing than all the other stuff that we do.
And if it wasn't necessary due to the state of the nation, By golly, you wouldn't catch me doing the stuff, you know, that we normally do.
In a million years, I'd be doing more of the type of thing that you heard tonight.
Because that's really more like me.
Sometimes, you know, I sit down and I look at what I've been doing all these years and I wonder, why?
Why am I doing it?
Why am I taking all this grief and all these attacks?
And all of this, you know, terrible, dangerous threats to our lives.
And I said, just, you know, what is it?
And then, you know, I listened to this silly song and that's probably why I'm doing it.
Good night, folks.
God bless you all.
Good night, Annie, Crue, and Allison.
I love you.
I love you so much.
I missed you this Thanksgiving.
I especially missed you, Crue, because you always helped me make the turkey and the dressing.
Yeah, this is a story about a dog.
And the dog that's chasing his tail will be dizzy.
He's got nothing else.
He has no tail.
Hear that, folks?
A dog that chases his tail will be dizzy.
Stay away from the American Patriot Facts Network and the American Patriot Friends Network.
They make you chase your tail!
Yeah!
A talking dog.
So now, it's the hour of the truth, the time to go.
So let's get to it, let's go.
The time to go.
The time to go.
I am a boy of love and I'm living in a dream.
I'm living in a dream.
I'm loving the power of the universe.
The power of the universe.
The power of the universe.
Under the door, under the door, there's a party.
Change your everything.
Change your everything.
I'm a girl of magic.
I'm a girl of magic.
Feel my magic.
I'm a girl of magic.
Chase the cat.
I'm a girl of magic.
Chase the cat.
I'm a girl of magic.
Chase the cat.
I'm a girl of magic.
Chase the cat.
I'm a girl of magic.
Chase the cat.
I'm a girl of magic.
Why must I dance again?
Look what the talk is meanin'.
Why must I feel like that?
Why must I dance again?
Look what the talk is meanin'.
Why must I feel like that?
Why must I dance again?
Feel like that one more time, baby, yeah.
One more time with me.
One more time.
Feel like that one more time, baby, yeah.
Time for the love again.
Do the dog.
Do the dog, baby.
Do the dog.
Do the dog, baby.
Dog, baby.
Do the dog, baby.
Dog, dog.
Do the dog, baby.
Oh, one more time.
Feel like that one more time, baby.
Nothing but the dog.
I can't wait one more time.
Just to get to the love again.
Love again.
I know a lot of this audience won't appreciate it, but for its genre, for its genre, this
is the top of the line.
This is real music.
you
▲
Export Selection