Monday, February 8, 2016

Bird is still the word

Phil Woods died last September. He finished the last tune of  his last gig, announced his retirement, and left his saxophone on stage. About two weeks later he was dead. Here’s his advice for everyone who spends time putzing with their tools. Apparently, he had an alto sax he thought was holding him back till he lent the horn to Charlie Parker. "I'm listening to Bird play… and it occurs to me there's nothing wrong with the mouthpiece, nothing wrong with the reed. Even the strap sounded great... I stopped looking for the magic instrument and started to practice more."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have been practicing and practicing. But lately I'm wondering when, finally, is the damn performance? NT

Dave Maleckar said...

Jeez, N. I'm starting to think maybe this is it.