Favorite Musical Anecdotes

[Shnate McDuanus]

Anyone have some cool anecdotes about musicians or music? There are three really neat ones that I can think of at the moment, but first a definition just to keep things fairly clear...

 

an·ec·dote

/'æn?k?do?t/ [an-ik-doht]

–noun

a short account of a particular incident or event of an interesting or amusing nature, often biographical.

 

That said, it should be noted that these are all apocryphal at best, have not necessarily been confirmed, and should probably be taken with a grain of salt.

 

1) I've already mentioned this one somewhere else, so here's a short selection from Wikipedia on this one:

 

"[Goodman's] popularity was such that he could remain financially viable without touring the South' date=' where he would have been subject to arrest for violating Jim Crow laws." According to Jazz by Ken Burns, when someone asked him why he "played with that n***er" (referring to Teddy Wilson), Goodman replied, "I'll knock you out if you use that word around me again".[/quote']

 

2) I remember reading in a few separate sources, that, when asked by an interviewer (I haven't seen the purported original interview, nor do I know the interviewer's name) what it feels like to be the world's greatest guitarist, Jimi Hendrix responded by saying something along the lines of "I don't know, why don't you ask ________." I've read in different places that the mentioned individual was either Rory Gallagher or Phil Keaggy. Of course, we know which one I'd be more inclined to believe .

 

3) Among George Gershwin's numerous influences were composers Maurice Ravel and Arnold Schoenberg, both of whom he had the pleasure of meeting during his career. Upon meeting Schoenberg, he supposedly asked him for composition lessons. To this, Schoenberg supposedly replied: "I would only make you a bad Schoenberg, and you're such a good Gershwin already." This relates to a similar story regarding Gershwin's 1928 meeting with Ravel, upon which Gershwin also purportedly asked for composition lessons, to which Ravel responded "Why be a second-rate Ravel, when you are a first-rate Gershwin?" Anyone familiar with the works of Gershwin and Ravel up to 1928 should know that neither of them had any great need for composition lessons.

 

I hope that you find these enjoyable, and I'm looking forward to seeing if any of you have any interesting anecdotes to dig up and share.

[pippy]

Les Paul's eldest son, who was just starting to play gutar, phoned Les one night and asked him "...where's C on the guitar?" Les' reply; "All over." and hung up.

 

"We still get a laugh over that call."

[RichCI]

When I was a teenager, right after I played my first gig, my nerves were still so racked that I threw up.

[craigh]

"A guitar's alright John, but you'll never make a living from it" - Aunt Mimi to John Lennon.

 

Craig

[freak show]

"Musical anecdotes"? Hmmm, let me think...

 

I guess earmuffs might work. You wouldn't hear a thing!

 

Or do you mean anecdotes that are musical?

 

[zigzag]

Not so much an anecdote as a joke. This was supposedly Dizzy Gillespie's favorite:

 

Reggie goes to his doctor to have his hearing checked. The doc says a hearing aid will do wonders for his patient's hearing. He says that he has one for $250 that will definitely improve his hearing, and the one he has for $500 will improve his hearing even more. But he has one for $2500 that will allow him to hear EVERYTHING!

 

So Reggie says, "Give me the $2500 one!"

 

The hearing aid comes, and sure enough, Reggie hears everything. He's playing poker with his buddies and he's raving about his hearing aid, and how he hears everything so well. So one of his buddys says: "Man that's great. How much did you pay for it?"

 

"Well, I payed $2500 for it, but I can hear EVERYTHING!"

 

"Really?" his buddy says. "Well... what kind is it?"

 

"Oh... It's about 8:30... " Reggie says with a big happy grin.

[LPguitarman]

Patient: Hey Doc, after I have this operation, will I be able to play the piano?

 

Doctor: You'll be playing like a concert pianist in no time.

 

Patient: That's great, 'cause I couldn't even play the piano before.

[saturn]

I read one somewhere but I can't remember the exact details:

 

Someone said to Miles Davis about improvising "I never know how to end a solo." and Miles replied "you just stop playing!"

[saturn]

Oh, oh I have another one:

 

I once heard that an interviewer asked John Lennon if Ring Star was the best drummer in the world and Lennon said "he's not even the best drummer in The Beatles"

[zigzag]

A buddy of mine says he doesn't care for jazz becasue he can't tell when they're through warming up.

[Shnate McDuanus]

These are all great!

[MojoRedFoot]

This is a gross encounter. Someone from the Dooby Brothers severely clogged his toilet in the hotel room. I can't remember why I had to go to his room. No, it was not to unclog. They were leaving. Now I refer to them as the Doody Brothers. Lame, I know.

[zigzag]

I was on the third row of a Doobie Brothers concert in the late '70s. We were kinda disappointed because we had not been able to get the kind of buzz that we were used to getting for a live concert, plus security was especially vigilant where we were.

 

Around half way through the concert, one of the Doobie Brothers yells, "Throw us your doobies!"

 

It literally rained joints! Everybody around us was scrambling for joints and firing up. It was great! Several months later, the band was doing anti-drug commercials. I believe it was community service after they were busted.