Oh, there were lots of thugs in the biz--Joe Glaser, Armstrongs' later
manager, was one of the nicer ones, thugs that is; the clubs tended to run
by gangsters, etc. But that is different from saying that the musicians were
thugs. I hadn't heard the story about the Paris shotting. It's not
characteristic of Bechet. He was a difficult man, but not a brute. --jks
>
>
> >>> jkschw at hotmail.com 01/17/01 11:37PM >>>
>
>
>
> >
> >CB: Yes, I knew of Sidney Bechet, but somehow I didn't know he was such a
> >thug.
> >
> >
>A thug? He was arrogant and quirky. His early work was within hooting
>distance of Armstrong's, which is saying something, and the late 30s-early
>40s Victor recordings are great, but something in his personality
>preventing
>him from either developing, as, e.g., Hawkins did, or from finding artistic
>fulfullment in what he was happy doing, as Armstrong or (maybea closer
>analogy) Hines dis in their later years, when modern jazz had ins ome ways
>passed them by. Bechet may not have been a nice man. Neither was Jelly Roll
>Morton. But a thug? That is strong language. --jks
>
>(((((((((
>
>CB: Jazzed up language. According to the PBS show, allegedly he shot
>someone in Paris over a disagreement about a chord change.
>
>In general, see _The Autobiography of Malcolm X_ on music in speakeasies
>and other illegal joints.
>
>Hey, Tupac and Biggy Small were "thugs". Murder was the case they gave
>Snoop. Puffy is on trial right now.
>
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