Late Bloomers

[chris]

What's the oldest anyone has heard of someone being when they picked up an instrument for the first time (and became any good, though not necessarily famous)? I read somewhere recently that Jimmy Smith started at 28? I had always supposed that the good musicians all started as children... maybe not?

[Hardbopjazz]

What's the oldest anyone has heard of someone being when they picked up an instrument for the first time (and became any good, though not necessarily famous)? I read somewhere recently that Jimmy Smith started at 28? I had always supposed that the good musicians all started as children... maybe not?

Back in 1981, I saw John Hendricks and Company. I don't remember the bass players name, I remember him telling me he started playing the bass at 28 years old, and he was 33 at that time.

[sal]

Lonnie Smith was older....I think his mid 20's, when he first started playing keyboards.

[doubleM]

I was talking to the Dr. (Lonnie) a few months back, and he said that when he went in to the military (before being sent home for sassin' back ), he had already been playing for a long time. Mostly with his family. He said that he went in to the service in his late teens because all of his friends were getting into trouble.

[sal]

Hmmm....I wonder if he was refering to the organ or another instrument, because he told me that he started playing the organ in his mid 20's. Oh well...he's still the shit either way!

[marcello]

If I remember right, Mickey Roker didn't start drumming untill he was in his early 30's.

[Michael Fitzgerald]

Roker was born in 1932. He definitely was playing with Gigi Gryce in late 1959. Discographies list him as playing drums on a Paul Williams record date in 1954. That is an isolated session - nothing else until 1960. I haven't tried to confirm the date of the Williams session or Roker's presence on the date.

Mike

[johnlitweiler]

David Izenzon, b. 1932, began studying how to play bass in 1956 (Feather-Gitler).

[Robert J]

There's a blues guitarist called James “T-Model” Ford who records for Fat Possum. He started playing guitar at 58. He's now 81.

[Hardbopjazz]

Hmmm....I wonder if he was refering to the organ or another instrument, because he told me that he started playing the organ in his mid 20's. Oh well...he's still the shit either way!

YEs, he did start playing in his mid 20's. He said that once to a friend and myself.

[JSngry]

Dannie Richmond?

[sheldonm]

If I remember right, Mickey Roker didn't start drumming untill he was in his early 30's.

yeah, but he just playin' the drums!

[Johnny E]

Dannie Richmond?

He was a trumpet player before Mingus taught him how to play drums...he must have been in his late 20's early 30's by then.

[Jim Alfredson]

Hmmm....I wonder if he was refering to the organ or another instrument, because he told me that he started playing the organ in his mid 20's.  Oh well...he's still the shit either way!

YEs, he did start playing in his mid 20's. He said that once to a friend and myself.

I think he played trumpet before switching to organ.

[sal]

If I remember right, Mickey Roker didn't start drumming untill he was in his early 30's.

yeah, but he just playin' the drums!

OH NO YOU DIDN'T!!!!

[Michael Fitzgerald]

Dannie Richmond began as a saxophonist, not a trumpeter, I believe.

Mike

[Big Wheel]

Didn't Wes Montgomery pick up the guitar as an adult?

[Michael Fitzgerald]

No - see:

http://www.anthonymontgomery.com/wes_m.htm

Mike

[JSngry]

Dannie Richmond began as a saxophonist, not a trumpeter, I believe.

Mike

Yes.

[Jazz Kat]

Didn't Wes Montgomery pick up the guitar as an adult?

"Here's a man who at the age of 19, taught himself the guitar. And today he's considered, (pause) by jazz musicians, the greatest guitar player," Herb Alpert.

"Wes Montgomery, my favorite guitar player," Herb Alpert.

[Michael Fitzgerald]

Well, I'm more likely to trust the Montgomery family's account of Wes starting at age 12 than Herb Alpert.

Mike

[Big Wheel]

The story as I've read it in at least two different sources says that Wes picked up the guitar shortly after getting married (at age 19). Wonder where that story got started.

Maybe that was his first attempt to learn six-string guitar?

[Michael Fitzgerald]

Yes, this is quite clearly laid out in the notes to the Riverside box. Four-string tenor guitar at age 12, six-string and amp purchased after first child born - Wes actually aged 20, not 19.

Brother Monk Montgomery: Wes "was doing a good job on guitar by the time he was 12 or 13."

Widow Serene Montgomery: "He was always a musician, but he wasn't playing like when he was older. When he had that 4-string guitar, he would play a little while and then ride his bike or play football. He would only talk to us so long before he'd go off with his box."

Mike

[bertrand]

Are there any recordings of Dannie Richmond on sax?

Bertrand.

[Guy Berger]

Didn't Wes Montgomery pick up the guitar as an adult?

"Here's a man who at the age of 19, taught himself the guitar. And today he's considered, (pause) by jazz musicians, the greatest guitar player," Herb Alpert.

"Wes Montgomery, my favorite guitar player," Herb Alpert.

NO NO NO, Alpert was talking about his favorite SITAR player. There must be a transcription error. Wes Montgomery picked up the sitar at 19 while hanging out with the Maharishi and Mia Farrow. He's the guy playing it (uncredited) on "Norwegian Wood" and "Within You Without You". Farrow does some nice tabla on that one.

Guy