A famous jazz teacher once told me, “Don’t swing; play like Dexter Gordon.” I’m still trying to figure that one out. Think of the loss if, for example, Johnny Griffin, Tubby Hayes, Sonny Rollins “played like Dexter Gordon” instead of like themselves. My oboe teacher, Bill Criss, didn’t give a lot of compliments but once he said “That was good: sound, intonation, dynamics, but I didn’t feel anything. Play it again and this time I want to feel something.” I like that approach better.
Handels oboe concertos to calm the nation
