Monika Herzig, Vic Hobson, David Wright in conversation with Jazz on the Tube’s Ken McCarthy.

The inspiration for the conversation was Vic Hobson’s revelation that Louis Armstrong’s art was built on top of his experience as a street corner vocal quartet singer as documented in his book Creating the Jazz Solo.

It seems that all the early jazz greats shared Armstrong’s experience: Jerry Roll Morton, W.C. Handy, Earl “Fatha” Hines, and Sidney Bechet were all members of “barbershop” groups in their youth.

Contemporaries say even Buddy Bolden got his harmonic ideas from singing groups.

So how do we apply this important insight to contemporary music and jazz education?

We take an initial stab at it. Maybe you have ideas too. If so, we’d love to hear your thoughts. You can post them below.

For more on this, you can listen to Vic and David at Satchmo Fest 2019

– Ken McCarthy
Jazz on the Tube

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