George Orendorff on Hearing Bix

In our March issue, Dan Barrett recalled a gig with trumpeter George Orendorff and the story that George told about playing the trumpet break before the vocal on Louis Armstrong’s recording of “You’re Lucky to Me.” This month Barrett continues the story of that gig. Later, on that same gig with George Orendorff, we were playing the final tune of the set. It was the old chestnut, “Back Home Again In Indiana.” (I regret not being able to recall the names of all the band members that night.) The clarinetist and I had already played solos, and George began to solo. The rhythm section was terrific, and included my mentor, Bill Campbell at the piano. The frontline was seated, and I looked over and watched George as he played. I remember his excellent, effortless valve technique. He used just his fingertips on the valve caps the way you’re supposed to, instead of splaying your fingers across the valves. As his fingers danced on those valves, I heard him connecting each phrase in intriguing, correlated ways. By the end of his first chorus, he had something very interesting going on. At the start of his second chorus, he opened up his sound, playing just a little louder; a little fuller. But something else was happening: it seemed that he was falling behind in his thinking. That is, each phrase was now coming out just a little late, showing up just after one would expect