Post by Motorcity on Jan 7, 2006 0:15:25 GMT -5
Passion for music won't let Askey hang up his horn
4-21-99
MAXINE MCKEW: When you're 74 you'd think you'd run out of puff to play the trumpet. But if it's been your lifelong career, hanging up the horn becomes unthinkable.
Gil Askey's love affair with music has taken him through America's most exciting years of jazz and pop.
But Askey, who now lives in Australia, isn't the type to say thanks for the memories.
As Judy Tierney reports, his music is still very much alive.
JUDY TIERNEY: It was an aborted errand to collect wood that saw Gil Askey begin a remarkable career in music.
That was in Austin, Texas, nearly 70 years ago.
Waylaid in the neighbourhood by the sound of Captain Light's Christian Cadets Band, he signed up then and there and marched off beating a kettle drum.
GIL ASKEY: We turned to the right and went way over on the other side of town and by the time I got home it was about seven o'clock at night and I forgot all about this wood.
JUDY TIERNEY: Today, he's recognised as one of America's greatest musical arrangers for some of the biggest names in showbiz.
GIL ASKEY: I wanted to be a gridiron player, but I got to playing the music and I drove everybody crazy, I drive everybody crazy till I started practising in the street.
My first song that I learned I used to play for my girlfriend.
I used to pass her house. I used to love her, but she liked somebody else. I'd play the trumpet and I'd sing, but she didn't ever kiss me, though.
JUDY TIERNEY: The legacy of Askey's star-studded career is a thousand stories about the big names in jazz and his involvement with them.
GIL ASKEY: I walked into Birdland one night and Count Basie says "Hey, Gil got your horn? Come up and play." I played in that band.
I went on a tour with a band named Buddy Johnson Band, who used to do these big shows and Chuck Berry was on the show and Clyde McFatter, the Platters and Shirley & Lee and Bill Haley was on the show and nobody had music for this big orchestra.
So I wrote some music.
JUDY TIERNEY: And the list goes on.
Thirty-seven years of music, including 23 of Motown, motion pictures, television and musical direction of Diana Ross, the Supremes, the Four Tops, Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Jackson Five, Gladys Knight and the Pips.
There were TV specials with Liza Minnelli, nominations for Academy Awards, Grammys and Dove Awards for gospel.
GIL ASKEY: There was a bar which was backstage of the Apollo Theatre and in this bar you'd meet Billie Holliday, Sarah Vaughan and this was my introduction to a lot of the people that we've talked about.
JUDY TIERNEY: Eighteen years ago Gil left the States to supposedly retire in Melbourne with his new Australian wife.
But his love of music wouldn't let him stop.
He now spends all his time working with young musicians to pass on his incredible experience and talent.
In Hobart to work with students at the Conservatorium of Music, Askey says his involvement comes from the heart.
GIL ASKEY: I figure somebody's got to do it. Somebody has to care about it. Because I was a kid one time.
I'd chew out the rhythm section, but I'd hang out with them at night.
There's a fine line between loving and seriousness. And what do I get out of it?
Let's put it like this — somebody up there likes me
4-21-99
MAXINE MCKEW: When you're 74 you'd think you'd run out of puff to play the trumpet. But if it's been your lifelong career, hanging up the horn becomes unthinkable.
Gil Askey's love affair with music has taken him through America's most exciting years of jazz and pop.
But Askey, who now lives in Australia, isn't the type to say thanks for the memories.
As Judy Tierney reports, his music is still very much alive.
JUDY TIERNEY: It was an aborted errand to collect wood that saw Gil Askey begin a remarkable career in music.
That was in Austin, Texas, nearly 70 years ago.
Waylaid in the neighbourhood by the sound of Captain Light's Christian Cadets Band, he signed up then and there and marched off beating a kettle drum.
GIL ASKEY: We turned to the right and went way over on the other side of town and by the time I got home it was about seven o'clock at night and I forgot all about this wood.
JUDY TIERNEY: Today, he's recognised as one of America's greatest musical arrangers for some of the biggest names in showbiz.
GIL ASKEY: I wanted to be a gridiron player, but I got to playing the music and I drove everybody crazy, I drive everybody crazy till I started practising in the street.
My first song that I learned I used to play for my girlfriend.
I used to pass her house. I used to love her, but she liked somebody else. I'd play the trumpet and I'd sing, but she didn't ever kiss me, though.
JUDY TIERNEY: The legacy of Askey's star-studded career is a thousand stories about the big names in jazz and his involvement with them.
GIL ASKEY: I walked into Birdland one night and Count Basie says "Hey, Gil got your horn? Come up and play." I played in that band.
I went on a tour with a band named Buddy Johnson Band, who used to do these big shows and Chuck Berry was on the show and Clyde McFatter, the Platters and Shirley & Lee and Bill Haley was on the show and nobody had music for this big orchestra.
So I wrote some music.
JUDY TIERNEY: And the list goes on.
Thirty-seven years of music, including 23 of Motown, motion pictures, television and musical direction of Diana Ross, the Supremes, the Four Tops, Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Jackson Five, Gladys Knight and the Pips.
There were TV specials with Liza Minnelli, nominations for Academy Awards, Grammys and Dove Awards for gospel.
GIL ASKEY: There was a bar which was backstage of the Apollo Theatre and in this bar you'd meet Billie Holliday, Sarah Vaughan and this was my introduction to a lot of the people that we've talked about.
JUDY TIERNEY: Eighteen years ago Gil left the States to supposedly retire in Melbourne with his new Australian wife.
But his love of music wouldn't let him stop.
He now spends all his time working with young musicians to pass on his incredible experience and talent.
In Hobart to work with students at the Conservatorium of Music, Askey says his involvement comes from the heart.
GIL ASKEY: I figure somebody's got to do it. Somebody has to care about it. Because I was a kid one time.
I'd chew out the rhythm section, but I'd hang out with them at night.
There's a fine line between loving and seriousness. And what do I get out of it?
Let's put it like this — somebody up there likes me
