AprilCadence2013

Slim and Him Bob Rusch Interview
S: So, what’s a W.C. Handy track that you would listen to at the time, or
now, that you say, that sort of epitomizes W.C. Handy.
BR: Well I would go by Louis Armstrong, what a wonderful record, I think
produced by George Avakian, Satch Plays W.C. Handy, and “Memphis
Blues” or any of those are wonderful.
S: Let’s listen to that. (excerpt played)
BR: That still sounds thrilling to me today! Good music is good music, it
doesn’t matter who it is, and they don’t get any better than Louis Armstrong.
We take him for granted because he became a pop personality and one
of the best known people in the world at the time. In fact, it was Louis
Armstrong they put on the thing they sent out into space, they put one of
the Louis Armstrong tracks on that. Now we most know L.A. from that
rather saccharin song “What a Wonderful World,” which doesn’t sound
so bad to me now, I know when it came out it sounded bad and I trust first
impressions. You hear it enough and eventually it doesn’t sound so bad.
The thing about some Elton John songs, and those are really insipid songs
that you hear over and over, and over again—you get used to them. Which
explains the bad taste that most adults have ‘cause they listen to the radio.
S: It’s a collective sort of familiarity, whereas with (the) jazz I don’t think
it’s so collective. I think that’s one of the nice things about it, is you weren’t
all necessarily in the same place when you heard the same song. It wasn’t
the 60’s where you were hearing Janis Joplin and everybody was hearing
H: That’s why people talk about the soundtrack of your life. You’re not
necessarily saying these are great songs—you’re saying that you’ve lived
your life to this music. So, the great moments of your life are associated
with it.
BR: I enjoy some of this music of your light (life?) nonsense that goes on, it
makes me feel old, but there’s a certain familiarity. But I believe you were
raised where jazz was sort of an integral part of your life.
S: We’re fortunate enough that it just seemed normal, just like you going to
clubs when you were 13, 14, and 15. It just seems normal because that’s all
you know, then in hindsight.
BR: For our listeners I have to add: Slim grew up in a household where
crazy avant-garde music was normal and ordinary.
H: To quiz her: You ever heard of the Beatles?
S: Getting back to our guest, Bob Rusch. You had mentioned earlier that
you began playing the drums. Can you tell us a little bit about that and if
you ventured into any other instruments?
BR: Well I started out on clarinet.
S: Is that because of the Benny Goodman influence?
BR: Benny Goodman influence, and I said: “That’s fantastic,” and I
struggled with that terribly. During that period I was also intrigued by
Charlie Parker, this would have been later 50’s I guess. The best thing I can
63 | CadenCe Magazine | april May June 2013