Toshiko Akiyoshi Smithsonian Interview Block 438 (Q18391)

 Boo--Boots Mussulli. He was retired and he was from Milford, Massachusetts. And he was ... I heard with a small group, recording, you know. He had impeccable technique, but for an Italian, he was very cold, kind of a very intellectual player. It was kind of like totally opposite of somebody like Charlie Mariano, who was much more hot-blooded a player. Boots Mussulli was much more, kind of, intellectual, cool player, and it was very good for me that he was there. I used to ... you know, I used to, when I played, I thought I did something wrong--in my mind--made a mistake, I used to put my tongue out, you know, like, "Aww! " like that (laughs), so Boots Mussulli said, you know, Don't do that. Your mistakes are good: youre trying to build something from what you thought you made (was) a mistake. " He was very good for me, advice and so on. It was good.