Louie Bellson Smithsonian Interview Block 643 (Q11439)

I learned from my dad to think it in my mind first, because if I go to the piano right away, the piano's going to take me on another excursion. What I want to do is think about the music in my head, the whole composition, the melody. Then I'll go to the piano to search for chords. But I want to stick with the melody, because that's important. I learned that from Duke Ellington. I had an experi ...