Jazz for aficionados

Good story before I forget{again}.
Years ago I saw the talented country banjo and guitar player, Roy Clark, best known as the host on the long-running TV show "Hee-Haw" and member of the County Hall Of Fame appear on a late-night show, I disremember which.

Roy had had a drink or seven and it showed, the host brought
up that Roy trained as a Classical and Jazz guitarist and asked Roy why he was now a country player.
Roy said, " because it pays better and you have to be real good to play off-tune all the time'.

Frogman has written another excellent post!

@Schubert - I'm pretty sure that Mozart never actually said that. That line comes from the play/film Amadeus, and in my opinion that attitude (promoted by the character of Salieri, mainly) is one of the worst things in it (I love the film, despite it's major historical inaccuracies, and the soundtrack is great). Yes, Mozart was unbelievably talented; but he worked damn hard at his craft, and THAT is why his music is so great. There are SO many talented music students that get by for a while on their natural talent, but once they figure out how hard they really have to work to actually have a career, they fall by the wayside. No matter how much talent you may have, you still have to put in the work if you want to be truly great, and a VERY great deal of that work is very mundane indeed, as Frogman pointed out. And it is daily work, and continues throughout your entire career. Some people don't like athletic analogies to music, but they are very apropos here - just like an athlete must do their daily exercises and stretches, etc., the musician must do the same. And we work with much weaker muscle groups (especially the wind players like Frogman and myself) that have to last for much longer careers.

I agree with you totally Learsfool and have said so many times. I referred to Mozart only. Yes, "Amadeus" was a wretched movie but I read Mozart's comment many times in both English and German long before that.
Look at a uhr Mozart score in Salzburg, there are no corrections on great scores that were written in 15 minutes.

A long career is a choice you make but not the only choice available.

****Yes, Mozart was unbelievably talented; but he worked damn hard at his craft, and THAT is why his music is so great****

"People err who think my art comes easily to me. I assure you, dear friend, nobody has devoted so much time and thought to compositions as I. There is not a famous master whose music I have not industriously studied through many times." - WA Mozart

Ok, he wrote it in his head and then wrote it out.
I would not believe any human who said "nobody" in any context .

One about there can be no dispute is Schubert.
There are testament after testament of him leaving the room
and coming back 10 minutes later with a Masterwork Lieder in hand.If Beethoven had died at the same age we would have
his 1st Sympohony. Schubert did 9 and trios, quartets, quintets,sonatas and Masses as fine as any written.
Not to mention the heart of him, 700 + lieder .
The best teacher in Vienna at the time said of the 9 year old Schubert , every thing I teach him he already knows, I learn more from him than he from me. "God is his teacher" .

Schubert did say it just came to him,my only point is there are a dozen or so outliers in human history for whom there is no explanation save divine intervention.