Posted by Rick Denney on July 07, 2003 at 17:10:51:
In Reply to: Arnold Jacobs: the greatest?? posted by Graham W. on July 05, 2003 at 23:50:59:
There have been a number of great musicians who played the tuba in the instrument's history. There have been many who were great teachers. There have been a few who are credited with establishing an approach to a class of playing that has defined that class for at least a generation, if not permanently. And coupling those traits together with a genuinely warm-hearted and generous man presents quite a combination. Jacobs might not have been the very best at any one thing--though I might even dispute that--but he was so near the very best at so many things that he has largely earned the admiration he receives.
But he was human, after all, and subject to the same mistakes and errors of judgment that might strike us all. That doesn't really make us admire the man any less, though we may not consider his recording of the Vaughan Williams of being representative of his own abilities, let alone definitive of the music.
It is true that admiration turns to worship with some people, and that, to me, is unfair to the admired. It puts them on a pedestal that probably makes them feel a bit teetery. I greatly admire Arnold Jacobs and his legacy has affected me in several ways even though I never met the man. But all his teachings that have come to me through books, recordings, or other teachers still have to stand the test of usability in my own playing, and his performances still have to move me to an artistic response. It's no loss to his qualities that they don't always.
Even as a hobbyist music lover, I, too, don't always agree with his choice in the recordings I've heard and compared to those of others. But they had the benefit of listening to him first, though he didn't really have as much opportunity to do the same (having established his performing standards before recordings were widespread). Those who establish new standards get remembered more than those who occasionally exceed it.
Rick "who thinks Jacobs's reputation is secure" Denney