I (Paul Keegan) was eighteen when I had the astonishing experience of hearing Louis Armstrong for the first time. I would sit for hours in my college dorm room listening to "West End Blues" and "Sleepy-time Down South." That's when I decided I would learn to play the trumpet just like him. But for a white guy who grew up on the Bee Gees and Captain & Tennille, this was a preposterous undertaking - imagine Neil Sedaka on the trumpet, and you'll get the picture. Worse, I wasn't getting any better because I had no one to jam with. I was just about to lock myself into a little room and listen to a continuous tape of the Cowsills' greatest hits until the final coda, when suddenly i saw the light. Thanks to a guy named James Aebersold.
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