[Map Kernow]

While Satchmo could certainly blow a mean trumpet, I never heard his referred to as one of the great thinkers of the 20th Century.

Armstrong hit his peak with the Hot Fives and Hot Sevens in the late '20's. If he was toking down in his later years, it certainly didn't improve his playing.

Charlie Parker, arguably the greatest alto saxophonist in jazz, also once acknowledged that he didn't play as well on "tea." Sober is the way to go, even for a hep cat.

[justshutupandtakeit]

Charlie Parker? You have to be kidding. The man was a total junkie and alcoholic. Why do you think he was dead by the age of 35?

Sober jazzmen? Almost non-existent. The list of junkies is longer than the list of sober jazz people. Those who were neither heroin addicts or alcoholics were few and far between. Maybe the Duke, the Count, the Dorseys and Bennie Goodman but even they probably were alcoholics by some measure.