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Louie Moon

Louie Moon Biography Interview by "Jazzbo Collins" Where were you born? I was born in northwest Washington D.C. three days after Christmas, and moved to California at age nine. I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. When did you first discover music? Our house in D.C. was always filled with music. My Mother had a dance studio in our basement and I remember sitting underneath the piano for hours listening to both Classical and Jazz music. It was then that I first heard the voices of Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald and Judy Garland and the music of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. When did you first start playing music? I was probably three years old when I saw the movie "Gigi". I loved the title theme. When I got home I realized that I knew what the notes were to the song. I heard them in my head. I could barely reach the piano keys but managed to hit the notes and played the song. What a great feeling it was to actually make music! So you had a natural ear for music? Yes, I was always able to hear and repeat melodies and rhythms from a very young age. It is definitely a gift I was given and to this day I would say that my ears are two of my greatest assets. What was your first instrument? I wanted to be a drummer. I played boxes, cans, pots and pans at home and got a pretty good sound out of them too. But like many parents, mine said that drums were out of the question because they made too much noise. When I joined the school band I didn't get to choose what instrument I played, basically I got what was available. And that happened to be the clarinet. I didn't really take to playing the clarinet but I loved being in the band playing music. When did guitar come into your life? I found an old steel string guitar in the garage of a good friend.I borrowed it and excitedly I took it home, got a chord book and started to play. I loved it. Eventually I had to give it back...but my family realized that I was serious about playing music so they bought me my first guitar. It was hand-made by Jeranimo Almesqua from Paracho Mexico. I can still smell that guitar.

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Tags

John Coltrane
saxophone
Miles Davis
trumpet
Grant Green
guitar
Earl Klugh
guitar, acoustic
Chuck Loeb
guitar
Jimi Hendrix
guitar, electric

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