Serafin... glad you jumped in on this, as I knew you'd have valuable insight. I wonder if Manthey knows whether MF was taking medication to help him alleviate any pain or get increased mobility from this? I know he had numerous other ailments in his later years. His ankles were a mess.

Maynard's fingers really didn't line up with the valve caps anymore. You could see how he cocked his wrist to adjust the angles and get fingers where they needed to be. The "one finger" solo story is funny. He may have been in his 70's, but he sure maintained a boyish attitude with that gleam in his eye.

My mother was a very accomplished pianist and organist, but started seffering from similar arthritis in her fingers beginning in her late 40's. Eventually it became to painful to play at all by her late 50's. Everyone likes to talk about how amazing Maynard's lip was, but he was doing a lot of things in his later years to adjust for his age to fascillitate his playing in ways that were transparent to his audience.

WST