JAZZ ANECDOTES BY BILL CROW
...arker. One story Crow passes on is a discussion of Shelly Manne's work with bandleader Herman. it involves trumpeter Lee Katzman, “A few musicians, listening to an old Herman recording on the radio, were trying to identify the drummer. "Is it Shelly Manne, or Jake Hanna?" someone wondered. Crow reports that Katzman listened for a while, then said: "It must be Shelly, 'cause Jake don't jam like that.” It also gives you a good feel for what the lives of jazz musicians were like the camaraderie and competition, the inventiveness, the struggles over money, the often terrible working (and especially recording) conditions. There are also poignantly funny stories about problems with drugs and alcohol, and even about the racial prejudice that musicians had to put up with. My favorite story in the book was about Bessie Smith storming out to confront a group of Klansmen gathering outside the tent where she was working. Peppering them with curses, she ordered them to "pick up them sheets and run." They did. Great woman. There are lots of great women (and men- mostly men) in this book. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know a little bit about them. Finally another laugh out loud story is while with the Basie band in France, Buddy Tate got the wrong interpreter. "We went to Lyon, and Jimmy Rushing says, "Now, don't worry about the language problem. I'll order for you, I'm over here all the time." So we go into this restaurant and I decide I wanted some veal chops, so Jimmy talked to the waitress. She went away and we waited and waited. Then she comes back with six hard boiled eg...