Jefferson, our band had already been following his progress for over five years. His records used to cause more argument in our band than Stephen Grappelli’s Hot Four and the question of whether the violin ought not to be morally disqualified as a jazz instrument. All we had to do was to put on some of King’s records and listen to that trumpet and we would end up by bringing in everybody from Panassié and Rudi Blesh to Dave Dexter, Jr. Our whole band were juniors in high school when they were combing the backwoods of Louisiana looking for King. The next summer, when Bob Rhynolds of US Records finally found him, our band was playing its first booking away from home ground as a truly professional outfit. We manufactured schmaltz for ten weeks in the pavilion at Seraphan Lake upstate for the dancers. Our high school music director led the outfit. We had to put up with him because he got the job for us. He was friends with the owner and also had the soft-drinks concession. We came home from there sick of Guy Lombardo, but with our minds made up to all go together in a body to the same university so we could continue to develop our band as a unit, in spite of the parents.
What do You think about Ice-Cream Headache (2011)?
