Memoirs: How History Almost Happened At The Page Three
Around the time I first came to New York, during the late fifties, I got a call from a piano player named Johnny Knapp. He asked if I would be interested in replacing him with the band at The Page Three. It was a two piece band--piano and drums. "You have to play a continuous show," he told me, "the hours are 9pm to 4am, and the pay is seventy-five a week." I told him I would be interested.
The Page Three was a cabaret on Seventh Avenue a block south of the Village Vanguard and, situated there, it was an ideal gig for me...
Memoirs: Hipster, Jr. Grade
In St. Paul during the years of World War Two I was attending grade school, and my brother Mort, seven years my senior, was finishing high school. Our older brother Arnold was on a tanker in the South Pacific. If I had a question about music or anything else I naturally went to Mort who was my adviser and authority about everything. He guided my reading towards Ellery Queen, Dorothy Sayers, Robert Benchley, and James Thurber., and focused my attention on the best movies, magazines, and radio shows. We listened to Vic and Sade every day. We would listen to music carefully...
Colleagues & Characters
During the summer 0f 1961, when I was with Kenny Davern's band at Nicks's in the Village, drummer Cliff Leeman, bassist Jack Six, and I would often spend intermissions at Hymie's Bar on Sheridan Square where the drinks were 50ยข instead of $2 (Nick's price.) One night there was one other customer sitting alone at the bar, and we realized that it was indeed Ava Gardner...