Soul eyed Blues

You know, Frank Sinatra was Vito Genovese's godson... or some stuff
-- related to him, 'cause, you know, blue-eyed skinny kid from Hoboken, New Jersey. But y'know, see Frank, man... Frank helped a *lot* of guys, y'know... he's the one that really catapulted Sammy Davis, Jr's career... he helped out Sammy a lot. And they used to work at the Paramount you know like, in the '40s -- bobby soxers days... but all that stuff was real segregated then. That's why everybody went uptown.. after the places closed downtown, everybody went uptown and hung out -- that's why Minton's Playhouse had it's famous after hours joint.

And the famous jam sessions that happened after hours... now, that was on 118th Street, between, uh... 7th Avenue and St. Nick. The after hours joint... the entrance was on the Saint Nicholas Avenue side, between 117th and 118th, down in the basement. To this day, the original piano is still down there, from the jam session. You see, 'cause, that was where George Gershwin and them went and hung out... and that's where they got a lot of the stuff.. y'know, that they got...

Each One, Teach One

[What] existed in the past that you're not having happen any more - it's called the apprenticeship program. The apprenticeship program... that's how everybody comin' up played in somebody's band at some point or another... it helped them to develop what and who they are today.

You know but... the unfortunate thing - a lot of those masters, [those] who became masters doing due diligence in the field, when they died off that was the end of a whole generation. That's why the apprenticeship program brought people into the fold, [such] that if you sat in a band, you sat next to a master and you learned how to blend and read the word, here, 'cause... they used to tell me "if you can't hear everyone in the band playing, you're playing too loud".

So you gotta have to learn how to listen to people, learn how to phrase, learn how to breathe. And see, that was an integral part of the... y'know, like when, y'know, most guys like Donald Byrd and them went to college and , y'know - but when they worked with Art Blakey, that was their on the job training, that got them to their next degree...