For some delicious anecdotage from former Down Beat anchor Jack Tracy, now eighty-two, be sure to visit Steven Cerra’s JAZZ PROFILES – – http://jazzprofiles.blogspot.com/2009/04/jack-tracy.html — where Tracy, who was there, shares first-hand tales of Bill Harris’s boxer shorts, Dorothy Donegan’s napkin, Duke Ellington’s wise, generous con, Artie Shaw’s bad behavior, Oscar Peterson, Sidney Catlett, as well as a gracious and near-saintly owner of a Chicago jazz club, and much more.
Worth every penny, to quote David Ostwald!
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Take 2: Much better. I clicked on my comment’s version of the link and Tracy came right up. And oh my he’s good. And triggered a near childhood Jackson-Harris memory. I often took the long way – via NYC – to college, to under-age drink at a 52nd St. joint, and see my idols. Hear ’em too. Jackson-Harris Quartet, ca. 1947 at the 3 Deuces – or the Onyx. I sat enthralled, hoping to hear pearls of impossibly divine jazz wisdom from them on a set break. It happened !! I creep up behind them when they belly up to the bar and hear:
Jackson: “They’re having a great sale at Korvette’s in Great Neck – I found a lawn mower real cheap”. Bill: “Yeah – I really needed a play-pen and found it there too…”. Sam, disillusioned, creeps back to his table…BTW – regarding underwear – I played briefly and not easily with them in 1953 (‘Apple Honey’ in bass clef at 187 mph?), and in the dressing room they proudly showed of their matching fire-engine red bikini briefs.
Hi Jack, I would like to hear from you. It’s been a long time since Park Forest
Hi again
Dear Jack Tracy,
from the bottom of my heart, thank you for all the music that you brought us via Rahsaan, Roland Kirk.
You and he did a wonderful and beautiful job!!!
You Did It, You Did It
Be well
Henry