One night in Los Angeles, some friends from San Francisco and I were roaming around, and we wound up in an after-hours joint on Adams Boulevard called Brother's. Who do you think had stopped by after his job and seated himself at the piano? Nobody but my man Tatum. He was in his usual rare form, and doing all of the most impossible high and harmonic changes. Strays [Billy Strayhorn] was with us, and our friends from San Francisco, Mr. and Mrs. Archibald Holmes. After meeting Art and conversing with him, she hit on the subject of Bach, because she had been studying his music. Something in Tatum's playing moved her to utter the next thing to a challenge. "Well, Mr. Tatum, do you know any Bach?"

"A little," Mr. Tatum answered, and then proceeded to execute a parade of Bachisms for the next hour. After getting her breath, the lovely lady said, "Thanks. I guess I'll keep my big mouth closed now!"