Mary Lou Williams in City of Kansas City - 1934
from Hear Me Talkin' To Ya: The Classic Story of Jazz as Told by the Men Who Made It, pages 292-293:
We could play all morning and half through the day if we wished to, and in fact we often did. The music was so good that I seldom got to bed before midday.
It was just such a late morning session that once had Coleman Hawkins hung up. [...]
The date must have been 1934 because Prohibition had been lifted and whisky was freely on sale.[...]
The word went round that Hawkins was in the Cherry Blossom, and within about half an hour there were Lester Young, Ben Webster, Herschel Evans, Herman Walder, and one or two unknown tenors piling in the club to blow.
… more >>Nat Hentoff and Nat Shapiro, Hear Me Talkin' To Ya: The Classic Story of Jazz as Told by the Men Who Made It (London, 1992), p. 292-293. https://led.kmi.open.ac.uk/entity/lexp/1435759730469 accessed: 30 December, 2024
Listeners
Listening to
hide composers| tenor saxophone music | performed by Herman Walder, Herschel Evans, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Ben Webster |
Experience Information
| Date/Time | 1934 |
| Medium | live |
| Listening Environment | in the company of others, indoors, in public |
Notes
Mary Lou Williams, a jazz pianist, describes how Coleman Hawkins was unexpectedly caught out in a cutting session - a jazz playing contest - in Kansas City, Missouri.