Jimmy McPartland in Cicero, Illinois

from Hear Me Talkin' To Ya: The Classic Story of Jazz as Told by the Men Who Made It, page 125:

So I went to work there at Tansil's, and the guy says, "I got a little kid clarinet player coming out tomorrow night to sit in with the band. He's too young to hire."

Well, it developed that the kid was Benny Goodman--aged fifteen at most. And I thought to myself, "This little punk play clarinet? He's too small to blow it."

The little punk climbed up on the stand and got his horn ready. Then he played Rose of the Rio Grande which is a hard tune--I mean the changes for those days were difficult. This little monkey played about sixteen choruses of …   more >>

cite as

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. 125. https://led.kmi.open.ac.uk/entity/lexp/1472124466775 accessed: 4 December, 2024

location of experience: Cicero, Illinois

Listeners

Jimmy McPartland
cornetist
1907-1991

Listening to

hide composers
Rose of Rio Grande performed by Benny Goodman

Experience Information

Medium live
Listening Environment in the company of others

Originally submitted by acusworth on Thu, 25 Aug 2016 12:27:47 +0100
Approved on Thu, 25 Aug 2016 12:29:14 +0100