Cat Anderson joined the band in Philadelphia in 1944. He had had a good musical education and had really mastered the trumpet. Because of the attention he had devoted to high-note technique, he was always given the responsibility of a Babe Ruth when the bases were loaded. All the other cats would do their individual thing, playing true to their tonal personalities, and then for the highspot, for the screeching, clear-over-the-wall, clean-the-bases job, here would come Cat and his acrobatics beyond the limits of the instrument. He did this with an over-500 batting average, but in spite of his heavy role he always made time and would usually be first man on the stand. Never a no-show artist, for a while he became an essential ingredient-le super grand splang de l'acrobatique.