I first met Al Hibbler in Little Rock, Arkansas. I knew he was a singer but had never heard him sing. Our paths crossed several times before 1943, when we were playing the Hurricane Club at Forty-ninth and Broadway. Mary Lou Williams and Shorty Baker came up and told me that Al Hibbler was downstairs in the Turf, and that there was a possibility of getting him to sing for us. So they brought him up, and he sang something. I naturally liked it, but the thought of adding to the payroll was a cause of concern, and a smart business mind would not have considered it. But me--well, my ear makes decisions. "Great," I said. "I like it. You just started work."