I remember when Joe [Smith] came to New York in 1923, starting with Mamie Smith's Jazz Hounds… Soon, he was almost as well known as Hawk [Coleman Hawkins, tenor saxophonist] in Mamie's band, and that same year he joined my outfit at the Roseland Ballroom. Several months previously we had worked together with Ethel Waters on Black Swan records in a combo called Black Swan Troubadours, and toured the country. Joe was the most soulful trumpeter I ever knew, and when he used a felt hat as a mute, it was difficult for me tell if HE was playing or if it was one of the saxophonists. His beautiful tone was the best ever executed with a plunger. << less