<strong>Jersey</strong>Articles<strong>Jazz</strong> BILL CROW continued from page 16 BC: I didn’t know enough to sweat. A gig is a gig and I was going to do my best. I knew how to play and I knew I was no Oscar Pettiford. In fact, the second time I played with Stan we were in Birdland and I’m unpacking my bass and there is Oscar at the bar along with about six other good bass players around the house. I said, “Well, this is me and this is how I play. I can’t really worry that there are a lot of better players in the house. I’m just going to do my job.” I was with Stan for about six months. It was right at that time that he started recording for Norman Granz. Norman wanted to get him into the studio and that got my name around a lot faster than it would have if I had just been with Stan’s road band. I think it was on the second record date that Jimmy gave his notice, so we just worked as a quartet with Duke Jordan and, by this time Kenny Clarke had become the drummer. That was some rhythm section to play with, I tell you; a new lesson every night. Then Duke and Klook got something else and quit. So it was just Stan and me left, and he said, “Well, I guess it’s time to put together a new band. I’ve been thinking about asking Bobby Brookmeyer. I really like his playing.” I said, “Yeah, I’ve played with him a few times and I really like the way he plays, too.” The rest of the band was Johnny Williams on piano and Alan Levitt on drums. We recorded that band and they were well-received records. Stan had been playing unison with Jimmy, now he was playing unison and harmony with Bob and he changed his tone slightly to match the timbre of Bob’s horn. They got a wonderful sound together, but the rhythm section never really jelled on that band. Johnny Williams liked to play way up on top of the beat and Al liked to lay back and try to smooth it out. I felt like I was being pulled in two directions and I didn’t know what to do. I think they decided they needed a stronger bass player in order to deal with this. So Stan asked me if I would mind leaving the band without two weeks’ notice because he wanted to rehire Teddy Kotick. I said, “Sure.” It was a drag but certainly I had felt that I was in over my head with that group. I went back to <strong>New</strong> York and went into Charlie’s Tavern and ran into Winston Welch who I knew from jam sessions. He was playing drums with Claude Thornhill and he said, “Oh man are you available? Teddy Kotick just left our band and we need a bass player.” I said, “Yeah, I know. He just took my gig.” So I spent that summer with Claude and learned a whole lot having to read a book every night. I hadn’t had that before. And, I had to figure out the fingering for Claude’s theme song which ran back and forth through a tenth in D flat with no open strings. I had to really sit down and study how to play that so it sounded like music. I stayed with that band; just one nighters for a whole summer. Quite an experience! That was where I met Billy VerPlanck and Gene Quill; that was a good band. JJ: Billy seemed to think that Claude had an exceptionally messed up group of players. BC: Well, there were a lot of drugs on that band, but there were a lot of drugs on a lot of bands at that time. Like Zoot said, “Heroin was very popular that year.” [Chuckles] Two or three guys were messing with heroin, another guy was messing around with pills; and everybody was smoking pot when they could get it. JJ: What about Claude? Bass by Kay, pants by Fox Bros., Chicago, photo by Popsie Randolph BC: Claude drank, but I don’t know what else he did. He liked bizarre people, and his attitude was, “You can’t out-weird me, fellows. I can be weirder then any of you if I really try.” [Laughs] He had a very quirky, funny sense of humor. One day in <strong>New</strong> Orleans, he came up to me all smiles and shook my hand like he hadn’t seen me for a week. I said, “Claude what happened? Did you hit the numbers or something? You look like you are sitting on top of the world.” He said, “No I was starting to think that this band was pretty weird, but I was sitting in my hotel room looking out the window at those people passing by, and, man, you want to see weird?” Watching those people really cheered him up. [Laughs] JJ: Billy had that sad story about Dale Pearce just disappearing one night in <strong>New</strong> Orleans. Do you know what happened to him? BC: Billy had been on that band before I got there. So he had some experiences that I didn’t have, but he got that a bit wrong. Dale was drinking very heavily, but he was remarkable. The guys on either side of him would hold him up when he had to do a trumpet solo. He would stand and play a beautiful ballad solo and just tear your heart out. But, he started getting so drunk he’d get evil and play rotten on purpose. Claude didn’t like that and was worried about Dale dying on him. So he told him, “Go home and dry out and give me a call when you are ready to come back. I think the road is bad for your health.” That’s what happened, he just went home. continued on page 20 18 __________________________________ May 2010
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