"Oscar, in those days, Oscar had no value of money. If he met some girl, some chick that he liked--one time he said, "I'm not takin' the bus." But he did take a taxi cab for three hundred miles, and when he got there Woody had to pay two hundred dollars to the taxi driver for Oscar Pettiford or we wouldn't have no bass player to play the job. He did it two or three times. He took a cab for ninety miles once. Once three hundred and twenty miles. Or we had no bass player. If Oscar--not only just a chick--if Oscar met somebody to hang out with. Oscar was a hanger-outer. Oscar was beautiful. He'd hang out and Woody would have to pay his cab fare."
Terry Gibbs from Swing to Bop: An Oral History of the Transition in Jazz in the 1940s
Come see my tribute to
Oscar Pettiford:
October 28 - 830p
Rockwood Music Hall in NYC, NY
MORE INFO
Twitter: @RockwoodNYC
Facebook: @Rockwood Music Hall
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