[Dixielandjazz] Lu Watters

[Robert S. Ringwald]

I first met Lu in about 1969 or so when there was a benefit for Clancy Hayes
@ Earthquake Magoons.  Shortly after that, I visited him several times @ his
home in Cottati, near Santa Rosa, CA, north of SF.

Lu was a gem of a person.  You liked him the minute you met him.  And he
made you feel right at home.

I had taken all my Watters YBJB albums over for him to autograph.  A
surprise to me was that he wanted to hear them.  He drug out an old
phonograph with, I'm sure, a lousy needle & proceeded to play all of his
albums all afternoon.  I cringed every time I heard the needle on my nice
clean LPs.  But, couldn't turn Lu down.

Lu would point out to me the solos that he played, instead of Scoby.  It was
a surprise to me because, up until then, I had assumed that Scoby did all
the solos.

Then, an even bigger surprise, Lu drug hout an old tpt, or cornet & started
playing along with his recordings.  Then, since he didn't have a piano, &
since I had my banjo, along with Dave Wierbach who also brought his banjo,
Lu, Dave & I spent the rest of the evening drinking wine & playing.

An interesting fact as told to me by Lu.  Often it is assumed that the song
"Emperor Norton's Hunch" was written because of the fact that Emperor
Norton, had predicted that someday there would be a bridge built from SF to
Oakland--Thus, the word "Hunch."

Lu told me that, this was not the case.  He said that he named it "Hunch"
just because he liked the sound of the word.

He told me a lot of other things that I just can't remember.  I sure wish
that I had had a tape recorder with me.

Bob
mr.wonderful at ringwald.com
Placerville, CA, USA, Earth, Sol's System, Milky Way
Amateur (ham) Radio Station K6YBV
Fulton Street Jazz Band
See: http://www.ringwald.com
Boondockers Jazz & Comedy Band
See: http://www.theboondockers.com