[Dixielandjazz] Mixed race lineups, Chicago Style

[JimDBB at aol.com]

In a message dated 7/22/2003 8:22:06 AM Central Standard Time, 
dingle at baldwin-net.com writes:

> In the Jazz Ltd. house when I was holding the trumpet chair for near five
> years, we always had black players in the band. When I started there were
> three -- Mike McKendrick (a lovely and gentle man who played guitar and
> banjo), drummer Freddy Kohlman, and bassman Quinn Wilson, who as a
> 16-year-old recorded on tuba with Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers. In
> fact in 1963 there was a fourth black player, pianist Earl Washington,
> making it four blacks  out of seven players. It was  no big deal -- we just
> played and the club was always filled with mostly white audiences who were
> enthusiastic as any anywhere.
> Later, after Mike died, Manny Sayles came up from NO., Earl left and several
> white players took piano chair, including Art Hodes and Dave Remington who
> split the week for a couple months.
> We had pianist Dave Phelps, then black pianist Rozelle Claxton, a good
> player, who was on the band at the same time Beebe was on it.
> There was never any problem with audience, and the band guys were good
> friends
> among themselves. When Quinn Wilson and his wife had a late in life baby,
> Ronnie, Jean and I were honored to be asked to be Godparents. We accepted
> and were happy that we were thought well enough by a black family to have a
> white couple take on that role.
>   To those that would have a problem with this, I can only say...GET OVER
> IT!!
>   Don Ingle

   yep, those were great guys to work with.  All of them true professionals.

   Do you remember this...although I think that this happened later than Jazz 
Ltd.  Rozelle Claxton was a wonderful pianist who was always dressed very 
elegantly with shoes shined etc.  He liked expensive clothes and pricey silk 
underwear etc.  Rozelle broke up with a girlfriend and he asked her to return his 
clothes.  She sent him some other guy's underwear.  Roz was furious and fumed 
about this.

   Jim Beebe