[Dixielandjazz] The fascinating Preacher Rollo

[mmckay]

Great story. Thanks for posting it.

I grew up in New Orleans, it was where I learned to love OKOM, but by 1960 I
was a first year teacher at a school in the middle of the deep swamps of
south Florida, with a wife who was (at the time I met her) from Miami Beach.

The story was right. Preacher Rollo always seemed to have a gig. Sometimes
at The Castaways (upscale tourist bar/club well up the beach) and sometimes
way out 8th street (now Little Havana) in a much less prestigious part of
town. You could always count on finding him if you watched the Miami Herald.

We did and on our monthly visits to "the city" he was one of our regular
evening stops.

The group wasn't bad. (I have no idea who was playing with him at the time,
but this was post-Parenti for sure. No one really stood out in the band.
They just made listenable Dixieland.)  The one that did stand out was
Preacher Rollo. He seemed to enjoy our "fans" attitude and when he found out
I was a music teacher, he made sure I had the full history and pedigree of
each tune that was called. He would spend 2 to 4 minutes talking about the
history, who had made the good recordings of it (and occasionally, who had
made the bad ones), what key they were playing it in and why, etc. Sometimes
he would have various side men play a piece of the lead or even the counter
melody and talk about it from a compositional point of view. It was a total
educational package.

We were too young (and to poor) to be good tippers. We had all we could do
to work up the price of a couple of drinks to get in. (The Castaways had a
$5 cover charge but Preacher made them give that back to us when we caught
him there.) It didn't matter to Preacher. It was always "Hi Kids! How ya
doin?"

Preacher Rollo is one of the major reasons I am on the DJML today, and I
thank him.

Mart

Martin D. McKay, Designated Listener