[Dixielandjazz] Pee Wee Russell Anecdote

[Steve Barbone]

on 2/23/07 6:51 PM, Bill Haesler at bhaesler at bigpond.net.au wrote:

>> Pee Wee Anecdote: (From Condon's Book We Called It Music) About a steady gig
> in Chicago where they played till 4 AM. Condon, MacPartland, Brunies, Russell,
> Sullivan. Circa late 1940 and early 1941, I think. Not sure who the drummer
> was.
> then: 
>> "Kurtzman borrowed his (Josh Billings) car and drove................etc.<
> 
> Sorry about this Steve,
> But you answered your own query.
> Josh Billings was the drummer (who also played suitcase).
> Kind regards,
> Bill. 



Sorry Bill, I don't think so. Because Condon says in the book, right before
the lead in sentence to the anecdote, that: "Both Josh and Slim had given up
playing the suitcase and Billings was working days as a lithographer."
Followed by the first sentence in the anecdote;  "While he slept at night,
Kurtzmann, borrowed his car and drove to the Brass Rail to meet Pee Wee and
take him home." . . .etc.

So it wasn't Billings and apparently not Kurtzmann either, since he didn't
drive to the gigs with Pee Wee. Kurtzmann and Billings shared an apartment
and Pee Wee moved in with them when he went to Chicago to play the gig.

It might have been Dave Tough who had recorded with Condon, Pee Wee, and
Sullivan earlier in NYC, before they went to Chicago to take the Brass Rail
gig. Or it could have been a local drummer chosen by MacPartland who was the
leader on the Brass Rail gig. The book gives no clue as to who it was, only
who it wasn't.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone