[Dixielandjazz] Hadda Brooks

[John Gill]

Hadda Brooks was really great. She was playing the Cirque Room of the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco when I was playing with Turk Murphy down the hall in The New Orleans Room in the mid 1980's. The Cirque Room was the watering hole of choice for myself and another member of Turk's band. We got to know Hadda pretty well and even had a few after hours drinking sessions with her at the notorious Black Feather Club on Taylor Street. She was very good at the piano and could sing a million tunes and she was a grand lady with all kinds of stories, some printable but most not. One night I sat at The Cirque Room's small intimate bar with Tony Bennett and Bob Hope enjoying Hadda's performance until I had to rush back to The New Orleans Room and play another set with Turk. Those were the days!
John Gill