[Dixielandjazz] Slim Gaillard

[domitype .]

My somewhat tenuous connection to Slim Gaillard came when I met a young
woman who was watching my band play at a local Thanksgiving Day "sporting
event" ( I won't get into the weeds on that.) She invited me to
Thanksgiving Dinner and since I had no other plans, I went. Her mother was
quite an interesting character and I soon learned that Slim had been a
close friend of the family. She was a registered nurse but somehow happened
to to meet Slim at some performance and she somehow became his disciple.
Taking the stage name Marion Vee, she learned to play the Conga Drums and
she also sang. She didn't tour (or record) extensively with Slim, but she
did perform with him off and on for many years. Slim would crash at her
house when he was in Northern California, cook Caribbean and Cuban food for
her young family (her husband was a doctor, by the way - I still don't know
what HE thought about the whole thing...)   Anyway, I did a 3 hour Slim
Gaillard radio special soon after he died and I got all sorts of
interesting insights into his character(s) and personalities with "Marion
Vee" as my guest commentator!

Dave Richoux