Here's a quick excerpt:
Mary Lou Williams, the first guest on "Piano Jazz": "She was pretty tough. I asked her not to bring a bass player, and of course she did -- because she loved to have a bass player that she could call the changes to.
Burt Bacharach:
"He wouldn't sing a song completely through, or play one! He'd play half a song -- and then he'd stop and talk. I'd say, 'For God's sake, play the whole tune!' No, he wouldn't. But I really like that guy."
Cecil Taylor:
"He'd play a piece, and then he'd tell me when he wrote it. And I felt like saying, you know, 'Bull-, you never wrote that.' Because, it just was improvised, I'm sure."
George Shearing:
"He used to do things like change keys on me, and suddenly he'd go into Dixieland stride-piano or do things to upset me. But it was all in fun."
Dave Brubeck:
For years he would say, 'I'll never do your show.' And I'd say, 'Why?' ''Cause I'm too nervous.' Finally his manager and his wife persuaded him. He said, 'I'll do the show as long as Chris [his bass player] is in the control room. Then if I need him, I can call him.
"So we started the show and he just went at it; you never knew he was nervous. He didn't remember Chris was there; he just did a really good show. "
Bill Evans:
"We played well together, and he was sort of knocked out. I think he didn't expect me to play as well as I did, or to know his tunes, or something.
"He was funny too. It was always a show I enjoyed when the people were funny. We were always friends. I just got mad at him for dying; he just shouldn't have died."
-- Tom Nolan
To read the rest of Tom Nolan's article go HERE-
