Jimmy Rushing at Pep's

It was in 1959 that I first met Jimmy Rushing. He was appearing at Pep's Lounge, a popular jazz spot at Broad and South Streets in Philadelphia, I was at WHAT-FM, the city's 24/7 jazz station. Between Pep's and The Showboat Lounge, there was rarely a week when one could not catch a major jazz act in center city, so I tried to get interviews as often as I could, but not always at the clubs. This was a club interview, made in the small wreck of a dressing room that was reserved for the headliners and showed the owner's disrespect. You will hear juke box music of the day (organs were in vogue) seeping through the thin wall that separated Pep's from a bargain eatery next door. When I sat down with Billie Holiday in that same room, she snapped her fingers and sang to the bass line somebody's quarter had paid for. Billie also showed me how that ball of facial tissue next to her makeup box was loaded with razor blades—just in case. I thought that to be rather unusual, but it really wasn't—women had to be tough to survive on the road in those days. Alberta Hunter used to walk around looking like a New York bag lady, with a shopping bag in each hand, and one day she showed me how she always had a her grip around a cloth-covered ice pick—just in case.

Jimmy and I in dressing room at Vassar - 1961

Back to Jimmy Rushing. I would later get to know very well, but this was our first meeting. He talks about his early years and his first trip to England, which had occurred the year before. He met Humphrey Lyttleton and George Melly, and had his first—perhaps only—encounter with skiffle, which he likened to hillbilly. We also talk about Billie Holiday and how her voice underwent a change in her last years. I should mention that I have long since reversed my opinion on that—what I once identified as "deterioration" was really not that. Billie's voice simply absorbed the the hurt and abuse of years spent being mistreated by her men, her government, and herself. The smile was gone, the soul remained.

Here and there, you will hear references to recordings that I later spliced into the tape, but removed from this post to comply with copyright laws—the interview itself is intact.

About a year later, just two days away from 1960, Jimmy and I sat down for another interview, this time at the legendary Half Note, in the bowels of Manhattan. I will post that soon, but now I hope you find something interesting in this one. Please post a comment and let me know what you think.