These past few days have been challenging, as described in recent posts. The good news is that I received the photos I need for the book. It seemed essential to me to have pictures that included Leroy 'Hog' Cooper with Ray Charles, Hank Crawford, Phil Guilbeau and Marcus Belgrave. Although people who know Leroy Cooper know that he played with Ray, and the book tells some stories about those experiences, without photos I had an empty feeling relating to credibility.
The forces of the Universe have come together and from two different sources I have received photos of the old days. I have another person now searching for pictures of her with Leroy and David 'Fathead' Newman which would also be a treat to those who know about the jazz greats. When Fathead left Ray, he started playing jazz sax and worked with Cynthia Scott, a former Raelet quite often.
After interviewing Cynthia yesterday, she's now looking for photos. By the way, her new CD is fabulous (shameless plug) and all original. You can 'take a listen' (I hate that term that all the news readers -- I can't call them reporters -- use) to her yourself. There's a tribute song to Ray Charles on it. Check out Cynthia at http://www.cynthiascott.com/.
Looks liks I'll have to go with the glossy photo section in the center of the book instead of all black and white. That is not what I planned but I am very excited to have the pictures to make it happen! (Aside: I sure wish they had digital cameras back then!)
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