"There was always some professor at the YMCA on weekends. Langston Hughes used to have these poetic sayings and we’d learn about them. They would always make us aware of the black heroes. They didn’t say what they were doing but they wanted us to be aware. Joe Louis used to come out and visit during his heyday.
"We weren’t allowed to go downtown because it was segregated back then. But we had a beautiful Y on the north side. We had a tumbling teacher named Charles Parker. We had whites come over to teach us but we couldn’t go to their Y. But we had everything we needed. On Saturdays they had basketball games all day. I used to take a bologna sandwich and watch games all day. During the summers I went to YMCA camp.
"At the Y we played every kind of music. Red Garland, the famous piano player that played with Miles Davis, was going to the Y at the same time. And Red had a little boys’ band at the Y, so I played clarinet in Red’s band. When I was a junior or senior in high school, Red used to hang around the school. He was older than us. And always playing piano. I knew Red very well.
"I wanted to play sports. That was the fashionable thing to do. At the YMCA my daddy took me away to play the horn. Guys would say, 'Man I thought you was going to be an athlete. Why are you messing with the horn?'"
Copyright Susan Cross, August 2009
It sounds to me like Leroy's dad knew what was best for him.
Showing posts with label segregation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label segregation. Show all posts
Monday, September 7, 2009
Friday, July 31, 2009
First gig in Vegas with Ray Charles
Here's a little teaser from the book about the state of the country before Ray Charles was recognized as a musical genius.
Segregation in Vegas
In Vegas, we went to the Flamingo. We were the main feature. On our breaks we were sitting on the apple crates. Billy Eckstein was a big man. He came out and told Ray, who was outside with us and was telling jokes, “You’re the headliner in here. You’re supposed to be in here with the rest of the stars.” So Ray went in and played slot machines. The guys were peeping and saying, he’s playing the slots, in other words, it’s alright for him. Ray was the only one that could stay at the Flamingo. But that first year he stayed there by himself.
The next time the Flamingo invited us up, we couldn’t even live at the hotel. We were living in the black part of town called the Dust Bowl. We were living there in a motel with the kitchen and lunch counter downstairs and we could only get cold sandwiches. Very different.
That time, Ray said, “I’m not coming back unless my band can stay.” They said, “Okay, there’s some cabins in the back.” This was about a year later. There was a big difference. The police gave us a speech. They said, “We’re going to watch you guys. Don’t you be having no drugs.” Duke Ellington had just been through there and they busted about eight guys in Duke’s band. The word was out, so that all the guys that messed around had to keep their noses clean out there. It was January and cold in the desert and we had cabins out behind the club. It was nice, very nice, like a village. We had about two hours between shows. Everyone would go out to their cabins and do whatever they wanted to do.
Every night it was real cold. We’d be bundled up going to our cabins. The police would be watching us. They would watch us like we were criminals. That was because we were black and because we were musicians, both. There were no blacks staying in the hotel; just the employees.
Segregation in Vegas
In Vegas, we went to the Flamingo. We were the main feature. On our breaks we were sitting on the apple crates. Billy Eckstein was a big man. He came out and told Ray, who was outside with us and was telling jokes, “You’re the headliner in here. You’re supposed to be in here with the rest of the stars.” So Ray went in and played slot machines. The guys were peeping and saying, he’s playing the slots, in other words, it’s alright for him. Ray was the only one that could stay at the Flamingo. But that first year he stayed there by himself.
The next time the Flamingo invited us up, we couldn’t even live at the hotel. We were living in the black part of town called the Dust Bowl. We were living there in a motel with the kitchen and lunch counter downstairs and we could only get cold sandwiches. Very different.
That time, Ray said, “I’m not coming back unless my band can stay.” They said, “Okay, there’s some cabins in the back.” This was about a year later. There was a big difference. The police gave us a speech. They said, “We’re going to watch you guys. Don’t you be having no drugs.” Duke Ellington had just been through there and they busted about eight guys in Duke’s band. The word was out, so that all the guys that messed around had to keep their noses clean out there. It was January and cold in the desert and we had cabins out behind the club. It was nice, very nice, like a village. We had about two hours between shows. Everyone would go out to their cabins and do whatever they wanted to do.
Every night it was real cold. We’d be bundled up going to our cabins. The police would be watching us. They would watch us like we were criminals. That was because we were black and because we were musicians, both. There were no blacks staying in the hotel; just the employees.
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