i was a young cat back then, about nineteen, bussin' tables. right here. didn't pay but shit, but that wasn't the point. being around the music, that was the thing. and i was. take this one night. july 22, 1964. who walks in. mr. louis armstrong.
right through those doors. the man himself.
he was in town playing two gigs a night at the coconut grove in the ambassador hotel.  after his last set, he decides to come on down to south central to hang with his people. that's how he was, you see. never forgot who we was. money and fame an' all that? meant nothin', long as he could blow that horn.
so before you know it, he's up on that stage, doin' his thing.
like winton marsalis says, it was pure, spiritual essence. louis was playing. god was smiling.
did better'n that.
oh, my, yes.
fella owned this place back then, cat * named dix dwyer, he let slip to louis * that i played. so pops, he just waves me right up. my heart about stopped. but i got up there all the same, and we played for nearly twenty minutes.
how do you think? you ain't shit when you playing next to louis armstrong. but, dippermouth, he was kind. he could see me trying. he carried my ass as best he could.
most vividly. "potato head blues," "sleepy time down south" . then pops laid some "cornet chop suey" on me, and left me in the dust like a whipped dog.
the crowd was most kind. i was born in 1945, but that was the moment of my conception. right here in the used-to-be crowded room. *
oh, jazz ain't the draw it used to be.
only 'cause i got the wherewithal to * finance keepin' it up on my own. *
you know the people in culiacan and bogota?
and here i thought you were such a cool guy.
what question?
how do i know you'll keep your word?
and one more thing. those guys and * their man, here, what's his name, * felix? *
lay it on.
i know all there is to know about louis.
coronet. bought it from a new orleans pawnshop when he was a kid.
cost him five dollars. got a two- * dollar advance on his salary from a fine jewish family he worked for, saved up the rest.