One day I was listening to this program of Husing's and I heard this,
I don't know what it was,
this spittle and growl and this god knows what.
Unheimlich sound.
Right,
this thing just came over the radio and
I stood there transfixed looking at the,
staring at the speaker.
I was transported,
taken to,
it was an experience,
it was an emotional musical experience that I'd had
that up to that point I hadn't had
from any of the players I had heard.
I liked
the way they played,
you know,
I like the sounds like Fusola,
Benny Goodman,
Artie
Shaw,
I like the way they,
you know,
approached the instrument but none of
them really went flock between the eyes.
And I was, what was that and who was
that?
And it was Pee Wee Russell playing
two blues choruses with a band led by
Muggsy Spanier.
And I said that's it,
that's all I want,
that's what I want to do,
I want to express myself like that for the rest of my life.
But I didn't really do it like he did,
but I knew that the instrument as a medium was
something that I was going to,
you know,
take seriously.