DESCRIPTION:
When I first heard Cat Anderson play "Birth of the Blues" up 2 octaves with Lionel Hampton's Band, I thought it was "impossible", then a few years later I found myself in that same chair. I didn't know I had an "E" above double "C". Anyway he sometimes made me do it 3 times until I couldn't do it anymore and if he knew I had friends or family in the audience, he wouldn't feature me. I do remember the "bow rehearsals" 1-2-3-Down...1-2-3-Up. I'm sure you'll recognize a lot of these guys on the band. Notably Pete Candoli and Frank Szabo in the trumpets. Slide Hyde and Alan Kaplan in the Trombones, Bill Green on Bari, Frankie Dunlap on Drums. We called Lionel his nickname "Gates". He was a great showman and knew how to get the crowd goin'.
I guess long hair was in, in those days. My lip gets tired just watching this.