I know I’ll be playing until I cut out

Abstract

Playing dances, that’s what I really enjoyed, and so did everybody else in the band. You had a chance to get away from the regular routine that we played on stage in auditoriums, schools, wherever, which was all set. Once in a while some important person would get to Louis backstage or holler out for a number and he might put it in. For instance, Someday, the tune that he wrote, wasn’t on his regular program but anytime Helen was in the audience, like in Vegas or someplace, he would always play it cause he knew she liked it. He was very nice that way. Otherwise it was the same all the time. But when we played dances you could really go. Everybody could play whatever they wanted. Louis would say, “Now we gonna play a medley of tunes. You play any three tunes you want, Joe.” So they might walk off the stage, everybody but me and the rhythm section, and I’d play my three tunes. Then Trummy would come and deal his choice, and then Billy Kyle would play, and so on. The band would play a lot of old dixieland tunes like Muskrat Ramble, Fidgety Feet, and Dixieland One-step, tunes that Louis liked — but not for concerts. The stage routine naturally had the hit records like Mack the Knife and The Faithful Hussar. People used to criticize Louis for sticking to these songs, but he knew if we didn’t play them the audience would holler and demand them. At the dances sometimes we’d play a waltz, Let me call you sweetheart or Alice Blue Gown. To me, a dance was easier, ’cause you was right in contact with the audience.