Here's a small treasure for all those who love this kind of jazz and would kill to have been present: a flier for a series of 52nd Street jam session at Jimmy Ryan's, starting on September 27, 1942. Click on it and you'll discover a who's who of jazz in the early 1940s:
And there, with Billie and Hot Lips Page, among the who's who of jazz is my friend Ruby Smith (nee Walker), Bessie's trusty companion and niece by marriage.
ResponderEliminarInteresting document—thanks Augustín.