Peter Vacher: ”Swingin’ on Central Avenue -

African American Jazz in Los Angeles”

©2015  ISBN 978-0-8108-8832-6

Intervju (1990) with Charles L. ”Chuck” Thomas, saxophone .

I’d been out here [LA, 1939] about two months, I guess, when a guy called me up to work out at the Cricket Club (1571 West Washington Boulevard) with Doug Finis. And that is when I worked with Kid Ory. Our bass player left town and went to Texas, so the leader went to the Hall of Records and got Kid Ory, who was a janitor there. At that time nobody knew anything about Dixieland. It was all swing then. So Kid Ory came in to play bass fiddle with us. I didn’t even know that he played trombone, to tell you the truth. We had Teddy Buckner on trumpet; Leo Trammel and Edward Hale - they called him ”Pop-Eye” - they were the two altos; Doug Finis was the pianist; Alton Redd was on drums; and Kid Ory played bass fiddle. As a bass player, he was just so-so. He was not no exceptional player but he’d keep up with things.

……

Kid Ory, Teddy, and I, we would go up to the bar and get an eight-ounce glass of whiskey and say, ”OK, bottoms up” and drink the whole eight ounces down. At that time we played 8 p.m. to 12 midnight, and by 11 o’clock, Ory would say, Let’s get another one, with me, man. ” I didn’t know who he was; I’d be so drunk. There’d be people buying us drinks, and Teddy would say, I can’t keep up with this cat. He was a lot older than Teddy and me, but he could really put that stuff away.

Chuck Thomas (1917-2000)

Recorded with:

Jimmy Witherspoon, 1947

Jay McShann, 1947

Louis Speiginer, 1947

Peppy Prince, 1954

Teddy Buckner, 1978

Research by Bert Karlheden 2020