I could not have been more pleased when Mike Zirpolo contacted me, and asked me to share my memories about having played for the soundtrack of Francis Ford Coppola’s film, Cotton Club. I was able to tell Mike that I happily recall many of the details about that special episode in my life. I am glad to share some of them with you here.
It was the virtuoso guitarist Howard Alden who encouraged me to follow his lead and move from southern California to New York City. I got to the Big Apple in February of 1983, about a year after Howard. I had the good fortune to have a steady gig already waiting for me, as I’d agreed to join the Widespread Depression Orchestra before I left California. If anything, that band was ahead of its time, and presaged the “Swing Era” revival that occurred about fifteen years later. (On the advice of management, the band changed its name to the Widespread Jazz Orchestra. I’ve always preferred the original name.)
It was during a gig at the Maryland Inn in Annapolis with the Widespreaders that I received a phone call at my hotel (before cell phones) from my wife, Laura. I was to call Bob Wilber; something about a new movie to be filmed about the 1930s nightclub called the Cotton Club.
Well, that sounded intriguing. I had met Bob a few years before at the Breda Jazz Festival in the Netherlands, and we played a few sets together. I must have played with
