Happy Birthday Charles McPherson

West End Hotel News - In Walked Charles

Otis “Bu Bu” Turner

At the baby-grand piano,

Sings If You Could See Me Now beneath a triumphal arch,
Separating two rooms of beboppers, night-owls,

‘Players’ who knew what Bu Bu was saying,

Knew what he was playing,

Knew Diz and Dameron.

Blues In The Phone Booth

Alvin Jackson, a double-bass playin’ brother,

Brother of Bags, has completed his phone-call,

Leaves the door wide-open for the trumpet player who,

Prefers to jam sitting down - get down sitting down then.

Roy! Brooks! drummin' man,

Has set up his drummin’ stuff to one side of Bu Bu’s baby-grand.

Trumpet’s in the phone booth - was that Lonnie,
Lonnie Hillyer, inside with his Trumpet,
Pet?

Phone booth action happened on the other side of Bu Bu - at his left hand.

In Walked Charles of the McPherson clan - an alto playin’ Man!

Worst coffee in the world! But the West End Hotel's after-hours' hang,
Provided everything else that this young man’s soul required.

Man!

Teddy Charles - "Coolin'"

St. Mark's Place, NYC -- Five Spot Café and Jazz Gallery -- Summer Evenings 1961.

• I saw and heard Teddy Charles, vibes perform at the Jazz Gallery with Mal Waldron, piano and Ed Shaughnessy, drums. Seated at a table in the front row were three Jazz Messengers -- Lee Morgan, Wayne Shorter and Bobby Timmons with two or three women of or from the Orient.
• Outside the Jazz Gallery that evening, a woman was trying to have a chat with Thelonious Monk. Monk in his green suede shoes was dancing 'round his would-be interlocutor. 
• I had met Mal Waltron one evening at the Five Spot Café. I was outside the Five Spot the night of the legendary Eric Dolphy's live recording at the Five Spot, a group that featured Mal Waldron, Booker Little, trumpet, Richard Davis, bass, Ed Blackwell, drums and Eric Dolphy, reeds. 
• The Five Spot, 5 Cooper Square in the Bowery and the Jazz Gallery, 80 St. Mark's Place were owned and operated by the Termini brothers. The Five Spot has a very rich history musically. It was also a favorite hang for New York artists and literati. I lived across the street at 326 Bowery during the summer of 1961.
• Listening to Teddy Charles' recordings today prompted the above.