I was in that Louis Armstrong's band for about six months, then I went directly into Eckstine's band, which I hadn't heard before. I really didn't know what to expect. I joined them in the Howard Theatre in Washington, D. C., taking the chair of Lucky Thompson, who had just left the band. And man, I didn't have any rehearsal, just sat in with the band cold�”and I didn't know what was going on. The whole conception was new.

Art Blakey was on drums, Tommy Potter on bass, John Malachi was the piano, Connie Wainwright on guitar and that was the rhythm section. The reed section was Gene Ammons, myself, John Jackson, Leo Parker and a third alto�“player named Billy Frazier. A few months later Sonny Stitt took his place.

But gee, man, that first night there was so much going on that I couldn't believe it. It was such a difference, coming out of Louis' band to a band like this. It was a whole new world for me because here was the exact opposite�”crazy arrangements, wild young musicians, the esprit de corps�”I was just thrilled. This was the kind of band that I think every musician dreams of playing in.

It was the last show on the last night of the engagement at the theatre. They opened up with a number called "Blitz"�”an up�“tempo Jerry Valentine arrangement. They were off to the races�”everything was flying. Every time Art would roll and kick I'd just come up out of the chair! Yeah, Billy's band was the band�”the first modern jazz big band. It's just too bad that it started during the war at a time when big bands were on the way out. It stayed together a couple of years until things really started getting tight. The cost of living was rising every day, so the handwriting was on the wall regarding the big bands. I was with the band about a year, leaving before it broke up.

Bird was in there originally when the band was formed in '44. When I joined in September, 1944 he had already left and John Jackson had taken over on first alto. Diz was still in the band and, of course, that was a gas.

I certainly enjoyed those tenor battles............with Gene Ammons in Eckstine's band.

According to the person interviewed above, it is an little known fact about that the ever popular "tenor sax battle or dual" started in Hamp's band pitting himself against another great tenor man of the day.

Who is the player quoted above? Who did he battle in Lionel Hampton's band in what is now considered to be the first great "tenor duels"? What was the name of the tune in the Hampton big band book that first featured these two battling it out on the tenor sax?