Today is the late trumpet player Clark Terry's birthday.
I used to enjoy playing his tunes on my "Jazz Scene" show on college radio in the late 1960s. I'd always get a kick out of "Mumbles," when he'd scat using jumbled words. And check out this one, "Blues for Smedley," where he plays both trumpet and flugelhorn and has a conversation between the two horns. Amazing.
My aunt and uncle had a restaurant in Burbank in the 60's, right down the street from the old NBC studios. Clark Terry played in the Tonight Show band, and he'd often stop in at their place for lunch. My cousin Rob worked there and got to know Terry. He remembers what a nice man he was.
When Rob visited earlier this year, I put a few of Clark Terry's tunes on the stereo and we sat back and enjoyed. One of them was "Mumbles," which Rob had never heard. Guess I still have that ole DJ in me.