[Tradjazz] Jazzbeaux

[Vaxtrpts at aol.com]

Al Collins was a close friend and the biggest supporter that my big band in  
the Bay Area ever had.  He came to most of our concerts and gave us  
unbelievable amounts of promo on his Saturday night show on KCSM.  In fact,  many times 
if I was in town, he would have me on his show and we would talk and  play 
recordings for a couple of hours.  Sometimes he would just leave the  studio for 
a while and tell me to just "do what I wanted."
Not long before he died, we had a tribute concert for him and re-created  the 
"Purple Grotto" on stage.  It was great!  We even included a  purple throne 
for him.  We played a lot of his favorite pieces and he told  some wonderful 
stories. We also had many musicians from all over come up and  sing his praises. 
 It was an evening to remember!
After he died, we did another tribute concert for him and again many people  
sang his praises.
He was truly one of the best friends that we musicians have ever had.
Another thing that he did for me, was to use my recording of Louis  
Armstrong's Wild Man Blues as his closing theme back in the 80's, when he was at  WNEW 
in New York.  We sold 
A LOT of recordings, thanks to him!  (I'm sure many of you remember  that his 
opening theme for many years, was Count Basie's "Blues in Hoss  Flat.")
Mike Vax
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