Excerpt of Transcript from Harlem Speaks

October 6, 2005 • Roy Haynes

ROY HAYNES:  Let’s get to the saxophone part. I don’t think he was holding it as high during that period. You know, ’cause that was after the Army, you know, after DB Blues and all of that. I was with him from ’47 to ’49, so... There were some nights when he felt good, you know. But he was... Monk reminded me a little of Lester Young. I don’t know if you’ve ever been around Monk. They had their own way of talking, both of ’em. Prez, I mean, he’d hold a conversation. You’d really have to be hip to what he was saying. You know, lots of times... I used to like that black, flat porkpie hat, and he had a black long coat. And he used to roll his socks down like that. And he had this little knot in his tie. I mean, he was a special guy. And if he would see anybody, he always had his eddis(sp?). Anyone know what his eddis was? No. Oh, ya’ll squares. (laughter) Eddis was his herb. Anyhow... (laughter) Eddis. And he used to drink gin. He used to have his own little flask of gin. We’d be, like, in a train station, and he would say, “Ah! Boom!” That’s the way he used to talk, make his hand expression like that. Say, “That’s Bob Crosby over there.”

HAYNES:  You know, Bob Crosby was the cop. (laughter) He had a lotta other things. And he loved the ladies, and... He was a special guy. He used to play a lotta records, a lotta singers. Even Sinatra. You know. He was something. He was something. I enjoyed those two years, because I was making a hundred dollars a week, paying your own hotel bill, and they were taking out tax. And I still enjoyed it. (laughter) You know. Yeah.

LEWIS NASH:  Roy, when we were on the little intermission there, some folks also were curious about any other reminisces about Charlie Parker.

HAYNES:  You know, I was so fortunate to work with all these people. And I’m constantly getting calls to do interviews for all of them, all the time. Some times I run— I’m saying the same thing over and over again...

NASH:  Sure.

HAYNES:  …as you can imagine. So sometimes it’s hard, you know.

NASH:  Yeah.

HAYNES:  When I start talking about an incident, it’s something that happened and, you know... So what was your question again? I forgot, man.

NASH:  Well, you know, a lot of the people, you know... For example, let’s put it this way. Let’s say a young person today goes to the video store, the DVD store or whatever, and they don’t really know anything about the music, so to speak; and they rent the movie Bird. They would not really get a good idea of what Charlie Parker was really like. So I guess... And then are some people in here who I’m sure do have a good idea; but there’s some young musicians and people who— it’s good for them to hear certain things from someone who was there. So I was just wondering if you might have any, even short, remembrances of an experience with Bird, or something that you might want to share with us.

HAYNES:  I’m sure I do have a lot of them, but I can’t think of an appropriate one at this point. I’ve got some really serious ones. You know (laughs) May not be good right now. This is supposed to be a documentary, you know, man.

NASH:  Mr. Haynes…

HAYNES:  Please.

NASH:  …about ten years ago, as you recall, I was part of a tribute to you on WBAI. And I remember you telling a story about Charlie Parker, how quick his mind was.

HAYNES:  Mm.

NASH:  So does that bring up anything? Because I remember you saying that— I don’t know if you were in Paris or (inaudible)

HAYNES:  Oh, yeah, yeah, you’re talking about that documentary that... I’ll say something about it. I’d rather not go there again now, you know. No, I mean, I’m sure a lotta people have seen that— what is that thing’s title? It’s a documentary, where I talked about... Bird would play this phrase from this tune, The Last Time I Saw Paris. And then, you know, I even sang it in the documentary. You know. I hummed it. And, you know, a lotta people were not even aware, there’s one thing... See, when I get in situations like this, I don’t wanna start calling names; but we had a road manager for a while, or the manager, he used to collect the money. And then I remember playing in Cleveland, Ohio. The name’a the place was the Sky Bar. And of course, we had to do matinees and everything there. When he would get the money, he would act like a little kid. And he would come grinnin’ in front of the bandstand. And Charlie Parker one time went right into a tune, (hums). Does anyone know the title of that?

VOICES:  Scatterbrain.

HAYNES:  Scatterbrain. Well, he was referring to the cat (laughter) acted like a scatterbrain. That’s how fast Charlie Parker was. I think maybe I was the only one on the bandstand that checked that out, too. ’Cause I mean, he just played... That’s how fast he was.

NASH:  Thank you. Thank you so much. Alright, I’m sure we have some — probably several questions. (inaudible voices) They could stand up, and if they could enunciate.

WOMAN:  Your career has spanned a lot of people. A lot of people who weren’t born in the forties, such as myself, but know your music from the fifties. You talked about I’m Late; that’s one of my favorite albums, with Stan. Then I saw you with Chick Corea and Miroslav Vitous. So you played a lotta styles with a lot of people, and stayed as fresh as tomorrow. Can you speak a little bit about that?

HAYNES:  I think you said it, sweetheart. (laughter) It speaks for itself. But you know, now, we don’t really have that much time. But thank you for paying attention and keeping me inspired.

MAN:  Mr. Haynes, good evening. I’m wondering, how did you avoid the pitfalls of drugs that (inaudible)

HAYNES:  (Over man) I was a strong little guy.

MAN:  Right.

HAYNES:  You understand. I used to hang out with everybody, you know. So I’m thankful that I did avoid, you know, certain things. You know, when you— there’s some people been buggin’ about writing a book, but... Which I’m really gonna start to do, and I gotta save some things for my book. Maybe if you guys don’t buy it, your children might buy it. So I can’t give everything out at, this point. I gotta save something. I was in Europe someplace, and another drummer was hanging with me. I had to do an interview. And sometimes I don’t— you know, I’m not into it. But when I get to talkin’ the truth and different incidents, this drummer said to me, he said, “You’re not gonna give out all your information, are ya?” Said, “You’ve been talking for an hour.” So next. (laughter)