To the editors:
Unlike Dempsey Travis, I was not in Chicago in the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s to experience–and participate in–the vibrant jazz scene of those days. So in order to provide a background for my book review last week (May 7), I made use of some facts he presents in his rich and vivid memoir, An Autobiography of Black Jazz. These dealt specifically with the string of clubs located on East Garfield Boulevard with which I introduced the piece, the appearance of Coleman Hawkins at one of them in 1941, and the circumstances surrounding a show at the Regal Theater in 1958. This last was taken from the reminiscence of the emcee at the date, Daddy-O Daylie, as given by Mr. Travis. I failed to acknowledge Mr. Travis’s book where appropriate. I should have, and I apologize to him and to the readers of the review.
Michael Solot