About My Life In Music by Walter Page, as told to Frank Driggs

Here is a long and interesting interview with the pioneering bassist Walter Page from inaugural issue of the 1958-1961 jazz journal The Jazz Review. Founded by Nat Hentoff, Martin Williams, and Hsio Wen Shih in New York in 1958, The Jazz Review was the premier journal of jazz in the United States. The interview starts:

“I learned to play bass horn before I learned string bass . . . in the neighborhood brass bands. There were three brothers next door to me who played bass horns . . . one played bass horn, one played baritone horn bass clef, the other played baritone treble clef. On the other side of the street there were two other brothers, Joe, who played cornet, and Frank, who played bass horn. I learned how to play bass horn from them and by the time I was in high school I was playing bass horn and bass drum in their band. ”

The link to the interview is the entire Jazz review issue in .pdf form hosted at the very useful JazzStudiesOnline.org. The interview starts on page 12, and the .pdf is a bit slow to open, so be patient, it’s worth it!

 Click here to read  About My Life In Music  by Walter Page, as told to Frank Driggs