From Birdland to Broadway

New York in the 1950s. On the stage at Birdland is the midget master of ceremonies, 3'9" Pee Wee Marquette, dressed in a zoot suit and loud tie, smoking a huge cigar and screeching mispronounced introductions into the microphone. Pee Wee is just one of the many characters that have made Bill Crow's forty years in jazz seem like an instant. In the same key as his acclaimed Jazz Anecdotes, this collection of revealing, hilarious, and sometimes moving stories runs the full gamut of New York's nightspots, introducing us along the way to the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, Stan Getz, Judy Holliday, Yul Brynner, and Simon and Garfunkel.