Sneak Peek: Remembering Roy Haynes and Lou Donaldson Podcast

Jo: Here’s Roy Haynes 

Roy Haynes: The Savoy, you can't hardly describe it in anything that you'll know about, you've got to have a great imagination. That was really an exciting period, because not only the people came to dance, some people would just stand in front of the bandstand and listen. They call that the "home of the happy feet" because a lot of people could dance like they were professional in those days, '40s, was when I first come to New York with the band. My first job, like I was saying, was at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem. So it was a very exciting period. 

Jo: And Lou Donaldson 

Lou Donaldson: Minton's was like a joint. It wasn't really a club. And, it was what we called a walk-in place. You know, you didn't have to pay anything. And, everybody came there. It was like a celebrity hangout, because you had people say, like Roy Eldridge, Billie Holiday, and Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan. They worked downtown. But their jobs ended at twelve o'clock or one o'clock. Minton's stayed open 'til four o'clock. So about two o'clock, all of them were there. They used to come in to hear the music. It was great. Great.