From Birdland to Broadway

1950s New York. On the stage at Birdland is Pee Wee Marquette, the 3'9" MC, dressed in a zoot suit and loud tie, smoking a huge cigar, and mispronouncing the name of the next act. 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, Billie Holliday, Yul Brynner, and Simon and Garfunkel.