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[King Of Gracelan...]

In the first part, Jerry talks about his background and his career.
It's actually difficult to find anything other than the most basic facts on him, and even reference-books like 'Elvis - His Life From A To Z' are disappointing in that respect.
So we felt that some backgrounds were necessary to put the interview into perspective.
In the second part you'll find our interview about his years with Presley.

Jerry Talks:
"I grew up in the San Francisco Bay area, played tuba in grammar school and started playing string bass in the seventh grade.
I played in junior symphony as well as the school orchestra and played tuba in the Vallejo municipal band at age twelve.
We moved to Sacramento, CA when I was fourteen .
My mother was very supportive and took me to see concerts such as Jazz at the Philharmonic and Lionel Hamptons band.
I played mostly Jazz and classical music at the time, and listened to black R&B as well as Jazz stations from Oakland, CA.
At about age fifteen, I started to play in clubs and "after hours" sessions.
I played with mostly Jazz musicians who were into the East Coast Jazz scene.
In 1957 and 1958, I hung out in San Francisco some and played in an after hour club called "Jimbo's Bop City".
All the jazz musicians who came to town would come to play there.
Miles Davis sat on as well as John Coltrane and his band.
I never got to play with them, I would have been scared to death!
It was the "beat" era and there were a lot of drugs floating around.
I would beg some of the musicians to shoot me up....
I was a skinny towheaded white kid and I always felt like I was being protected.
Fortunately they did not give in to my desires.
One morning at about 3:00 a.m. at Jimbo's, a women came up on stage to sing.
She had on a pendelton shirt with a skirt and work boots.
This was 1958 and I had never seen anyone dressed like that.
She turned around and said "blues in F" as she stomped the time with her work boots.
The dust flew up from the carpet into the spotlight and away we went.
I was in heaven!
The singer was Big Momma Thorton.

[King Of Gracelan...]

Many say that Elvis was never the same after his divorce.
Did you observe any of that?
One thing that sticks in my mind, and in my wife's mind, 'cause she saw it too.
When he had this airplane built, the Lisa Marie, he had it delivered and flown into Las Vegas.
He had his daughter Lisa Marie in Las Vegas, and he had to take her back to L.A. to Priscilla.
He invited my wife and I to fly along with him, you know, "C'mon and fly in my new plane".
"Sure".
So Diane and I went out there, and we got on and took off.
He gave us a guided tour of the plane, he was very proud of it.
He showed us everything, even the soap and the towels!
He was very proud of it.
So we got to L.A., landed in Burbank Airport, and Priscilla came on the plane.
When she got on the plane, his whole demeanor changed.
Diane said to me at the time: "You know, he knows he's blown it with losing her".
He was just very, very...
On the flight back he was very quiet.
I think he was still sad about it.

The first recording-session you did with Elvis was in February 1976 at Graceland.
Do you have any special memories of that?
You know, we'd go down there and shoot a lot of pool! (laughs).
Just hang out, and record songs.
I have to confess to you, that during that time...
That whole period of my life, I had myself been into the drug situation.
A lot of my memory of that period in my life has been clouded by that, you know.
In 1978, I stopped taking all drugs, except for alcohol.
And it took up to a couple of years ago to get rid of that.
This is all pretty cloudy for me.
But I think that Elvis had lost interest.
He wasn't real happy with the songs that Felton found for him.
One of the songs was one that I wrote...