Replies

[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...]

Were you surprised by his death?
Yes, it surprised me.
I just always assumed that he'd pull out of it.
I have known many many other people in this situation, but with him I just figured he'd pull out of it.
It really surprised me. I was just in shock, you know.
I never went back down to Graceland.
In 1997 they had organized a tour for everybody to Graceland, but I wanted to remember it as it was.

A trick-question maybe: RCA's current marketing campaign is titled 'Elvis - Artist of the Century'.
Who, in your honest opinion, is the artist of the century?
Artist is a word that encompasses a broad spectrum, and I don't think it's fair to say 'Artist of the Century'.
What about for example Pablo Picasso?
He's also an artist.
But if you say 'Entertainer of the Century', I think that Elvis is right up there.
I think there are two singers that communicated more directly from the heart than anybody else, and that's Frank Sinatra and Elvis. When Elvis sang a song, you just KNEW that the song was going through his mind.
It wasn't just coming out of his mouth, but it was going through his mind, and affected his emotions when he sang.
So many singers sing a song, and they're thinking about the way they're going to sing - the projection, the phrasing and so forth.
When Elvis sang a song, it was just going through him, and it came out to the people that way.
He was probably better at that than anybody that ever lived.