Princess Noire by Nadine Cohodas

Author:Nadine Cohodas [Cohodas, Nadine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-37899-6
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2010-11-19T05:00:00+00:00

AFTER THE LONDON TRIP Henry returned to Vancouver to take care of family matters, and at roughly the same time, Gene Taylor and Buck Clarke went their separate ways. In a stroke of good timing, Al Schackman was back in New York and available. By happenstance, Nina and Andy found a new bass player, Gene Perla, whom they heard when they dropped in to a café in New York’s St. Marks Place. Impressed, Andy asked Gene afterward if he would come to a rehearsal October 21 at an Upper West Side studio. He made the date and was hired in time for a two-day trip to the Midwest: first a concert October 26 at Lake Forest College outside Chicago and then Detroit’s Ford Auditorium the next night.

After a subsequent four-day swing that took them from New York to Miami and Atlanta, Gene could see that Nina was unhappy with the drummer who had replaced Buck. Though he didn’t know Nina and Andy that well, he stepped forward anyway and told them to hire his talented friend, Don Alias. Nina said OK, and after the first rehearsal, she knew it was the right decision. She had also picked up a new organist who composed, too, Weldon Irvine. He had graduated from Hampton with a degree in English and music and had built a name for himself in New York music circles since arriving in 1965. The band was set for the foreseeable future.

Unbeknownst to the musicians, Andy and Nina had decided to change the group’s uniforms. They showed up at the next rehearsal with a couple of big bags, and instead of handing out new dinner jackets, they gave each of the men dashikis, one type of traditional African shirt. Gene’s eyes opened wide in disbelief when he saw the next thing: long gold chains with large medallions in the shape of Africa.

He held his tongue but only for a moment. “I’m not going to wear this,” he blurted out.

“Why not?” Nina asked, her irritation obvious.

“I’m Italian, not African.”

“You’re fired!” she snapped.

But Andy rushed in before the situation escalated. He calmed Nina down, and she and Gene reached an accommodation. He would wear the dashiki but not the medallion.

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