I remember hanging out with Art on his birthday at one of the famed clubs here in New York called Sweet Basils. I said, ‘Art, Happy Birthday! So how old are you now?’ Art said, ‘I’m 65 years old.’ I said, ‘oh man, that’s beautiful.’ So the following year I’m hanging out with Art again on his birthday at Sweet Basils and of course I said, ‘Art, Happy Birthday! So how old are you now?’ Art replied, ‘I’m 65 years old.’ I said, ‘hmm, that’s interesting math.’ So later I call Freddie Hubbard at home, and I said, ‘Hey listen man, I was just hanging with Bu, it’s his birthday and he says he’s 65’ Freddie responded, ‘Man, he says 65? He was 65 when I was in the band.’ So, who really knows how old Art really was.
Read moreImpressions of Art Blakey: A Conversation with Carl Allen - Part I
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