| Summary: | Amos Gordon was a music teacher and musician in Birmingham. In this interview, he discusses Birmingham's unique musical heritage, explaining that Duke Ellington's first trumpet player and several members of Count Basie's band were from Birmingham. While living in Birmingham, he played in band called the Virba Cathedral band. They played in nearby areas for $10.00 per night. During the Depression, his music supported him. After graduating high school, he attended Alabama State then went on get his Master's at New York University. In 1939 he was hired at Tuttle Elementary School in Birmingham to teach band and Social Studies. He was drafted in 1943 and was assigned to Fort Benning, Georgia. He was discharged in 1946 and then went on to tour with various jazz musicians. He toured with Louis Armstrong, Lucky Millender and Andy Kirk. He discusses life on the road and goes on to say that he eventually got tired of and bored with traveling thousands of miles on a bus. Gordon describes Birmingham's music scene in the '30s and 40s: "all the big bands would come here... Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Lucky Millender, Louis Armstrong... " The bands were booked by black agents and played to all black audiences. He also describes the story behind the song, "Tuxedo Junction," a song credited to Birmingham composer Erskine Hawkins. While teaching music in Birmingham, he would be given free tickets to shows sponsored by Birmingham News but was forced to sit in the balcony. Gordon also recounts Nat King Cole's visit to Birmingham's Boutwell auditorium in the 1960s; Cole was physically attacked by a white man from Anniston. Cole subsequently said he would never come back to Birmingham.The digitization of this collection was funded by a gift from EBSCO Industries.
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