Mark, I have an interesting follow-up to your story.
I moved to San Francisco almost two years ago, to a nice apartment building with a building manager. One day, I came home to find an LP Id purchased off ebay for my wife (Dave Grismans Svingin with Svend). It came in typical cardboard shippers for LPs. My building manager ran into me at the same time and she asked if that was a vinyl record. I told her it was and thats when she told me that her brothers were the guys that owned the Blackhawk and founded Fantasy Records (the Weiss brothers) before selling it to Saul Zaentz. Because she was their kid sister, she used to waitress on the weekends at the Blackhawk, where she met, and was on a first name basis with ALL the greats that passed through those fabled doorsDavis, Coltrane, Brubeck, you name it. As she recalls, her brothers discovered Brubeck in some dive bar in Oakland! I asked if she had any photos from those days, but alas, she said that it never occurred to her to take anyto her they were just the guys who played at her brothers club! I guess no one really knew what a golden age those years would turn out to be.
Unfortunately, this very nice lady with the very interesting family history has since left our building. However, she now manages another building in my neighborhood and if I run into her, I will certainly ask if she knows what kind of recording set-up they had at the Blackhawk. I doubt she would know or remember, but Ill be sure to ask!
I moved to San Francisco almost two years ago, to a nice apartment building with a building manager. One day, I came home to find an LP Id purchased off ebay for my wife (Dave Grismans Svingin with Svend). It came in typical cardboard shippers for LPs. My building manager ran into me at the same time and she asked if that was a vinyl record. I told her it was and thats when she told me that her brothers were the guys that owned the Blackhawk and founded Fantasy Records (the Weiss brothers) before selling it to Saul Zaentz. Because she was their kid sister, she used to waitress on the weekends at the Blackhawk, where she met, and was on a first name basis with ALL the greats that passed through those fabled doorsDavis, Coltrane, Brubeck, you name it. As she recalls, her brothers discovered Brubeck in some dive bar in Oakland! I asked if she had any photos from those days, but alas, she said that it never occurred to her to take anyto her they were just the guys who played at her brothers club! I guess no one really knew what a golden age those years would turn out to be.
Unfortunately, this very nice lady with the very interesting family history has since left our building. However, she now manages another building in my neighborhood and if I run into her, I will certainly ask if she knows what kind of recording set-up they had at the Blackhawk. I doubt she would know or remember, but Ill be sure to ask!