SAN JACINTO DANCE HALL

August 1944, Bunk's band at San Jacinto Dance Hall: L to R; Jim Robinson, Bunk Johnson, George Lewis, Baby Dodds, Alcide (Slow Drag) Pavageau, and Lawrence Marrero. There are several of these negatives...I don't know how many, but I have prints from three. The wonder is that we have any! The above photo was taken late at night (notice the beer bottles between the railing spaces). I worked with this negative, cleaned it, and attempted to enlarge it....couldn't do it, my equipment just wasn't up to it and the contrast here (in negative) was just extreme and the negatives were thin (as in underdeveloped). The above is from a contact print.

The oddest thing about the three negatives of this event that I have seen is that the camera didn't change position, the lighting didn't change, and the musicians were all in exactly the same position. Yet in two, they are wearing T-shirts or what we now call muscle shirts. In one, Slow Drag has a pipe in his mouth and the shadow is clear on the wall. In going back over Bill's notes I'm certain that this was a recording session with the equipment in front of the band on tables to the left and the camera was placed to the right side, out of the way. No mikes on the bandstand as Bill wanted to hear the echo in the hall. Ambience often controlled Russell's thinking. It was his style. But this accounts for the musicians holding the same pose...they were directing their horns to the mikes. Nonetheless, I cannot stress enough what an honor and privilege I felt in working with these negatives and what a constant worry it was for me until they were safely back in Bill's hands. GCW