Lu Watters ......Bill Dart

..........

When these shots were taken in a night club environment with odd lighting and very slow film, even a great photographer like Fletcher was in trouble. The shots of Bob Helm and Wally Rose were blurred. That these truly memorable photos were taken at that time is a testimonial to George's gut instinct at guessing what settings to use. Nobody would ever surpass these shots of the legendary revival jazz band of all time.

George Fletcher was also "The Jazzman" of radio station WHO, in Des Moines, Iowa, and he probably did more to keep Traditional Jazz alive in the US heartland than any other man. I stuck to the dials on Sunday nights in the early 1950s, jumping back and forth between WHO and WWL, in New Orleans. There was a lot of fun jazz coming out of New Orleans but there was a lot of great jazz coming out of Des Moines. The opening themes of Kid Ory's "Savoy Blues" still take me back to those days. George had a great voice for radio. I always loved the man and miss his presence. GCW

sequenced by Warren Trachtman

EMail to George C. Willick