Fud Livingston, I Presume

A Jazz Ghost Haunts a Saloon.

"His final decade was a difficult one, and a pernicious addiction to alcohol ultimately took him out ahead of schedule. Until shortly before his death on March 25, 1957, Fud Livingston could periodically be seen playing piano at the back of various bars in certain sections of New York City." From Notes for the Jazz Oracle Collection.

You're looking a little fuzzy today, Fud.

And that’s how you look to me, Bobby... Set one up for me, ok? And, ah, put it on the cuff, would ya?

Hey, just cause you ain't been in here in a while don't mean you don't owe me for the last 3 times.

I know...

Excuse me, gents…

Yea, pal?

I'll take care of it.

I appreciate it, buddy.

Still a couple people around here who know who this guy is.

Let me get the shakes out, mister, and then maybe I’ll play you a tune.

[Fud makes quick work of a shot of whiskey] One more oughta do it. Bobby?

Ok.

[four stools down] Hey, buddy, you telling me this rum dum is somebody.

When the world was young.

That's good. When the world was young-and gay. I'll say.

I'm good to go now, Bobby. Hey, mister. What tune you wanna hear?

Dunno.

You know my song "Feelin' No Pain?"

You wrote that?

[4 stools down] Sure, that's the rummy's national anthem. Ironic, ain't it?

Hey, you wise-acre half-wit! I played with Bix! You understand me? What that means? I played with everybody-Miller, Goodman, Miff, Nichols!

Ok, Fud, calm down…I gotta admit. He knows how to play the damn piano.

Better'n that shit they call music now.

Fud, you were a respected guy. In demand.

Damn right. They needed a nice arrangement, they called Fud.

So, I gotta ask-what the hell happened?

I dunno, Bobby. Bix died, some of the guys changed their style. I got old. Jazz got old.

[Fud carefully gets off his stoll and drifts over to the corner of the room. He drops a few notes, but manages to wrestle some real music from a beat-up piano].

For those who don’t know his work, Fud Livingston was a very able reed player in the 1920’s-30’s. He was also a composer who was fully or partly responsible for the tunes “Feelin’ No Pain,” "Imagination," "Humpty Dumpty,” "Harlem Twist," "Sax Appeal" and "I'm Thru with Love." Livingston was also one of the most creative and advanced arrangers of the era. Check out:

This is an expanded and re-edited version of a piece I previously published in Syncopated Times.