tales of the airport (no. 6)

Deborah Roitberg and Charles Mingus at Vancouver airport

Al called to ask a favour. Can you pick up Mingus’ band at the airport? I had a VW bus and was always happy to help out. Besides . . . Mingus! Of course! He’d been my musical hero since I was 14. Would you drive out to the airport to pick up Mozart? Of course you would. Mingus was an even greater genius.

I called Deborah. I’m picking up Mingus at the airport . . . wanna come along?

It so happened that Warner Bros (Mingus’ label at the time) had a guy in their Vancouver who actually knew who Charles Mingus was. He also showed up at the airport. He brought a limo, a box of Montecristos (Mingus’ favourite cigar) and a photographer. To this day I resent that I wasn’t the one to wind up in that photo.

More about me and Mingus.

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