MB: I just want to talk about what a cultural, anthropological institution that [bench] really was. It was the only chance I’d ever seen where I could hang for long times in a comfortable social environment and just hear stories and ask questions about New Orleans music, music in general.
It was really the best place to learn. Really, really experienced people would be up there, but you felt like everybody was kind of on an even playing field; it was comfortable. And since it was tons of different musicians, people would say stuff like, ‘Well, music is incredible, because it can cut through different cultural bla-blas.”
I’d felt like all these golden eras were all in the past. I figured, “I’m never gonna see what it was like in New York when Charlie Parker came out, I’m never gonna see what it was like to be in World War Two and the big swing bands, my life is just crap because I’m never gonna see a golden era.” But then when I was out there I’d look around and be like, “You know, this is my golden era.”
And it really was, talking to Coco and Uncle Lionel and learning that stuff.
[Stay tuned for the long-form interview, with Monty and his partner, Monica da Silva!]
