I’ve mentioned in several of my postings that I drove Joe Pass around quite a bit when he was visiting the New York area or wanted to go some place near New York. Well, he was part of Oscar Peterson’s band on and off for a few years and I would pick up Joe and sometimes some of the other players in the band, just not Oscar himself. The other musicians were Martin Drew and Niels Henning-Orsted Pedersen.

One day when I was driving the guys from uptown to the Blue Note in NYC, I asked what major difference was there between Ron Carter and Ray Brown; the guys laughed at my ignorance and gave me their views. From what I got out of that was that Ron Carter added color to a song, but Ray Brown was such a power house that when he played, Marching bands formed and never missed a step. Niels said “Ray Brown is so precise, you could set your watch by him” and then in stereo they all said at once “And we often do!”

These guys always showed appreciation for other players that earned that respect. One day when the guys were playing the Blue Note, just before going on, someone was close to the window and noticed Toots Thielemans down the street and they jumped from their seats to welcome him. They greeted Toots and walked him inside. You could tell the mutual admiration these guys had for Toots and for each other.

Joe Pass, Martin Drew and Niels Henning-Orsted Pedersen were all class acts and each could be called a musician’s musician.

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