An Interview With Jazz Musician Great Lon Dorsey

Jazz Musician Lon Dorsey was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. Musician greats such as Stepin Fetchit and Bill Doggett played a big part in his wanting to be a part of the industry; however, his most influential start would, perhaps, take place back in the ‘40’s, in his mother’s jazz café, when he was around three years old. “When I was coming up, we had these red and white tables and my mother would pick me up, put me on the table and have me to dance. The people would laugh and I would make about $2 or something like that. That was a lot of money back then,” Dorsey told us, in a recent interview.

Like most jazz and blues singers, Dorsey started out singing in church, which is where he and many others got their first training. The talented musician shared a piece of his childhood memory with us, as he recalled his family having their own records and a juke box which they had to wind up in order to play the records. “My sister and I would fight over who would wind the juke box up. We knew all of the songs and a lot of kids didn’t have that. They would change the records out every two weeks. We got to keep the records; all those we didn’t make ash trays out of, we played them and so that’s basically how it went,” cited Dorsey.

Dorsey recently paid tribute to the late, great Lou Rawls, at Buttons in Addison, Texas. Rawls is a household name to many of us. Dorsey gave us an even greater story, as he talked about how he and Rawls met. “Lou and I were kind of like brothers. I first met him at a club on Grand Avenue in Dallas, Texas, but I don’t think I knew who he was, because he was just starting to become who he was, at that time, in the late 60’s, early 70’s. He had some songs that had been out about 12 years. When we really met was in 1980, when I went to see one of his shows at the Paramount Hotel in Downtown Dallas. He was standing outside of the room and there was nobody there. It was going to be a small show. He said, “Man you look just like me,” and I said, “No, you look just like me.” He said, “No, you look like me because I’m the oldest” and I said, “Ok then” and that was the beginning of a longtime and lifelong friendship. A couple years before Lou died, he was going to help me with my music, so it didn’t happen, but it was a lifelong friendship.”

Dorsey has had several bands, including The Lon Dorsey Band. According to the jazz great, bands are kind of hard to put together sometimes, especially when it comes to doing blues music. “We do straight up jazz and something that doesn’t require special things, so anybody can play for you. I’ve had numerous bands and numerous keyboard players. The kind of keyboard player you have is going to determine the kind of band you have. This last gig I did was with Jason Davis and his band and it went well. People loved it and they showed it with applauds. I did “You’ll Never Find” and I did “Stormy Monday.” I’ve been concentrating on anything that keeps Lou out there, in the States. You can’t go across the world without somebody knowing who Lou Rawls is,” said Dorsey.

Dorsey’s advice to young entrepreneurs who are seeking their career as a jazz musician is, “Don’t ever give up, no matter what happens. There are a lot of things that people do to you or they don’t do for you but don’t ever give up.”

Visit Lon Dorsey's music at: http://www.reverbnation.com/artist/fb_share/2371835