Jazz Legends

Some jazz legends’ nicknames are English noble titles:
Nat ‘King’ Cole, ‘Count’ Basie, ‘Duke’ Ellington…
Is there a story behind it ?

Nah. It’s pretty much like everything else. “Hey, that fellow certainly plays the piano well! He’s a regular KING OF THE KEYBOARD!” “Say, that fat guy sure can hit a baseball! He’s the SULTAN OF SWAT!”

I always liked that Billie Holiday dubbed tenor saxophonist Lester Young the “President.” Nice 'n democratic. And it shortens nicely to “Prez.”

Guys I’ve gigged with refer to me as the “Alderman.”

What I meant by “like everything else” was that comparison to royalty is a simple shorthand for suggesting quality of performance, common to any field of endeavor.

Hey, ArchiveGuy…don’t fuck with the Alderman.

One snap of my fingers, and your garbage don’t get picked up for six weeks.