From a James Wayne on Old Town blues CD
The James Wayne recordings were a wonderful find in the Old Town
archives, found in the mid-80s. Hy Weiss recalls the events
surrounding Wayne's session: "It was 1954. I saw him in the
middle of the night drinking at the Baby Grand on 125th St. I
took him out into the street and I called Jimmy Lewis who was the
guitar player at Atlantic. I said 'get me some musicians' so we
went down to the Bell Sound studio, woke the guy in the middle of
the night, and I recorded James Wayne. In the morning I had no
money to pay him; there were cops all over the place, we were
fighting all over in 133 Street. It was one of the funniest
nights of all times.
"The next day I brought him some money to pay him. He was in his
army uniform, and I didn't believe it was him, until he showed me
his identification papers! He had that big record 'Tend To Your
Business' - it was the most drunken session I ever had."