47: Oh, Didn't He Ramble: The Life Story of Lee Collins (as Told to Mary Collins), Frank J. Gillis, John W. Miner

The writing is nowhere near the level of Jazz from the Beginning's, with many boring enumerations of musicians on sessions and gigs. Lee played with, and was one of, the great ones, though, so it's certainly worth reading.

Some of what I assume is Lee's voice (though it could be Mary's) comes through in the writing, and it sounds like Armstrong's with a lot of "the warmest guy you could ever wish to meet" and "we blew mighty fine that night."

The description of a Labor Day parade with Armstrong, Buddy Petit, and Lee Collins playing cornet includes this lovely bit of slang:

The mounted police stopped the band because we were playing so barrelhouse and all the people, white and colored, were cutting up so bad.

At some point Lee claims Sherman "Professor" Cook "was the one that later invented the Lindy Hop." I'd never heard his name before, so now I need to pick Peter Loggins's brain about him.

I'm going to try to start Pops Foster's biography next. It should fit in well with this one.