Rummaging through biographical facts, I was reminded that the great pianist Jimmy Rowles and Minnie Pearl, the comic doyenne of country music both died in early 1996. That recalled a story Rowles told over lunch one day a few weeks before his death.
When he was Ella Fitzgerald’s accompanist, he said, they were on one of those 1960s television daytime variety shows; Mike Douglas or Merv Griffin. Another of the guests was Minnie Pearl in full array, the straw hat with price tag dangling, the flour sack dress, the exaggerated southern drawl. Her pianist didn’t show. The producer suggested that Jimmy accompany Minnie Pearl, and he agreed. She asked him, “Waal, Jimmih, what dew yew think we oughta dew?â€
After a long pause, Rowles said, “How about ‘Lush Life’?â€