The story of jazz

Anecdote told by Ahmet Ertegun on American Masters, screened on KTEH this evening:

I wound up at a rent party [in Harlem], where James P. Johnson was playing. I'm drinking scotch and sodas. I'm in the seventh grade.

I had already met Sidney Bechet through my brother. He sees me at the party and says, "What are you drinking?" I say, "Scotch and sodas." He takes my drink away and says, "You're too young to be drinking!"

And he hands me a joint.