The musicians knew all the small clubs for small combos playing hot jazz, from Boston to the Coast. It was a network of economic survival because, except for the most fortunate jazzmen, there weren't that many long-term engagements for improvisers in the thirties. (Nor are there now.) You skimmed around the country, lighting where you could for a time. The notion of the jazz concert was still remote; only big bands played theaters and ballrooms; and so it was in the clubs that most jazzmen and -women honed their skills while making enough bread to get to the next town and the next gig.

The small clubs were perpetual seminars in the demanding and evolving art of jazz. Local talent always came to hear the more or less renowned visitors. They listened hard, and the braver among them even unpacked their horns and moved toward the stand.There was a lot of "sitting in," both after hours and even before closing when the regular patrons were in the audience. And sitting in could lead to a "cutting ]contest," which could transform even the sleaziest club into a dramatic setting for a mighty joust.