Almost everyone closely associated with me in the course of<br >a long life in music--and in a changing America--has a place<br >in the pages which follow. I hold them all in affeetion and re-<br >spect， and I have tried to make this evident in the text.<br > I must offer a special salute， however， to several of<br >my oldest companions on the journey: Fletcher Henderson，<br >Bill Basic， Benny Goodman， and Teddy Wilson.<br > I have always been grateful to the late Goddard Lieb-<br >erson， the brilliant president of Columbia Records， for his<br >unfailing friendship and support. He was the conscience of<br >the record business and its boldest innovator. My gratitude，<br >as well， to Bob Altshuler， the head of Columbia Records <br >public relations， for tirelessly touting my successful records<br >and minimizing my failures.<br > I want to acknowledge the unstinting assistance of<br >Frank Driggs and Michael Brooks， who for years have done<br >much of the legwork for which I received credit.<br > Of my many wonderful cousins not already men-<br >tioned， Shirley Burden and Watson Webb have been of<br >enormous help. And so has John Berg， the fine art director<br >of Columbia Records.<br > Thanks， too， to my old friend Willis Conover， who<br >encouraged me to reminisce on tape some twenty years ago<br >md gave me the notion that there might be a story in my<br >mstructured life. By the fortunate coincidence that Irving<br >Fownsend and I retired from Columbia Records at about the<br >ame time， a man who knows me as well as any in the world<br >xas able to help make this book a reality. For patiently and<br >killfully untangling the facts of my life， Irving， many thanks.<br >kny errors which may crop up， of eourse， are mine.<br > Finally， an appreciative nod to Adie Suehsdorf， the<br >host knowledgeable and ereative editor in my experience.<br >Fhe fact that he is also a lover of jazz made our collaboration<br >