Here’s my Chuck Berry story:
We were playing in Phoenix, and a group of friends had a band called “Gabriel,” a 9-piece horn band Chicago/Blood, Sweat & Tears style.
Berry was hired to do a big concert. He hired Gabriel. First, he showed up and we heard he demanded his money in cash, in a brown paper bag.
Second, he looked at the band and said to the horns, “I don’t use horns, so you’re fired.” He looked at the keyboard player and said, “I don’t need keyboards.” He looked at the guitarist and said, “I don’t need a rhythm guitar.” The only guys he kept of the nine was the drummer and bass player :)
Very cool. I just looked at your profile. I’ll follow up on your posted info. We have lots of music related folks here in Tokyo.
That is how I saw him in San Diego in 1989, tiny club in the corner of a shopping center, bass and drummer were 25 maybe, they were playing, he was late then walked in, tuned his guitar, talked to the two guys, it appeared they had not met, then put on a one hour show that was just great, there were maybe 60 people there. Better than Jerry Lee Lewis but just barely, not quite as good as Elton John or the Stones but those were productions.