All my life Count Basie was there. He was like manager, mentor, father, brother, everything. He’d help me get jobs when I had my big band later. And, I remember we played up in New Haven, a job that he didn’t want to take, and he said, “Okay, I’ve got a job for your band. You got it.” And so they got the contracts. We were the same agency, Willard Alexander, and we got a third of what he would get naturally. It was a 12 or 1300-seat place and only about 700 people showed up, and I was really disappointed and hurt. I had a big band from New York. Basie showed up, and he said, “Okay, give the man half of the money back.” I said, “What do you mean, half of the money back?” He said, “He put your name down front and the people didn’t come. He will be important for you in the future and you shouldn’t hurt him because the people didn’t come. Give him half of his money back.” I gave half the money back. He always tried to teach me how to be a human being.