[Chuckling] I think about it, I say, probably the Buddha said, "Don't go, I'll get you some job." So this job, it was a long time. Then when finally the Five Spot closed, Art D'Lugoff of the Gate, Top of the Gate, you know, Village Gate, and Top of the Gate was used most of the time was [for] trio jobs. And so Art said, "Come play at my place," so I was playing solo there, also. In those times, John Lewis used to come in and I didn't even know John was there, you know, but he used to come in to, I don't know, listen to ... well, he used to come in, but anyway.... So, when I was doing that, Mingus came to me and said, "Why don't you join my group?" And uh ... before that, I must mention about John Lewis, though, because this probably ... I'm not quite sure, I'm kind of a little bit mixed up as far as that is concerned. Mingus asked me ... could be, that could be first.... Um, "Why don't you join my group?" And I said, "Why? There are so many good players," and he said, "It's true that there are a lot of good players, but you're a new name," he said, "You're a new name, and a new name is very important to the group." Now, that really impressed me, because Mingus, he could've said to me, "It's good for you, you'll get recognition," which I did. Uh, "many people will notice you," and like this. He could've said that to me, but he didn't. You know, he was ... many people, I think, disregard that part of Mingus, you know. They always ... it's more fun to talk about the other part of Mingus [laughs], so probably that's what they always talk about. But he was like that. So I joined the group and then was ... that was kind of an interesting experience, the fact is, because ... for several reasons. One--I think I mentioned yesterday--he rehearsed, the rehearsal was at his apartment. And uh, he didn't have any music: he sang and we all had to learn that. I think that's the best way. But it was a small group, and so on. And, when I joined, immediately we had [a gig at] Pep's in Philadelphia. Pep's was around the corner from the Showboat where I used to play with a trio, but Pep's was a bigger club, you know. And ... I think Pepper Adams was playing; and uh, there was a trombone player--I'm trying to think--it could be Garnett, I don't quite remember. It could be Garnett Brown, I don't know. But one point ... when I first had joined, there was Booker Ervin. I used to call him "Long John Silver," because he looked like Robert Newton [laughs]. So ... and Rich Williams was on trumpet. So when we went there ... so we were there two weeks. Two weeks ... the front line changed, you know. So the second week, Mingus would say, "The next weekend, Basie's band comes, and we gotta, so we really have to rehearse." So we were rehearsing many tunes, and so they came for a couple days, the weekend that Basie's band was there, and we ... he never played the ones we rehearsed [laughs].