Harold Valle: Jazz has always been an integral part of my life. As a kid I was aware of jazz because down the street the record shop would be playing the latest records, and they had numerous [jazz] broadcasts on the radio and the [station] was in the middle of the [dial], so you didn't have to search very far to find the music [on radio]. And they integrated the music [on the radio], they would play pop music then they would play jazz, and then blues. I was introduced to the boogie woogie type piano. I lived on the East Side [Manhattan] first and then my parents moved to the West Side and it was at that time that I was more or less introduced to jazz. 

I lived on the corner next to a community center and they had dances on Friday; the Morningside Community Center, at Morningside Avenue at the corner of 122 Street [Harlem]. They would have teenage dances downstairs and the persons who would play the music were jazz aficionados, and they would play the jazz of the day — which was a combination of blues & swing. And the older fellas would be doing the dancing to the various swing pieces. One of the great, great pieces that they always played was "Cherokee" and they always danced to that, "Blue Harlem," and certain things of that era they would dance to. That's more or less how I was introduced to music. 

Seemingly the guys in the neighborhood were more or less all involved in the jazz thing. They seemed to appreciate it and at night I would hear the next door neighbors, they would start playing the music around 11:00. Since then I've always been into the music throughout my lifetime.