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Eubie Blake

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Eubie Blake

Eubie Blake was one of America's greatest jazz pianists. The author of EUBIE, the late Al Rose, was my dear friend and mentor for many years. He encouraged me to write and my first novel, An Honorable German, is dedicated to him and my older sister.

You would recognize the tunes to many of Eubie's songs even if you didn't know the words but the song he is most famous for is :"I'm Just Wild About Harry" which he wrote for his record breaking first black musical on Broadway, "Shuffle Along."

Al knew Eubie very well and interviewed him extensively for this biography. Since Al was already an expert on American popular music, he could place Eubie and Eubie's incredible contributions in context. Eubie is beautifully written--Al was a gifted writer--impeccably researched--and a wonderful read. I sat in Al's living room one night decades ago and listened to Eubie play the piano. What an experience. One of my treasured posessions is a copy of Eubie signed by Al and by Eubie. Eubie was famous for being quite a ladies man. When Eubie was one hundred years old, Al asked him, "How old do you have to get before the sex drive goes?" And Eubie said, "better ask someone older than me."