Chapter 2, Growing Up 1927-1950’s 

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When he wasn't with his own group, Ed was often picked up by Teddy Jefferson, a west coast favorite who often played at two then well-know clubs that are now gone -- the Mo Mo Club and the Zansibar.  Jefferson's three to six piece combos had only one white guy sit in -- Ed.   

There were three reasons Ed could play with Teddy Jefferson.  One stemmed from his home life. Conductor Laura made sure prejudice wasn't a sound played on the Koupal stage.   

Dick Larimer, a buddy Ed played music with through the 40's and early 50's, describes Jefferson's band and then gives the second and third reasons.  "Jefferson's group was completely different than any I had known.  You had to enjoy good music to enjoy listening to them.  Jefferson's group was into drugs -- marijua­na, heroin.  Ed didn't do any of that.  He was never a part of drugs and was not a heavy drinker.  Ed was always in control, never out of control.  And at that time you didn't see blacks and whites mixing that well." 

But with Ed, Teddy Jefferson and other Black groups would make an exception, because as Larimer says, "Ed could play the Black beat.  He had the ability to play the black musician's music.” 

The third reason could be heard from a lot of people who heard and saw Ed play.  According to Larimer, a man who had studied violin for 14 years, played for an equally long period in several bands and the Sacramento Philharmonic, it was simple. 

"Ed was excellent!  Fantastic!  One of the best I've ever known, as far as getting the beat of the music.   Ed could play the trombone, but he was the best at the bass vile. 

"He was the best bass man I've ever know, and I’ve see a lot of them.  I played with the philharmonic and the symphony here in Sacramento, and I've watched many, many orchestras throughout the West coast ... Ed was one of the, if not the 'best' bass man I've ever known. 

 "He was taught by Eddie Safranski, who was probably the best.  And I can't say  that Ed was any less than Safranski...  I have and had seen Miller, Dorsey and James --- today, there’s not a good one out there that could equal Ed. 

"Ed was the type of guy that had the ability to pick up a bass, and start a beat, and everything started going in him, and he started going.  That's why they said he had the 'Black beat'...  

"And as a showman, Ed was very good, very good.. He had the abili­ty to express himself and do it very well...  He could take over an audience with laughs.  

"He had the ability to comically interpret things.  You'd put a mike in front of him, and he'd spell out things that would at­tract the attention of the audience.  Even off stage, he had this ability. When discussing items with various people, he always led the conversation.  He was very good at that...” 

To this day, Larimer wonders why Ed didn't stick with music.

"Music was Ed's life for a long, long time. I never understood why he left it.  He could've gone to the top with his music had he kept up with it. 

"He loved music.   Nothing was more dear to him than music. I was completely taken aback when he went to the political end because he had never been that way.  He loved his music and never talked politics, or at least I can't remember any specifics about poli­tics, although he was always opinionated.  His political change had to come in a different era, after the 49-50 eras where I ran with him.