I met Eugene Wright at a club called Blues Alley in Washington, D.C., circa 1970's. He was performing with the Monte Alexander trio. I walked in as they were playing a 12 bar blues at an ungodly crisp tempo. Monte was doing one of his marathon solos and Eugene was walking that bass (more like sprinting in a 26k run). I was mesmerized and I just stood there in the middle of the club looking and listening to this giant of a person (in every way). The sweat was tricking down his face and he had a grin on his face as he worked his way through that burning tempo blues for what seemed like about 15 - 20 minutes. It was the closeout song of the set and as Eugene walked past me on his way to the bar I commented on his performance. I didn't expect what happened next: he stopped and joked with me like I was a fellow musician (I am, but he didn't know it). The next thing he did was go the bandstand and get his bass to bring it back to show it to me. I was speechless because I don't play bass, for one; and for two, he did not know that I played anything at all. He went on to explain how it had been adapted to hold four strings as it was formerly a 16th century three stringed bass. He said: "Hey man, check it out, I'm going to the bar for a few minutes...".
I was like, what??--not to mentioned really nervous because it was a priceless instrument. That was the only time I've met Eugene and I've always wondered what it was that happened that night. I stood holding Eugene Wright's 16th century bass for the entire break (feeling self conscious as I plucked some strings) and he had never met me before that moment.