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  » Volume XV
Warren Commission Hearings: Vol. XV - Page 205« Previous | Next »

(Testimony of James Thomas Aycox)

Mr. Griffin.
What did you play?
Mr. Aycox.
I played drums.
Mr. Griffin.
How many other pieces were in the band?
Mr. Aycox.
We had a bass player and a saxophone and guitar. Four other pieces besides the piano. Five all together.
Mr. Griffin.
Had any of your four people, not including Leonard Wood, had you four people played together before?
Mr. Aycox.
Not exactly. I played, sat in some jobs, but I never worked steady. Nobody but the guitar player.
Mr. Griffin.
Was this a group that Leonard Wood arranged?
Mr. Aycox.
It was a group that he organized.
Mr. Griffin.
Did you people belong to a union or have any agent or anything like that?
Mr. Aycox.
Well, I belonged to the union myself, and I guess some of the other fellows belonged to the union, too.
Mr. Griffin.
Did you have agents?
Mr. Aycox.
No; not for this particular job. We have agents, but this particular job, I just got it accidentally.
Mr. Griffin.
Did Leonard Wood stay on with the band?
Mr. Aycox.
After I left?
Mr. Griffin.
Well, was he there all the time you were there?
Mr. Aycox.
He was there all the time; but he stared replacing Leonard and got another pianoplayer.
Mr. Griffin.
Jack tried to replace Leonard?
Mr. Aycox.
Leonard didn't want to follow out the orders, and he told him, "You either do like I say or you have to leave." So Leonard said he spent his time running around to get the fellows together and picking up people to get there to rehearse, but he still didn't want to do what Ruby said, so Leonard stayed on, and we got to where we couldn't get along, so on a Wednesday night, I believe I told him I decided to quit and go with another band, because I did what Mr. Ruby said, but still I wasn't pleasing Leonard, so I didn't call him or tell him nothing.
I didn't get a chance to see him because every time I called him at the club the line was busy. And this Wednesday night I decided to leave, so they got another drummer.
Mr. Griffin.
How long before you left did Jack start to try to replace Leonard Wood?
Mr. Aycox.
He just told me that, once or twice. One night after we finished playing, he would come from the other club over here and see how things were, and then I guess one of the waitresses, she must have told him that he asked me to sing three or four numbers and Leonard didn't want me to sing those numbers. Leonard wanted to be the whole show and he didn't have what it takes to compete with everybody else on the show, so he just got cross, and he was the band leader. I had a chance to take over the band out at the club out there, but he didn't want to follow out the orders, so I decided to leave.
Mr. Griffin.
Did Eva Grant work at the club at all during the last week that you were there?
Mr. Aycox.
She hadn't gotten out of the hospital yet, I don't think, because we sent her a card out to the hospital. She hadn't came out of the hospital yet.
Mr. Griffin.
Did she work there at all when you were employed there?
Mr. Aycox.
She worked there about a week after I started playing there.
Mr. Griffin.
The first week that you were there, she was at the club?
Mr. Aycox.
Yes.
Mr. Griffin.
Then the next week, you didn't see her?
Mr. Aycox.
I don't think so.
Mr. Griffin.
What kind of clientele did they have at the Vegas Club?
Mr. Aycox.
What kind of what?
Mr. Griffin.
Patrons.
Mr. Aycox.
Well, they were pretty nice; you know. They came out some nights, Quite naturally on Friday and Saturday there would be more people than through the week. Some nights through the week we had a pretty nice crowd.
But here is the point. After Joe left, Leonard had been playing with Joe--
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