#guy warren

[I] put on my beautiful blue velvet shirt and kofi hat. I was dressed beautifully, very respectably, and proudly, as an African. As I was going on stage the owner of the club, Harold Kanter, stopped me and said, 'No, no. You gotta change. You gotta put on what they wear there." Shirt with no sleeves, trousers rolled up, torn and tattered, straw hat--plantation stuff!...So here I was broke, ready to be thrown out of my hotel. He tells me, "Either wear that or you don't get the gig." I tell him, "I'm not going to go on and do that." Because that is what belittles Africa. In my country we don't do that, dress like that, unless you are a farmer...So Harold says, OK. And I played like I was full of fire. I was full of fire. I played like I had never played before and the whole place was aflame with the spirit of Africa.