Freddie Green on Jenkin's Orphanage Band:

Mr. Green : Another thing that I remember was Jenkin's Orphanage
Helen Dance: Oh.
Mr. Green: Jenkin's Orphanage.
Helen Dance: The group?
Mr. Green: It was an orphanage. They had five or six bands you know. Underprivileged kids.
Helen Dance: Yeah.
Mr. Green: And they all had instruments, and used to play. They used to go on corners and play .
Helen Dance: Well, you mean they were in Charleston, too?
Mr. Green: Jenkin's Orphanage? Heck, yeah.
Helen Dance: Well, was there a Jenkin's Orphanage in alot of places?
Mr. Green: No. No, Charleston is --
Helen Dance: That's where it was?
Mr. Green: That's where it was. In the center, Charleston is the -- as far as music is concerned, I mean, Charleston has always been musical.
Helen Dance: Really? And they had about five different bands?
Mr. Green: They had about five different bands. And they traveled all over the city, in other words, to work on different street corners and, you know, pick up money that way to help the orphanage. They used to come into my neighborhood, and I used to stop whatever I was doing, and follow them all over the city.
Stanley Dance: Would they be marching bands of sorts?
Mr. Green: Marching band, you know. They were a marching band. But they would play the "St. Louis Blues" and all of whatever was happening during that period. They were strictly a brass band, more or less.
Helen Dance: Did you ever know any - was there anyone there blowing that you came to know afterwards?
Mr. Green: Later on. Yes.
Helen Dance: Who?
Mr. Green: Oh, like Cat Anderson --

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Helen Dance: You mean that kids seven and eight would be out blowing their horns?
Mr. Green: Heck, yeah. Yeah, they trained you know, real young. And they were on the corner playing -- seven, you know -- say from about seven on up to about -- I'd say fourteen or fifteen years old, or sixteen.
Helen Dance: And they play in the white parts of town?
Mr.Green: All over. Anywhere. Well, you see, Charleston is a city that -- there's no "across the track".
Helen Dance: Oh, there isn't?
Mr. Green: You know, there's whites here, blacks here. So there was no -- I mean there was no separation, not really.
As far as the music end of it is concerned, Jenkin's was all over the city. You know, they would play -- and I would just follow them all over. Wherever they'd go. I think that had alot to do with it.
Stanley Dance: Well, this is one thing where poor kids like that could get some musical training.
Mr. Green: Right. Right.
Stanley Dance: I mean, you wouldn't get that at school would you?
Mr. Green: Not during that period you didn't have anything like, you know, bands in schools.
Stanley Dance: Well, then they sent the bands out through the country?
Mr. Green: Oh, yeah. All over the world. Jenkin' s band has been everywhere. They've played before the King and Queen. They had big -- you know -- it was a big thing. And they used to go all over the country.

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On starting out in New York City:

Stanley Dance: I was wondering when you decided you could make it as a musician. You know, that must have been quite a decision to take, When you have to provide for this family out of playing the banjo or the guitar.
Mr.Green: Yeah. I know. Well, I figured, if I could get away -- I knew I wouldn't be able to make it in Charleston, -- not playing music. I had to get away. And, because of the fact I had been to New York -- You see -- I had been here, and I had seen, and I had heard, and I knew whatever had to come -- it had to come from New York. And the band (Jenkin's) came back through there, we stopped in New York, and I just stayed in New York.
Helen Dance: Oh.
Mr. Green : See I didn't go back.
Helen Dance: That's how you got out?
Mr. Green: Yes.
Helen Dance: So, and before you sent for her (his wife) you'd probably got yourself the job at the Yeah Man? Am I right?
Mr. Green: Yes. Yes. I'd got my job at the Yeah Man -- I' d been working -- doing other things, you know what I mean. Like I worked as an upholsterer, making chairs and what-not. Then after she got there I had two jobs. I'd work at the upholstery during the daytime, and at the Yeah Man at night.
Helen Dance: You had probably heard that they needed a banjo, or something, at Yeah Man, or someone you know told you, or what?
Mr. Green: Well, there was a friend of mine -- Do you know Lonnie Simmons?
Stanley Dance: Yeah. What did he play?
Mr. Green: Saxophone, and organ. He and I were real close, you know, -- he being from the same city. He's from across the way -- in Mount Pleasant. Mount Pleasant -- that's where he's from. But he went to school in Charleston, see? And, I remember him from school. Okay -- to bring you up to date -- he was worked with the Nighthawks for awhile. And then he came to New York, and he got this job at the Yeah Man. And he knew about me, you know. He got me this job over there. And I worked over there with him for awhile, and then we left from there and went to a club called the Exclusive Club.