Leon Jordan remembers Rudy Mück
- from phone conversation week of Jan. 21, 2008 -

I called Dr. Jordan on a referral from John Enloe, a reader of this site.  Mr. Enloe said that I should email Keith Longmire for Dr. Jordan's contact information.  Mr. Longmire said Dr. Jordan didn't have email but I could call him and gave me the number.

...so I placed my first phone call to Dr. Jordan...

(picture referenced directly from the Continentals Dance Band site)

Dr. Jordan, more often called Leon, was surprised to have someone call him about Rudy.  At first, he didn't recall much but as we talked, he remembered more and more.  He first told me a little story that goes something like this:

I first met Rudy at his shop on W. 48th Street.  My trumpet teacher was Dr. Charles Colin whose studio was two doors down.  I went into the shop and Rudy asked me about my accent.  I told him I was from North Carolina.  Rudy asked what brought me to New York City and I told him I was studying trumpet under Dr. Colin.

Well, that's when Rudy started saying some not-so-nice things about Dr. Colin and I soon became angry and told him off.  I left his shop and didn't ever intend on going back.  I got back to Dr. Colin's studio and he was standing by the secretary's desk and said, "What's wrong - you seem upset?"  I told him I had just been to see that jerk, Rudy Mück, and told him the terrible things Rudy had said about him.

Dr. Colin just smiled and told me that he and Rudy were best of friends and that he had called Rudy to tell him to give me a bit of a hard time.  Rudy had done his work and while I was walking back to the studio, Rudy had called Dr. Colin and filled him in.  After that, Rudy and I got along fine, he was friendly to me.

Leon gave me a few names to try to contact but he also talked a little about a little Italian man who had a shop on the 2nd floor landing with a Dutch hatch split door opening into his shop.  I said, "Dominick?" and he said, "Yes, Calicchio, that's it."  I guess we'll have to make another phone call and find out a little more about that.  ...Leon still plays with his Leon Jordan Continentals and gives trumpet lessons in North Carolina.

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