In late 1950 while attending UCLA, I met a graduate student and professional singer by the name of Estelle Edson. The subject of her graduate thesis was "The Negro in Radio." Ironically, she discovered that there were scarcely any blacks working in the broadcast industry in any capacity. Because I was a musician, she felt that I would have some insight as to the role of the black musician in the broadcast industry. As far as I knew, there were no blacks working regularly in the industry, especially on the networks – ABC, CBS and NBC.

She asked me if the fact that the Musicians Unions were segregated contributed to the scarcity of blacks in the industry. It certainly could have been a contributing factor in that all the contracts for employment of musicians in the broadcast and motion picture studios were negotiated by the then all-white union, Local 47. The black union, Local 767 merely adopted the scales negotiated by Local 47, if and when a black musician got a studio call.

With the exception of New York and Detroit, the largest cities – Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and San Francisco – had segregated musicians’ locals. At Ms. Edson’s request a group of 767 members prevailed upon our officers to have a meeting at the local to discuss this matter. The meeting was attended by Local 767 President Leo Davis and other Local 767 officers. Also in attendance were such Los Angeles prominent black musicians as John Anderson, Red Callender, Buddy Collette, Bill Douglass, Percy McDavid, Gerald Wiggins, Gerald Wilson, Bobby Short, Ernie Freeman, and others.

Prior to this, meetings of black and white musicians were held in halls and private homes to discuss the matter of amalgamation. Black musicians Collette, Freeman, Douglass, McDavid, John Ewing, Jimmy Cheatham, Anderson and others, joined by such white musicians as George Kast, Gail Robinson, Seymour Sheklow, Roger Segure, Joe Eger, Henry and Esther Roth, Erica Keen, Emma Hardy Hill, and with the support of Josephine Baker, made concerted efforts to arouse public interest in this fight.

In 1951, as the amalgamation effort developed, this group was joined by, among others, Benny Carter, Estelle Edson, Russell McDavid, Joe Mullendore, Mike Ortiz, Allen Robinson, Al Woodbury and myself. Musicians from this interracial group held regular and frequent meetings and were responsible for devising the strategy and approach necessary to achieve our goal. By mid-summer of 1951, amalgamation was the number one issue at the monthly Local 767 meetings, and there was always a quorum.