After Fort MacArthur closed I was sent to the 399th Army Band at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. There I joined a seven-piece band made up mostly of guys in the band. Our female singer was a beautiful black gal who worked in one of the offices and played a mean electric piano and sang like Chaka Khan. The guitar player was a captain who worked somewhere else on post. Everyone else was from the band including an incredibly talented JJ Johnson from somewhere down south. This guy could play any instrument you handed him and was just a joy to work with, play with and just be around. JJ, if you’re out there please contact me!!. Our main competition in the area was a hard rock band called Deviled Groat (the bass player was also in the Army Band and designed our logo). Where we had our most success was playing at the NCO Club on post; this is a recording of one of those gigs recorded on a funky stereo recorder with two mics. I don’t remember the names of most of the band members or of the songs we played, but we sure had fun!!
