I was still leading my big band at the Hotel Edison, New York City, when I received a telephone call from my friend Bill Randle, who at the time was the big d.j. on WERE in Cleveland. He was nationally known for picking, playing and making records hits in the Cleveland area.

Bill told me to catch this group, the Rock 'n Roll Trio, who were appearing on the Ted Mack Amateur Hour on television, because he had heard good things about them. When I heard The Trio, their fresh and enthusiastic approach to music (rocking and rolling country & western and blues) just knocked me out.

...the boys were really free spirits, doing their own thing in those days, and quite difficult to handle. musically they were one of the three original rock 'n roll groups (Elvis Presley, Gene Vincent, the Johnny Burnette Trio) who initiated and started Rock 'n Roll on its way.

Rock has taken many musical forms since those days, but I am happy to say I was there at the start and glad to have been a part of it.

- Henry Jerome, 1978