Mezzrow's own contribution to the canon of pot songs is a tune called Sendin' the Vipers, but his musical legacy is eclipsed by his autobiography, Really the Blues, which vividly recalls the early jazz era and contains this account of the effect of the first joint he ever smoked had upon his skills as a musician:
"The first thing I noticed was that I began to hear my saxophone as if it was inside my head... Then I began to feel the vibrations of the reed much more pronounced against my lip and my head buzzed like a loudspeaker. I found I was slurring much better and putting just the right feeling into my phrases. I was really coming on. All the notes came easing out of my horn like they'd already been made up, greased and stuffed into the bell, so all I had to do was to blow a little and send them on their way, one right after the other, never missing, never behind time, all without an ounce of effort."
Mezz Mezzrow and Louis Armstrong are inducted into the counter culture hall of fame.
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