Babs Gonzales

Babs Gonzales (1919 –1980), born Lee Brown, was an American bebop vocalist, poet, and self-published author.

His books portrayed the jazz world that many black musicians struggled in, portraying disk jockeys, club owners, liquor, drugs, and racism. "There are jazz people whose influence can be described as minor," wrote Val Wilmer, "yet who are well-known to musicians and listeners alike ... You'd have to be hard-pressed to ignore the wealth of legend that surrounds Babs Gonzales."

Jazz writer Jack Cooke explained that Gonzales "assumed the role of spokesman for the whole hipster world... [becoming] something more than just a good and original jazz entertainer: the incarnation of a whole social group."

From 1958, Gonzales operated a nightclub called Babs' Insane Asylum, located in Sugar Hill, New York at 155th Street and St. Nicholas Place. The house band included Hank Jones, Roy Haynes, and Milt Hinton. "These guys could have made some crazy money in the studios or with another orchestra, but they preferred to work at home for $100 a week," said Gonzales, "simply because it was a great place where all the jazzmen came."

Babs Gonzales & Benny Goodman.

From 1951 Gonzales began to travel regularly to Europe and remained there for months at a time. Though he makes no mention in his autobiographies, it appears that Gonzales was married for some time. A 1953 issue of Jet published a photograph of Gonzales posing beneath the Eiffel Tower with his "Swedish wife, champion swimmer and model" Sonja Juhlin, however he later stated that he was not married, explaining that "I love freedom too much... there are too many girls on earth to choose just one."