Truth to tell, I was pretty full of myself and probably too pushy. I suppose I was a nuisance, in everybody’s face a little too much. I made sure all the other pianists knew who I was, and I constantly asked people if I could sit in. Most of them were nice about it, considering how obnoxious I was. Eventually, the bassist Red Mitchell, whom I had sat in with a few times, said to Bradley, “Give the kid a gig already.”