Watch a Never-before-seen PBS Interview with Queen of Swing Norma Miller

PBS in January 2021 released more than 1,000 raw interviews from the last four decades of their American Masters series. There are many Black icons among the collection, including Maya Angelou, Quincy Jones, Sidney Poitier, James Earl Jones, Audra McDonald, Denzel Washington, Dionne Warwick, and Herbie Hancock. But perhaps most relevant to lindy hoppers is an hour-long interview with the late, great Norma Miller.

Head here to watch the hour long interview with the Queen of Swing, where she recounts her relationship with Ella Fitzgerald, what it was like dancing at the Savoy in the early years, and much more. Here are a couple a choice quotes from the interview.

On Ella’s relationship to lindy hoppers:

“When she sang with the band, we danced to her. We danced to her music... She sang so we could dance. And it was just the camaraderie between her because she used to dance with us. Remember, she’s 16 and 17 years old. She could dance as good as anyone.”

On hearing Count Basie for the first time live at the Savoy:

“Count Basie. I mean, they’ve never heard nothing like that when he hit that ballroom. Because Basie had all of his arrangements made for dancers. He told his arrangers, ‘make sure you keep those dancers on the floor. And that’s why when you hear Basie’s music, it’s always music played for dancing. ”

Check out all the other 1,000+ interviews with historic figures on the American Masters website.