article_title name known_for
pee wee marquette
 pee wee marquette birdland jazz club
pee wee marquette

william crayton `` pee wee '' marquette -lrb- born in montgomery , alabama -rrb- is the former master of ceremonies at the birdland jazz club in new york city .
marquette is under four feet tall , most likely three foot nine .
his voice can be heard making the introductions on art blakey 's 1954 record `` a night at birdland '' .
his announcements are also documented on blakey 's other birdland albums `` at the jazz corner of the world '' -lrb- 1959 -rrb- and `` ugetsu '' -lrb- 1963 -rrb- .
he had a reputation for being mean and demanding `` tips '' to the point of extortion .
an explanation of his system was given by bobby hutcherson in an interview .
he claimed marquette told him on his first day that he was not needed and that he should `` pack your things and get on out of here . ''
this did not occur as he had been asked to play , but marquette made hutcherson 's first night playing at the club difficult .
marquette intentionally mispronounced his name to embarrass hutcherson and blew cigar smoke in his face to further the irritation .
however once marquette was paid his `` tip '' he pronounced hutcherson 's name correctly .
this is said to have been a pattern for him : other musicians had similar stories of having to pay him to avoid public humiliation .
perhaps because of this , or because of the era , most musicians who knew him still referred to him as a `` midget '' .
little has been heard from marquette since his birdland days .
he appeared on `` late night with david letterman '' in 1985 , during which he discussed his memories of being at the jazz club .
he can be heard in the introductory sequence and tail of `` birdland '' on the quincy jones album `` back on the block '' as well as the introduction on us3 's hit song , `` cantaloop -lrb- flip fantasia -rrb- . ''
