A little pre-Wiz (hmmm, how unseemly) Charlie Smalls trivia: One of Portland's jazz legends is vocalist Nancy King, who regaled me with this story: she was part of a band that was briefly signed by A&M, called Charlie Smalls & Company. They had one single (whose name I can't recall right now, I want to say "Sunflower" or "Sunbird" or something like that) that evidently charted quite high in L.A., but not nationally. They never finished recording a complete album because Charlie (this is according to Nancy) made off with the advance and went to little ol' NYC, where he wrote The Wiz.