The Lion of Talavera
Jazz pianist Fats Waller is said to have told a lady who asked him what swing was: “Lady, if you has to ask, you ain’t got it.” I didn’t have to ask, I knew that I didn’t have what it takes to be a torero: I lacked the arrogance, the hauteur, the macho posturing that comes naturally to even the most reticent of Latin performers. I was too English. Yet the young man attempting to teach me how to swing a cape with grace and slow subtlety was one of the least artistic toreros there’ve ever been. He was also one of the bravest.
