DECEMBER 4, 1956
Carl Perkins had entered the Sun Records studios that day, accompanied by his brothers Clayton & Jay and drummer W. S. Holland, with the aim of recording “Matchbox”.
Pianist Jerry Lee Lewis, still unknown outside of Memphis, was added to play piano on the session.
At some point in the afternoon, Elvis Presley stopped by for an informal visit accompanied by Marilyn Evans, and after chatting with Philips in the control room, Presley listened to a playback of Perkins’ session.
So, he liked what he heard, and he entered to the studio where the jam session began. At some point, Johnny Cash showed up (Cash later wrote in his autobiography that he had been the first to arrive at the Sun that day, wanting to hear Perkins’ recording session).
“Cowboy Jack Clement” remembers that day saying to himself “…I think I would be remiss not to record this.”
So he did and the rest is history.
During the session, Phillips saw an opportunity to give the event some publicity and called a local newspaper, the Memphis Press-Scimitar.
Bob Johnson, the newspaper’s editor, approached the studios with a UPI representative named Leo Soroca and a photographer.
The next day, an article, written by Johnson about the session, was published in the Memphis Press-Scimitar under the title “Million Dollar Quartet.”
In it, Johnson writes that Elvis sat down at the piano to sing “Blueberry Hill,” then predicted a great future for Jerry Lee Lewis.
The article contained the famous photograph of Presley sitting at the piano surrounded by Lewis, Perkins and Cash (the uncropped version of the photo also includes Evans, who appears sitting at the piano).
This photo proves that Cash was there, but the audio provides no substantial evidence that he joined the session.
Source: Various
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