"Reality", or "Hard bop in the big city", as they say today; that's what we all have to do in order to make our daily bread.
When I saw "Pops", he was in the movies doing what he did; that was when I was a kid, and it was long before I got into any kind of music; consequently when I became serious about music, I thought "Pops" just clowned around.
From what I can gather, all Black musicians during Pops time and before, had to "Clown around". I would appreciate it if you could find one who didn't Rok.