In His Own Words:
Years
ago I had an experience that changed the direction of my life. During
a Big Band contest held at the Loew's Poli theater in Bridgeport, I played
second tenor sax with Danny DeMarco's orchestra, one of three orchestras
in the contest. One of our numbers was Glenn Miller's "In the Mood".
The music called for a tenor solo, so when the time came, I walked to the
mike at the center of the stage and with the spotlight nearly blinding
me, I did my rendition (without any mistakes!) afterward came the applause
and whistles. "Boy, this is fantastic, this is for me!" (By
the way, we won that night.)
Later
I mentioned all this to the lead alto sax player, Ivan Hubbard. He
said, "This may seem great, but don't let that fool you, it would be a
tough grind." He continued, "Bob, get a good education and career,
then do music on the side."
In
retrospect, I must say Ivan gave me true advice. I did go to college,
( a little time out for the Korean War in the Air Force), then a forty-two
year career in aviation. I have been able to pursue the pleasure
of playing music most of my life as an avocation. |
