Musicians have to be a hardy lot, and here I’m not only talking about the full-timers—those who log in hundreds of thousands of miles and 300 hotel nights annually (as Anne and I have had to do on certain years)—but the “semi-professional” soldiers who are in the game not merely for fun but because they’re driven to make music. Similarly to a college football star versus a veteran pro, the sheer joy and excitement of playing music can often bubble forth more joyously from a skilled amateur than the most gifted professional. I’ll elucidate with three stories regarding musicians who started out full-time, then went into lucrative jobs to support their families yet continued playing. These anecdotes are also connected by accidents and age, neither of which cooled the ardor of my septuagenarian subjects.
Five days before Anne and I departed for our seven-week UK tour, our friend, drummer (and border patrol sponsor) Graham Smith got in touch to say he’d fallen in his garden and almost had his pinky torn off: this before six gigs with us over a week starting in seven days! He showed up to the first gig, his angel of a wife Maggie with him, and we all helped bring in the equipment, set up the keyboard and sound (both of which he also graciously provides) and he played great on this and all subsequent gigs. Perseverance!
Over twenty years ago, cornetist Ben Cohen was the UK
