In all of my encounters with famous people (and what is “fame” anyway??…My favorite response to the question “Are you famous?” comes from my friend, trombonist Jim Fryer, who would look at the inquirer and somberly reply, “To those who know me.”), I’ve only been tongue-tied with one of them. My encounter with Dave Brubeck during college in 1989 led to my playing for him and receiving some priceless pointers. In 1990, I drove down from Quinnipiac College in Hamden, CT (where the great Sonny Costanzo Jazz Orchestra had a residency) to New Jersey to fetch Dizzy Gillespie, whereupon he regaled my friend and me with non-stop stories, and answered all of our questions, on the 2 1/2 hour ride back north.
In 1992, I played rallies for all three candidates for President: Republican incumbent George H.W. Bush, Independent Ross Perot, and Democratic nominee Bill Clinton, chatting with each of them. [Political purists possibly “pooh-pooh” my egalitarian attitude regarding for whom I play, but musicians agree the times that politicians of any affiliation are most useful is when they’re hosting or attending some big event that requires musical accompaniment: One can’t eat principles.] However, every time I was in Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s presence, I became a dithering idiot. My wife Anne and I visited with Justice O’Connor dozens of times fr
