Sitting In

I showed Ralph a list of tunes I knew. He pointed at a squiggle and said, “What’s that?” “E flat. I only know that tune in E flat.” He grinned, and I remembered that Ralph Grugel didn’t read music. Anyway, when the band came on stage to play their third set, I brought my cornet and stood in the front line beside Ralph. He usually played trombone, but all of his usual cornet/trumpet players were busy that night. He was holding a cornet also. “I haven’t played it for a while,” he said. “My lip might give out by the third set. So I would like to have you sit in, and help out.” Ralph had heard I played cornet, but he had never heard me play. The last time I had played with a band was about 60 years ago when I forgot to show up at my high school band concert. Well, I had played when we practiced for the concert. Because my trumpet case was the largest, the band leader gave me all the music sheets for four trumpet parts. I was so disinterested in playing at that time that I completely forgot about the concert scheduled for Sunday afternoon. I don’t know how the other three trumpet players managed without the music. I never understood why only one trumpet would play the melody, and three others would toot notes that sounded pretty lame when you practiced at home. I was always fourth trumpet when we competed in our playoffs. I never played my trumpet again after hi