In April, I described from whence came my fascination with silent film comedy and introduced to my column Jan Fitzgerald, a woman who would continue to be important in my musical life. In fact, she was responsible for my next big step. Other than my increasing involvement at the Ground Round in my hometown of Hamden, CT (for which I received a free dessert and all the Roy Rogers soft drinks I could consume), my performing opportunities at age 13 were sporadic. I’d play family parties and if there was a piano at the cast party for any of the shows in which I took part in junior high school, I’d make straight for it, playing show tunes I’d picked up listening to the family record collection for hours.
Both my memorable “gigging” occasions at age 13 were engineered by my mom and both involved unplanned, hasty exits. The first arose because Mom had a friend at work who was having a baby shower and wanted some live music. She’d heard Mom talk, in typical parental fashion, about how well I played and had heard me at a family get-together, so decided to hire me to provide music at her upcoming fete. My mom’s friend rented an acoustic console piano and paid me a modest amount in bonafide cash (plus more of those Roy Rogers).
It was a fun experience that lasted about three hours; I proved so popular the partiers kept asking for more tunes, to the point when the piano movers wer
The Rise of a Jazz Vibraphonist: Evelyn Yosmali
Garry Berman
