My favorite singer Tony Bennett came to Lincoln Rd Mall on Miami Beach in 1998 to sign copies of his autobiography, "The Good Life". The owner of the bookstore hired me to play sax/sing w/Brian Murphy on keys. We were outside to the right of the entry door and TB was right next to us at a table on the left side of the door. We tried to get him to sing with us but he was just there to sign books. He kept giving us the thumbs up sign all night and he was obviously very into our groove. At th end of the night he called me into the back of the store to tell me how much he dug us...and handed me a copy of his book. inside the front cover he wrote: "Mo, you are wonderful, right in the pocket". A week later I got a call to sub for Bill Easley who was Jimmy Smith's sax player at the time, to do the Clearwater Jazz Festival with Jimmy, Phil Upchurch, and Frank (sorry, forgot his name) on drums. I was scheduled to be at the Fest w/Johnny Conga's Latin Jazz Allstars, so I got to be featured twice! I guess it's all been downhill since september 1998--what a month! In 1992 TB came back to Miami Beach to play th Gleason Theater, and we went to see him for his 75th b-day concert. he was just unbelievable. goosebump time- he sang one tune a cappella and his voice was so powerful it blew everyone away. to see him again recently on TV for his 80th birthday special was a blessing. and what is even more fiting is that he remains one of the nicest people that ever lived..everyone loves him.

------------------
Miami Mo