Duke was a pretty smart guy!

Chas, I began playing a piano at age 5, but was never very proficient at it. I picked up a guitar at age 12, learned a bunch of chords, mostly full chords - not bar chords, then managed to learn a bunch of bar chords, developed several picking styles for songs I enjoyed playing and discovered I had the ability to sing in tune.

Over the years, I managed to learn more songs that I enjoyed playing and discovered that my ability to sing and play continued to improve. I never really looked at music as an art form, and to be honest, I really only know of a few individuals, such as yourself, that do look at it that way. I don't think that Liberace considered it an art form, though he was probably the best piano player in the world at the time, and looked at music as an entertainment business venture. Ferrante & Teicher were my entertainment heroes when I was in my early 20s, and they made a fortune creating show tunes, playing light versions of classical music and later developed the most incredible stereo recording system using 2 separate studios a block apart in New York, City. The sounds were absolutely amazing.

In my case, a radio station manager happened to be dining at a restaurant where I was performing on night, he approached me and asked if I had ever considered a career in live broadcasting. I said I had never thought about it, and we set up an audition for the following afternoon. He had me read news from a yellow sheet that had just come off a teletype machine, and when I finished, he made me an offer I could not refuse. I didn't stop playing music, though.

A couple months later, I got offers to do voice-overs for automobile dealers and because the pay was so high, I decided to expand on my vocal abilities by taking a course at the local community college called "Voice And Articulation" which was taught by a popular, Baltimore area Jazz singer. I learned a lot and put it into good practice, not only for doing voice-overs and news casts, but additionally, to improve my singing vocals. So, in some respects, I guess you could call those vocals an art form, but I also looked at it more from a business aspect. Kinda like the local portrait painter that paints portraits of your family and makes a damned good living doing so.

Now, I never hit it big on stage, never quite got to a 6 figure income as an musician/entertainer, but during the many decades I was on stage, I enjoyed every minute. I had lots of fun playing and singing to my varied and diverse audiences, met some wonderful people, and similar to Captain Russ, made a few business contacts in related fields of endeavor.

Even during the 15 years I spent working in Cardio-Pulmonary Medicine, I still managed to find time to play music, mostly at private parties, and spend time in the outdoors with my wife and children. I didn't sleep much back then, burning the candle at both ends, I was a skinny kid when I was in my 20s and 30s, weighing just 145 pounds and 6 feet tall, but I considered every day a fun day, and some just more fun than others, especially when I had a music job, or could take the wife and children fishing.

Now, I truly consider you to be a very accomplished player and have the ability to create some incredible music, though I think I may have only heard you perform a half-dozen times over the years. I don't know if you have ever performed on stage, or not, though I recall you may have said something about performing in a group or small band at one time. And, I believe we have a few more things in common in that we were both in the US Navy, you much longer than myself. I only spent 4 years in the "Canoe Club", nearly all of which were aboard the USS Newport News (CA-148) and visited a huge number of countries. Back then, they called those voyages as "Good Will Tours." HA! A bunch of drunken sailors looking to find a loose lady on shore and drinking till they can barely stand upright really doesn't sound like a good will tour.

So, when you have time to sit down at your B3 or arranger keyboard and be creative, be sure to record your artwork and post it here so this hack, arranger keyboard entertainer can enjoy it as well. I really enjoy listening to your music.

All the best,

Gary