A few years ago, a friend of mine invited me to have lunch with him, Doc Severinsen, and Gil Gutierrez. For those of you under 50 - Doc was the leader of the Tonight Show band for decades with Johnny Carson. Doc was/is one of the best trumpet players in the world. It was a lot of fun to talk with him as I was a trumpet player as a kid and still have my Getzen Severinsen model trumpet. I recently found out that is from 1963, the first year they were made and is the tenth one off the production line.
Anyway, Doc was gracious and was a great guy to meet. He was 84 at the time and that night he absolutely played his ass off. Could still hit the high notes.
Gil Gutierrez is someone you've probably never heard of, but he has played all over Mexico, South America, Spain, and even Carnegie Hall. Amazing nylon string guitarist playing Latin Jazz/Fusion, etc. Not only had lunch with him that day along with Doc, but spent more time with him a year later when they came back to town and he came over to a friend's house where we had dinner and then retired to the studio where I recorded him playing some songs by himself......the guy just flat does NOT make mistakes. After we finished one song, he told me that he's left a spot in it for me to play a solo as he knew I played.
Doc and Gil's band was called the San Miguel Five and was an absolutely amazing live performance. I saw them three times when they came to town.....all in the band are world-class players (Charlie Bisharat was on violin).
Over the years, I've opened for some decent sized acts starting with Tammy Wynette back in 1978, but didn't talk to her. I did get to spend some time talking to Cal Smith on his tour bus (he had a huge hit in the 70's with Country Bumpkin) I was 19-20 at the time and he was already a grandfather - but he was humble and very accommodating - talking to all of us in the band.
Also spent an hour or so on the tour bus with a 90s country star named Doug Stone. That was a trip.....the guy was huge in his heyday, and was now playing bars.....However his ego hadn't come down a bit....treated his band like they were his personal servants - when he finished a beer, he'd hold his can out and one of the guys would jump up, throw it in the trash for him and get him another one. He had heard me soundcheck the band I was with that night and he offered me a job on the spot to do a tour to Florida with him. Ha! a month on a tour bus with an eqo that big? Someone wouldn't have made it out alive...
There was much, much more to that conversation......would have made a great case study for a psychology class about narcissistic behavior. Famous people can be just as screwed up as anyone else....maybe more so.
Bill - that sounds like living the dream man.