I Wouldn't Have Let Me Do It

I really don't want this to sound like bragging or anything, but I guess I've kinda taken whatever musical abilities I have for granted.

Maybe it's because I was singing before I could talk (a dramatic exaggeration), but you get the idea. I've been onstage since I was 3 years old. I come from a very musical family.

All that said, I was a bit humbled recently; let me tell you about my experience.

My wife & I decided to wet our feet a bit and try the Snowbird experience, so we spent 3-1/2 weeks at Dauphin Island and Anna Maria Island. We loved all of it(our timing was impeccable, it was during the huge storm system that engulfed the U.S.) and I will be sharing parts of our trip in my Vlog, "Jaggy On The Go", but check out what happened to me on the beach.

I had seen that a band called the Scott Blum Jazz Quartet was playing so we went to hear them at Anna Maria Island Cafe on the beach. They were 4 older guys like me, and they all had some chops, so I thought I would go up at break and ask them if I could sing with them. Made sense to me, anyway.

I walked up to them and said, hey guys, I sing with a Big Band in Kansas City, and wondered if I could sit in on a song with you. (this is where the humble part comes in). They didn't have to say anything, their looks said it all. I suddenly thought, you know, if an old hairy dude walked up to me and asked to sing I would have had the same look. So I quickly handed the band leader my card, and 1 guy said, well at least he has a card. I fumbled a little, and said something like, no problem if you don't want me to, I just really dug your sound. They asked what I sang. I said, well, I only know a couple songs without looking at lyrics, I said, you know, you did "All Of Me" earlier, how about that one? More hem-hawing, then the trumpet player says, well you understand that a lot of people think they can sing, and...............I said, I get it. More hem-hawing, then finally the leader said, what the hell, lets do it. At that moment I got nervous, which really surprised me, but then I realized, I'm basically auditioning for these guys! They said, we'll call you up.

So I went to the bathroom, and when I came back out my wife said, they called for you. Crap. I ran up there, and when they finished playing the current piece, they said, come on up.

The keyboard player asked what key, and I said, whatever you guys played it in. He said, Key of G, I said, sure; then there was that look again, the one that said, uh-oh, this guy's gonna bomb. He said, I'll give you 8 bars(another look that said, Do you even know what that means?). They started playing, and, well, you're gonna see in the video that the trumpet player thought he needed to cue me, but it seems like after I started, the tension eased up a bit, and we stumbled through it.

I really do appreciate the band letting me get up and sing with them, but you know what?

If it had been me in the band, I wouldn't have let me do it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrDWz6Fv_PQ