boo ... could I "really read music well enough to play in a real band" ? ... no, but when we started out as a band in high school we had to read because these are the books we played from:


I've posted this before, but many years ago I saw a rehearsal of Frank Sinatra JUNIOR'S big band at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City ... while I was there the music director handed out charts to a new tune they were going to put in the show ... I was BLOWN AWAY by how these guys sight read and played the tune for the first time, and I was even MOR blown away when Junior - without looking at the score - asked the sax section to play a Bb in a certain measure instead of a B !!!

BTW ... the name of the tune was "Up, Up, and Away" by The Fifth Dimension ...



"But I remember the bass playing vocalist was a conceited Ass to work with and he was the leader and the worst musician of the bunch. I'm sure you guys remember stuff like that."

As I've said, fortunately, I never had to put up with stuff like that ...