I still remember the day October 11, 2007 when I got the call. A voice of urgency asking for me to be at The ROM to play solo piano for an event. At the time I was managing the Brampton Conservatory of Music and luckily I had a suit jacket in my car, so I rushed over to meet the valet, they took my car and rushed me through security to get me setup with just enough time for me to place my binder of sheet music upside down on the grand piano that was elevated on a platform surrounded by lounge style tables and sofas for Canada’s Elite paying $25,000 per head.
Now I have studied Jazz Piano with some of Humber College’s finest including Hilario Duran and Brian Dickinson so I have some understanding of improvisation but working as a professional drummer for so long, I had never actually had to play the chord changes and melodies of many jazz standards that I have performed with countless bands, including the fine sir who hired me, Thompson-Thompson Egbo-Egbo, a man so legendary he gets his name said twice. Now Thompson is an exceptionally gifted and skilled pianist who has gone on to portray a young Oscar Peterson in a Heritage Minute about Peterson’s life, I’m pretty sure he has played for the Queen. He has his own Thompson T. Egbo-Egbo Arts Foundation to support children’s arts education programs with his connection to Dixon Hall and Regent Park. I have great respect for the man. We used to perform together as a jazz trio for the odd gigs at a golf course or corporate event here and there, but I was always on drums.
So back to the ROM’s Michael Chin Lee Crystal United Health Network (UHN) charity event. I’m on the stage, sitting at this beautiful grand piano, trying my best to play songs by memory but trying not to make them too familiar because I was scared people would actually recognize the songs I was annihilating, and Warren Buffett has given his prediction that the Canadian dollar will continue to strengthen against the U.S. dollar over the next five years, and somehow this young Sheldon made it through the night. To my astonishment, I was asked to play again for a future event for the United Arab Emirates at The Carlu. I was proud and of course immediately accepted the offer but only to be cancelled the night before to discover they booked Bryan Adams. I kid myself, but I like to tell people that if I ever meet Bryan Adams I would scold him for “stealing” a gig from little ol’ me.