Just to share, I was walking out of Disneyland one night (worked in software design for WED at the time) and I heard some fantastic music coming from the same stage I think these videos came from. This was about 1984, and this band was just burning hot and I walked over there and there was like 3 people sitting there listening. It was Buddy Rich! The bass player was on fire! and the band just killed it, and there was like nobody there! What a bunch of pros! There’s no big band as good as that anymore.

This interview is two-faced a little bit I noticed. Saying he wants to be himself one minute, then recounts how he has to write garbage to make a living the next line. It’s really sad a master musician has to ‘make a living’ instead of being supported to be himself. I think musicians of Gordon’s caliber have options in European countries that don’t exist in the USA.

I had a similar experience in high school, but come on, Sammy Nestico! I definitely never thought of him as more than an old timey hack. He had writer’s chops for sure, but the music stunk. I guess you have to be older than 57 to see him in a different light. I played in 14 college big bands on 6 different instruments on my way to 3 degrees in music at IU. Played in a bunch more professionally but I can’t do it anymore except as a fund raiser or benefit concert. I never could play in a band that couldn’t swing or just wasn’t very good – I would always do whatever I had to do to make sure I would not play in those situations. But if all big bands sounded like the Phat band, well I would still be interested in big bands.

I guess that’s what my teacher Dominic Spera meant when he said “being a professional means doing your best regardless of the situation”. Sorry, Dom, but I can’t put myself in situations that I believe are an assault on my integrity. That’s why I admired that performance at Disneyland by Buddy Rich – they were still smokin’ even though I may have been the only appreciative listener they had all night. They were ‘making a living’ but at least they were not playing Little Darlin’.