Talk: Band Intro - Live

It's really a pleasure to be here

And to have you here, I know that, uh

I'm a sports fan from since I was just a little, uh

A little, tiny child

And I was thinking of, uh, being a baseball player

When I was, you know, for a career

I was an excellent shortstop and a second baseman

And, uh, I, when I went to high school

I brought a sheet for my father to sign

That, uh, you know, you have to sign

To allow your son to play in the school sports

And if you, uh, if you don't have that signature, you can't do it

So he said, "You either play music or baseball'

And, uh, it was a v- really a difficult decision

And as you see, I chose music, but, uh, it would have-

Well, all I'm doing is leading up to

I'm very happy that these many people are, are here

Because, because of the game tonight, and thank you

I'd like to have, uh, you meet the guys in the band

And, uh, this is the best band I think I've ever had with me

We've been to Japan, and to Europe, and different places

Excuse me! And, uh, I was thinking about, uh

Things that happened, like talking, you know

Being a ball player or something

Like when I've come out to play, like I have a lot of things

I wear a belt around my stomach, 'cause I have a ventral hernia

And then, I have edema, and I have like, uh

Teeth that are breaking off, and are like a partial in the top

The last time I did this, it fell off

I was like playing, and it was kind of a gurgling kind of a thing

So I tried to be cool and take 'em out

And I dropped 'em on the stage

So it's been like a-

So if you see any commotion or disaster, don't worry about it

But, uh, in any way, I'd like to have you meet the guys in the band

On bass, the - one of the fastest rising players I've ever seen

He was living in San Diego, California, and

I kept telling him, as did other people, you know

That he should come to Los Angeles

That he'd really have it made, and so

Going through a lot of different things

Even stopped playing for a while because of the religious thing

And, uh, the Seventh Day didn't get to him

I hope that, no, I don't - I don't know, no-no

I should say that or whatever I'm tryin' to say, uh

But in any way, the incredible bass player

And he's in a few short years become the top player in the West Coast

And maybe, even the whole half of the United States

Bob Magnusson on bass

On piano, a gentleman who is from Bulgaria

He has his brother here tonight

And it was like, really, a strange thing that they

In this huge city, they found each other

And which is quite a, quite a miracle

And, uh, Bel Milcho is a, a great player

He was writing for, for movies, for, whatever

For symphonies, and, uh

One thing, he wrote a thing for

Glockenspiel, piccolo, and voblame in E-flat minor, you know

And, it was like really a go - he got a lot of money for it

But the trouble is, they never did perform it

Because they couldn't find any, anybody to play the 'cimbalom'

But in any way, he went to the United States to be free

He was free there, but he liked to be free where the jazz was happening

The Home of Jazz, Milcho Leviev on piano

And my favorite drummer, a wonderful person

And he's, uh, he's the one that really makes the band sound

As I delve in Milan drums, Carl Burnett

The first tune was 'Blues For Blanche'

Which I wrote for my card

She's there at the card hotel in Los Angeles

And now, I'd like to do a tune entitled 'Ophelia'