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Some
people think that musical talent is spawned by some
family influence. But those of us in the musical
field know otherwise. How does this apply to you?
(What type of music did your parents or other family
members listen to?)
I come from a
non-musical family. The question of where you get
intense interest in music from that situation is a
mystery. You just get it. I don’t think anybody
knows where the urge to produce music on a full time
basis or on a large scale comes from. My parents
listened to the popular music of their time, just as
your average person, without any particular
interest. That’s a disadvantage, because you tend to
have a later start if you don’t have musical
parents. The best combination is when you have
musical parents and you have a strong inclination at
the same time?
Did they like opera or
go to musicals?
Nothing in particular.
Just as your average person goes to a musical every
couple of years. They were into the music of the
40’s and the 50’s, which I still love myself.
Any cousins of
your generation that became musicians?
No, I’m the only one.
Its pretty rare.
Even tracing back
your family tree? There was no one? It was all
business?
Come to think of it, I
had an uncle who was a pianist.
There’s something.
(Laughs). A pianist here or… ?
He was a pianist out in
the mid-west. He was an outcast. He grew up on a
farm with 13 brothers and sisters. And he was gay,
but no one could admit that. So, he was always off
to the side living a shadowed life. He probably used
music as an outlet for the fact that he didn’t fit
in. That’s part of the formula that turns someone
into a musician. They want to communicate to other
people in a kind of sideways fashion. Indirectly.
What music had an
early impression on you?
Oh, American pop music
of the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. That had the earliest
impression on me, and it still does. And it keeps on
cropping up again and again. It wasn’t until high
school that I heard Bach and the others. You know
your basic classics -- the Brandenburg concertos and
then Beethoven’s 9th. The majority of people will
hear that music and just say “oh that’s nice.” But a
very small percentage will say, “Wow, this is
unbelievable.” I was smitten.
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