Gladys Knight & The Pips

When I moved to Toronto in the 70's I was fortunate to be called for an assortment of jobs. I had done many shows up to that time and the contractors called me knowing I had this type of valuable experience.

The engagement was at the Colonial and we were to back up Gladys Knight and the Pips. (A Motown recording star) (The Pips were part of her show at the time.) The sixteen-piece band was full of "heavies" in the Toronto music scene.  I was to hold down the fourth trumpet chair which is probably were I was at on the horn at the time.

The lead alto player for that engagement was Eugene Amaro. He later became well know as one of the Jazz tenor players for the Boss Brass and shared the spotlight with Rick Wilkins the other great tenor player in that band. 

Our lead trumpet player was Bobby Van Evera.  Bobby had one of the biggest sounds I have ever heard. He was an exceptional lead player.  He sounded like three guys playing at once which was a great attribute for lead. Gladys Knight came with her piano player and drummer. The keyboard player kicked off the tempos and conducted tempo changes when required.

The show was a tough blow especially for Bobby our lead player. We were into one of the swing charts and he was smashing D's and E flats and beyond for about 4 to 5 pages. It was a long chart at a very fast clip. It was a great arrangement (perhaps a bit over written) and was a real endurance effort.

Now, I have to compress the story a bit as this occurrence happened so quickly it's difficult to convey the "urgency" of that near drastic moment. 

The drummer had a four bar drum solo in the middle of the chart. The tempo was at breakneck speed. We all noticed that he made his entrance for the four bars one beat late. He didn't know it and neither did the piano player who apparently wasn't paying attention.

He (the drummer) made the second beat one which means he added a beat.  Horrors, and we were really flying. How were we to come in screaming with heavy brass figures after this ambiguous solo? The problem needed a solution in "seconds". (Make that split seconds.)  Eugene Amaro put his hand up instantly and we all knew he meant, "Follow me."

Eugene gave the downbeat when to come in with his horn and no one was any the wiser. The drummer who came with the show wasn't even aware that he almost caused a messy train wreck.

The chart was beautifully played so Gladys thought everything was just fine. The guys just made it sound "correct." (In retrospect it really opened my eyes to how professional these musicians really were.)

I wondered after that show, what the outcome would have been if they didn't have players of this calibre who were really on their "toes." Wow. We all breathed a sigh of relief.  It was almost like a mid-air collision.

It reminds me of the attitude for student pilots. If you can walk away from your first solo flight "alive,” it’s considered a pretty good landing.

Not exactly a musical analogy but it seems to apply. I think...

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