In truth, it was a pick-up group. The Mexico City gig was the only time we played together. The conductor was a student of Lukas Foss, and had conducted the Brooklyn Philharmonic earlier that year. He asked the contractor, Sam Levitan, to put together a group to play the Liebermann Concerto. Sam asked my help putting together the group. Sam was funny. His players list had guys who had passed away many years before. I personally picked the band. They were all friends of mine. I first heard Wynton play jazz on that trip, I was under the impression he was only an orchestral player.
They offered some extra bucks for a Jazz concert the next night. We, of course, took the bread
I remember the look on George Duvivier's face when he heard Wynton play. He was blown away by the 18 year old.
It was a fun trip that ended like a movie.
We hit CAT over Newark and could not land on time. We circled the airport for hours. It was truly frightening. The plane would drop suddenly, and many people let go dinner. I was sitting next to the most beautiful woman on the plane and she held my hand. I think she was Miss Mexico.
We survived............Denzel Washington is playing me in the movie
Wilmer