ABSTRACT
I n the fall of 1984, thanks to my old friend Howard Brofsky, I began my teaching at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College. Howard was a brilliant musicologist and bebopper, and lifelong lefty, whom I met as a fellow trumpeter at NYU in 1948. Howard has been my good-luck charm. He introduced me to Gloria Vando in Paris in 1955, and thirty years later cajoled me into taking over the Queens College Orchestra, “helping out,” for a year. At first I was disdainful—“those who can, do,” et cetera. Then again, why not? It would give me a schedule, something musical to do, and I would earn some money.
