Growing up Bass Player (Sugar Mountain) (Alan)

The search for guitar player singer didn’t take long. Glen, the drummer, had a friend who he had played with years before who we hired for the job. His name was Alan, and rather than play guitar, he played the trumpet. I was, to say the least, a little skeptical about his being a trumpet player. I had not ever played bass with anything but string instruments. What I found was the most talented musician I have ever had the pleasure to play bass with. Playing bass with him was easy and fun. Alan could sing and play the trumpet like no one I had seen before.

Alan had played trumpet all though school and after graduation from High School he join his high school band instructor in three piece group that play all over south eastern Montana. He did that for a number of years until his band instructor moved on. After the three piece group, he went to work at a local garage fixing cars. Occasionally he would play with Glen on drums and an older lady on piano. On the weekends, when he didn’t play with a group, he would take his trumpet, go to club and sit in with band when ever possible. He had such talent that he didn’t need to know song itself. He just heard the music and he played.

Alan was a great talent, I admired him for that but………(Why does there always seem to be a but)…..Alan brought with him to Sugar Mountain a 15 year old alcohol problem. If you have read the rest of my tale, you know how I feel about musicians with alcohol problems. Alan pretty much kept in check. He always drank but was always ready to play and it didn’t seem to have much effect on his music. When he did drink too much it wasn’t his playing that went out of kilter, it was his mental state and attitude.

Like most drunks he got real aggressive.

Even with all his problems, I always like Alan and respected his talent. I played bass with him for close to 15 years.

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