How did you come to play the trumpet?

[questeuthanize]

I was about seven years old and my parents wanted to keep me off the streets. They asked me what I thought was an innocent question: “John, if you could play an instrument, which one would you choose?” I thought, I have a sister who plays the piano, so that was out. There were two brothers who lived two doors down from me, Sydney and Bradley. One played the saxophone, one played the trombone, so those were out. Somebody down the street played the drums. That’s out. Then I remembered seeing Louis Armstrong on Ed Sullivan and how everybody loved him and I just said, “trumpet.” The next thing I knew, my parents had bought me a trumpet and were making me take trumpet lessons. So that’s how I got started.