One of the incidents on the tour which deserves relating to you occurred after we'd done our opening three weeks at the Geary Theatre in San Francisco. The four of us [the musicians] were located on the "port" side of the stage and encased in plywood compartments for sound proofing. Immediately in front of me sat Jeff Driscol (Jethro) who played tenor sax and flute. He frequently "cracked" notes on the flute, and when I asked him what kind of flute he had, he replied it was a Yamaha. I roared with laughter because Yamaha stuff is way down the quality list of woodwind instruments. Night after night, I told him to go to the Hurok road manager, get a $1000 advance and go out and purchase a Gemeinhardt flute and to give me the Yamaha so that I could pitch it into the Pacific Ocean. He didn't comply with my request. Go to a pawn shop as the last resort, I told him.
When we arrived in Los Angles, there was an invitation posted in the Green Room from the British Embassy to attend a cocktail party. Jeff Driscol and I went and were served Glenfiddich malt whiskey by a butler resembling Jeeves. It was a large crowd of Hollywood people including the Gabors and also some people who knew the theatre proper. One guy and his wife from Beverly Hills asked if we would like to meet Robert Mitchum and "Jethro" said yes. A phone call showed that he wasn't home, so Jethro took off with this guy and his wife. I retired to the hotel and bed. Arriving the next night at the Greek Theatre in Griffith Park, Jethro was all smiles and laughter. Listen to this, "Bones" (my nickname) he crowed, while he ran a few scales."What have you got there," I inquired. He said that the guy and his wife were millionaires and he'd always wanted to play the flute, so naturally he went out and purchased a Gemeinhardt, but could never learn to play it. Jethro played a couple of requests on the instrument, and the guy gave him the flute. Talk about American Largesse. I was floored. He told the guy and his wife that they had saved him from about five months of serious ribbing from their bass player over the inferior quality of the Yamaha.
He never did give me the Yamaha, and I don't remember what he did with it. But what a difference. Moreover, Hywel Thomas, the organist (B3 Hammond) said from henceforth he's "keeping his eyes open for an eccentric millionaire who wants to get rid of a Fender Rhodes electric piano". He never found a donor, but did purchase one from Manny's Music Store in New York and had it shipped by boat to England, thus saving a tidy sum of money. That was 45 years ago and it still tickles me to reminisce on the magnanimity of the Beverly Hills millionaire.