by Kevin DelMastro
For the holiday I was hired to play at the Mission Bay Yacht Club in San Diego. It’s a nice club, with yachts all over, and they created a nice dance floor for folks wanting to dance to the music. It was lots of fun, and my 2-year-old Tiana loved the fireworks all around the bay as I wrapped up playing.
I was accomplice to a wonderful plan to surprise my client’s wife for her birthday on the beach. It was a very special moment, one of the reasons I love playing jazz and romantic saxophone. My client emailed me that he wanted my ideas on how to best surprise his wife with a romantic evening for her bday, with me playing cool jazz and love songs on the sax. I suggested a few intimate restaurants, as well as clubhouse rentals where a catered or take out meal could be set up in complete privacy. Then he decided catching a sunset would be ideal, so we made plans to meet at Coronado Beach, where there would be plenty of room for us. He texted a photo of them all dressed up for the evening, so I’d know what to look for as they passed me at the appointed spot. I followed them out to their picnic spot for sunset, and surprised his wife and played some classic love songs for them. They were super nice and appreciated that I was on time and kept it discrete so as not to ruin the surprise. They enjoyed the music and experience, and gave me a 5-star Yelp review. I really loved playing the surprise because they kept saying I helped them make memories- me playing sax in a picturesque setting on the beach at sunset