Seniors
For the Love of Music Amos Garrett
A
mos “the famous”, is a well-known musician who has toured the world and continues to develop his professional musical abilities. If he isn’t in a recording studio or on a stage, he can be found with a fishing pole by a body of water or out in the bush hunting for wild game with his brother. Born in Detroit, Amos lived with his family in a small town near Wing Lake, Michigan. His first memory is when he showed up as an unsupervised toddler at the house soaking wet. When his parents followed the tracks to where he’d come from, they discovered that he had fallen through the ice. Amos has tried many different types of fishing all over the world, from France and Japan to rivers in Alberta. He takes his vest with his tackle and his rod packed in his suitcase on his tours and believes that his connection to nature brings him a sense of reality and peace. His favorite is catching trout with a fly-fishing rod. Amos knew at a young age that he would become a musician. When he was 3 years old, he had memorized the names on his father’s record collection and knew from the label shapes, what kind of music was in the album. He was a bit of a “party trick” when his parents would wake him up in the night during one of their cocktail parties to “perform” for the guests. He would come downstairs with his blanket as his cape and proceed to name the artist from the album cover or they would play music and he would tell them if it was Bing Crosby or a classical or jazz piece.
36
The piano music lessons started at 7 with lessons and training from the Royal Conservatory, World Conservatory and on to trombone lessons and then self-taught guitar lessons. Now, as a professional musician, Amos’ advice to young upstarts is to switch instruments if one of them just doesn’t “work for you”. Amos has a repertoire of traditional and modern jazz, 5 string banjo, country and western, rock n roll, blue grass and mandolin mixed in his love of music. He was a mediocre student, but his love of music came from his father’s influence when he would take Amos at 9-10 years of age to see the bands in some of the clubs in Toronto, where he personally knew many of the professional musicians. Amos and his 2 brothers were raised in this area. One particular time, Amos recalls the piano player jumping into a beat up, rusted out car. His father did warn him then that the life of a musician could be a difficult road. During his last few years at university to become a teacher, Amos had an opportunity to join a band as accompanist on a concert tour making good money. He initially felt guilty about the money his parents had invested in his education, but he took the gig at Carnegie Hall and never looked back. With a thousand memories, a beautiful wife he met at a club in Vancouver, still producing, playing and improving his music, Amos’ advice to others is to get outdoors! His perseverance and optimistic attitude have helped him become the icon in the music industry that he is today at 80 years of age. Play on, Amos!
Seniors — Winter 2021
