A healthy dose of jazz

On the other hand, Anderberg had played his trumpet almost every weekend from junior high on, until his appendix burst in 2007 and resulting complications left him with severed stomach muscles and no pressure to blow out. Luckily at about the same time, Aussie James Morrison invented the Morrison Digital Trumpet (MDT), a shiny black trumpet-silhouetted mechanism rimmed in blue neon, which, among other virtues, can produce 256 sounds (“only 10 that are good,” the dentist jokes) in seven octaves.

With it he can add different colors to the group whose sense of timing and smooth texture he hears getting better all the time.

“It’s wonderful that the regular weekly get-togethers have worked out,” Anderberg says. “That’s how you improve.”

The Lisbon dentist, who lives in Damascus, closes each session, just like each office visit, with a magic trick, but here he does “the crazy ones like swallowing a quarter, slicing my arm open and pulling the quarter out.”

“It’s one of the highlights of my week,” says Fasteau, speaking of the whole session, not just the concluding high jinks. “I look forward to it — we all do.”

“I like playing with other people, reacting to each other,” adds Fasteau, of Glenwood, who has a similar weekly gig with a rock group at Howard Community College.

“What’s nice here is that there are a lot of people over 50 who used to play some instrument,” McGinn says. “It’s an artsy area.”

Maurer describes Foreman as “a natural teacher.” “He doesn’t appear to mind playing with rank amateurs,” Maurer adds. 

The Jazz Docs have had a few gigs at Smokin’ Hot Bar & Grille in Glenwood, as well as one at Fairhaven Assisted Living Center in Sykesville. A private performance around the holidays is a possibility as well. But no one’s aspiring to late-blooming fame.

Meanwhile, back at the Academy, a Blues Brothers student sax combo is beginning to be organized under instructor Bruce Coates. Word is it’ll include some of the Jazz Docs. Stay tuned.