Photo & Memories Page 

The following story is so unbelievable that I wouldn't be relating this if Linda had not been with me to observe this phenomenon. 

In the mid 1990s Linda and I descended to the boardwalk of the Niagara River. We were within a few feet of this thundering powerhouse of water roaring past us at 35 mph after coming over the Niagara Falls. There were, however, seemingly calm spots of water right next to the shore in front of us. We would learn they were not calm. Not by any stretch of the imagination.

We don't know for sure, but it is thought that Bob Milne was the busiest piano player in the world for over 25 years. He averaged 250 performances per year, which is about f five performances every week using 50 weeks. It was nothing for him to play between four and nine performances (include matinees), and to drive 400 miles overnight to get to the next gig .

His record "overnight" drive was 1241 miles: from Deerfield, Massachusetts, to Newburgh, Missouri. He said he "never wanted to disappoint anybody..."

This page will include photos from his 22 years of saloon & nightclub playing in the Detroit area, to the 25 years of stunning stages, concert halls around the world, and the little church basements where he played countless fundraisers for various causes. The story below was a common occurrence. 

I'm often asked what was my most memorable concert during my long career. Was it the times I played at the huge Chautauqua Institute Amphitheatre to 5,000 people? Or the 12,000 that used to pack the streets at the Montreal Jazz Festivals? Was it when I played for mega-famous people in their homes, or was it... (on and on)...

Well, it didn't take me long to decide it was at the Eastman School of Music in 2002. I'll tell you why.

I was a student at Eastman (Rochester, New York) from 1959-63 as a French horn player. I had been in two professional orchestras by the time I was 22, but quit at that time because of a lot of orchestra politics which I'll leave out for now. Then I became a piano player because it was easy for me and was a lot of fun. At first I played in a German sing-a-long bar in Detroit, but by 1990 began playing in concert halls. The concert hall performances exploded into taking me all over North America and then across the world when I became an Ambassador of Music for the United States. But then, in the midst of all this barnstorming in every direction, I received a phone call to go back to the music school where I attended as a horn player and play a concert in Kilbourne Hall.

KILLBOURN HALL??? I'd seen the greatest concert pianists in the world play in there when I went to the school decades ago! Plus...

When I was at Eastman in the early 60s I heard all these fantastic student pianists just playing the heck out of Beethoven or Rachmaninoff concertos, as well as listening to these guys in their practice rooms constantly lighting up the place with spectacular runs and technique. So when I got the phone call to go play in in the shadow of all these guys I was a little bit nervous to say the least. But, I told myself, this is something I should do and my career was taking me all over the place. So Linda and I went there and actually stayed at a hotel where I played my first sing-a-long gigs in 1962-63 just for old time's sake. (This will be for a different story).

The next day we went to the college, only to find my name in lights on the marquee. This somewhat heightened my angst, but I was going to do what I had already done thousands of times already - just go out onto the stage and put everything I knew how to do into all 88 keys on the piano. In other words, give it hell.

I was amazed at the tremendous cheer that went up when I walked onto the stage. Had these concert/classical musicians actually heard my name somehow? I looked into the hall, only to see it was packed and, amazingly, the two hallways leading into the place were also packed with standing room only. I hoped I wouldn't disappoint anyone.

Note: I never played to full speed or ability so as to always have a "buffer zone" to rely on. However this time...

My first tune was a barn-burner of some sort playing things into this piece that I'd only ever heard in my dreams. I did high speed, cross hands, played multiple rhythms at once, brought it down soft then roared back up to full blast, and eventually finished with some sort of double-handed run up the keyboard. It must have worked because of the thunderous cheering and applause that I heard when concluding. Afterwards I played blues from the heart, a few rags, a few piano roll medleys that averaged about 1500 notes per minute, and eventually finished the concert after about 1 1/2 hours. At the conclusion I received my 6th standing ovation. Then the stage manager told Linda that he'd never seen such a crowd in Kilbourn Hall before. They stretched all the way beyond the entry doors and out into the main hallway.

I would have loved to stay the following day and talk to people but our schedule demanded that we take off at an early hour. So thank you, Eastman, for having me back. This was the pinnacle performance of my career and will be the one that stands above the others. I went back to where I began and am glad I did. Thanks for reading.