A VERY similar story here in the Boston area (below): BTW, What does 'his brain is a perfectly programmed musical computer' mean? I think that that is hogwash and a really poor - and inaccurate - metaphor!
Music for Life
Tony DeBlois was born blind, mentally retarded, and autistic, but he was also born a jazz savant. Today, he plays 20 instruments, knows 8,000 songs, and is forging a career in the music industry.
By Jack Thomas, Globe Staff, 10/26/2003
It was Sunday morning at the jazz brunch at Skipjack's on Clarendon Street, and even the staff was groovin' to the Winiker Band and a spirited rendition of "All the Things You Are." Bill Winiker recalls that he was snaring drums and that his brother, Bo, with his sweet trumpet, was trading fours with a blind guy at the keyboard whose chord changes and rolling improvisations were so imaginative that when he finished with a flourish that included a snippet from "Rhapsody in Blue," folks stopped eating their eggs Benedict to applaud with gusto. Rising awkwardly and turning toward an audience he could not see, the young man rocked back and forth, his hands twitching nervously, and then he smiled, raised his arms, and said in a voice loud enough to be heard above the applause: "Aren't I good?"
Meet Tony DeBlois of Randolph, the best jazz pianist you probably never heard of and a one-man band who plays 19 instruments -- no, make that 20, because he took up the saxophone last December and plays it now, along with the keyboard, when he jams with the Winikers at Skipjack's. http://www.boston.com/news/globe/mag...usic_for_life/
"GAS never sleeps" - Gil Janus
"Now you got to pay your dues. Get that axe and play the blues." - Spudman
Gear: Epiphone Sheraton II, Epiphone Wildkat, Epiphone Emperor Joe Pass, Fender MIM Strat, Tacoma DR-14, Johnson JR-200 resonator; Fender Super Champ XD amp