Hard Times Lead to Smooth Sailing for Jazz Pianist

(Dec. 17) -- It's a cliche that bad times make for great music, but it's also the reality for smooth jazz pianist Burt Brion.

In his 47 years, Brion has been through a series of events that would crush a lesser man -- including facial disfigurement, temporary blindness and permanent baldness.

Even so, looking back he says he'd relive every miserable experience in order to have the life he has now.

"If it wasn't for everything I went through, I wouldn't have my wife, my kids or my passion for music," Brion told AOL News.

Brion grew up in Sacramento, Calif., and learned piano from both his mother and his father, a church organist.

But things really started happening -- good and bad -- when he moved to the San Diego area in his early 20s to teach at a private school. It was then he discovered smooth jazz, which struck a chord with him.

"I was listening to a keyboardist named Dan Siegal and realized, 'Hey, this is the music I hear in my head,'" Brion said.

However, Brion never thought about playing professionally, until a curveball made a music career necessary. In 1990, he was diagnosed with what he says was a stress-induced auto-immune disorder that attacked his skin.

"I was always itchy," he said. "I felt like Job in the Bible."

High doses of steroids relieved the agonizing itchiness but led to him permanently losing all his hair.

Adding to the misery: At the same time he lost his hair, he started losing his vision because of keratoconus, a deterioration of the structure of the cornea that changes the gradual bulging from the normal round shape to a cone shape.


All the health problems led Brion's employer to decide he wasn't healthy enough to work, and he was laid off.

"There was no union to fight for me, and I had no health insurance," he said. "I went from having everything to nothing, just like that."

Brion said he tried to get another teaching job, but his private school credential qualified him to work only at schools run by Seventh-Day Adventists.

"It was shortsighted on my part," he admitted. "The end result was that I had no money, no job and I was disfigured -- I was seriously unrecognizable. People who met me during that time tell me they thought I was a burn victim. Oh, and I was losing my vision."

A lesser man might have moved back home with his parents, but Brion chose to tough it out.

You know that old saw about a window opening when a door closes? Well, Brion's window opened while he was in a hospital.

"I got an offer from a different Seventh-Day Adventist church that needed a musical director who could do more of a rock thing," he said. "The guy showed up at the hospital and asked me to work for them."

From there, Brion started working with other churches and met a whole community of musicians who liked his music.

"It was great! Because Seventh-Day Adventists hold services on Saturdays, there was no conflict with other congregations," he said. "I played an original song for some of the musicians and was told I should record them."

But Brion still couldn't see that as a possibility. In fact, he couldn't see much at all.

"My eyesight was getting worse," he said. "I could see light, shapes and the piano keys. I needed a cornea transplant, but as a Medi-Cal patient, I was a low priority.

"Finally, the woman who became my wife told the doctor that if I didn't get help, she was going to call a lawyer."

The doctor recommended someone who could Brion, but by that time he had suffered so much retinal damage in his left eye that even under the best circumstances, he would have no functional vision.

"However, he was able to get my right eye up to 20/20 so I am now able to drive," Brion said. "Basically, I got my life back.

"It's funny. I didn't realize until after my surgery just how beautiful my wife was," he said.

As his eyesight returned, Brion got a vision for the future.

He decided it was time to record an album of his smooth jazz compositions, but wondered how to get the $20,000 needed for the studio time. Once again, the answer came at church.

"A little while earlier, I noticed that one of the guys who attended our services was always dancing to the music," he said. "He was really good, so I asked him to join the choir. He said, 'I can't sing.' I told him, 'But you can dance.'

"Anyway, I was trying to get money for the studio, and someone suggested I ask him. Apparently, he was rich, and I never knew it."

Brion met with the man, who was happy to give him the money.

"I said, 'Wait! We haven't worked out how much of a percentage you'll get from sales.' He said, 'Look around here. Do I look like I need money?'"

Looking around at the plushy digs, Brion realized the guy had a point. But what might have been a gesture to support an aspiring artist turned out to be a good investment.

That debut CD, "Say the Word," hit No. 25 on the smooth jazz charts when it was released in 2006 and led to Brion's music being played around the world.

"I've also developed some great relationships in the community, so when smooth jazz artists come to San Diego, like Jessy J and Warren Hill, my band will back them up," he said.

Brion is now working on a follow-up CD, "The Secret's Out," and still leads the worship band at his local church. In all regards, he is excited about the future.

"I know some people might look at what happened and lose faith, but I'm more a believer than ever."