My new friend is Paul Jimenez from San Diego. Now if you are an Arizona boy like myself then you know San Diego is God’s Country when it comes to climate and beauty. Every spring there is a mass exodus of Arizona folks to this wonderful seaside city.

Paul has a nice YouTube website which is where we met. He goes by the handle of SDSaxMan on the web channel.

The SaxMan has a vivid history. In his words,

I grew up listening to Big Band music that my Father always had playing on his record player. As I got older I got into Classic Rock from the 70’s & 80’s and R&B Soul.

Paul loved hearing the saxophone in many of these bands and decided it would be cool to learn to play the horn. He started with band in middle school and stayed with it for a couple of years until the kids he was running with in High School thought he was not so cool. Later in his life he realized that he had given up something he really loved.

Paul started playing sax again in 1996 around the time his Mother passed away. He found that playing the Sax helped him through the pain of his loss. A girlfriend took him to a family reunion in Palm Springs and entered him in a talent show.

When I heard all the people clapping and cheering for me, I knew I wanted to play on stage in a band. So I later joined a few bands where I played at some local events and street fairs in San Diego.

Some of his most memorable gigs were playing at the BB Kings Blues club in Hollywood, and Opening for Morris Day and the Time who starred in the Prince movie Purple Rain.

Paul sent me a soundtrack which I embedded here for your listening pleasure. It is titled, “Siempre Hay Esperanza.” Enjoy!