Jazz saxophonist Boney James uses words like "terrifying" and "grateful" when he talks about his recent ordeal.
After James performed at the Newport Beach Jazz Festival in May, delivering a set he says left him floating "on a cloud," a drunken driver plowed into his car while the musician was driving home.
He's just beginning to perform publicly again since the accident, which left him with stitches, broken teeth and a fractured jaw.
James says he was chatting on speakerphone with his wife, who was waiting for him at home, when traffic came to a standstill on a Los Angeles highway. He was forced to a stop, but the driver behind him rammed into his BMW.
"I was talking to her, telling her I didn't know what was going on, and then kaboom," James says. "The impact was so hard. I never felt anything like that."
He remembers blood and says his two front teeth were pushed out at a 90 degree angle. His first thought, after realizing he was still alive, was about how the accident would affect his saxophone playing.
"How would I be able to play? I needed those teeth," he said.
After a trip to the ER, James called his dentist, and by 5 that morning he was getting his teeth repaired.
James attempted to play the saxophone again for the first time June 24.
"It felt funny because my teeth were not in the same place, and I wasn't 100 percent healed," he said. "But I missed playing."
James said his wife got emotional when she saw him play. "She started crying," he says. "The horn is my life. I've played it every day of my life for the past 40 years."
James says he's looking forward to getting back on the road after having to cancel some dates. Though his dentist wanted him to wait longer, James couldn't sit still any more after being out of commission for six weeks.
He says he's not going to hold back in his performances.
"In the back of my mind, I'll be taking it easy, but the audience won't notice," says James, who has a noticeable scar on his chin that his friends joke makes him look more manly.
He's also back to working on his next CD, which he hopes to release by spring.
"I'm excited about it," James says. "The last record ('Send One Your Love' last year) was about the love songs and the late-night vibe. The new record will have more of a hump to it — more of an up-tempo groove."
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