The next image is the last photo that I would take of Alto. It was at the band’s final Detroit area performance on June 21, 2019, at Pine Knob.

I first saw Alto (real name Tom Cartmell) with Bob Seger in February of 1973 at Detroit’s Masonic Auditorium. Bob Seger had just formed The Borneo Band and released the Back In ’72 album. Bob and the band were supposed to be opening this show for the headliner, Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks. However, Hicks caught Bob & the guys’ soundcheck, with Alto wailing away on “Turn On Your Lovelight” and he immediately looked up the promoter and told him, “There is no way I am going to go onstage and follow these guys! I want to open the show and let these guys close!”

Dan Hicks’ wishes were granted, much to a very confused audience who thought it was a Dan Hicks concert! The show was being filmed for ABC TV’s Rock Concert and Bob and the band were in peak form! The time came for Alto’s sax solo on “Turn On Your Love Light.”  He worked his way out into the audience with a microphone shoved down into his saxophone and ended up blowing an incredible solo while walking on the backs of the plush velvet theatre seats at Masonic! The audience went crazy! By the time the band encored with “Let It Rock” many fans had jumped onto the stage to dance and rock out! This was all filmed by a Detroit production house called Producer’s Color. Mysteriously, only the Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks portion of the show aired!

I saw similar scenes countless times through the years. There was that time in 1973 at Ford Field Rec Center in Livonia when Alto waded into the audience to do his solo. Only this time, he was playing TWO SAXES at the same time! Then there was that time in 1977 at The Michigan Jam when Alto did his solo in “Let It Rock”…..from a hot air balloon! The  entire 1978 Stranger In Town tour found Alto soloing on “Let It Rock” from high atop the PA speakers.  From there, Alto stepped off the PA speakers, swinging from a trapeze-type affair from the arena ceiling, and over the heads of the astonished audience! “He’s a brave person!” Seger exclaimed. “None of the rest of us are going to do it, that’s for sure!”

At the heart of it was always the music. Alto’s inventive sax playing (and flute as well!) lent an air of sophistication and polish to Seger’s music. At the same time, reaching back to the great saxophonists of the seminal days of rock’n’roll in the 1950s, and taking in a good bit of jazz and R&B.  Through the years, Alto was always there for the fans, showing up at every single meet and greet and even meeting with many of them for dinner before shows.