In retirement, Jerry Mandel plays sax
Published: Aug. 13, 2010 Updated: 4:23 p.m.
By TERYL ZARNOW COLUMNIST / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Retirement, I always thought, would be like a conversation in which I would meander about in no particular order but
manage to touch all the pertinent points.
Now along comes Jerry Mandel, 70, to tell me that you have to have a plan. And, maybe, I'd better start making mine
soon.
Jerry Mandel performs along with Debi Raven at the Bayside Restaurant in Newport Beach. Mandel, the former
president of OC Performing Arts Center, has launched a second career as a saxaphone player.
ANA P. GUTIERREZ, FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
"One day you get up," he warns, "and you have nothing to do."
Next thing I know, he's talking about the number of cells inside my brain. It doesn't really all come together, of course,
until you hear him play the saxophone.
Listening to how Mandel implemented his plan and reinvented himself playing an instrument he hadn't touched in 35
years leaves you a little in awe.
He went from an off-stage role as president of the Orange County Performing Arts Center, to performing and taking
on-stage bows during his personal second act.
He convinces me by example -- the way seeing someone with perfect posture can make you straighten your own
shoulders.
I believe that gray is the new black. Mandel gives me hope that 70 will be the new 60, which is good because I'm
furiously flossing my gums for the long-term.
We meet for coffee and I notice: here is a man who doesn't sip. His jeans are casual but his shirt is pressed. He's
confident and committed, and when it comes to retirement we all want the experience he's having.
•••
It started with a conversation and a birthday present.
Mandel had been a university administrator and fundraiser before joining the Center in 1997. He was vice chancellor
at UC Irvine when he had that conversation with Prof. James McGaugh, a renowned neurobiologist who studies
memory.
McGaugh advised Mandel to protect his brain against declining with age.
"I told him if you retire it's a very good thing to keep the brain active and acquiring new information. By taking up
music, I'm confident it's going to make your brain work better."
For Mandel, leading the OC Performing Arts Center was like admiring the beauty of the house next door. Each night
featured more great music – but listening is like looking through the window.
"I listened to jazz all my life. It was always a part of me – I just didn't play."
He'd played sax, once, but stopped in high school.
"I concluded I would never be very good. It took me 40 years to understand it was not a lack of talent; it was a lack of
dedication. I didn't learn to practice."
For his 60th birthday his wife, Whitney, bought Mandel a sax and told him to learn. He hauled out his old instruction
books and assigned himself a practice room under the Center.
"So I started."
•••
He practiced two hours every day after work. Sax instructor Gary Matsuura, head of jazz studies at Chapman
University, was his mentor.
Turns out, as an adult, Mandel loves to practice.
Of course, learning in the basement with great musical talents upstairs both intimidates and inspires.
Name-dropping is inevitable. Performers began to offer Mandel encouragement: Tuba player Jim Self, sax player
Plaz Johnson.
"Jim told me I was getting better. Plaz told me I have a really great sound...I began to think I might be good."
After retiring in 2006, Mandel's plan fell into place. The Irvine resident practices from 9 a.m. to noon, breaks for lunch,
and then heads to the gym.
He plays tenor and soprano sax with three bands (counting his own) at venues including the Pageant of the Masters
and Bayside restaurant in Newport Beach.
He replaced his starter sax with a retrofitted Selmer.
"It's a great horn. I believe the sax is almost human. Sometimes I look at that horn and say: I just hope I'm playing
worthy enough for you."
He believes his horn (like the man) is aging right.
•••
Mandel never wants to shuffle about in a state of confusion.
He says the gym works his body and music training works his brain. Both his core and his mind are toned.
"My mind is limber. I can play a new key without thinking about it. I can learn a new song just like that."
He plays in a UCI band with Prof. McGaugh, who sets a strong example. McGaugh, 78, still teaches and lectures -and plays clarinet and alto saxophone.
Research into the effects of music on the brain is hot right now. It's finding that music exercises a variety of areas of
the brain, which appears to keep you mentally younger.
Ultimately, though, you don't chose music as inoculation. Rather, it chooses you.
"Music touches your soul and your heart," Mandel says. "When I'm playing jazz, it engulfs me and takes me over."
The point is to plan something for retirement.
In addition to music, Mandel volunteers on the boards of the Orange County High School of the Arts, the Tiger Woods
Learning Center Foundation and the Balboa Performing Arts Center.
Mandel advises: Live like you have forever -- like you have the time to do lots of new things. But also live like you
have no time at all -- so the things you do are worthwhile.
"I'll never be John Coltrane. I don't have 40 more years to play, but I haven't reached the end of my talent. At this
point in my life, it's all about the journey."
Mandel admits after nearly nine years he was ready to leave his high-profile job at the Center and a five-tuxedo work
wardrobe. He's found a new purpose, and anyone can do the same.
"All the practice in the world will not make a club golfer into Tiger Woods. But with sweat equity, anybody can learn to
be adequate and have fun."
No doubt, Jerry Mandel is having fun.
Contact the writer: Mandel will perform at the Pageant of the Master's Aug. 17 and at Orange County Great
Park on Sept. 17. He performs with the Ron Kobayashi Band at Bayside restaurant Thursday nights.Contact
the writer and send story ideas to terylzarnow@gmail.com.