Maurice André Photo: Discogs
As a boy, Maurice André worked down in the coal mines with his father, and often spoke about how shifting these tonnes of coal taught him big lessons about work and resilience. He said:
I built myself when working in the mine, 14 years old, when I was moving 17 tonnes of coal a day”.
These lessons and the work ethic stayed with him his whole life, and through his teachings and interviews we can see a man who was not only immersed in his art form, but completely dedicated to the development and progress of the trumpet. Later in his life he returned to the coal mines that he worked in, and with his trumpet serenaded the miners through tears as they entered the pit.
