Mark Rivera will spend most of this summer playing saxophone in front of packed stadiums and arenas with Billy Joel, but that doesn't mean crowds don't make him nervous.
“It's actually more unnerving for me when I can see the very back of the room,” said Rivera, who, after 32 years in Joel's band, is once again playing small clubs, as he rolls out his first solo album Common Bond.
“In an arena, because of the lights, I can only see the first 20 rows. In a place like The Cutting Room , it's really intimate, but there's also no production to hide behind. You're right out there.”