Do you ever wonder how much your support means to the people who create the music, or how powerful the process of creating and listening to music can be? Saxophonist Will Donato was diagnosed with cancer at the time he was beginning work on a new CD. He continued to write and record for the duration of his treatment as he watched the first track, “Funkability” climb the charts. Now he has a new CD on the market and a clean bill of health.

He came through my hometown a few weeks ago and gave the most powerful performance I have ever seen him deliver - which is saying a lo,t because he has always been an astonishing musician and a charismatic entertainer. Although he did not put the word out at the time about his cancer, he does mention it onstage and in the album's liner notes. I am so grateful that he was willing to share this story about the saving grace of family, friends, fans, and music during a challenging time in his life.

SmoothViews(SV): When this happens to a person with a public persona it usually either gets out because they release the information or because it leaks from a few people and spreads all over the internet. You seemed to be less active as far as performance but I think people assumed that was because you were working on the album, or just taking some down time.
Will Donato (WD): I haven't told the whole story to anyone but a close circle of friends. It was more devastating than I let out because I didn't want to frighten anybody. The period from the initial determination to the first possible pan of attack was real scary. They were going to do this whole scalpel and knife surgery. I don't want to sound like I'm aggrandizing but from this perspective it is totally devastating. I was exploring all the options and treatments that were available to me, and I was making the album.

SV: When something this devastating does happen it seems like the gut level reaction would be to stop in your tracks and circle the wagons. You kept moving forward and working on your music.
WD: That's what I did, that's what I had to do because, to be honest, the CD was the medicine behind the recovery. It's all I had to look forward to, that and being with family and friends. I had to delve into this project and give it my all because nothing is for sure. The procedure might not have worked, there might have been complications, or I could have died on the operating table. That sounds morbid but you really never know. What I had, all I had, was these moments with the music and the process of creating it. The "Funkability" single I did with Darren (Rahn) was so important to me, it meant as much to me while I was going through the medical stuff and preparation to battle this thing.

SV: When we talked after your show you said you delivered your parts to Darren the day you were diagnosed.
WD: The day I was diagnosed with Cancer was the day I sent my files to Darren for him to mix and master. To me the life of that track exactly parallels the whole process. I got my diagnosis on January 20th and my life kind of forever changed in that respect. For real, the thing that kept me going initially was the single. It was that important to me. I had to have something joyous going on while I was going through this battle. The battle itself was actually more scary than the actual game time. To me game time was my surgery on April 16. After the diagnosis there was this period that was filled with "what if's,” Then came the process of building a strategy.

SV: That is really challenging because there are so many options and not much time to learn about them or explore too much.
WD: Yeah, that was frustrating because you encounter this chasm between traditional medicine and alternative medicine. Each side is passionate about their beliefs. Everybody has a great resource they want you to explore. There is a side to it that is humorous: you start doing all this stuff - researching on the Internet, going all over YouTube, taking supplements, eating super foods, and so on. Then you hear Doctors say "why bother with that."  You are kind of blindly grabbing at any type of protocol you can because you don't have much to lose.  I changed my diet radically and started eating whole foods and a more vegetarian meals. This was mostly to prepare myself physically for what was going to come. The funny thing is that even though I knew I was going into battle to fight this thing and have some type of surgery and treatment I was getting a lot of success from changing the diet. Even in the middle of all of this, in the back of my mind I was happy because this diet was helping me to be the person i always wanted to be. I was leaner and meaner (laughs.) I also had lots of people sending prayers and healing energy.


SV: Some people say that's a little “woo-woo” but there is a lot of research backing up how powerful it can be.
WD: There were actually people who would come to my gigs and send healing energy and prayers. Of course my friends and family were too. I was feeling very hopeful but really scared too. I have to say that hopefully it's because a lot of people were sending good energy to me and I was putting out out good energy, I was finding the resources I needed and being surrounded by an excellent medical team. What frightened me is that in medicine if you are a throat surgeon you are going to sell what your specialty is. If you are a scalpel and knife guy that's what you are going to sell that and you're not going to tell me about a new laser protocol. I had a really good, really sincere guy who was talking about a pretty radical surgery, then chemo and radiation, and it would be over a year before I would be able to play. Then by chance I met a physician who told me I would be a great candidate for a new laser procedure at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix.

SV: It's so amazing when the right situation comes at the right time, sometimes out of the blue. You wrote a wonderful song for him on the CD that is called “Miracle Man,” and shared some beautiful thoughts in the liner notes.
WD: He is so important to me. His name is Michael Hinni. The CD was originally going to be called Miracle Man and it was actually all about Dr. Hinni, not me. I didn't want anyone to think either he or I were aggrandizing the situation, like "who does he think he is with all this miracle stuff." I do think it is appropriate though, because  three days out of the surgery I was released and three weeks after it I was playing my horn at an event. I was really scared because throat cancer is not a joke. The prognosis if I hadn't spotted it early is that I might have had one or two years left, that's all. And Dr. Hinni suggested this procedure, made it happen, and less than 6 months later I'm 100% cancer free and playing live and touring again.  I also have to say that in this journey I met some of the nicest health care professionals. I was just astounded. I never really understood the role of a Nurse until I went through this. They are these angels who are there for you every moment to make sure you are comfortable and not in pain. I haven't had anything more than a physical before this, I've never been in the hospital, and I didn't appreciate the role they play. I don't want to sound trite here and I know that as a musicians we seem to be absorbed about our music anyway but I don't think I could have made it through without music.

SV: And through this all you recorded this album that takes you another step forward in terms of the originality and power, of bringing something new to the genre. You gathered a wonderful team of musician friends – Steve Oliver, who is actually almost your neighbor, Blake Aaron, Mel Brown, Eddie Reddick, Michael Whittaker, and this was your first time teaming up with Darren Rahn.
WD: Having Darren was really special to me too because I know he went through this with Wayman. He had a sensitivity that was very keen. I felt real comfortable sharing with him and he was there every step of the way. When the single was released I didn't want this story to go out. I wanted the song to stand on its own merits without the back story but I kind of wanted to tell the story because I was going through a lot of uncertainty about my mortality.There was a charm to t”Funkability” that directly paralleled the whole process I was going through. The day I was diagnosed I delivered my files to him. II recorded some final takes that day too. If you listen  closely there's a little bit of urgency there. Kind of like what I could go all out because I didn't have any reason to play it safe. Then there's the whole process of getting the song out and watching it start to climb the charts, which happened while I was sorting out my medical options and preparing to fight. I don't usually dwell on the charts but It thrilled me so much to see the song getting out there and people picking up on it. Every slight move upwards, even the most seemingly not splashy radio add was joyous to me, and of course getting so much positive feedback on the track from the fans.

SV: “Funkability” is a different sound for you as far as your radio singles, it's high energy, funky, and you're playing alto sax.
WD: When I teamed up with Darren I told him I wanted something that reflected my real spirit and the intensity of my live show. Alto sax is my main instrument and I never had used it on a radio song. I asked him to write me an alto song that would be uptempo, and would be something I could keep in live set for a long time. I honestly feel like  he defined my alto sound with this track. He really captures the way I feel and I think I staked out some turf for myself with this one.   
There are all these players out there, everyone from Sanborn to Paul Taylor, and it's hard to grab space on alto and have your own signature sound. This year has been fun in that respect because I think I've defined myself as an alto voice. There's a fatness and a brightness there. I consider myself a stepchild of Grover and Sanborn. I like the fullness of Grover's sound and the brightness of Sanborn, with a little dose of Maceo. I think Darren helped me capture that sound and that means so much to me because I so shied away from it for a while.

SV: There are so many places on this CD where you are hitting these powerful notes and then holding them, and doing some fast runs and really tight improvisation.
WD: That's part of the evolution I think my sound is going toward, because of Darren, because I'm not playing it safe, and  I think it is also my homage to Marc Russo (formerly of the Yellowjackets), one of my all time favorite players.

SV: I don't know if it's because I haven't seen you live in a while and it's just natural progression or if it is because of this journey you just went through but you seem to be playing with a lot more power and edge onstage and in the studio you took a lot more chances as far as the range of types of songs you did.
WD: Yeah, ironically, I think that since the surgery I've gotten looser and I've gotten a fatter sound. Obviously a throat, face, or neck procedure is going to affect the way you play a reed instrument, especially during recovery. You just play through it and don't dwell on it.  I loved doing this record too. I have a great team that I love. George Landress, Steve Oliver's friend who mixed this record, is such a nice human being. He did some beautiful things while we were working on this. Steve stepped in too and helped me finish it. He's a guitarist but he's got such a great ear for producing saxophones.

SV: One of the songs I love here is "So Cool." It's so current sounding and it's got this little chill vibe with that horn sound in the background, then Steve Oliver just goes off on an electric guitar solo. You don't hear him playing electric on studio projects.
WD: I wrote that one with Steve and George. George did the programming, that cool little sound was all his. People identify Steve with the acoustic guitar and the synthesizer guitar but he plays electric and he knows his way around a rock solo. He had this really funky electric solo on "What You See Is What You Get" a few years ago and nobody could guess that it was him. We do private events here where he just blows everyone away when he picks up the electric guitar and just wails on it.

SV: Did you write most of these songs while you were going through this process?
WD: All the original songs were done then. I wrote while I was at the Mayo Clinic, and I had this two weeks when we were supposed to stay in Arizona so we had this cool hotel room and my wife Diana and our dogs were there. It had this whole love nest vibe and I just sat and wrote every song there. I was determined to finish them. The only one besides "Skin Tight" that I didn't write was "What It Takes." Steve wrote that one for me. I told him I would love to have a Latin flavored song and he did that one for me.

SV: Then you recorded it all.
WD: That's what is so great about having home studios and being able to share files. I had done the work on "Funkability" already and sent that off to Darren. Then I recorded my saxes for the rest of the songs at home, the other musicians delivered such beautiful stuff, mostly from their home studios, and we did the rest of putting it together at Steve's house. Then we took all the tracks and sent them to George for the final mixes. I was doing some other stuff too. I also have a spot on a friend's CD too. He's a vocalist and I'm on one of his tracks. George mixed that one and I arranged his horns during my recovery too. I did Steve's record. I did another band out of Denver too. And I did an artist named Tim Bevins. I had to be real careful because I wasn't sure how much fatigue I could take on.

SV: That's five projects. That's being careful?
WD: The funny thing is that I've only been out of surgery for about three months but  I just feel real good right now. It sounds cliched but I'm living the dream. I went through a lot this year and I definitely see the world differently. The whole "don't sweat the small stuff" thing is a lot more clear to me now.  And I have to put more into taking care of myself now. I've always appreciated people around me very much and now even more so, both my family and friends who were with me through this and the fans who come to see me play and buy the music.

SV: You've come through a really challenging period and I so appreciate your willingness to share the experience because this disease has affected so many people, and their loved ones. Music has a powerful healing effect and it offers solace to people who are going through difficulties. You hear people telling stories all the time about music pulling them through.
WD: I have to say that I have been hesitant to talk about it, especially from the stage, because like I said before, I didn't want to frighten anyone. But it's been so gratifying when I do say something because I am rewarded with the best stories from people I meet at the shows and CD tables. They come up to me and tell me so many very heartfelt stories about people who are dear to them. I listen to every word they say and it means a lot to me. The main thing about this record to me is that it really does tell a story. It kept me inspired, it kept me hopeful, and I hope it does that for others too, especially the ones who are going through stuff, because there are so many out there who are.