This is a true story about a boy who realized his dream.

Gregory (not his real name) was born in the fabled historic province of Transylvania, in Romania. One afternoon when he was about ten years of age, he was alone in the family’s modest home. His mother was at work. His father was in the United States, having fled here to earn money as a professional musician and send it home to the family.

There was a sharp knock at the door. Young Gregory opened it to find four Communist party operatives in suits. They asked politely but firmly to come in and question him. Where was his father? How was he earning a living? What were his loyalties?

Gregory’s father was a gifted musician, a guitarist who would play at society gatherings at the bidding of party bosses, mostly accompanying ethnic singers. “Some of the best musicians in Bucharest would come to our home,” Gregory says. His father also played classical guitar, Brazilian and Greek music, and other styles. But he chafed under Communist rule, which had been declared in 1947, and under the oppressive Ceaușescu regime. Gregory recalls that his father was imprisoned briefly a couple of times after authorities stopped him on the street (a common practice) and found him carrying what was considered subversive material, either some “forbidden” music or perhaps a small Bible, Gregory isn’t sure which.

What Gregory didn’t tell the suited operatives was that in addition to sending money, his father sent him recordings of popular music from the United States: Johnny Cash, Dean Martin, Elvis. At that time and place, American popular music was forbidden. To Gregory, it was pure gold. (Note to parents: play quality music of all kinds at home to your kids. You never know what it might lead to.) The family had a radio and Gregory would listen on the sly to a short wave station, Free Europe. Through it he heard a song that was for him life-changing: Ella Fitzgerald singing “Speak Low” with Joe Pass on guitar. He rushed over to his small cassette tape recorder to try and capture what he could of it on tape.