Pat Donaher’s path to becoming a jazz saxophonist didn’t begin with that goal in mind. Growing up in Quincy, he was playing piano by 6 – his parents’ idea – and took to it. But like so many other kids before him, it wasn’t long before he started thinking about other instruments too.
“It’s typical of parents saying if you stick with piano for ‘X’ number of years, you can take another instrument,” said Donaher, 46, from his home in Watertown. “That was in the mid-’80s, a time when pop songs still had a saxophone solo. And right around that time I was listening to and really hearing (saxophonist) Charlie Parker, and that was the catalyst; hearing him play ‘Lover Man,’ I said, ‘I want to do that!’ ”