You see him here, you see him there, you see him almost everywhere .... and that's because saxophonist George Kezas loves nothing better than a gig. Whether it's jammin' at Hubie's Bar, leading the Griffin's Jazz Quintet, which he founded, playing at some swish private function, or mixing it in a one-off combo, there he is: the very epitome of a professional: relaxed and cool, playing his heart out, and clearly enjoying every minute of it.

And why not? For the American-born son of Greek immigrants has been playing since he was a kid in junior high school, and earned $1.50 for an evening's work in a freelance student combo called The Melody Men.

Today, Mr. Kezas looks back with pride on a fun-filled track record that includes forming, in the 1980s, the San Diego Concert Jazz Band with fellow musician and friend Barry Farr - a well respected, 17-piece group that is not only still going strong 20 years later, but also has produced many CDs.

"It is a performance band with top-notch musicians that play really good, contemporary arrangements, so it was a lot of fun to work with them," he says.

Arriving in Bermuda in 2000 to manage the St. George's Club, it wasn't long before Mr. Kezas also became involved in the local music scene which, to his delight, he found was rich in talent.

"There are a whole host of really good musicians here - Milt Robinson, Howie Rego, Jeff Marshall, Wayne Davis, and so many others - which makes it fun to play with them," he says.

High praise indeed from someone of his talent and experience who has been more used to the big wide world of his native American, but then George Kezas has never been a musical snob. He likes all forms of music, and genuinely loves performing with anyone who plays well, for there is something very special about the language that all good musicians share, especially in his favourite genre: jazz. "Jazz is the original American art form. It is primarily an improvisational type of music, and the normal form is that you start out with a structured tune, and then the different soloists improvise from there. You go back and forth. It's an unwritten thing - you give somebody a look and they know the way to go, that's what makes it fun," he says. "Every night is different. You have the opportunity to stretch out and play. The greatest musicians are classical and jazz musicians."

Small wonder, then, that the founder-member takes such pleasure in playing with the fine musicians who make up Griffin's Jazz Quintet: bassist Geoff Marshall, guitarist Milt Robinson, keyboards player Stephan Ahknaton and drummer Kenny Harris. "Milt Robinson is a phenomenal musician. He makes everybody a better musician by his support of the other players."

In fact, the quintet has just released its first CD, a live performance at Griffin's Bar and Grill.

While jazz is his preference, Mr. Kezas also enjoys the opportunities Bermuda affords to play so many different types of music, depending on the gig, and likens the contributions of the various musicians to "mixing a salad".

"Everybody contributes to the direction in which a tune is going," he says, which is why he takes both saxophones, as well as the flute, to a gig because each instrument "seasons" the music differently. The skill is in knowing which one to play - a process Mr. Kezas describes as "whatever comes into your head at the time (that fits with) what the band is doing".

Like all experienced musicians, the saxophonist also knows what it takes to keep an audience interested, and says the key is not to dwell in the peaks and valleys of the melody and its embellishments for too long.

"You cannot play at a really intense level for too long because you will lose your audience. In terms of jazz, if your audience doesn't know where you are on a song and you go off in a direction and don't somehow stay within the melody, and its context, you lose people because they don't know where you are. If you do, that becomes avant garde jazz, where there is no real context to the melody, everybody is playing what they want, and it is difficult to listen to." Although he has never found time to teach music, the saxophonist has always been keen to encourage musicians to grow and improve. When asked what advice he would give to aspiring saxophonists, unlike the teacher who advised him to take it up "because girls seem to like saxophonists", he says, "You have to take lessons and start out with the basics - how to get a good sound, learn scales, play harmony - and be willing to put in the time and get the discipline. No instrument is easy enough to be able to just pick it up and play it at a decent level."

As important as music has always been in his life, it is but one component of a multi-faceted individual whose first claim to fame was a starring role in a Hollywood movie when he was seven.

"I was born in Los Angeles, where MGM had a big studio. They were looking to cast somebody around five or six years old who could speak Greek, which was my first language at the time," Mr. Kezas relates. "I went in for a screen test with Katharine Hepburn and ended up getting the part of Chris, an orphan who was adopted by her. Spencer Tracy played a sportswriter, and it was the first movie in which they appeared together, and marked the beginning of a long relationship."

The award-winning 1942 movie 'Woman of the Year' took three months to make, and every day a limo would pick up little George and his mother from home and take them to the lot, where he also attended school while filming was in progress. Fellow students included Mickey Rooney and Elizabeth Taylor, and among Mr. Kezas' many memories are thinking how rich the boy must have been because of the noise the coins in his pocket made when he skipped, and of the all famous actors, including Clark Gable, whom he saw in the commissary.

"I also remember how nice Katharine Hepburn was to me. She was wonderful. Spencer Tracy, on the other hand, was very morose. I had to share a car with him once and he was very grumpy."

Still, the pay cheque for $250 was a great help to the Kezas family, and other screen tests followed. When his father Thom accompanied him to one at Universal Studios, however, he was very suspicious of the Hollywood scene, and decided he didn't want his son going into show biz. Nonetheless, as a young man Mr. Kezas had a bit part in 'The Blackboard Jungle' and also did some commercials for Chevrolet.

In 1975, when Miss Hepburn appeared in a play in San Diego, her erstwhile "son" wrote her a letter, telling her he was now a vice-president with Travelodge, saying how much he had admired her career. To his amazement, she flipped the letter over and wrote on the back, "How nice that my 'son' finally got in contact with me" in the same phonetic Greek she had learned more than 30 years before for the movie.

"I still have that letter to this day," Mr. Kezas says.

A degree in Business Administration from the University of Southern California led to a varied and highly successful business career in resort corporate management in the US, both as an employee and as an owner/partner of some 16 hotels. In fact, it was during his many years with the (renamed) Trusthouse Forte Corporation in the US, where he became senior vice-president, that led to Mr. Kezas visiting Bermuda initially.

Many years later, in semi-retirement, he was persuaded to return to Bermuda as manager of the St. George's Club for two years. Under his innovative leadership, the time-share resort won an award as one of nine outstanding resorts worldwide, revived the restaurants Blackbeard's and Griffin's (formerly Lilly's), as well as incorporating music into the operations: live bands with Sunday brunch, poolside barbecues with steel pans, karaoke nights, and of course Griffin's Jazz Quintet.

Although he is no longer with the St. George's Club, Mr. Kezas has no intention of putting either his feet or his instruments up. Instead, he is busy working on "a couple of travel and music-related projects", details of which must remain under wraps for now.

Nor does he intend to leave the Island for in December last year he married Joya, a Bermudian whom he met at Hubie's Bar, and now considers Bermuda his home. Between them the couple have four children (his son is also a keen jazz musician) and 16 grandchildren, some of whom live in San Diego.

To maintain fitness for the busy life he leads, the energetic Mr. Kezas adheres to a daily regime of walking, and he also cycles and plays golf. Not many people know that he was once an accomplished marathon runner who competed in California, Hawaii and New York; was a torch bearer when the 1984 games were held in California - a trophy he still has, incidentally; and as a duathalon runner-cyclist in southern California.