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Mont Cartwright, MD, has been a practicing physician for 18 years. In another five, he'd like to take that shingle down so he can play music for a living.

"That's a good career (in medicine)," said Cartwright, an ophthalmologist with Medical Eye Associates in Orlando and Kissimmee. "But I'm going pro, opening up a club. Of course, we'd be the featured band."

Cartwright seems to be the exception to the rule. Most guys would just pick at music to finance their medical career, but this doctor dedicates his time to medicine in order to play music. He may like his chosen profession, but he absolutely loves his music.

In his spare time, which isn't much, he plays weddings, funerals, nightclub gigs and goes by the nickname "Doc." It's his dream come true.

Rock On

While his father was a PhD and his mother a former concert pianist, little Mont definitely took after mom. He started taking piano when he was eight and didn't like it, so his father let him switch to the guitar. When an injured fret finger two years later put a crimp in that, he switched to bass. Eventually, he became accomplished enough to sign a contract to play to England with a band called Shoes.

"I wanted to go so badly, but my parents were afraid of the non-disciplined drug life," he said. "The band failed. They never had a hit and now they're all working in factory jobs."

Fortunately for Cartwright, he had something else to fall back on, if you count a medical career as a safety net. Sure, he still wanted to be a rocker and even paid his way through college playing music. But the parents didn't approve of the attendant lifestyle and pushed him toward medicine. His father, who surrounded himself with MDs, once convinced a friend to take Mont on an excursion to the operating room to watch an appendectomy. As they say, it seemed like a good idea at the time.

"I was sick to my stomach'" he recalled. "Dad talked me into it and I was so excited, I forgot to eat breakfast. I took one look (at the operation) and said, 'I gotta go.' I ended up in the bathroom stall, so embarrassed, and thought, 'I'll never be able to do this.'"

Plan B

Cartwright considered himself an arty sort of guy and figured medicine was something of an art anyway, being far from an exact science. "I've always like challenges," he said. "And as a physics major, I liked order and equations. Helping people was always important, and rock playing is extremely limiting. Then again, I was always the big guy on the stage. The focus of attention didn't hurt either."

Like searching for the right chord, Cartwright took some time to find exactly the medical specialty that suited him best. He started out to be a neurosurgeon, but it wasn't long before he was exhausted and hating what he was doing. Somewhere along the line, he discovered ophthalmology and surgery and everything became … clear.

"Once you've been a neurosurgeon," he said, "the eye isn't that scary."

Today, Cartwright has a two-office practice that he purchased six years ago and a partner. He also has plenty of opportunities to perform the surgery he enjoys and has even taken up cosmetic surgery, though he limits himself to facial plastics.

Tuxedo Days

Then, of course, there's all that jazz. It's a stretch from his hometown of Eau Claire, Wisc., and college days at Illinois University to Dixieland South, but Cartwright believes in kismet.

"It's all been pulled together beyond my control," he said. "I spent six years studying jazz with Richie Zellon, and then one day, a former patient recruited me to play at The Vines. So, I blew off the dust and went to sit in, didn't know any songs— I felt like an idiot. I'm surprised no eggs were thrown at me."

The Bernie Lee Quartet evidently saw it differently, and Cartwright's been with them for several years.

"I got my tuxedo officially," he laughed.

Pulling double duty also means putting in 12-hour days, between tending his practice and going on gigs. Married to his wife, Lisa, for 21 years, they have three children--Ariel, Anson, and Tara Lyn. The reading list on his desk is piled quite high, but he tackles it with enthusiasm for a regimented five hours every weekend, in addition to consulting for other physicians.

Patients always come first, he insisted.

"I'm an old-fashioned doctor" he said. "My rep is you can always call me, and I've even been known to make the occasional house call."

Cartwright likens jazz to medicine.

"You learn chord progressions, and then pull eclectically," he said. "You go to school, get out, know nothing and pull together to diagnose and treat the patient. You synthesize.

"I love jazz and blues because they're complicated and free."

Tags:

Doc Cartwright, Mont Cartwright, Rocker Doc, The Bernie Lee Quartet

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