I’ve been fascinated recently with this business of "six degrees of separation." Years ago someone in Hollywood wondered how many people you had to know in order to wangle an introduction to a really important person. A case study was set in motion with actor Kevin Bacon as the subject. The study showed that by progressing through relationships with people who knew others, basically everyone in Hollywood was able to say that, with relative certainty, only six degrees of separation existed between themselves and the celebrity.

The really intriguing thing is that, when taken to the next level by research institutes, six degrees of separation is present throughout realms of nature — even within the world wide Internet’s web of servers.

All of this gained notoriety in 1990, when "Six Degrees of Separation," by American playwright John Guare, debuted. Guare attributed his initial interest in the phenomenon to works of Italian physicist Guglielmo Marconi. "Six degrees of Kevin Bacon" evolved from interest in a subsequent 1993 film, and eventually the flattered Bacon organized what he intends as a force for good around the world, found on the Internet at SixDegrees.org.

Here’s how six degrees works: my baseball Hall of Fame uncle, Ernie Harwell, dined in the White House with the 43rd president. Therefore my own personal relationship with the 44th President is merely three degrees: my uncle, President Bush, and President Obama.

This fascinating look proposes that every inhabitant of Earth is connected to everyone else by no more than six degrees of separation. When you think of it that way, ours is truly a small, small world.

This most recently came home to me Sept. 9 when we lost renowned trumpet virtuoso Fred Mills in a car crash. Since 1996 Fred served as professor of trumpet and brass chamber music at the University of Georgia. He was committed to broadening the Hodgson School of Music’s reach into a worldwide destination for not only music educators, but those seeking careers in music performance as well.

For 24 years prior to his Athens gig, Fred Mills elevated the trumpet into a lyrical solo instrument, and invented possibilities for the piccolo trumpet, as a member of the world’s preeminent brass quintet — the Canadian Brass. From 1972-1996 Fred played some 3,500 concerts, recorded 40 albums and penned more than 50 musical transcripts — most now acclaimed as standard pedagogy throughout the music world.

I first met Fred Mills in 1985 as I settled the Canadian Brass into a Porter Memorial Auditorium dressing room at our Newton High School. Over the succeeding years, my family enjoyed a relationship with nearly all the musicians who performed with that group, and whose impact led two of our children to obtain music performance degrees of their own.

Fred Mills helped comprise what I consider the classic composition of Canadian Brass, performing with tubist Chuck Daellenbach, trombonist Gene Watts, horn David Ohanian, and fellow trumpeter Ron Romm. Not taking anything away from the other virtuoso artists who played, and continue to form a "dream team" of trumpeters performing with the quintet, the Canadian Brass burst into the world’s consciousness on Fred’s watch. They reminded the world that classical music is not only demanding, but great fun as well. Appearing in tuxedos offset by sneakers, the first half of their concerts featured flawlessly performed classical pieces. The second half was more relaxed, featuring jazz and big band tunes, usually including a comedic routine fashioned on a "wild West" theme: "Hornsmoke."

In these skits, Fred Mills’ streak of comedic genius made a lasting impression. Possessing deadpan looks that the immortal Jack Benny would have envied, Mills also presented a confused, befuddled state akin to Red Skelton’s characters "Clem Kadiddlehopper" and "Freddie the Freeloader."

Fred Mills could leave an audience gasping for air from laughter, or grasping for a handkerchief after hearing his lyrical piccolo trumpet solos.

In the waning years of the 20th century, Mills brought many of the world’s greatest brass performers to UGA for international celebrations of brass music. Just a few of the great contemporary performers who visited Athens for Fred include the Canadian Brass, trumpeter Tim Morrison ("Amistad," "Saving Private Ryan"), legendary tuba players Harvey Phillips and Jim Self (spaceship voice in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"), along with "Saturday Night Live" trombonist Steve Turre’s Conch Shell Band.

Yes, I’ve been fascinated with the "six degrees of separation," but I was reminded of something else when Fred Mills left us.

I believe math is God’s language, and music is his voice. And, as every Canadian Brass concert starts with the five sauntering in to "Just a Closer Walk with Thee," it’s a wonderful reminder that for all who knew him, there are really zero degrees of separation between us and our friend, Fred Mills.