Currently Listening Better Understanding By Sonny Fortune see related

First, I'd like to point out that I am NOT currently listening to the Sonny Fortune CD "Better Understanding".  I picked this CD, though, because Sonny Fortune performed a couple of Songs from it when I heard him play live on Saturday.  In reality, I'm listening to Sonny Fortune's brand new CD (so new, in fact, that it is not yet in Xanga's databases) titled "Continuum".  This CD, incidentally, is the first CD that he put out on his own music label, "Sound Reason".  Also incidentally, I purchased this CD when I heard him perform this Saturday, and got him to autograph it.

The Gulf Coast Ethnic Heritage Jazz Festival was one of the most awesome things I have ever seen.  On Friday I went with a friend to the Jazz Workshop that they hosted.  I have to say, it wasn't really what I expected at all.  I was expecting everyone to get broken up into groups based on skill levels or instrumentation or whatever.  Instead, I ended up sharing a room with about fifty people who had never touched an instrument before trying to play "Satin Doll" on recorder.

Nevertheless, the clinic was still a lot of fun.  The clinicians were all quite talented, especially the lead clinician, jazz flautist Joseph Mitchell (who has performed with the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Nat Adderley, Ray Charles, and Count Basie).  Incidentally, he was the one who brought the recorders (and, in fact, played an amazing solo on one at the beginning of the workshop).  I also managed to pick up a few pointers, and was reminded that playing jazz with a group of talented musicians and in front of an audience makes all the difference in the world.

Saturday, from about 4:00 p.m. til 10:15 p.m., there was a concert downtown, featuring a number of artists from around the Gulf Coast, as well as nationally renowned artist Sonny Fortune from New York.  Yes, I stayed the whole six hours and yes, I had to crawl away from Bienville Square because that's how hard that music kicked my ass.  For those of you who aren't familliar with it, the difference between studio recorded jazz music and live jazz music is the difference between night and a trip to the friggin' moon. 

Jazz always sounds better live.  No matter what musician or style of jazz you're listening to, jazz will always sound better live.  When the musician plays in a studio, he or she plays the song knowing that if they mess up, they can take another take, so there is really no pressure.  They play in a sterile, closed off room, and they play their part over and over again until they play every note perfectly and they have lost all enthusiasm for what they're playing.  Many times, for the sake of preserving audio quality, each musician is recorded separately, and the other members of the band are nowhere to be seen.

When Jazz is live, however, things are quite a bit different.  The audience is right there, as are your bandmates.  If you slip up, it's your ass; there are no second chances.  You let down everyone who came to see you, and you let down your bandmates.  You're dancing on the edge of a razor, and peril is right below your feet.  But it's that danger that creates the excitement.  It's hard to get excited about something if you know nothing bad can come of it.  And that excitement is contageous.  It spreads first to your bandmates.  They adjust what they're doing to match you, and then it spreads to the crowd.  They start roaring and shouting with excitement.  The crowd's excitement spreads baack to you and feeds into your music.  Suddenly, it doesn't feel quite as dangerous anymore.  The high from the crowds is like a drug burning through you're veins, and you're instantly addicted.  So what do you do to keep that high up?  Maybe you sharpen the razor.  Play a phrase that's not exactly in the chord just right.  Play an unusual or unexpectd cadence.  Maybe if you play a string instrument you'll stack the chords a little differently.  You put yourself into the hands of your bandmates.  If they catch you, you'll take everyone higher.  If they don't, you'll crash and burn.  There you are again  on the razor.

That's when something amazing happens, though.  When you change things up and put yourself at the mercy of your bandmates and your audience, the song is yours.  You can take something that somebody else  wrote, and you can make it your own.  You twist it and shape it and add yourself to it, and then submit yourself to the judgement of people you may not even know.  And then when you know they're diggin' it, that you're making someone else happy with something that is distinctly you, that's when you've found the best feeling in the world.  At the concert on Saturday, there was a band playing an old standard called "Caravan".  The song was popularized by Duke Ellington, but a drummer who couldn't have been more than thirty was making this song all his own.  I think he went through 4-5 choruses.  4-5 choruses of drum solo!  The audience loved every second of it.  That's the thing I love about Live Jazz.

--Jay Out.

Currently Listening In San Francisco By Cannonball Adderley see related

Well, this weekend is the Gulf Coast Ethnic and Heritage Jazz Festival, and I sure am excited.  I really can't wait.

But I have to.

[/short]

--Jay Out

Currently Listening Cowboy Bebop Vitaminless By Yoko Kanno see related

Band Call

So, I guess I'm finally in a band.  A couple of friends of mine from high school called me up a couple of weeks ago and asked me if I wanted to play trumpet with them.  I gotta say it's kinda cool.

I've only worked on a couple of songs with them so far.  I wrote the melody line and lyrics for a song we call "Twilight Too Soon", as well as a trumpet accompanyment lick for another song they had already worked on.  I've also been working on a song that I've had in mind for a while that I think I'll pitch to them at our next rehearsal.  (The name of the song, by the way, is "Bluejay".) 

Since some of the band lives pretty far out of town (like, the D.C. area) when at school, it seems unlikely that we'll do any live shows, but we might be able to get our hands on some recording equipment.

The band itself has kind of a rock/latin feel to it.  I, myself, have slightly different preferences, but I like the way it's shaping up.  Everyone in the band is extremely talented, and the music they've written is simply outstanding.  Besides, if we run low on tracks, throwing in a standard would be a simple, fun way to solve that problem.  Incidentally, it's not unheard of for a rock band to play an occasional jazz piece.  Blood, Sweat, n' Tears' rendition of "God Bless the Child" comes to mind.

The only concern that I really have is that we do not have a drummer, . . . at all.  Now this seems a little problematic to me, as I am of the opinion that the drummer is one of the most, if not THE most, important member of a band.

Incidentally, if anybody knows a drummer in the Mobile area who might be interested, let me know (leave a comment if nothing else).  We might also be looking for a vocalist.

Until next time . . .

--Jay Out.

Currently Listening The Columbia Years: '62-'68 By Thelonious Monk Bemsha Swing see related

Exodus

(Edited Thursday Morning)

Around 11:00 at night on Friday, we recieved word that Governor Riley had issued a mandatory evacuation for all of Mobile County, and I went to bed.

One hour later I was up and packing the car to leave for Birmingham.

This mandatory evacuation is the kind of thing that most people would ignore, preferring to take their chances with the hurricane.  Indeed, this had been our plan until we recieved word from the Assisted Living Facility that they were not going to remain open, and they were not going to relocate the inhabitants.  Shortly after the order was issued, we were asked to pick up Grandma immediately.  This effectively meant that we would have to drive to Birmingham and stay with our relatives there.  Our house is not a safe place for an 82 year old woman with Altzheimers.

At 1 o'clock a.m. we sped onto the interstate.  Mom, Dad, my little sister, Grandma, and two of our cats rode in the SUV.  My little brother (Chuckie), the third cat, and I rode in my car.  I felt a little drowsy, but overall, the hour of sleep I had taken had refreshed me well.  Fueled by my iPod (playing through my car radio), and hilarious conversation with Chuckie, I went plowing across Alabama.

The traffic was light (although heavier than I would have expected at that hour).  All-in-all, it was a pretty uneventful trip.  However there was one small incident. . . .

On the way to Birmingham, I got a little bored, and so I decided to play what a friend of mine calls, "the passing game".  Now, I realize that many of you may be unfamilliar with the passing game, so let me explain how it works.

The object of the game is simply to get the car behind you to change lanes as many times as possible.  You do this by getting alongside another car and adjust your speed (always at or slightly above the speed limit) so that you are either slightly behind, or slightly ahead of the adjacent car.  Sometimes, this game can be REALLY funny (especially if you can get that car to change lanes more than 3 times).  In this particular instance, I saw the vehicle change lanes twice, and then flash some blue lights and start pointing toward the side of the road.  That's right, I was playing the Passing Game with an unmarked police car.  He continued gesturing for me to pull over as he passed along side me, and then continued driving into the horizon.  Needless to say, he didn't pull over, and neither did I.

Eventually we arrived at our destination.  We waited out the storm with great anxiety until mid-Sunday morning, when it became clear that it was going well to the east of Mobile. 

It was nice to visit my cousins in Birmingham, but I'm afraid I wasn't much of a houseguest.  I spent quite a bit of time sleeping.

--Jay Out

Currently Listening Cowboy Bebop: Blue By Yoko Kanno, Seatbelts see related

Things I Can't Explain

1) Why do some CD's mislabel tracks with no lyrics?  I recently bought a CD called "Clifford Brown's Finest Hour".  It was a compilationn of tracks from other albums and it was published by "Verve Records".  Now I've found two mislabeled tracks ("Yesterdays" was labeled "Stardust"; "Gerkin for Perkin" was labeled "If I Love Again").  Luckily, I knew what the songs in question actually sounded like (both the actual song and the one labeled), but what if I hadn't?  Few songs on this collection have lyrics, so it's possible that I've learned to identify some songs I'd never heard before using the wrong names.  What other CDs do I have with mismatched track labels.  The whole thing is very distressing to me.

2)  Why do I feel pressured to "eat healthy"?  I've never been that concerned with the overall state of my health, and I don't usually like the taste of foods marketed as "healthy".  Just about the only reason I would have to be self-conscious about my eating habits is my own personal vanity (I am a very vain person, despite the way I look).  Yet, even there, I could just exercise more (another thing I do solely out of vanity(and the occasional urge to be able to break things really, really well)).

3)  Why do I go into Subway (seeking to "eat healthy") order a sandwhich because it only has 5 grams of fat, then proceed to smother it with extra cheese (3 grams of fat per triangle), ranch sauce (22 grams of fat), and bacon (God only knows)?

4) Why am I most offended by people who remind me of myself?

5)  Why do I offer my unsolicited opinions at all the wrong times, then withold those opinions when they are requested information?

Oops, I think I accidently got a little too reflective there.  Maybe I should stop writing.

Oh, what the heck!

Bonus:  Why do I insist on blogging when I have nothing important to say, and then put it off when it might be interesting?

[ 7)  Why am I still afraid of 6?]

--Jay Out