As with all good things coming to an end so must this summer of 2008. I had many plans for my three months of respite from grad school studies, and happily none of them came to fruition! This is said somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but also with the newly-gleaned sense that my plan may not necessarily be the right plan.

Instead of practicing and transcribing as much as I had hoped, several opportunities arose that actually create the reason and then the reward for practicing: performance. Below, I'll briefly describe some projects that I had a chance to work in this summer...

The R & B Free Jazz Gospel Supreme 80 recorded an album in July. The entire recording was done on tape and I do believe it's going to sound great. Gene V. Baker writes all of the band's material, and with almost 15 people in the band, this is no small task! Organized chaos which somehow produces provocative grooves, explosive solos and hummable melodies, could be one way to describe the music he writes. It is a very fun and creative group of people who make up this band and I know that this sometimes hidden element of a band's personality, will be "hearable" on the recording.

It was a beautiful thing to see 1 1/2 tape rolling through and around its reels; I am so glad that this so-called "old" technology is making a comeback. Engineers that know how to cut and splice are a rare breed, and while I have a great deal of respect for the folks that are wizards at manipulating and creating in digital environs, I am in awe of people who can work in both the analog and digital realms. I think being able to use both would be quite powerful and simply serve to enhance each technology.

In any event, I will be blogging more about this as-yet untitled album and will let folks know about its release date.

Big Bands, Big Bands and more Big Bands...

After leaving Colorado, I didn't think that any other place could have as many big bands as that state seemed to have. This summer I have learned that northern California is its equal if not superior in that department! I subbed in half a dozen big bands this summer and two really grabbed my attention. One, in Lafayette, is helmed by Frank Como, a wonderful guitarist who also happened to be Lionel Hampton's arranger for almost 25 years. The charts that Frank writes and arranges are simply beautiful gems for big band. All the players in his band are highly accomplished musicians who perform throughout the Bay Area. I very much wish that this band, while rehearsing once a week, had a public venue to perform in as it is a very special group. Such a group is truly a treasure to have in any community and it really should be heard by more people.

The other big band plays once a week in Alameda at the Harbor Bay Club. Known as Soundwave, this band is led by Stan Kenton arranger Bob Enos, and indeed the band lives up to its name. Bob has about 1600 charts in his book, all of which he has composed or arranged for this band. His book also includes some Kenton favorites such as "Artistry in Rhythm" and "Minor Booze." This group very much recalls the Kenton-era in terms of its style; the trumpet section is featured often and in their upper range and the trombone section sits two (2) bass bones. Bob has admitted that, despite having purchased his own mellophones, he can't seem to attract players to play them and also has some french horn parts that will remain silent until he finds a couple of brave hornists to come in. In my mind, the band sounds fantastic without the additional brass (is this a saxophonist's bias coming through?).

Bob's band is also unique in that one of the most famous jazz dj's on the planet plays second tenor, Mr. Bob Parlocha. And on lead alto we have the amazing altoist from NYC, Pete Yellin. It's really a treat to hear Pete solo and to hear Bob Parlocha play as well. The trumpet and trombone sections also feature wonderful soloists. I am very pleased to mention that I'll be taking on the 2nd alto chair and will happily get to hear both of these men, and all the other great players in this band, regularly now.

Lastly, on big bands, I want to mention that beginning in the Fall, I will be taking over lead alto duties in the Montclair Women's Big Band. They have just returned from a successful performance at Lincoln Center and the leader, Ellen Seeling, is gearing the band up for its new season. I'm very excited about playing with this band and about getting to hear players like Kasey Knudsen, Jean Fineberg, Allison Miller, Tami Hall, Mad Duran, Jan Martinelli and Vicki Randall play, to name a few of the wonderful musicians in that band. As I mentioned in a previous blog entry, I take playing lead very seriously and enjoy playing this chair tremendously. I very much look forward to working in the section, in the band and to swinging hard! I'll be sure to post where we are performing...

As I head back to my second year of grad school, all that I can say is, this summer sure went by quickly...

The Lucky No. 1 Band's Spring 2008 tour to Colorado was a success and thanks must be made to all of the wonderful people that came out to hear us. Some of those people even travelled from as far away as Wyoming in order to hear us at Dazzle in Denver. 

 Each show was unique and each venue had its "own" audience. Having a mailing list and friends telling friends to get an audience in a town is one thing; but when people just happen to "happen upon" the band and really get what the music is about, and enjoy it, is a whole other wonderful thing to have happen. This was the case  at two of the venues we played in Denver. One was a dinner club called "Alto"--which is owned by smooth jazz saxophonist Nelson Rangell--and the other was the premier jazz club, "Dazzle." I always am grateful when folks who have come to an establishment simply to eat end up staying for the music. 

At Dazzle, we played opposite the Latin Jazz flute virtuoso Nestor Torres. Holding on to an audience that has been listening to such a different kind of music was a concern for us.  As any Lucky No. 1 Band listener knows, our music goes to a lot of places and sometimes does not return to where it began! We ended up having a great night there and have been asked to return. The midnight Bingo there is a lot of fun...

 And Boulder was great as well. The Laughing Goat coffee shop on Pearl Street is really a special place. It was a perfect and very welcoming spot to begin our all too short musical journey in Colorado. I highly recommend this cafe to anyone visiting Boulder; they have great coffee and chai and tea; wonderful snacks; and perhaps most importantly of all, they are supporting some great live music in the area. 

I hope that each of us is able to make time in the near future to return to Colorado and play there again. Matt Plummer came in from Brooklyn and I came from San Francisco to meet up with our good friend, and Boulder resident, drummer Amy Shelley. We had the very able and talented bassist Juli Royster, also of Boulder, do all of the gigs with us. It was our first time playing with Juli and she was simply great to work with and to play with; I hope we have an opportunity to do more music with her as well.

 One more thing that made this trip very special was the fact that I got to see the new Anita O'Day documentary in Denver: "Anita O'Day: Life of a Jazz Singer." This is a great film that must be seen by anyone interested in the history of the music. I felt very lucky to have had the chance to see it because it's distribution is, sadly, very limited and as of this writing has only been shown in a handful of cities. I hope this changes very soon, it is a great story about a truly remarkable woman and her music that really deserves to be heard and seen. 

Recently (Fall of 2007), I began playing with a group that I'm really excited about. It's a project started by trumpeter/drummer/keyboardist/composer Gene V. Baker (http://www.virb.com/genevbaker)
The music is aptly summed up by the band's name: R&B Freejazz Gospel Supreme 80. And the musicians are wonderful players.
I'm looking forward to playing the shows that the group has coming up. Come check us out. Seeing a 7 piece horn section with two bass players, two guitars, steelpan, a couple of keyboards, maybe two drummers and various parties doubling on vocals, is a can't-miss kind of opportunity.
November 15: The Attic, Santa Cruz, CA http://www.theattic.com
November 16: The Starry Plough,
Oakland, CA
http://www.thestarryploughpub.com
November 20: The Hemlock Tavern, San Francisco, CA
http://www.hemlocktavern.com

There is something paradoxical, at least to my mind, about a silent film star playing the saxophone. Anna Q. Nilsson, in the advertisement, was both--a silent screen star and an aspiring saxophonist--and any chance of hearing her evaporated long ago. Yet we are heirs to this document: a photograph taken in 1926 for a York saxophone advertisement, evidence that she was popular in that way that sometimes influences people to do or to buy.

In our present day and age of multimedia blitzkrieg, a photograph is a silent affair. Bordered on four sides, the eye can only wander so far and so it is that our minds must wander instead. We can supply a narrative of our own making: a soundtrack of our own design.I found myself doing this with Anna Q. Nilsson's photo.

Anna Q. smiles, not quite at the camera, but more probably at a roomful of admirers, all eagerly waiting to hear her blow a few notes.Did she play? Did she talk about her horn or reed problems with Mary Pickford or Lillian Gish, her silent film cohorts? Did she like the Paul Whiteman band? Was the saxophone so new that even a woman in pearls with flowers in her hair was encouraged to play it? And paid to advertise it so that other women might take it up?

Time will tell that the latter didn't quite happen.The years during WWII however did show off quite a few female saxophonists, trumpeters, trombonists, and percussionists for a short time. It wasn't until the 1972 passage of Title IX (it wasn't just about sports...) and the following years that young women began playing instruments that had somehow become "male identified."

It would seem that Anna Q. never heard that message. In 1927, a year after this photo was taken, she made a film with Babe Ruth called "Babe Comes Home". In 1928, The Babe is pictured playing a saxophone for his team mate, Lou Gehrig. I wonder if Anna Q. and The Babe spoke of their common saxophone interest on the movie set. Photographs, like silent films, can speak volumes...

(Psssst.Not baseball, but lead alto!)
One of my favorite playing situations is to play lead alto in a big band. In September I had that opportunity with the Montclair Women's Big Band and it was great fun. What made it even more special was the fact that the gig I had been contracted to do with them was with Vicki Randall.

Vicki Randall, as most know, is a regular in the Jay Leno Tonight Show band. Her skills as a percussionist have always been in demand, but her skills as a vocalist ought to have her in even more demand. After hearing her live that night, she definitely reminded me of some listening I had done a long time ago.

My mother, having come of age during WW II, had a large collection of big band records. Despite the Beatles and Al Hirt being the rage when I came along, she remained faithful to her collection. Being exposed to those sides made a deep impression on my musical psyche. Hearing those bands punch and swing their way through arrangements always enthralled me.

Marshall Royal, lead alto for the Basie band, quickly became my role model: he could put so much attitude and love in every note he played, it would just kill me. The vocalists on those records were just as memorable. They added another equally important and complex dimension to the music and the story that was being told.

Ms.Randall brought back some of those memories I had long stored from listening to my mother's collection all those years ago. Her phrases swung with great vitality and easily meshed with the roaring 18 piece ensemble that sat just to her left. Her ballad singing was equally impressive with creative melodic shaping that had an overall honesty that, I think, some vocalists are not able to impart.

Playing lead in such a situation is both challenging and tremendously rewarding. How you approach the stylization of phrases for a Basie arrangement is going to be very different from how you approach a Glenn Miller chart. Vibrato can say so much about an era and so can articulation. Using both appropriately really tests a player's knowledge of the music. And , if I haven't already said so, it is very fun to wear those different hats, so to speak.

The only disappointment was the audience. The gig was basically a fund raiser and the band, as is most often the case at such events, background music. As far as I was concerned, I had the best seat in the house and witnessed a fantastic performance! Unfortunately, the audience didn't know what it had missed.