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Yes, it is snowing here... quite a bit. The head on Freedom Jazz Dance would be a great exercise for getting some different intervals down.

I've been practicing the heads to Comrade Conrad and Someday My Prince Will Come in all keys. I can't play through without stopping sometimes... too much thinking still. But it's getting better.

Last night I rehearsed with just my drummer again. It's fun and very challenging, but I'm definitely feeling better about my time keeping these days.

A friend of mine, just released his new record. He's a steel pan player, and I would argue the only one that can really play jazz. It's great stuff. Here's a couple of tracks off the record:

Blue In Green (since Jazzwee is playing that one):
http://www.box.com/s/fjvjpgusfli9r8rfka2r


Dolphin Dance (great pan solo here):
http://www.box.com/s/5s5mdbuupt7s6dj3fgr6


I'll only leave these up for a couple of days. You can find the record on his website.

Yes all those 4ths are a good workout

That exercise sounds great. I had to listen to Freedom Jazz Dance again to recall it. I might do a little bit of that with you jjo. It's intervallic sounding. Maybe that's what Pilc will talk about with Knotty.


Beeboss, is your postgraduate study music related? I'm glad you have time for study. That's usually hard to do later in life.

Interesting, not a common instrument in jazz. I only know of Othello Molineaux and he doesn't really improvise in that kind of way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I09a50WObZc

Composition, but I am only half decided (unless I get funding). Time I have, it is money I am short on ;-)

Well that sounds like fun. And I know about college funding. I've got one about to enter college

It was a fun gig tonight. A little tweaking on the keyboard to get the proper sound will be necessary for the future. I made a few "setup" mistakes but overall the Nord didn't disappear in the mix.

The biggest hit of the night was this tune. Now I don't actually know it well. I've only played it once at a jam so I'm low key here but the horn players and bass player really made a big show here and we earned our keep. Here my job was to be supportive.

Sugar
http://www.box.com/s/l092pg21393e5g3o2ufy


And a couple of other tunes I managed to extract from the big recording. Most things sounded good.

All the Things You Are
http://www.box.com/s/1fridh6mfxjv6enctz6f

Song For My Father
http://www.box.com/s/9amma4cmglqo3scdkhj7

Blue in Green -- the singer kept screwing up the entry here. I will post it later.

I'm happy to report that as always the crowd was big and the bar was at their usual good number (I'm not a musician, I'm a liquor salesman).

Tunes sound good jazzwee. The mix is really "bassy" in my headphones, but it's clear and the Nord sounds nice.

I think your timing is getting better. Your solos seem much more stable than they used to. And the comping on your ATTYA solo was nice. Good support but not too much.

Just get some more blues going and you'll be jammin' on Sugar.

Also really nice comping behind the soloists on Song For My Father. And good going on the sixteenths in your solo! A little slippery in spots but that's being really nit-picky.

I'm sure you said before, but what type of venue is this that you're playing at? You've mentioned often about the band's ability to draw a crowd and keep them coming so I'm assuming it's open to the public. But it's not a restaurant/bar?

JW, nice solo on ATTYA. If I was to make one comment, it would be to leave more space between the phrases so we have time to appreciate.

also you might wnat to work out a better intro for ATTYA. Felt a little awkward. I know some folks don't like the bird intro, but it's actually quite cool and easy to play. Otherwise a simple 2-5 in f- might work or play solo for the last 4 or 8 measures.

jazzwee - nice backdrop for my morning perusal of PW. One of the things I like about your band and your playing in it is your ability to sometimes be the solo and sometimes be the support. While I know that's not supposed to be unusual, there are some musicians who prefer always leading . Your band has a really nice sound. I'd go hear it!

Cathy

Knotty, your comments are very good. I appreciate it.

On ATTYA, it's difficult to come up with a custom intro because we don't rehearse and so I have to do the typical 'last 8 bars' or 'vamp'. If I tried the Bird intro, we'll probably mess it up. We've screwed so many of the Rubato intros so I avoid it as well. Just have to be conservative. One of these days, I'll try a rehearsal.

Song for my Father -- I'm lucky I survive on that one. I can't even play head perfectly. Usually the horn takes that head. I don't know what I was thinking to do 16ths...Gutsy of me I suppose. LOL.

Venue - my regular venue is a private club. This may be an LA thing but there's many private clubs here and they can afford to pay for entertainment. So we have to draw from a limited audience. But the word of mouth is stronger since it's one community. Like any other public venue, we are still measured by liquor sales.

Cathy, that is so nice of you. Fortunately, I'm aware that I'm the least experienced of the bunch though I'm the band leader. So knowing this, my focus is on making the group sound good. The band carries my name so it's all good. No need for me to stand out.

One thing I really appreciate is that we have some loyal fans. With hardly any promotion, they always show up. When I first started playing jazz, I thought all I could shoot for was to post recordings on the internet. But it really is a good feeling to play for a real audience.

>>On ATTYA, it's difficult to come up with a custom intro because we don't rehearse and so I have to do the typical 'last 8 bars' or 'vamp'. If I tried the Bird intro, we'll probably mess it up. We've screwed so many of the Rubato intros so I avoid it as well. Just have to be conservative. One of these days, I'll try a rehearsal.

A few things about that.
Most people do know the bird intro. And you can do it as a trio. So as long as the trio is on board, it's ok. Yes, the soloist has to know when to come in.
Rubato intros are tricky because, aside from being hard to play for us, they also don't give clear tempo / feel to the band.
In-time intros, there's a trick to it: Bring a sheet.Then you can play anything un-rehearsed. I would not hesitate to write the bass part, even drum part. Then you have a very tight intro.

I don't know if we have any private clubs around here. Any suggestions on how to find them if they are here?

Scott, I Pm'd my answer...

Not a bad idea. I just never focused on it. Now I don't read well but my bass player does so it should be no problem for him.

I might even do that at a jam session.

Here's a few more. All the recordings sound pretty solid so I'm just sampling a few.

Solar - Let's see if I've improved on this...also a good read on the Nord Sound.
http://www.box.com/s/uhjohq2iz1y535kqxi08

Blue in Green - Lots of mistakes here by all -- really hard to get this right.
http://www.box.com/s/4fviajjoa0b2nz2rzl7o

Manha de Carnaval (Black Orpheus)
http://www.box.com/s/2338p386j27klp4bgh0a

Just finished the Mastering of the duo album and I'm now working on the cover (I moonlight as a graphic designer).
Otherwise gigs with the trio, which is now a quartet, I added a sax (tenor/sop sax from Island).
It's fun as I love comping.

I'm happy now with the sound my keyboard is making in the mix. But something has changed and I have to yet figure it out. I'm feeling that my fingers are strained on the NP. This is surprising since the keys are lighter.

I have to study how I'm attacking the keys here and understand the cause of this new tension.