Thursday was a tough day. Three gigs! I'd never done that before.
1. I played a duo gig with Tyrone Jackson at 7:30 in the morning at an elementary school in Austell. This was fun because Tyrone is so much better than me. It takes everything I've got just to keep up.
I went home and crashed for a few hours. I got up early in the afternoon, loaded my truck, bathed, and headed out the door. I loaded into the 10 High that afternoon.
2. I played a quartet gig/house band for an awards ceremony at the St. Regis Hotel in Buckhead. This one was a killer--they are (let's say) very particular, and even though I've done the gig twice before, they did not express much confidence in me. The event seems to be pretty immaculately planned, but they dropped lots of last minute stuff on me which really frayed my nerves. Louis Heriveaux, Kevin Smith, and Marlon Patton did a terrific job dealing with everything and we made it out alive! I got out at 9:07 PM and drove like hell.
3. At 9:30 PM, I was in the 10 High, dressed and ready to go. We played our usual stuff. No problems to report. Nick helped me load out.
I noticed on my alto that I've maybe been putting less mouthpiece in my mouth, and it has led to problems with the altissimo feeling very pinched. Last night I made a conscious effort to use more mouthpiece, and I was much more comfortable up there. I was screaming!
Sanborn's mic is distorting...kind of like they said, "We can't do slapback in the studio, but we have this other effect we can use!"
I've been listening to David Bowie's Young Americans almost constantly over the past few days. I'd forgotten just how awesome David Sanborn's playing is all over that record. He did the tour to support that album, too. I wonder if he got bored with the freedom to play anything anywhere night after night. I don't hear any set parts anywhere--sounds like he had free reign. The stuff on the record is magnificent. There's also a video of him playing on The Dick Cavett Show:
Sanborn's mic is distorting badly...kind of like they said, "We can't do slapback in the studio, but we have this other effect we can use!"
He's still the man. I've give both nuts to trade places with him in this video.
www.davidfreemanmusic.net
