I subbed into a friend's latin jazz gig yesterday evening (Thursday) for a gig at Georgia State; we provided background music for a reception following the MLK Convocation. Interesting gig!
The parking lot attendant couldn't find my name--after several minutes she discovered it because she was looking for David Freeman and it was listed as Dave Freeman. Really? Then as I made my way through the deck to find a parking spot, another car passed me in the garage! Never seen that before.
I was right on time for load in at 3:30 (me and a saxophone and a music stand, so not much to load). Other band members trickled in, with the last of them arriving forty-five minutes late. More standing around until 5:30 when we began. Due to our proximity to the MLK event, there was no soundcheck or anything.
My position ended up being directly behind a large column (and next to a trash can).
Once we got going, the gig was really fun. I was sight reading the book, which seemed to be mostly blazing sambas! Very challenging, but I really loved it. I don't do a whole lot of gigs where I read charts (or play saxophone the entire time), so this was really cool. I did ok, though a couple of reading things got the best of me.
We played a forty-five minute set and then took a break. At that point, the crowd began to dissipate, and as we launched into the second set, they took all of the food away and began breaking down the tables. I think we made it another fifteen minutes before they told us we could stop. I was out the door ten minutes later. Gotta love the easy load out!
