Thursday's gig with the ALJO was their monthly show at Venkman's, and we all squeezed onto the stage and hammered out complicated big band charts. Fortunately for me, I got the set list a week and a half before, so I'd played this show ten times before the day of the show, and was therefore very comfortable with all the syncopations and awkward licks. I held down the bari sax/bass clarinet chair for the night, a nice change of pace from my other gigs. The band is stacked with some of the heaviest guys in town, so there is understandably A LOT of solo time, but the charts are really hip, and the band crushes it. Check out how well the ensemble plays together.
Though the camera has trouble focusing, here we are!
Saturday's gig is was a repeat customer from the previous year--a benefit for mental health facility. I wasn't sure what to expect, though, because we would be missing Mark Bencuya, as well a Nick on the front line. Scott Sheriff came down from Nashville to sub for Bencuya, and Keisha and Kourtney Jackson subbed for Nick, and the set list was duly shuffled to accommodate the different voices. I wondered if the crowd would be disappointed, but everybody was cool. The first set was a pretty tame, almost corporate vibe, but everybody came forward to dance at the beginning of the second set, and it got pretty wild (as wild as you can get in the Atlanta suburbs). Done by 10 PM, home way before midnight. Perfect weather.
As I mentioned, I'm back on the church gig thing after a year and a half out of it, and I'm liking it so far. It's an afternoon gig, it's all on flute, it's mostly just reading charts, and nobody cares what I did the night before. I'm using it to keep my flute playing together.
