Robo Trio

David Ellington (piano), Kevin Smith (bass) and I played a trio for the Robotics convention last night.  It was a very easy hit.

After a string of gigs with really poor saxophone playing (both at my own things and Yacht Rock gigs), I think I was better on this one.  My articulation had gotten very heavy, and it made everything I played sound laborious and slightly out of sync.  Maybe I got lucky, but I tried to be lighter with my tonguing, and that seemed to make it all flow better.  I hope it will translate to my alto playing, which has been the main offender.

We had an Elton John impersonator play two songs in our set.  He was outstanding.  Unfortunately, none of the robo-dorks was around to see him.  He played for us and his handlers!

This recording is definitely better than the past.  I found a group of presets in Waveburner that really works well.  Further evidence that I don't know what I'm doing.  There's some weird distortion that doesn't turn up in the program.  Somewhere in converting it to mp3s it's making a mess.  Ahh, technology.  Dig it:

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Hal and Space Capone

Last night the Yacht Rock Revue kicked off a summer concert series at the Park Tavern.  My laptop felt like this would be a great time to freak out and not work.  I spent an hour and forty-five minutes opening and shutting it, turning it on and off, and popping the battery out and holding down the power button, and praying to Steve Jobs.  Eventually I gave up and started lining up sounds with the thought that I would MIDI into my top keyboard (Korg Triton).  I even borrowed Nick's laptop (with a newer version of Logic) to try and see if I could work with that.

No luck.  I'd given up on it, and as I was packing it up and bitching to another musician, I turned my laptop on one more time and it worked perfectly.  I set it up with the EWI and played the gig with no problems.

Space Capone (from Nashville) opened up for us with a great set of 70s inspired funk.  Great stuff.
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The Return of ?Mark

The one and only Mark Cobb came back to the 10 High last night.  He's been on hiatus with the birth of his son.  His playing was inspired.  I love what he brings to the gig.

Greg Lee was out due to the birth of his daughter this week, so Greg Partridge filled in on bass and did a terrific job.  His playing was super smooth--it was like he'd been playing with us for a while.  Ganesh Giri Jaya came by and contributed Greg Lee's vocals.  It never ceases to amaze me how Nick, Pete, Greg (and Ganesh when he's there) are able to reassign harmonies at soundcheck and then remember them at the gig.  Very impessive!

No problems last night.  I fiddled with my alto mouthpiece earlier in the week--it turns out the table was not flat!  That's why the thing would feel different as the reed dried out.  The altissimo, for instance, would be great at the beginning of the gig, but later on it would be really tricky.  I thought I was moving back on the mouthpiece, but I think when I would put a little more in my mouth I was probably helping the reed seal against the table.  Aha!  Anyway, I used a sheet of glass and some sandpaper to try and flatten the table and I think the results are very good.  It's much more consistent.  I sent my backup mouthpiece to Mojobari to have it refaced, and I may send this one next just to have it tweaked.

The band played well last night.  It was a pretty safe night musically, since we didn't want to put any pressure on Partridge while he was helping us out.  Mark Cobb stopped mid-song at the beginning of the second set and had some idiot thrown out.  He was mad because he was not chosen for the "Most Yachtily Dressed" contest so he was booing us.  For a second I thought Cobb was going to go Axl Rose on him.

Greg Lee is back tonight--we're putting the band back together!
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The GOP bores us at 8 Traxx

Tuesday night Yacht Rock played a private party for the Georgia Young Republicans at 8 Traxx Disco (formerly Andrews Upstairs).  It was the most boring party we've ever played.  I have no idea how many people were expected to show, but my guess would be that there were maybe 150 people there.  It was brutal.  Too bad, too, because we were actually playing well (until we got bored).  Mark Cobb played with us again (he is officially back) and he was on fire for that first set.  It was everything I've been missing.

The massive embarrassment of the night goes to me for forgetting to play the sax part on Careless Whisper.  I think it was in the third set and I just spaced out...I was mentally plotting out what I needed to play on keyboard and got caught not paying attention.  From the laughter onstage, Nick must have given me some kind of big lead in, but I never heard a word of it.  Good thing there was no one there to witness it.  All night I'd been checking off songs that I'd screwed up the last time we were here--I was doing so well, but my brain just picked a fine time to leave me (Lucille).

This is no surprise to us, but everything was just the way we left it ten days earlier...my fog juice soaked setlist was still on the stage (see the picture), the mostly empty bottle of vodka and a few of Mark Dannells' guitar picks.  Hell, the bottle of Crown Royal that we opened at the Please PleaseRock Me show March 31 and brought to Andrews--I mean 8 Traxx--was still there (and Dannells took it home!).  I hope that the roaches will help me load out the next time we play there.

A few pictures from soundcheck:

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Quartet

Last night I played a quartet gig with Tyrone Jackson, Kevin Smith, and Marlon Patton.  It took me well into the second set before I finally got comfortable--I'm not really sure why.  I warmed up before I left home, but I just had a really difficult time getting my head and hands in sync.  I think that at least part of it was that I was (once again) overblowing, and I got handcuffed by trying to play full-bore from the first note, which left me nowhere to go.  Once we got into the second set, I felt like things calmed down for me and I played a little better (though my reed at that point was indicating its intent to die on me!).  The first set was rough...lots of dumb mistakes.  I tried to read charts that I didn't really need to look at (Song for Bilbao, Turnaround), and I guessed wrong on the endings of a couple (Naima, Punjab).  By the time we stopped for a break, I was beat from my reading miscues, but I'd made so many mistakes I kept looking to the lead sheets for help!

Here are the mp3s...


This gig featured really good banana pudding.  Unfortunately, I did not take a picture of it, but here's some other visual highlights:  is it soup or a dirty pot?, ten golden sliders, part of the dessert layout, and a few pictures of chairs!

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Workplace Psychology

Saturday night I was fortunate to pick up a jazz gig for a corporate reception downtown--1,200 industrial-organizational psychologists.  I was informed that they were workplace psychologists--"we study why people are or are not happy in their jobs"--which I thought was kind of funny considering how difficult they'd been at my job!  Let's just say the event was not well run, and for a two hour event there was a good four hours worth of bullshit.

The band tonight was Tyrone Jackson on keyboard and Kevin Smith on bass.  We also had an old man play clarinet with us (who was pretty dang good!), and the former president of the organization sang and played piano (not so good).
We played mostly my tunes, plus a couple of Pat Metheny songs, a Joey Calderazzo thing, and an Ellis Marsalis favorite.  We had a great time playing!

Here are the mp3s:

Leigh was our handler for this event.  She made sure I didn't strangle anyone.
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Schooner Invasion!

The Yacht Rock Revue was boarded by the Yacht Rock Schooner last night and held hostage in on own ship.  Ok, maybe it wasn't that bad...Nick, Cobb, and Dannells were out last night, so Kevin Spencer, Ganesh Giri Jaya, and Shannon Pengelly filled in.  It wasn't really that different--Cobb's been out for a while, and I've played the last few Schooner gigs with Kevin and Shannon.

The 10 High changed the start time to 10 PM, which made for happier patrons (who still rolled in around 10:15 PM).  I think it was better for our collective psyche, too, to have some people in the room while we were playing.

We ended up with a pretty solid crowd;  it was pretty much as packed as last week, which is to say it was fairly stuffed, particularly around the bar.  They were definitely rambunctious and fine looking people (women)!

No gear troubles to report, though I think that I should probably move up to some harder alto reeds.  The reeds I am using right now are fine, but when I lean on them (say on Baker Street, or something else where I am really pushing a ton of air into the horn), the reeds are kind of giving out on me.  It's tough to say whether it's because they are overall too soft or just old and getting mushy.  I think I'm going to go up on strength and see how they work.

One funny thing:  Ganesh made the setlist, and he recycled an old Schooner setlist, so ALL the songs with sax and flute were in the first set--it was pretty much one right after another.  The second set was NO saxophone--I should have put my horns away on the break so I could get home a little quicker!  Oops!

I'll be happy to have all the usual guys back next week.  We are back to full strength!
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House Live lives at Ventanas

Tonight I did a House Live gig at Ventanas (again!).  Nothing new to report...we ate at Baja Fresh across the street, the weather was nice, the views were great, the gig was easy...how about some pictures?

This is what Reggie looked like when I left.  Note the agony in his face.

Here's Wayne and Jeff at Baja Fresh eating chips.  We ate three baskets of chips while we waited thirty minutes for our burritos.

My burrito.

My bowl of salsa.

The chips.

The cup.

Wayne eats.

Jeff eats.

At one point during the gig, a helicopter came in for a landing on the roof.  They might have been giving rides.  I went up there on the break hoping to score a ride, but there was no helicopter.

Weird picture, ain't it?

The Baja Fresh guys were up there providing food...we could have eaten for free!  They were set up right next to us.

The view while I awaited my helicopter ride.

If there'd been a helicopter parked here, I would've been in it.  Maybe next time?
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Easter Sunday

Sunday was a killer.

If I were to guess, I'd say that I fell asleep on the couch Saturday night somewhere around 2 AM.  At 5 AM, I was up seeking caffination and a weather report.  It was Easter gig time!

My first Easter gig of the day was outside at 6:30 AM.  Here's a picture of the congregation in the parking lot.  This is some sort of strange Marietta ritual!  The past two years, the temperature at start time has been 36 and 38, so 60 degrees this morning felt wonderful.

Here's a picture of Graham Kuhn (piano/vocals).  I'm not sure why were taking pictures at a church service, but we did.

Tuning was a little sketchy, but over all it was way better than in years past.  I played sax and flute on this.

When that one was over, we packed up and moved into the church gym.  Kevin Wyglad, Graham, and myself were the band for the overflow mass from the church's 8:30 service.  We ended up with a couple of hundred people in there.  I had fiddled with the keyboard before we began, and Graham ended up starting the first song with a phased clav sound instead of acoustic piano.  Oops.  I played sax and flute on this one too.

The third service I played was the 10:30 mass in the parish hall.  I also ran sound for this one (and it sounded pretty good, if I do say so myself!).  This one had me on flute, Brian Cray on piano, and Chris Cromett (I think that's correct) on vocals.  Whereas the previous two services had been fun because we have played together enough to make changes on the fly, this one was fun because we'd never played together (and Chris was REALLY nervous).  We sailed through with no problems.

After a family gathering at our house I took a multiple hour nap before jumping in the truck to run down to Buckhead to play my regular Sunday night church gig.  Nothing new to report on that one.  I think they've changed up the amplifier settings, though.  The spot where I usually put the master fader was really honkin' loud.  Loud is good, though.

I came home and fell asleep on the couch, which is why I am awake at 5:30 AM!
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Schooning in Suwanee

Last night I played with the Yacht Rock Schooner in Suwanee (for the first set).

It was a tough situation;  the Wild Wind there had morphed into a sports bar for the purposes of the Final Four (R.I.P. Michigan State) with every TV on the game (they even had a screen over the stage with a projector TV going).  The soundman was about an hour late to setting up.  We were also asked to wait until halftime of the second game before going on.

The end result was that the band was flat.  I think it was safe to say that there was very little interest in playing music that night, and it felt like it.  There was no crowd and thus no energy from a crowd.  It was really bland.

As we trudged through the set, I was mentally diagnosing what was wrong.  My conclusion was this:  at this point in its existence, that group of musicians does not play for each other--the play for the gig.  By comparison, I would say that on any given night with Yacht Rock, I can be interested in what somebody's doing on stage, and I can play to that, whether I'm marveling at Bencuya's keyboard prowess or enjoying Mark Cobb's bubbling creativity (something he would tell you is his way of dealing with boredom on the gig), or how Pete's reacting to what Nick or Greg is doing.  We play for our own enjoyment as much as we do for the crowd's enjoyment.  And while it's true that we need the vibe from the crowd to really get off, I know that because we like playing together, we can still have fun when the crowd sucks.  Last night, the Schooner guys missed this part.
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8 Traxx

Friday night Yacht Rock played our monthly gig at the room formerly known as Andrews Upstairs, but now called 8 Traxx Disco.  In addition to changing the name, they also asked that we start an hour earlier than usual so that the DJ might commence spinning after midnight (and presumably "take it to the next level"?)

We were supposed to begin at 9:30, but there was no one there, so we waited until 9:45.  At that time, there were still very few people there (the main level of the room was completely empty).  People finally started trickling in somewhere around 10:30 (our usual start time!).  Nice move.  We played until 12:15 or so before giving way to the DJ.  The club had requested that we clear the stage in fifteen minutes so that the DJ might set up and get going, but fifteen is impossible for me--thirty minutes is possible if I'm flying, and forty-five minutes is my average.  When we started tearing down, our crowd dispersed, and by the time we were clear of the stage, the room was empty.  I'm not sure if the club had really thought this one through--not only did they mess up our gig by starting early, but trying to mash a set with the DJ on the end of the night killed her gig too!

Playing-wise, things were good.  We continued on the previous night's good playing--perhaps were even better since the great Mark Cobb was playing with us last night.  I had a couple of minor oops moments (Bb in the bass instead of C for the last chord of How Long and a really sad glissando in Steal Away that made Bencuya laugh).  Other than that, things were pretty good.  Saxophone-wise, I'm still overblowing a bit, and I had no good ideas for the second solo of Takin' it to the Streets, but I could hear myself pretty well and my reeds felt pretty good.

One funny thing:  I was putting everything I had into Baker Street, and I was leaning way back, and the girl in the front row happened to lean way forward and she nearly headbutted me in the...groin!  Seriously, the combination of me bending my knees and leaning back and her (I presume) rocking it out caused her forehead to hit me high on the left thigh.  I kept playing, but it was a weird moment!

My denim suit looked fantastic, but was very hot.

Some idiot had spilled fog juice all over the carpet right where I was set up--it was like playing in an oil slick.  I'm sure all my gear has that stuff all over it, which now means the inside of my truck now has that stuff all over it.  Buy a funnel!

Kip Conner ran sound for us.  Even though he was there (with Zack, his assistant) all day fixing stuff and making everything way better, several people in the band still complained about the job he did.  I think that for some of these guys, it's just their way of discussing the sound post-gig--bitch about what the guy SHOULD have been doing.  I think Kip did a great job, and I'm way happier that he was there instead of that diabetic ogre we used to see.

What a night!  The crowd, in the end, was pretty solid, so we made our money and got out early.  Greg Lee and Bencuya and Co. helped load my gear out.  Thanks for that!

I'm playing with the Schooner tonight, and then my first church gig STARTS at 6:30 AM Sunday morning.  Somebody sleep for me!
www.davidfreemanmusic.net