Thursday

So...just in case you were wondering, I'm still alive.

Not much to report since last week. Due to Thanksgiving, I was laying low (also I was gigless). Yacht Rock was back on last night. It was a pretty decent show. We've had some where the first set is solid, but the second set is sloppy. I thought yesterday's excursion was pretty even by comparison.

We started working on our Christmas songs last night. If you've heard our commercial, you know what I'm talking about. We tried both tunes (Mele Kalikimaka and Christmas Vacation), and it turns out the harmonies in Mele are gonna be tough to sing live! The other was rough in soundcheck, but pretty solid on the gig.

We also played Human Nature, and I covered Bielenberg's parts. I was pretty pleased with myself for figuring that tune out. Not that it's super difficult, but I don't have a very good ear, and I don't have much confidence in what I'm hearing. To top it off, I was playing keyboards on it (actually on both tunes), and it always takes me longer to get comfortable.

Saxophone-wise, things felt good. I didn't feel like my horns were hotter than usual, but I could definitely hear them better than before. The tenor reed I used last night was one of those once-every-ten-boxes kinds of reeds--free blowing, but it still has enough backbone to allow me to go all over the horn easily.

We're playing tonight in Dunwoody and tomorrow night in North Druid Hills. A three day cruise...

It's safe now, so I will officially mention that we are playing on the Rock Boat for the first week of January. Yacht Rock...playing on a boat.

www.davidfreemanmusic.com

Down Time

I'm really enjoying the down time I've had in these few days after Thanksgiving. I have no gigs this weekend, so I'm practicing. Specifically, I am practicing slowly. There are two ways that I am doing this.

First: I am playing things slowly and really focusing on getting a good sound and connecting the notes with the air. I'm not worried about maintaining any technique. I want to really think about the sound of the instrument.

Second: I am practicing without an end time. Since these few days are pretty wide open, I am taking a slow pace in my work. You can't practice in a hurry--that only works against you. Instead, I am taking my time and enjoying myself.

www.davidfreemanmusic.com

Turkey Eve

Yacht Rock survived Turkey Eve at Andrews Upstairs last night. The big news was that our old buddy (and second keyboardist) Brandon Still played with us. It was super cool hanging out with him. He's having an awesome time with Blackberry Smoke. They're headed to Europe for twenty dates.

We played really well in the first set, but the second set was pretty sluggish. I was glad when it ended. Also, I don't think the saxophone was loud enough in the house. That sort of killed the gig for me.

www.davidfreemanmusic.com

XTC/NWA

I played last night at the Earl after I finished teaching. My friend Geoff Melkonian has an amazing R.E.M. tribute band called The R.E.M.akes, and they sound just like R.E.M. The final song of the evening was Can't Get There from Here, which has a saxophone part. It's pretty easy stuff.

Following us was the XTC tribute band NWA or Nigels with Attitude. It's a couple of Yacht Rock guys (Mark Bencuya, Mark Cobb, Nick Niespodziani, Kevin Spencer), plus a couple of guys from Sheryl Crow's band (Peter Stroud, Tim Smith). The talent on stage was staggering. I can't say I know anything about XTC (in contrast to the R.E.M. stuff, which I'm all over), but the music seemed really complex in the number of interwoven parts. Those guys nailed it. In particular Mark Cobb might have never played better--the complexity and fire required for this gig are right up his alley, and I think his focus really made the whole thing come together.

We've got Yacht Rock tonight at Andrews Upstairs (Brandon's back!), and then I am DONE.

www.davidfreemanmusic.com

White Plains, NY

Yacht Rock had our first ever fly gig this weekend--we traveled to White Plains, NY to play a 40th birthday party. Except for the lack of sleep, it turned out to be a really fun weekend.

Our flight up was scheduled for 8:30 AM, and I'd bet nobody in the band got more than five hours of sleep before it (I would know because we were all emailing back and forth right around midnight). I fell asleep before the plane had even left the ground, and finally woke up right before we landed.

Nick and Pete rented a van and drove all the equipment up, and we met up with them at the house where we were playing. The set up was in a tent on their back porch. After setting up and checking, we went back to the hotel and crashed for a few hours. Then, back to the gig.

The gig itself was pretty good. Nobody got too silly or sloppy. We made a bunch of new friends and got lots of verbal offers to play in the area.

I went back to the hotel and slept HARD until 9 AM this morning. We got up, went back to the airport, and flew home. It was pretty uneventful.

My tenor rode in the van, and I carried my alto and EWI in a gig bag. I lucked into some key clamps via eBay, and so I tried them on my alto. They're not something I'd use day to day, but I figured on a trip like that where I had my horn in a bag and it could get jostled around a little more, it might be worth it. I like the idea. I don't know if they really do more harm than good, but there's definitely some peace of mind in it. We've got some more traveling coming up in early January, so I'm going to go ahead and order a set of clamps for my tenor, too.

www.davidfreemanmusic.com

Thursday, eh?

Yesterday (Thursday) was another two gig Thursday.

The first was a trio at Neiman Marcus in Lenox Square Mall--some sort of private party for big spenders. The trio was myself, David Ellington on piano, and Tommy Sauter on bass, sandwiched in between glass cases of expensive jewelry.

Once again, I had a lot of difficulty with the time. It felt to me like it was all over the place, and at times it made playing uncomfortable and frustrating. Here are the mp3s:

I ran from Lenox over to the 10 High for Yacht Rock. In honor of our last night with sub (and favorite Canuck) Kevin Spencer fronting the band, we had Canadian Tuxedo night. Since I was already dressed in a regular tuxedo, I represented for America! (in other words, I didn't change into denim). Dig this fine picture of Gordon Lightfoot, a fine Canadian in his own right, and sporting a damn fine tux. We broke out his tune Sundown last night, and we watched Strange Brew as the warm up. The winner of the Canadian Tux contest won a bottle of maple syrup.

I think we had a pretty good night. We did the same set we'd played last week on Thursday and Friday, so there were no surprises. The only wrinkle was the fact that we played the gig on borrowed gear because all of our equipment left on Wednesday morning for a gig in New York. We managed just fine. Bencuya and I managed to borrow the more or less identical keyboards, so the sounds were pretty much the same. I was super tired and super hungry by the time we finished, though.

Tomorrow's flight to New York leaves at 8:30 AM, so I'll be leaving home around 6. Ouch! No sleep for me.

www.davidfreemanmusic.com

Keyboard Percussion

Jack on keyboard percussion...

www.davidfreemanmusic.com