David Freeman Music

Fear not, readers, for I am not dead or incarcerated.  I am so busy that I have not had any time to write in my blog. Monday was a five hour jazz trio gig (and a rehearsal in the morning). Tuesday was a Yacht Rock roller disco gig at Masquerade. Wednesday was a Please Pleaserock Me gig (and a rehearsal in the morning). Thursday through Monday we (Yacht Rock) are on another boat!  This one is the Kid Rock "Chillin' the Most" Cruise. More consistent blogging will resume next week. davidfreemanmusic.net

Yesterday I drove up and down I-75. Yacht Rock played the Atlanta Steeplechase (which was located in Rome, GA!).  I woke up super early (for me) and drove down I-75 into town to meet up with the rest of the band.  We drove back up I-75 to Rome to play the gig. The event was in a private tent at the Steeplechase event.  Unfortunately, the weather was terrible--rain and lightning throughout the event.  The band played well and the food was ok (BBQ sandwich with bottled BBQ sauce).  We rumbled through, stopping for each of the races.  Evidently horses don't like music. First came the "release the hounds!", and then the race horses came through. It is with great sadness that I must report that my aviators were retired today.  The left lens has popped out a couple of times, and I think it's time that they be recycled.  A sad day for Yacht Rock. Afterwards, we loaded up (in the rain) and then spent an hour on a farm road inching our way back to...

Yacht Rock last night at the 10 High was a thin one.  We couldn't have asked for better weather (which lately has meant better crowds), but last night was slim picking.  I was outside on the break, and there was nobody even walking on North Highland.  The entire area was a ghost town. We played pretty well, particularly in the first set.  The second set descended into boredom, which for us means that we started twisting and pulling on the ends of songs, making them into strange concoctions of noise.  It was a relief to finally get to the end of the set and be done with it. All of my stuff worked well.  My new laptop gave me no problems--it did exactly what I expected it to do. I did have a few moments of terror, though.  Fifteen minutes before I left home, I set it all up to double check that it would work perfectly, and that's when I found out that my MIDI to USB convertor was not talking to the computer.  AAHHHHHH!  I downloaded a drive...

Yesterday I bit the bullet and purchased a new laptop--a Macbook Pro.  I put my old version of Logic on it and brought my "Yacht Rock" sounds into it, and it works.  Success! My plan is to upgrade Logic later this year to the most current version (with Mainstage).  I am currently using Logic 7 (which predates Mainstage).  What I'll do is get it all set up on my desktop, and then transfer it over once I'm satisfied that it will work on the gig. Hopefully this means I can breathe easier for the next couple of years!  This year has been a tense one for EWI playing! davidfreemanmusic.net

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 distor...

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. davidfreemanmusic.net

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...