David Freeman Music

What's been going on? Let me explain. The day after Thanksgiving, Yacht Rock is playing a short set at Criminal Records in Atlanta--it's scheduled for thirty to forty-five minutes of music, and we're going to play several of our originals. Because there's a TON of keyboard stuff on our stuff, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday were marathons of programming and practicing to get ready for Wednesday's rehearsal (plus, there was a fair amount of apathy which drug the whole process out). Anyway, Wednesday, big rehearsal on little sleep. We survived--Bencuya and I were, I think, pretty pleased that we were somehow able to cover pretty much everything that needed to be there without any sonic holes. Wednesday night, I totally switched gears and practiced music for my Thursday big band gig. I worked through everything enough that I felt pretty comfortable. Luckily, I was playing the same book (tenor 1) that I played last month, so a big chunk of the music was somewhat familia...

 Last week was light--just a Wednesday corporate gig in Atlanta at the Hyatt downtown. I'll be honest...I know nothing about who hired us, what they do, what the event was for--nothing. We played ninety minutes, then packed up our gear and split. It was easy and mindless. The only musical moment that I can think of is that I quoted Wayne Shorter's Footprints  in I Can't Go For That.  I want to think that the audience really dug that. Friday , I got called to play a gig, but Yacht Rock had a video/photo shoot thing, so I couldn't go. Sunday , I had my church gig and played pretty comfortably. I didn't have much time to practice flute this week, so I was relieved that my face held up as well as it did on the gig. This week has a couple of rehearsals, an Atlanta Latin Jazz Orchestra gig on Thursday night, and a Yacht Rock gig Friday night. Yee haw.

Friday: Yacht Rock played Bogart's in Cincinnati. Our third time, I think. Duke on security! All the usual stuff here. The gear came in, we set it up, soundcheck was quick and painless, and then I walked to an Indian place about a half mile away. The food is good (hadn't had Indian food in quite a while), but the styrofoam and plastic spoon hurt my soul. We had plenty of downtime between soundcheck and the show (9 PM start), so I made use of it by warming up a bit more than usual. I felt pretty loose on the gig. This room filled up quite nicely, and it was cool to see some familiar faces. Saturday: Louisville. I like this room, too. All the same things apply here--the gear came in, we set up and sound checked (this one also sounds good), went to eat (tonight at the Mediterranean place a few doors down), played a whole bunch of stuff on flute and saxophone in the name of warming up. We started at 9 PM. Tonight was the first night where the r...

We successfully returned home from Charlotte on Monday at lunch time. Tuesday morning, we were off again, this time to Miami for a corporate event. Matt Reed subbed on guitar for Mark Dannells (who was able to drag himself out of his South Carolina hotel room and make it back to Atlanta). The gig was a major clunker. Very few attendees bothered to come back to the ballroom, so we played to maybe a dozen dudes (maybe one or two women, as well) who stood on the far side of the dance floor and watched us. This went on for two hours straight. We flew home from Miami Wednesday morning. Friday : Bonus church gig Friday for All Saints' Day, and my face was like James Friggin' Galway. Seriously, I wish my flute playing felt this easy every time--it makes it that much worse when I play like crap. Saturday , we flew to Jacksonville to play a wedding for a couple of fans. An outdoor wedding in a tent on the beach...hmm...the weather worried me. Nice gig, though! The ...

Friday: Yacht Rock headed up to the northeastern corner of Georgia, hopped the state line, and continued into South Carolina until we reached Walhalla. Never heard of it? You're not alone. I'm guessing this was some sort of local concert series.  It looks like a old school auditorium, smells like an old auditorium. A charming little room. Sounded good, though. I don't remember much about the gig, but it did enjoy the chance to sit on a bench outside for about an hour and practice. Actually, that's not true. The room was so dark, I never saw anyone in the audience. I remember that. Saturday: We played at The Senate in Columbia, South Carolina for the first time today. Since we were early to load in and the weather was perfect, I had a chance to walk around the state capitol complex and some of the University of South Carolina campus. By the time I made it back, set up was in progress. We played this gig with the drum riser pushed off-...

Thursday: I was finally in town and able to perform with the Atlanta Latin Jazz Orchestra at Venkman's. Such a cool gig--the music is fantastic, and I have as much satisfaction learning the music as I do actually playing with the guys in the band. The Georgia Tech big band opened for us. I think somebody said that Tech has five big bands--wow! That's more than Indiana had when I was in school. I wonder how many bands the bass player has to play in (usually the problem with multiple big bands)! This particular ensemble had seven saxophones, too--also a problem for jazz programs. Anyway, ALJO was fun. My preparation was good. Justin Powell's trumpet solos were brilliant. We're back November 21! Tech big band Friday afternoon, I got a call to fill in with FunkCake at the Copper Coin in Woodstock. Funk Cake is a modern brass band--trumpet, two saxes, trombone, sousaphone, and drums, and they play their own originals and funny arrangements of modern pop songs. A...

Hooray for in-town gigs! Friday: I got to sub in with Bumpin' the Mango again, in Roswell again (part of their "Music on the Hill" concert series), but this time on bari sax. Neil Newcomb played tenor. I had a good week of practice leading up to this gig, but things got off to a rough start. On the second tune of the night, I got to PAGE THREE! of What is Hip  before realizing that I was playing the tenor chart on bari--since we're a fourth apart pitch-wise, there are weird notes but not a lot of outright clashes that would tell me something was wrong. Instead, I was like, "this feels so familiar but sounds kind of strange." Man, I felt soooooo stupid! Realizing what was happening, I half transposed the tenor chart down a fourth/half played by ear the rest of it. As soon as the song was over, I deleted the chart from my iPad so there would be no evidence of my wrongdoing! It never happened! Then I spent three or four songs trying to gauge (based purel...