Making Records

This is a light week for gigs, but I was fortunately able to fill in with not one but two recording sessions.  Both went well;  I am very happy with the results.

1.  Wednesday night, I recorded woodwinds for Patrick Kelly's upcoming record.  For this one, I played flute, clarinet, and bass clarinet.  Patrick built his songs in Logic Pro 9 and created MIDI woodwind parts--cool because it generates sheet music, but not cool because there's no one to say what's physically possible!  For instance, one song had a flute part that extended into bass clef!  In another instance, the computer wrote that every note in a section was anticipated by a sixteenth note--at the tempo, it was difficult to hear, but on paper, it was definitely not correct!

Anyway, once we'd sorted all that stuff out, it was pretty easy, and Patrick (and Bruce, the producer/engineer) were cool and open to suggestions.  I was relieved and excited that all three instruments were relatively in tune (always a big fear of mine in recording!).   I wish there were more opportunities like this.

2.  Thursday morning, I met up with Greg Lee to add saxophones to Glen Pridgen's newest project.  Glen's stuff was more straight ahead rock, and both songs had existing horn parts, so it was clear what was to be played.  Both songs were two tenors and bari--love that sound!   

One of Glen's songs had a solo, and I was really pleased with myself for playing something beyond a safe, pentatonic scale.  Kudos to Greg Lee for leaving a little jazz in a rock song!

Trio

The David Freeman Trio came out of mothballs to play a gig last night--the usual corporate awards dinner kind of thing.  This one was a bit unusual because it began with two hours(!) of solo saxophone, then a bit of "play them into the room," an hour or so of dinner, and a last song to play them out.  David Ellington played keyboard and Kevin Smith played bass.  I guess I should have brought my hat.

Right off the bat, a curveball.  Even though it was confirmed the previous week that we would be sax, keyboard, and bass (and therefore needing a microphone and 2 DIs to get our sound to the house), our famous local sound/production company set up five lines with DIs.  When I said, "No, I'll need a microphone," they claimed not to have a single one on site.  Really.  "But we can run the keyboard in stereo!" the guy said.  Ha ha ha ha!  Like I give a shit!  Out to my truck to grab the microphone stand and crappy microphone that I keep behind the seat for just such an emergency.  

The two hours of solo saxophone actually wasn't too bad.  For whatever reason I was able to get into a groove;  my hands felt quick and light, and my horn felt good, so it was pretty easy.  Thank god, too, because I've had some solo gigs where ten minutes felt like too long.

The trio part of the the gig was painless, except for a request that led to several more requests, the last by a drunk old lady who almost fell down on her way to ask us to play At Last.  "If you play it, I'll dance!"  Uhh, no thanks.

I was kind of fried by the time we got into this, but in listening to it now, I don't sound as uncoordinated as I felt at the time.

The final portion of the evening was spent raising money--a male and female tag team with microphones, walking around the room cajoling people into dropping $1,000.  It was like Regis and Kathy Lee took over a non denominational church.  When a guy offered his tux jacket up for auction (and people actually bid on it), I got worried that my horn would be next.

We played them out of the room and the evening ended.  Never a dull moment, I guess.  Here are mp3s from the trio portion of the gig.

U2 in the Park

Yacht Rock's first Park Tavern show last night was a huge success!  In spite of the weather, we had a large, enthusiastic crowd and the band played well.  What more could you ask for?

The stage for this one was rotated ninety degrees, with the most of the crowd out in front and a smaller contingent behind.  Kip said that the crowd was so thick that he couldn't get to the front of house position;  he ended up mixing from behind the stage.

Our first set was all U2.  We hadn't played this set in a couple of years.  We rehearsed a few weeks ago (with the anticipation of playing on the Train cruise, but it didn't happen).  Surprisingly, there wasn't too much rust!  My worst moment was right at the beginning--I started the first song of the gig on the wrong sound (and wrong transposition).  Not my best playing.  Once we got into it, I was fine, though.

The Yacht Rock set was good;  we had a fun night.  At one point, I took a high five solo across the front of the stage.  Playing-wise, things were solid.

At the end of the night, a friend of mine remarked, "You guys are rock stars!"  Forty-five minutes later (as I was dragging my gear up the stairs), some guy asked me if we were the Schooner.  Fame is fleeting.

Dave Squared

David Ellington and I played our monthly duo gig at Sun in my Belly in Decatur tonight.  It was nearly a solo--traffic was so bad--it took me an hour and forty-five minutes--that I started looking for a bridge to jump off.  The situation was madnes;  it's a 24 mile trip, one that I made post gig in thirty-five minutes.

Once we'd played a tune or two I finally settled down.  What a shitty way to start a gig!

Anyway, check out our work.  New tunes for this gig were Driftin' (Herbie Hancock), Little B's Poem (Bobby Hutcherson), and Best of Times by our man David Ellington.



We're back there Friday, March 27, 7-9 PM.  Please stay off the roads that day.

Callaway Down There

Yacht Rock played a corporate party Monday night at Callaway Gardens...waaaaaaaay down I-85 (and then down I-185), almost to the Alabama state line.  A long drive, but we've been kind of starved for gigs lately, so I am thankful to be working!

Luckily, this was a pretty rockin' party, with people on the dance floor from just about the first song, and it stayed that way for the entire gig.  It's so much easier to play a private gig when the people are into it.  Just about everyone was in a costume (60s and 70s);  our favorites were the members of KISS--Ace Freely even brought a guitar.  Nice touch.

The Beatles at Smith's

Smith's Olde Bar...every time I think this place is dead and we'll never set foot in here again, there's a night like this one where the crowd is great and the sound is good and the gig is fun, and I know we'll be back.

More Dave and Dave

David Ellington and I brought our duo to the west side last night, crammed into a nook in a bar.  We are very thankful for the gig, indeed--without this place and our monthly restaurant thing in Decatur, I'd have no jazz outlet.

The music played before, after, and on the breaks was really loud--REALLY LOUD!!!, and definitely not in line with what we were doing during our set.  I think that from now on I'm going to iPod the breaks through Ellington's amp to try and keep things the same.  Plus...holy shit--it was loud.  Ellington and I laughed about the difference in volume between our stuff and their canned music.  On one break, a customer came over to me and asked me if I could turn down the music, and I had to break it to her that it was not something I could control--it was the bar's stuff while we were relaxing for a moment.  I felt like we were the break music between the barrages of hipster rock.

We're not back until early April.  Hopefully we'll be outside for that one?  It's a better gig when we're on the patio.  The passing trains aren't that loud (by comparison).

Anyway, check out the music.