ALJO

I had the opportunity to play with the Atlanta Latin Jazz Orchestra this past Thursday night at Venkman's. It's a cool band comprised of some of the most excellent horn players in Atlanta, and the rhythm sections are always stellar as well.

Unfortunately, the charts are very difficult, and I wasn't able to be comfortably prepared, so parts of this gig were painfully bad for me. I needed a few more days to really digest the parts, so...I don't know. I sucked in some parts, and I was embarrassed that I was screwing up surrounded by twenty of my contemporaries.

Here's video of the first set:

Dave Matthews with The Laymen

photo cred: Chadwick Hunter

I began playing professionally in the mid 1990s just as the Dave Matthews Band was becoming popular, and yet, in those twenty plus years, I have never been called upon to play a Dave Matthews song (not entirely true--years ago, I got called to play a random gig with a Dave Matthews Tribute Band, but I was unavailable) until 2018. I would've thought people would be calling me constantly, since the gig is all four saxophones plus flute and I own all four saxophones and a flute, and then I thought, maybe I haven't gotten called because nobody's playing these songs because maybe nobody wants to hear them?

Anyway, my friend Dustin Cottrell has a group called The Laymen (with another church musician friend of his), and they opted to use a full band for this DMB show. We played at the Red Light Cafe on a snowy night that maybe affected our attendance--there were maybe ten people there, but difficult to say because most of the people watching the first band were involved in the DMB show, and vice versa when we got on stage.

Anyway, I now have good sax/flute charts for The Best of What's Around, What Would You Say, Satellite, Typical Situation, Ants Marching, Jimi Thing, So Much to Say, Crash Into Me, and Two Step if any other sax players need them. Here's an example--they're good enough that you can probably skip rehearsal.

Northeast Run

Last weekend, the Yacht Rock Revue headed back out on the road for a weekend in the northeast. Sold out crowds and weird weather abound.

Thursday: Our first show of this run was at The Queen in Wilmington, Delaware, a beautiful venue that was recently renovated and reopened in 2011. We flew into Philadelphia, drove to Wilmington, and grabbed a quick lunch before setting up our stuff. Mark Bencuya, Monkeyboy, and I found a local deli to our liking.

I had enough time to squeeze in a run before the show.

ice in Brandywine Creek

Market Street in Wilmington

This was a really good first gig of the weekend. The room sounded great, the crowd was surprisingly good (350 people was comfortably full on the floor), and we played well. Little Lies by Fleetwood Mac was added to the setlist this week, a song that half of us hated to hear, but it's fun to play, so I think we're keeping it. All in all, a pleasant surprise in Delaware.

After the gig, we drove an hour and a half into New Jersey.

Friday: On to Boston!

lunch stop somewhere in Connecticut

We played the Royale in Boston--this gig was a little nuts. The gig had been sold out since before Thanksgiving (1250 people!), and they were just about foaming at the mouth by the time we hit the stage. Some guy climbed on the stage (and may have stage dived/crowd surfed after that). There seemed to be a cheering section for me that erupted as soon as I stood up for my first solo (special thanks to the guy who brought a pink inflatable saxophone as a prop). Later on a conga line formed and tried to bum rush the stage (luckily thwarted by Kip just as they reached the bottom of the stairs to the stage). Awesome energy from everybody in the room, though.

The only (kind of) downside to playing the Royale is that they had some kind of late night disco/dance party, so we had to stop playing at 9:30 so we could clear the room by 10:15. It was a little weird to push everybody out and rush us down the elevator so quickly, but then on the other hand, an early night is nice, too.

Here are a couple of video highlights, via our super fan Brian Liss:

We didn't get food before the gig (we were an hour late to load in), so afterwards, we went to a restaurant and gorged ourselves.

Saturday: Woke up in Natick, Mass to high winds and falling temperatures. New York City bound!

Tonight's show was a sold out performance at Irving Plaza (1100 people in this one). We also were tasked with breaking in the new PA that they'd just installed. Also...holy shit it's cold.

The tiny, tiny, tiny backstage bathroom. This photo is actual size.

Set 1:



Set 2:

photo cred: Kip Conner

Robbie Dupree and Matthew Wilder sat in with us on the first set. When we returned from the break, it felt like our audience was too tired or too drunk or something--the enthusiasm of the first set had worn off.

photo cred: Zach Wetzel

Sunday: NYC to Washington DC to play The Hamilton. Our third sold out show (600 people for this one) in a row. Good stuff again from the band and the crowd, though we had a little bit of second set lag from the audience again. The Hamilton is a jewel of a place to perform.

Here's a super slick move by The Hamilton--at intermission, they put tickets for our show there in the spring on sale and announced it to the crowd. By the time we loaded out at the end of the night, all of the seating (half the room) had already sold out. More places should do this--such a smart move!

In spite of hand cream, gloves, and...pockets?...my hands dry and crack in the winter. This particular split opened up the day before we left for Wilmington, and was still killing me when we finished in DC. This happens to be the exact spot where my thumb touches a piano key. The second set of the Hamilton show was incredibly painful.

Monday: Flying home from Reagan International. One of the prettiest airport concourses in the country (spoiled only by the kiosk selling MAGA shit).

Blind Willie's Again

Scott Glazer invited me to once again play with his group Mojo Dojo at Blind Willie's tonight. The band also included Mike Ewbank on keyboard, Nick Johnson on guitar, Darren Stanley on drums, and John Sandfort on saxophone. We read some new charts (two I remember off the top of my head: Wah Wah by George Harrison and Blind Willie McTell by Bob Dylan), which left us chuckling amidst the ensuing chaos. Not a big crowd tonight (at the beginning and end of the night, we outnumbered them), so very few got to see us fake our way through Cream's White Room, with Scott trying to read the lyrics off a phone that wouldn't stay open. Oops!

Anyway, Sandfort killed me again. One of the best sax players in Atlanta. Maaaaaaaaannnn...I was doing my best to keep up with these guys.

UGA Tailgate

This was a last minute call--Yacht Rock was asked to perform at the official UGA Tailgate Party before the championship game in Atlanta Monday night. Between the weather (at one point it was supposed be 34 with snow flurries) and the potentially disastrous traffic, we were bracing for something awful--so much so that we loaded the van and trailer and had it drop us and our gear off in lieu of individually driving and parking. However, school was cancelled, everybody stayed home from work, the weather was ok, and we had no trouble at all.

This gig was a long one--three sets, and we were in a room with no windows, and it felt like it could've been noon or eight o'clock at night the whole time. By the third set, we were all a bit disoriented, but the last set was a little short, and there weren't many people left by then anyway. We loaded out onto Peachtree (waaaaaay easier than the loading dock here), and were driving away forty-five minutes after we finished.

The event staff was really cool, and we were treated very well. Painless!

Too bad the game hadn't worked out in our favor! I thought Georgia had it.

Dark Side/Abbey Road 2018

Yacht Rock spent the weekend in Atlanta, performing Dark Side of the Moon and Abbey Road for big crowds at Venkman's last Friday and Saturday. Joining us were Keisha and Kourtney Jackson on vocals and Rob Opitz on trumpet. Also Ricky Schroder (of Silver Spoons fame) in the audience!

We've played this show several years in a row, so bringing it back up to speed was no problem. This one was an easy weekend for me--just reading my charts off the iPad--so mostly it was a good hang as we eased back into steady gigs for the next five months.

There's not much else to say...I was better Friday than Saturday? You can watch Friday here:

Set 1 (sax solos at around 20:00 and 51:50):




Set 2 (sax solos at around 22:18 and 27:50):




Here are my charts for Dark Side of the Moon. For all those altissimo G#s, my usual fingering (1 3, 1 and side C) doesn't work because I'm blowing so hard, so I use 1 2 3 and side C and aim the pitch down a bit. Try it.

We're going to be on the road a lot this year, so be sure and check us out when we come through your town.

And In the End...

Yacht Rock closed out the year with an Atlanta show at the Park Tavern. I do love that we've somehow managed to play this gig multiple years in a row, finishing by 12:30 AM (thank you city noise ordinance!) and home in our own beds to sleep it off. From the poster, it appears that the party went later than we did--I was home by 2 AM!

In addition to our normal show, we played an unplugged style set upstairs for the VIPs. I think it was ok, but in that cavern of a room, who can tell? Bencuya's toy keyboard had trouble holding at A=440, but he turned down and we did our best to ignore him. The crowd mostly ignored us, too, so...you're welcome?

Our main show began around 10:15 PM (we played straight through to 12:25 AM or so). The crowd of a thousand, maybe more, was surprisingly interested in the music--not the usual drunken shit show we've come to expect from that crowd on New Year's Eve. All around, the band fared well, though I had three random equipment issues pop up:

1. The EWI, on but not responding, at the beginning of Peg. I turned it off and on again and it was fine for the rest of the night.

2. My top keyboard (or maybe that channel in my mixer?), stopped making sound at the beginning of Brandy. The weird thing was that it was registering that it was making sound on the meter on the mixer, but the signal wasn't making it from the mixer to Kip and Zach. The bottom keyboard was fine, though, so the send for that channel wasn't working? I have no idea. I changed sounds, went back to the right sound, unplugged the instrument cable, plugged it back in, and everything was fine. Wuzzup with that.

3. My in ears went dead during the encore, and I played all of Rich Girl with them out, listening to the sound in the tent. When I put them in at the end of the song, things were back to normal.

Other than that, it was a very enjoyable show. Load out around the catatonic dudes and the crying girlfriends was pretty easy (and we had crew guys available to help drag stuff to the parking lot), it wasn't as painfully cold as the weatherman said it would be, and when I started my truck, Michael Brecker was coming out of the speakers. Not a bad way to ring in the new year.

Blind Willie's

I played Blind Willie's here in Atlanta Wednesday night with Scott Glazer's Mojo Dojo, alongside Marla Feeney (tenor sax), Dave Yoke (guitar), and Marlon Patton (drums). It was good to catch up with Marlon, whom I haven't seen in months, Dave played some nasty guitar solos (in a good way), and I'd never met Marla before. As usual, I was a bit concerned about how rusty I would be reading charts and taking solos (since I don't do too much of that these days), but I was totally comfortable with both. We were rockin'!

Kenyon Carter was on this gig the last time I played it, and he recommended a clip on microphone instead of relying on the ol' SM-58 on a stand, so I tried it, and it made a big difference. The stage at Blind Willie's is just a little too tight to have Scott and two sax players across the front line, so being able to step back just a little and still keep in contact with the mic was a lifesaver. I'll definitely be doing that the next time I get this call.

Last Trips of the Year

Our final weekend on the road in 2017. More airports, more rented gear...

Thursday: Atlanta to New York City for a private gig.

Greg Lee looking dapper at the LaGuardia taxi stand

taxi ride

Our gig was a holiday party at the American Museum of Natural History. Pretty cool spot!

We were in the room with the blue whale suspended from the ceiling.

After soundcheck, we had a few hours to kill, so I went for a run around town. 27 degrees! Also, running down Broadway when all the New Yorkers are trying to go home? Not my best move.

This gig was a very easy one set. The crowd was ok--they weren't nuts from the first note or anything, but there was some dancing, and at least they weren't demanding specific songs. I think we finished around 10 PM, and as soon as I could get all of my gear packed up, we were on our way across town in taxis.

probably as close as I'll ever get to playing at the Blue Whale (it's a jazz club in LA)

Thanks to SIR for coming through with some more good gear. It made everything painless.

Friday: New York to Indianapolis.

The view from our hotel room--we could walk to the airport!

We made it to LaGuardia in good time, only to find that our flight to Indy was delayed two and a half hours by a mechanical issue with the plane. Uh oh! Time to order lunch.

In a panic, all nine of us attempted to jump to another flight leaving around an hour after ours. Nick and Pete made it, but the rest of us were stranded until our plane could be repaired.

One nice thing about the delay: enough first class people jumped on other flights that we all (except for Kip and Zach) got upgraded to first class! Pretty cool, but I honestly didn't know what to do with myself. I think I took just as many naps as I would have in the back.  

more de-icing, this time by the pros in NYC

Earlier in the week, Kip and Zach had driven the van and trailer to Indianapolis, deposited the trailer at Pete's mom's house, driven the van to the Indianapolis airport, and then flown to New York for our gig under the whale. Since Nick and Pete made the earlier flight, they took the van keys, drove to Pete's mom's house, grabbed the trailer, and headed to the gig. We took Lyfts directly to the gig, set up the gear as quickly as possible, ate, changed clothes, and played. A little hectic, but we got through it.

Nice crowd, of course. Enough people know us in Indy that it's an easy sell. The room was sort of a modern construction of a barn...looked beautiful, but didn't sound too great. Cool people, though.

Saturday: More Indy! Lots of time to kill before our gig at The Vogue.

I got up and went for a run. A bit chilly, and pretty windy.

We played a gig in this parking lot many years ago. Nice to hear that the sound guy that day has finally solved the issue of the microphones feeding back.

Main Street, Carmel, Indiana

In the early afternoon, we saw the latest Star Wars movie, The Last Jedi at the IMAX Theatre at the Indiana State Museum. Lots of middle aged male virgins in attendance. If you knew me in 1982 you'd probably find this hard to believe, but I'm just not into Star Wars anymore. It's like running into your middle school girlfriend thirty years later. I'm not that into going to the movies either, so...I don't know what I'm saying...I guess this was better than sitting in a hotel room all day.

On to the gig! We set up, sound checked, ate, changed, and then it was finally time to play.

this one had been sold out for a month--the crowd was electric

Most of the gig was good, but I had a major blunder--in a panic, I couldn't remember if the Africa solo (when did these six measures become the bane of my existence?) started on Eb or F (I know it in two keys depending on whether I'm playing it on flute or EWI). I guessed Eb, which is wrong, and now that I can think about it logically, I'm an idiot--of course the transposed note would be the higher of the two. Anyway, the first three beats of the solo were a whole step too low, but the correct rhythmic and intervalic patterns, and somehow muscle memory rerouted me back on track by the end of the first phrase. Faaaaaaak. I have major suicidal thoughts approximately once per gig (but I can't!--everybody else in the band, and my family are depending on me to hold up my end of this!), and this was Saturday night's moment.

Also, my solo on Biggest Part of Me was a valiant effort, but I was excited and overblowing, and I don't think my ideas ever lined up to form the arc of a good solo. I must point out, for my own enjoyment, the quote from Michael Brecker's Fuky Sea, Funky Dew cadenza (the Heavy Metal Bebop version) in my cadenza. Thankyouverymuch. Small victory.

Here's the first set, in case you don't live in Indiana.



Sunday: Homeward bound. I sat down for lunch at home around 1 PM, right around when all hell broke loose at the airport. Thank god we made it back before that happened.