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!
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| 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. Alex, the leader and trumpeter, brings maniacal energy and big love to the gig. It's silly, yes, but it's also fun, and another opportunity to play saxophone this weekend.
Here's a tune from the gig:
Saturday: It rained all day. Yacht Rock had an outdoor gig. It's gonna get cancelled, right? Nobody's going to show up. The vendors are all gone. We're not going to set up our gear on a wet stage.
Well, guess what...they set up two dry risers in the back of the stage, we played an acoustic/radio set up (2 acoustic guitars, bass, a single keyboard, hand percussion, and me on one saxophone), a handful of people (maybe forty?) showed up, and with the exception of Africa (which I had absolutely no idea how to play on saxophone) and Hey Nineteen (a lesser musical catastrophe where I reached out in the musical darkness and found nothing to hold onto), it was pretty painless. We made the best of it.
Just weird enough to be mostly fun, and I was home early enough to sit on the couch, watch TV, and eat dinner.
Sunday: I played my church gig this evening, and my flute face felt great. Not always the case, so I wanted to point it out. Last week, my sound was kind of ragged. A solid week of playing and a good warm up made the difference.
