Today the Oakland Jazz Quartet and I had a great gig at the First Presbyterian Church of Birmingham as part of their “Jazz Without Borders” series.  It was the first time that we played a concert in which every member contributed a tune or two of their own.

We played Mark Stone’s “Lullaby for Ellery,” written for his new daughter, and his soon-to-be-a-standard “Gumption Time.”  Sean Dobbins contributed a tune he wrote for his mother called “Sweet’s Revenge” and a tune in homage of his first drumset, descriptively named “Blue Horizons.”  He also brought in a great Wayne Shorter tune (which I may adopt in the future on a regular basis) called “The Chess Players.”

Scott Gwinnell, the consummate pianist/arranger brought in two tunes.  The first was dedicated to Charles Mingus called “Theme for the Underdog” and one of the movements of his Cass Corridor Suite entitled “Legacy.”  I contributed “Midwest Arrival” and “Flash Blues.”  In addition, we played a Kenny Wheeler tune called “Heyoke” from his 1976 record Gnu High.

I can’t speak for the other guys, but I had a great time.  Despite being a little under-rehearsed, we more than made up for it energy.  This gig will definitely be on my list of “Favorite Gigs of 2012.”  (See new blog page)

Thanks to Winn for bringing us in.

 

Yesterday, I put a new set of Evahs on my bass.  I’ve decided that this may be my least favorite endeavor in the whole world.  I haven’t gotten my act together enough to buy or create a drill-powerd tuning system, but after yesterday’s carpal-tunnel inducing exercise, I’m seriously thinking about it.

Otherwise, Jenine took me to see Phillip Glass’s Einstein on the Beach in Ann Arbor.  It was the first time it has been performed in 20 years.  Although I appreciate the intellectual ramifications of this minimalist avant-garde opera, I felt like it wasn’t entirely successful.  Who the hell am I to propagate that opinion, though?  The Power Center, a large-ish hall, was packed to the brim!  Was it mainly for the novelty, or was this truly a work of art worth the attention.  I have no argument that this production was monumental, highly-detailed, and conceptually interesting, but after 2 hours, I “got” it.  Nevertheless, with only one  self-necessitated intermission, Jenine and I made it through the whole thing.  I suppose it’s gratifying to be able to say in the future that I saw this production, but if ever in my lifetime I have an opportunity to see it again, I may decline.

I do have to give a shout out to the musicians, however.  This is challenging music, and everyone sounded good.  Special shout out to the singers.

 

Last night’s Northern Lights session was a blast, with visits from Jeff Pedraz, Jake Reichbart, and Raphael Statin.  I didn’t get any audio or video, unfortunately, but we had a great time.  It’s been really refreshing to have a steady gig, and I have to thank Mike Jellick for that opportunity.  Just knowing that I have a gig to look forward to inspires me to practice, although finding the time to actually practice still eludes me often.  This has been a theme of mine on this blog before, and like any professional musician, is constantly on the forefront of my psyche.  In fact, knowing how difficult it is to be a musician, I find it hard, if not unfathomable, to not think about music all the time.

I’m not limiting this to practicing or performing, but really, thinking about it all the time in some form or another.  I think this may be what attracted me to Jenine the most.  I was not only impressed with the fact that she thought about music all the time, but how  she thought about the music.  Most importantly, she thought (thinks) about music in drastically different ways than I do.  Not better or worse, just differently.

I think I’d like to continue this thread, but I have to go teach and play bass for Jazz Band, fulfilling my performance requirement for the day.  Please, send me some feedback on how YOU think about music.