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Player's Journal 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 05/11/2008 Ogunquit Summer 
The gig at Jonathan's went very well. They've hired us for every Friday and Saturday through the summer starting in mid-June. 05/10/2008 Travelin' Light to Jonathan's
I've been playing duo gigs for over a month now with tenor saxophonist John Melisi. We've been playing every Thursday night at Christopher's Third Street Grille here in Dover, NH, and we played one night at the Powow River Grille in Amesbury, MA. John has been out recently trying to dig up some more gigs for us, and it looks like we might have Fridays and Saturdays through the summer at Jonathan's Restaurant in Ogunquit, Maine. John had played there many years ago, and when he called Jonathan, the owner, Jonathan offer him a gig on the spot, without having heard the duo. I'm not surprised; John's that good a player. They have a big group of customers coming into the lounge tonight, and Jonathan asked if, on short notice, we could come in and play. So we're on for tonight, and if it goes well we could have a nice weekend gig for the summer. We've been looking for a name for the duo. For many years I've used the name Travelin' Light for various groups I've led, including a GB band and the duo with Skye Hurlburt. I also used the name for a while for my independent contracting business. I suggested to John that we use that name, at least for now, and he agreed. I'm really looking forward to tonight's gig, and whatever may follow. 05/02/2008 Duo Playing 
The challenge of duo playing is trying to create a swinging background. In a setting where there's a rhythm section, that responsibility is distributed among a few players, but in a duo setting, if the time is not right, it's my fault – or the soloist's. If the soloist is not comfortable, I take it as an indication that I was not laying it down well. It's a really hard job, playing duo. I know I do it well, but if I want to get better at it, I need to continue asking myself what I might have done wrong, at certain moments, or what I might have done better. It's a delicate balance between taking delight in laying down a groove, and feeling that the groove was not the right one, at the moment, for the soloist. I try to keep redirecting my attention to the soloist. But if the soloist is, for the moment, off a little, I have to make a split-second decision. Was I off, or was the soloist? Do I keep going as I've been going, or do I adjust to what I hear at the moment? Usually I keep going. When working with topnotch players, as I've had the good fortune to do lately, I know that, between us, we will settle the issue within a few beats. But there's still the split-second decision to make, and that's part of the fun of playing jazz. 04/29/2008 THoTH, Real Book, and Foxit 
Version 2.3 of Foxit Reader just came out, and I was pleased to see that it restored the "-n" command line switch. This feature allows opening a PDF file to a given page. In version 2.1 of Foxit, this worked, and I incorporated this functionality into THoTH. However, in version 2.2 of Foxit, this was broken, so the THoTH functionality did not work. Now it's back. So, for example, on the Lessons tab of the song form for "Lady Bird,"" I can enter something like "C:\RealBook\RealBook.pdf -n 269," then when I click the Open button, THoTH will call Foxit, which will open my Real Book PDF to page 269, "Lady Bird." (In the PDF version of the Real Book, the PDF page number does not line up with the page number on the printed page, so I have to open the PDF and go look for the PDF page number for a given tune -- but that's only a minor nuisance.) Being able to quickly open a lead sheet in this way comes in very handy when I writing lessons, say, in a coffee shop, and I want to check the lead sheet. I don't need to carry the Real Book, since I have the PDF on the hard drive of my laptop. This feature will be enabled in version 2.4 of THoTH, which is due out in a week or so. I'll include a note in the help file on getting Foxit Reader, which is free, and the Real Book PDF, which is pretty cheap, and how to implement the functionality in THoTH. Teachers should find this very helpful, especially in classes, where they might want to refer to a particular aspect of a tune and they want to quickly display the lead sheet. 04/22/2008 More Mass Music  
Tomorrow I have two gigs in Massachusetts. In the afternoon I'll be playing at the UMass Boston Alternative & Complementary Health & Wellness Fair. UMass is my alma mater; I was in the charter class, in 1969, when the school was in Park Square, Boston (now it's out on Columbia Point.) Mal will be giving Reiki sessions at the fair, and I'll be playing some of my pieces from Touching Light during her sessions. We've done this many times, and people find it very relaxing. I'll use my Guild acoustic; this will be the first time in years I've played completely acoustic. I composed a new piece for the occassion. In fact, it's so new, I don't have a name for it yet. Tomorrow night I'll play in Amesbury, MA, at the Powow River Grille. Since February, I've been playing the Wednesday Night Jazz Series there with Danny Harrington. Danny's away on vacation, so tomorrow I've asked John Melisi to join me. I should be pretty well warmed up, at least. 03/31/2008 Mass Music 
Last week I presented a session on THoTH at the Massachusetts Music Educators Association (MMEA) conference at the Park Plaza in Boston. My session was sponsored by the Technology In Music Education (TIME) organization. As I finished my presentation, the presider presented my with a certificate of appreciation. A nice touch. 03/08/2008 Colored Light 
When I'm making a solo CD, I make a spreadsheet listing all the tunes, with title, key, playing time, style, and mood. I represent the mood by a color. When all the tracks are done, the spreadsheet helps me decide on the order the tunes, giving me an idea of the flow of the CD, not only in musical terms (contrast of keys, tempos, textures), but also in emotional terms. You can click the image above to see the spreadsheet for Touching Light. For jazz pieces I also include tempo, style, texture, and so forth in the spreadsheet. For Touching Light, my main concern was to balance the solo and orchestral pieces, and to create a mild crescendo and diminuendo of emotion. 02/17/2008 Baba Does AllAboutJazz 
The "Baba Ghanosh" track from Act One is the featured free MP3 download on AllAboutJazz today. The hits on my site are about five times the average today, so I guess people are downloading it. Nice to know that Baba's a hit -- at least for a day. 02/14/2008 Valentine's Day Gig 
I have a solo gig at Christopher's Third Street Grille this Valentine's Day. I prepared a song list sheet that I'll put out on the counter, near my CD display, listing some of the songs with Valentine's Day themes that I'll be playing. Click here to see the list. 02/11/2008 Pass It On 
Last night, after a great gig at the Barley Pub, I was sitting around after the last set, enjoying a pint of Smuttynose Robust Porter with the band members and the local musicians who had come to catch our gig. Steve Roy, my bass player for the gig, was commenting that he had just heard the "Chops" album by Joe Pass and Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, and he was blow away. Of course, Pass was a great influence on my playing, and I told a couple of anecdotes about Joe's visits to Berklee while I was there. The Pass theme continued when I got home and checked my email. I had sent an email to a former student of mine, Rod Goelz, complimenting him on his web site and thanking him for including a link to my site. His response was quite heartwarming: Gladly, You were a teacher of mine at Berklee... I've learned much from you.... for one, you opened the door for my love of Joe Pass.... piano style bass line/chord comping. Also the world of bass, which I initially studied because of my interest in the Joe Pass style.... bass is now my main gig. Thank you so very much, Rod Goelz 01/19/2008 Three Stories of Music We live in a 3-floor town house. Tomorrow night we're having company for dinner, so today I'm doing a top-to-bottom cleaning. On each floor I have a stereo system. On the top floor and bottom floor I have Onkyo components with Advent speakers, and on the middle floor I have a Sonic Impact T-amp, Minimax sub-woofer, and Advent speakers. Each system has it's own personality. I decided I'd select a CD to play on each floor as I cleaned that floor. 
For the top floor I chose Johnny Hartman's For Trane. Hartman is great at ballads. This is the only album where I've heard "Violets For Your Firs." There are some nice images in the lyrics, and, of course, Hartman renders them beautifully. "'Cause I bought you violets for your furs, and it was spring for a while."..."The snow drifted down on the flowers, and melted where it lay. The snow looked like dew on the blossoms, as on a summer day." Harman does a swinging version of "Nature Boy." Another lyric he can grab on to: "The greatest thing you'll ever learn is to love and be loved in return." 
The stereo on the middle floor has great realism and crisp highs, so to accompany my middle floor cleaning, I chose Johanna Blouin's "Everything Must Change." Johanna is my favorite living jazz vocalist. She opens with "Angel Eyes," and get to the emotion of the lyric better than anyone I've ever heard. In addition to a beautiful, clear voice, she has absolutely superb technique, but it is always the emotion of the tune that is foremost for her. For "You Don't Know What Love Is," I had to put down my broom, and just sit and listen. Her version always brings tears to my eyes. 
The system on the bottom floor has tremendous bass response. Advent Legacy speakers, with 12" woofers. So my choice for this room was Marian McPartland's "Live at Shanghai," with Rufus Reid on bass. As far as bass sounds go, it doesn't get much bigger than Rufus's sound. His lines are melodic, rhythmic, and supportive. It's clear that he loves the sound of the instrument, and delights in the deep low notes, and the occasional bright harmonic. 
After all my cleaning, and Mal's cooking for tomorrow's dessert, she prepared a great dinner. For dinner music I chose Kate Schutt's "No Love Lost." Kate was a student of mine many years ago at Berklee, and after she released this album, we reconnected. She's an incredibly talented musician. The most unique musical conception I've heard in many years. Her music is rich in emotion, is with Hartman and Blouin. In fact, it's really too intense for dinner music. Much as I enjoyed hearing it, I had to turn it off after awhile; too intense. Later in the evening I'll put on a cut or two and sit there in the dark, listening, giving it the attention it deserves. I do have to mention, though, that Mark Shilansky plays some beautiful and sensitive lines on this CD. 01/14/2008 THoTH Activity Lyle Robinson wrote a very perceptive review of THoTH and posted it on his excellent web site, JazzGuitarLife.com. You can read the review here. I'm going to be presenting a workshop on THoTH at the 2008 Northeast Regional Conferecne with Mass MEA, March 27-29, 2008, at the Park Plaza Hotel, Boston, MA. I'll post more details as the date approaches. |