John Hancotte's Bass Desires: "A Sunday Kind of Wedding" at the Biltmore with Platinum

Yes, that title is my reference to the passing of the great Etta James. Her album at last! (lowercase intentional) included the massively popular At Last as well as another great 6/8 slinky slow shuffle A Sunday Kind of Love. I used to play it with Atlanta's super diva Heaven Davis (um, wow, like 9 years ago now). Makes sense, Jack met her a couple of times and he was in his little car seat still. Here's my pic of us at the Harvest Moon Blues Fest from 2003:

The Heaven Davis Band 2003

Now, back to 2012 and the Biltmore, a multi-purpose office, residence, and event facility in Midtown near the technological extensions of Georgia Tech.

Just after soundcheck - time to dig into our boxed lunch of chicken,
potato salad, roll, mixed greens, mixed fruit, & brownie.
Thanks to Affairs to Remember!

The wedding was in the south wing - the reception was in the north wing. A typical scenario, even for a Sunday. The gig was earlier, since it was a Sunday - and the day before a "holiday" (Presidents Day). What is up with schools being closed every time the wind blows, anyways? Well, we were Platinum Soul, for what it's worth. This was the deluxe version of PS, with Dianna, Gus, Glen, Derek, myself, and even Anton on sax & EWI. Check that out! Usually we are merely the 5-piece version of the band, when Soul is entered into the picture. At any rate, we played well, perhaps arguably until the bitter end...

We opened with some classic jazz, giving extra caution to the volume level as the Biltmore is only second to Fernbank for reflective, regenerative reverberations due to their high ceilings, large areas with no doors, mucho windows, and a lack of anything absorbent. Our first tune was Erroll Garner's Misty, in the key of Eb, naturally. I think I got the bridge correct, after years of second guessing myself. Come to think of it, this was probably the first tune I learned as far as jazz standards go. I can remember going over it in my parents' basement at 6512 Rutland Place, Falls Church, Virginia. The funny thing about that is, I didn't own the Real Book just yet. This was before I gathered up my belongings that I could fit into my recently acquired Chevy Nova (a Corolla in all but a name) and ventured down to Atlanta to find fame and fortune back in 1988. I was taking some chill classes at Northern Virginia Community College, one being jazz improvisation. I remember from that class playing through All Blues (keep in mind that I was primarily a guitar player back then) and messed up on the time of the chords (it was in 6/8, right? - we weren't trying to be clever or cool by playing it in funky 4 back in the day). Well, our instructor walked in as we were "jamming" and heard my fluff - he came close to really losing it on me! Made an impression - although I still had a few more lessons to learn on the subject of keeping time. He stopped us all and lectured me on how the rhythm is generally more important than the note choice - truth! Anyways, that is my memory of learning the changes to Misty - I had wanted to learn that one as it was one that my father, Capt. John J. Hancotte, Jr. (commander of the USS Providence and the USS Gyatt - his name is worth searching for, but there isn't a typical url that you would be taken to, regrettably) truly enjoyed. Only much later in life did I learn that it was a song featured in a classic Clint Eastwood movie, as well as being a oft-recorded tune (the Chairman of the Board, for example). Great tune that every would-be jazzer should know. Hey, jazz musicians have to know everything - the oldies, the newer ones, Pat Metheny's 19 Grammy triumphs, the albums that Coltrane played on when he wasn't a leader, the rules that Wynton wrote, the wrong and correct changes the Real Book made us have to think about, oh, never mind! It's a lot of work to be a jazz musician, and in return for what? Other jazz musicians' respect is what comes to mind...

Always dangerous to give me a mic!

Great show. My blunders came swiftly near the end. Signed Sealed Delivered was a bit rough, then segueing into In the Midnight Hour was too much second guessing myself (I kept thinking there was no Bb in the descending opening riff, which there wasn't - we do it in D, not E - so the riff is C///A///G///F///). The big crime was not moving up a half-step in Last Dance when it was time to modulate. Ugh! Then I missed the cue that the closing last dance of Georgia On My Mind was being cut super short (for us). I honestly don't know what I was thinking, with Glen turning around and rolling his eyes. Too bad, cause the night had been a good one. Hey, Derek missed his big Neal Schon moment in the intro to Don't Stop Believin', so it wasn't all me. Well, half-step mistakes are just about the worst sins a bass player can make. Rough stuff. Oh yeah, the father of the groom played my bass for one song - Mustang Sally. I had my 5-string, which was a bit of a stumbling block for him but he sounded fine. I walked out front and took some pics. Felt good to be there, as it always feels good to play for an expectant crowd of good people. Life is short - let's try to keep the good times coming in between paying the bills and shaking our heads at the world events.