That Quiet Stretch of Summer

No gigs per se.  I've had time to make some changes in my equipment.  Perhaps in a somewhat planned yet spontaneous move, I traded in my beloved Eden WTB-1000 amp head for a Gallien-Krueger Fusion 550.  Yes, a completely different sounding amp.  I think I will like it a lot.  As I have recently learned, the Fusion 550 has actually been readily available for more than 4 years now.  For some reason, for just as long, there has been talk about the Fusion 1050, a similar model that boasts twice the wattage, a la the 2001 as compared with the 1001 solid-state workhorses.  The 1050 still has yet to materialize.  The 550 has a 3-12AX7 tube preamp and the ability to switch between 2 stored settings of preamp gain, eq, and output level.  The knobs are motorized, so that they move when the channel is switched.  A novelty, but it's kinda cool.  That could help a lot with my use of electric upright or the Ashbory, which both differ wildly from the levels of most all of my other basses.  The bottom line, to coin a phrase, was that I really was in need of more headroom, as my Eden was always on the verge of clipping.

I went over to my friend Charles Mishalany's house yesterday and with his assistance, we held an impromptu shootout in his garage.  He has a GK MB Fusion, a small lightweight yet very powerful amp.  He also has an Aguilara Tone Hammer 500.  I could really hear a difference with the Tone Hammer; less scooped and not as bright.  That's what Charley really likes.  He claims that it is an easy amp to dial in your sound on the gig.  Some amps need more tweaking, and then you end up sacrificing an important element, such as low mids or clarity.  I think I honestly do prefer the GK sound, although the MB Fusion and the Fusion 550 would be hard to tell apart on a blindfold test.  So that leaves me with a heavy head in a 4-space rack, toting around my 25 + pounds of power, versus tucking a 5 pound unit in my gig bag.  These are the choices I'm making this week.  My main concern is reliability.  I did my best to research it and could not find any unhappy GK customers with 550's going out during a gig.  The vents in the front and back with the temperature-controlled cooling fan make me happy.  I had read that the MB fan can get a bit loud, as it must always be on.  I believe that small amps, similar to my experience with small LCD projectors back in my A/V days, have a problem with heat.  That's probably not a correct assumption these days.  Many strides have been met in class-D amplifier design.

Charley is a great player and a good friend to have.  He's always willing to share some wisdom and it's nice to be able to talk about the gear with a comrad.  I even bought his 4-space SBK rack from him and he threw in a new package of rack nuts (rack nuts? that sounds painful!) and screws.

Charley and me outside his woodsy estate in East Cobb

Let the shootout begin!

Charley's GK MB Fusion atop his Bergantino 410 cabient

My new GK Fusion 550 atop my SWR golight 1x15

Charley's new Aguilar Tone Hammer 500

And one more thing: we went out to Woodstock's Hot Wheels to go roller skating on Saturday night.  It was tough, but I manged to stay up better than I had in the past.  Not very impressive; had to keep to the small area in the middle of the floor.  Baby steps.  I hope the boys can learn;  it's like riding a bike and it's a good skill to have.  Sabina was showing off for all of us.

I only fell twice...

Sweetwater Junction EPK

Sweetwater Junction
Frogtown Cellars Winery, Dahlonega, GA

Sweetwater Junction ATL in action
Lake Rabun, Georgia
l - r: Chris Garner, Brian Molin, Walt Austin, Mark Letalien, John Hancotte

We tracked the songs, overdubs were completed, the video was shot, everything was edited together and remastered...  here it is.  The great Sweetwater Junction promo video for East Coast Entertainment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbuve9l2nzE

Naturally, it is a variety cover band.  We cover many styles of music like other variety cover bands.  We have a passion for jazz, so that is where we come from and can handle the dinner set and light fare with no problem.  We love the Motown, Beatles, Stones, 70's classic rock, the disco hits, funk, country, hard rock, even hip-hop and some current stuff.  We are known for covering Widespread Panic, Phish, Allman Brothers, and Grateful Dead, adding that jam-band element that other bands don't have a passion for.

The way things work out, I play in it when I can.  I hope that I would be there for every gig.  It just doesn't happen that way, unfortunately.  Obviously, I'm not performing in the video.  You may recognize Jeff Dittrich, who I've never met or talked with, in the video.  I was at The Musical Box concert the night this was shot.  I am on the recording, playing bass, although they sure mixed me way down.  Hard to hear any bass unless you listen for it.  I don't think I got particularly great tone on the recording; a bit too much string noise from what I heard on the playbacks.  Also worth noting that Walt is on the recording, playing keyboards and singing backup vocals but Dan Barker is in the video.  Well, it makes sense in a way since Jeff does play many of the gigs that I can't make.  He's a great player and I'm happy to share a band with him!  He also plays in the offshoot band Square One, which I used to be a member of as well when we had a house gig at the Downtown Kitchen in Canton.  I need to make it a point to get his contact info and just say "hello" and "keep up the great work!"  Of course, Dan plays in place of Walt on many of the shows.  This is a microcosm of how the music industry works - what you see isn't always what you get.  Nice job on everybody's part, I must say.  It's a business doing pleasure with all of you, and you're welcome!

Another Friday Night at the CCC with The Billy Batts Ensemble

Been a while playing with the fellow Batts.  We were inside, due to rain predictions - they were true, as I found when we were loading out.  That also is good news for Walt; he plays the grand piano and doesn't have to lug his weighted key thingy up from the dock.  Still, it felt different enough that we weren't quite on it in the first set.  We were a bit loud perhaps, as we were told to turn down twice.  Perhaps we were a bit over confident.  That's how it felt to me.  I played my Tobias Fretless 5, as I have been since the group expressed their admiration for its tone.  I had been looking for new strings.  It has flats on it and I'd like to try tapewounds.  Still, the flats just seem to last forever.  I should try flats on another bass and see if I can deal with the tone.  It works for me on the fretless.  I've basically given up trying to be Jaco - it ain't gonna happen anytime soon!

Nothing revelatory on the job.  The tune that made the most impression to me was Herbie Hancock's Dolphin Dance.  It's one we play relatively often, but it really started to resonate with me tonight.  The 4-note melodic motifs make me think of dolphins arcing out of the sea.  A beautiful yet difficult song, to say the least.  I have found a very nicely constructed chart that I believe is available for public consumption.  I picked it up from the Free Jazz Institute web site.  Ville is the man with this analytical plan!  Thank you Ville and Ed for your hard work - the Real Book is not where I want to get the changes from.  The form is such that the 1st 4 bars are played in the intro only, then a different 4 bars are tacked onto the end of the form to replace the others. Nutty.  It makes it a bit oblique.  This chart includes that B flat dominant after the F minor (making for a ii/V) that The New Real Book v3 left out.  Anything to help with the form, as that Fm is just out of the blue to me.  I love the E pedal at the end.  Got to spend some time with this one.  Perhaps I can learn it on Stick?  Now there's a concept.  I haven't done anything on Stick lately.  It really helps solidify the changes when I can grab those polychords on the 10 string.

Dolphin Dance
sheet music image - jpeg from a pdf

Thanks to the guys for great playing and inspiration.  Mark is all behind the idea of starting a new web site for the BBE.  We were going to record it tonight and take pictures, but it wasn't meant to be.  Weird to not have more web energy directed towards this little combo.  The myspace site is rather outdated at this point, as good as the audio and cool pics were.  Seth Hendershot (owner of Hendershot's Coffee Bar in Athens - the best coffee drinks in Georgia hands down and a particularly fine music venue that now boasts a full bar as well) was in the original incarnation and certainly played drums and sang incredibly well - Bye Bye Blackbird became his own tune when he was at the mic.  We should have something else to flaunt around, though.  We are indeed flexible and house broken - we are the modern jazz quartet!  Seriously, nice to play some Beatles and Radiohead and really anything that doesn't scare the common folk who think of jazz as some uncompromising beboppers and hep cats with 'tudes.  We won't turn your lawn brown, in other words, right Mark?

Busy on Thursday: Crazy Marty at Freedom Pointe in Roswell and then TAAG - Hold the AA

The same trio from Tuesday played a different place this evening: Freedom Pointe in Roswell.  This was a nice early show coinciding with Roswell's summer program Alive After 5, which occurs every third Thursday   during the spring and summer months.  Thankfully, we were inside instead of the originally slotted outdoor stage.  The low-country boil was set outside and it was a good 90 + humid degrees with full sun when we took our break.  The crowd was diverse, with families joining their older relatives for a festive party.  Martay made certain to liven it up in fast fashion.  There were a few oldies I couldn't recall playing before, but things quickly turned to the usual dance fare.

A sweet moment when a woman won an award for being a good friend to others.

Our videographer

It was over before long and I quickly packed up and began my drive to Decatur for the jazz at Java Monkey.  Forgot to mention that earlier in the day, Adrian asked me for some charts.  I obliged after tackling the front lawn, which was in desperate need of a cutting and bagging.  I ended up dropping the charts off in person, as his gig was right around the corner on Magnolia Ave.  He probably didn't even use them, but you just never know.  So at Java Monkey it was The Adrian Ash Group without Adrian!  In his place, a new face: Leirrie Valentin.  A great guy who had distinctive jazz chops and concepts that took us into Miles' Second Quintet space every so often.  Plus, he had an unusual acrylic drum kit made by Crush - it has a great look and a nice sound as well.  Also on board was William Hollifield on tenor sax, who was with us a few weeks ago.  He really shone last night.  Nice bop lines and staggering, syncopated, jagged shards of melodic development.  We played the usual stuff, as we always seem to do.  It worked out as i had my Fender Jazz for both jobs.  Understated, but I had some nice things to say at any rate.  Guy tossed in some Freedom Jazz Dance we also enjoyed playing Clifford Brown's Sandu, that most famous of E flat blues tunes.  William called Sam Rivers' Beatrice, but we weren't ready for it.  Here's a link to a chord for it: Beatrice Chord Chart.  I will try to get a more thorough one together for the future and display it, as I'm generally good like that.

William Hollifield, Guy Fenocchi, and Leirrie Valentin

Chillin' on the patio with good folks.
The patio is dog friendly, with water bowls provided.  Nice.

Time to get back to it.  William called On Green Dolphin Street.  Once again, the ol' Real Book has jeopardized the young jazzer who only refers to the print.  Granted, some do play it in the key of C (I think Chick Corea did), but most horn players follow the Miles way of life and opt for E flat.  This makes guitarists (and bassists) reach for the volume knob to turn down.  I thought I knew it better, and I do, but my mind played tricks on me.  I knew the first A section went to A flat minor (ii V I in G flat).  The 2nd A section simply does a descending pattern:

Fm              Fm/Eb           Dm7(b5)             G7(alt)
Cm             Cm/Bb           Am7(b5)            D7(alt)
Gm    C7    Fm      Bb7     Eb                      Fm      Bb7

A careful study will show a pattern in different keys.  Memory tricks, baby.  Hey, if I can type it, I should be able to play it.  Not always the case, but this is a tune everybody who plays standards should know.  Myself included.  We got through it, but it wasn't as pretty as it will be next time.

As promised, I dug into my books and came up with an acceptable chart for Beatrice - check it out!  I have the original Sam Rivers recording on his debut album, as well as Joe Henderson's from "The State of the Tenor - Live at the Village Vanguard."  Interesting trivia: Ron Carter played (and soloed) on both recordings!  He played much more confidently on the Henderson recording, and his bass is way up front in the mix, as it was a piano-less trio.  I'm really getting into it; a nice mellow tune.  I'm drawn to it, as my wife's first name used to be Beatrice (she has since taken her former middle name of Sabina) and her sister recently named their firstborn daughter Beatrice.  The name may be coming back in popular culture.  Horn players call it often, I shall be ready for next time.

Running With Desire & Crazy Marty Round Out a Stormy Tuesday

Running With Desire 2012
It looks like I have a bunch of makeup on!

The Heely-Brown Company hired Monsieur Martay to put together a rock show in their vast warehouse in the Chattahoochee Industrial area of Atlanta this past Tuesday.  It was a lunchtime event plugging a new brand of skylights that promise to never leak (my first impression when I hear of skylights is when, not if, they will begin leaking).  The gig was in their vast warehouse, near a dock ramp so the load-in was about as easy as it could ever possibly be.  We could drive up the dual-sided ramp and unload right next to the stage, or simply turn the corner and pull into the warehouse.  J.T. arranged for his audio system contact to set up his big system and run sound.  It was a full on rock show, and as you can see from the pics we played dress up as well.  J.T. made good on morphing in David Lee Roth and it goes without saying that he can hit the notes better than Dave these days.  I made it over to the Martay's abode the night before for a dramatic run-through of virtually all of the tunes.  I wasn't planning or wanting to go over there, but it did pay off.  I have a bit of trouble keeping all of those bass lines in my head.  Their songs are all in guitar-friendly keys of E, A, and D, but the solo sections always go to F#, E, B, or C#m and they become one giant pain in the brain to keep separated.  We went over some I had never done before: Beautiful Girls, On Fire, & Everybody Wants Some.  

Here's the set list, for what it's worth, from the Mac at casa de Martay:

aint talkin bout love atomic punk beautiful girls d.o.a. eruption everybody wants some feel your love tonight hot for teacher ice cream man jamies cryin panama so this is love unchained you really got me any way you want it crazy train pour some sugar on me rebel yell round & round shook me all night long sweet child o mine talk dirty to me wanted dead or alive working for the weekend

It was a good list with perhaps a few deep cuts in there for the big time fans.  The ironic part of all of this is that the audience we played to was not particularly huge Van Halen fans.  They would have been better off with a mix of classic rock, I think.  I believe Martay was jonesing to play some VH and caused us all some unnecessary work to throw this together.  Still, we had fun and made the best of it.  They even sent out for more barbecue for us, as they ran out before we could eat.  Very nice.

I think in the course of all of the playing and whatnot I have come to the realization that my Eden WTB1000 head is just not powerful enough and I'm a bit upset and frustrated.  It cost me too much money for the lack of headroom I have, even in the bridged-mono setting.  I will have to eat the loss and get something else that I can be happy with.  Not sure what that will be, but I do like the GK stuff.  I should have picked up that GK1000 head back when I saw that as a used item - water under the bridge.

I scooted out to make it to a doctor's appointment - taking care of many personal health issues in the next few weeks.  This one is related to my sleep study I had recently completed.  After that, I was home for a bit before reconvening with Martay and Sam for a Rock & Roll show at Chambrel.  Had to sub out a better paying gig to keep my appointment with the Martay - not sure if it was the right move but I should get credit for not backing out of a commitment.  The thing is, my talents would be better served playing a full 4 hours with a well rehearsed band and making decent money.  The tunes we played could be played by just about anybody; it felt like a letdown.

Chambrel Rock & Roll Night Setlist:
Kansas City
Hound Dog
Can't Help Falling In Love
Don't Be Cruel
Little Sister
Sweet Home Alabama
You've Lost That Loving Feeling
Release Me (And Let Me Love Again)
The Electric Slide (Electric Boogie)
Blue Suede Shoes
Night and Day
The Girl From Ipanema
Old Time Rock 'n Roll
The Way You Look Tonight
Hey Good Lookin'
Show Me The Way To Go Home

There was an issue with the Mackie powered mixer that led to Martay holding onto my check.  Thankfully, he got it straightened out, but that would have been a truly unfortunate coda to the whole scenario.  I do walk away with the good feeling of playing for these seniors who I actually recognize from last time and they really did enjoy us.  It gets to you a bit, as we should all be so lucky to reach that golden age of being too old to live on our own.  I hope I end up somewhere that has some musicians coming by once in a while to sing and play for me and my new comrades.

PS  I learned that the Mackie powered mixer issue was due to the fact that the house speakers, which Marty used, were also still connected to the house powered mixer!  Too much of a load, so to speak.  It's always something!  Glad nothing exploded!

Platinum Visits the Deep South Up North in Braselton's Chateau Elan

GAS update (I know you know, but just in case, that's Gear Acquisition Syndrome).  I was looking forward to this one.  My new RocknRoller Multi-Cart arrived today (Saturday July 14).  Ordered from Sweetwater and they got it to me in 2 days with free shipping.  Nice.  This time I opted for the largest one, the R12RT.  It's larger, of course, than my relatively puny R6 (didn't realize at the time how low it was on the totem pole), plus it has 4 pneumatic tires.  In fact, since last year, they started issuing "R-Trac no-flat" wheels that do not inflate like a typical tire.  This has been a concern, as I believe I may have over-inflated in the past.  My tires on my R6 have cracked and although they do not leak yet, they will need replacement at some point soon.  I'd like to sell the old cart.  We'll see how that goes.  Love the smoother transit and wider cargo bed.  Bigger is better in the case of the gigging bassist who carts around a 115, a 410, or sometimes both!  It still folds up to a relatively small size, compared to a standard hand truck.

My new R12RT, assembled and ready for its maiden voyage up to Chateau Elan.

The new and the old, side by side.

I do bring more than the average bassist, to say the least.  For one song only, I play acoustic guitar.  I've gotten to bring my JBL EON 10" as an acoustic guitar amp, as I need to hear it.  Plus, I like having my Fishman Pro Platinum EQ a guitar preamp, boosting the lows and adding some compression as well.  The pickup on the Fender acoustic is weak, with only a passive tone control.  I need a preamp to give it some fidelity.  Plus, tonight I brought a bass rig worthy of large venues: Eden WT1000 amp;  SWR Goliath 410;  SWR Golight 115;  Large bag with Boss effects unit, cables, stands, book, etc.;  Ernie Ball Stingray 5-string bass (with freshly boiled strings and a wax 'n shine as of today);  NS WAV EUB;  I'm certain I'm forgetting something...

Make You Feel My Love

The start of our official set, after the jazz.  My phone's micro SD card failed me after this.

The gig was a wonderful event.  The ballroom at Chateau Elan was beautiful.  We were the normal 8-piece save for Gus, who switched out a gig with Che Marshall for another.  It all works out in the end.  I'm so hyper-used to playing with Gus.  I think that explains some of my groove choices last night at Pastis.  Che has a different approach as well.  I'll tell you what, the first tune we played this night, Freddie Hubbard's Little Sunflower, was magical.  What Che brought was a keen sense of wicked bossa-esque groove discrepencies.  We started taking it out with some different feels.  I was tripping a bit on what we were doing as people were walking into the room and checking us out for the first time.  It must have been deep for them, as the first dances were all country based.  That tune alone was worth the price of admission.

Che Marshall
Photo by Virginia Rece

We rehearsed Call Me Maybe during soundcheck, that number-one-with-a-bullet tune that just doesn't repeat the hooky chorus enough - gee, maybe there's an extended remix available!  It's interesting how much mileage can be obtained from 2 chords (ok, maybe it's 4 chords, but 2 of them are the same).  We shared the billing with a DJ who had some gain-staging issues with his mixer.  His mp3's were of varying quality, and not always the original versions!  Shame on you.  If I can hear the lossy quality from my place on stage, that's bad.  All in all, there was some drama with some of our bosses.  Too many cooks and no schedule to adhere to makes for a rough flow to the evening.

Friday the Thirteenth at Pastis

Earlier on Friday the 13th, lunch at the Big Chicken in Marietta with Jack.
We then cruised over to Ken Stanton Music to browse.
I was shopping for bass strings but they didn't stock what I was looking for:
a black tapewound 5-string set.  They can get 'em in a couple of days.
No big deal.

My second outing with the incomparable dance band Third Party, live on stage at Pastis in Roswell.  Once again, on this rainy night in Georgia, it was Glen Perdew on vocals and keyboards, Steve Humphrey on guitar and vocals, Randy Hutchinson on drums, and myself subbing for the fun and grooving Fuji Fujimoto.  What a serious music lesson this is.  I have so much to learn.  This thing called "bass" is just so much about feel, groove, and nuance.  Those things were elusive to me for many years.  I hadn't grasped the intricacies of the subdivision.  I firmly believe that a stellar deep, fat groove is the result of subdividing in one's head and then articulating the strong accents but silencing the weak ones.  It feels good to get this out on the 'puter screen, at any rate.  There's probably a lot more for me to come to terms with, I just haven't gotten there yet.  Randy reviewed the points of the three beats:  the on-top-of-the-beat, the on-the-beat, and the behind-the-beat.  Behind is important to master, and I'm obviously not there yet.  It's like dragging, but by just the same amount every beat.  Hard to translate to words, I'm thinking.  It's relaxing and not quite hitting the note on the one, more like hitting it just after the one, but before the e of one.  Glen is always telling me that to my credit, I am terrific at playing rock styles;  I'm just weaker on the R&B.  After watching Fuji the week before, I can understand where he's coming from.  She has a very cool approach that is smooth and fluid, with lots of subdividing going on in her finger style technique.

We played so many songs that I thought I was ready for; here's what I can recall: And I Love Her;  Always and Forever;  Wishing Well;  Easy (Commodores);  The Grooveline;  Don't Stop Till You Get Enough;  Rock With You;  Love Rollercoaster;  Shining Star --> Sledgehammer;  Play That Funky Music;  Soul Man --> Hold On I'm Coming;  I Wanna Be Your Lover (in E flat);  Brick House --> She's a Bad Mama Jama;  Sex Machine;  Start Me Up --> Hurts So Good --> Here Comes My Girl;  Purple Rain (with the second verse being words to Forget You, or actually the more explicit F*** You!)...  I'm certain there were many more, just can't regurgitate them all at this point.

The last time out here I had some sound level issues.  This time I brought both cabinets.  Plenty of volume, although the red lights did illuminate on the octave pedal sections.  The point is, I blew my fuse for the tweeter last time here in December and forgot that I hadn't replaced it.  haven't used the 410 since.  I happened to have the spare fuses with me, so during the break after the first set, I got around to unscrewing the input plate and stuck a new fuse in there.  It worked!  My tone had some top end in the 410 cabinet, which was on top of the 115.  Made a big difference and I was happy after that.  The women were fun and flirty, dancing with whoever.  We were there to get them all dancing and drinking, it's a business geared towards selling alcohol.  I think we did our job admirably.

Glen leading the band, most likely inserting a rap over one of the vamps.

Steve on super-human guitar.
He warms up on a medley of vintage Steve Howe Yes licks:
Siberian Khatru;  Heart of the Sunrise;  And You And I;  All Good People;  Starship Trooper.
I dug it.

My best shot of Randy after the house lights came on.
He is a serious groove doctor, perhaps the greatest drummer I've ever played with.

My typical pose, with Fender Jazz Foto Flame in hand.

Steve out in the crowd.

One with my Stingray in hand.

Glen in action.
He plays iPod DJ during the breaks, a real passion for music and
a gift of crowd interaction that might rival David Lee Roth!