A Night at the High Museum with The Class Act Band

The stars aligned once again, allowing me the opportunity to join up with Judy Boehm's multi-faceted Class Act band.  We played at the High Museum of Art for an awards dinner.  Judy has more music running through her head than many musicians I run with.  She is always working, through gigs, teaching, logistics, practicing.  When I speak with her on the phone, she comments through riffing on a keyboard she just happens to have handy.  She ably leads, along with her husband, multi-instrumentalist/audio engineer/videographer/logistics coordinator Jim, an 8-piece group that gives a virtual non-stop performance with all tunes segued together.  No breaks in the action means no dead spots and a sense that we're well rehearsed.  I don't really even know all of the musicians I played with, but with a little help, I can piece together the details of the guilty parties.

The saxophonist, Ed Blake, was quite together, bringing an impressive arsenal of horns and flute.  He also ripped on a well-thought-out EWI set-up that may rival that of Dave Freeman's; I detected wireless MIDI from my vantage point, but after that, his rack shadowed everything else.  Dave's MacBook Pro certainly streamlines the setup for patches, not to mention presenting up-to-date photos of his boy Jack (our sons are both named Jack - here's to having more in common with DBF in the years to come).  The trumpet player stood in awe during many of the sax solos.  I felt a bit for him.  He had a warm tone on his flugelhorn that helped the jazz set substantially.  Brent Whiten needs no introduction to faithful readers here, but just in case you are new to this water cooler chat area, he plays the drums and trumpet, sometimes at the same time, and sings like Sting, Steve Perry, and Louis Armstrong.  His raspy take during the bridge for What a Wonderful World was completely spot on in nuance and tone; Pops would've been quite proud.  His vocal turn on I Just Called To Say I Love You was easily the scene stealer/show stopper.  I saw people holding their forks in mid-air, seemingly lost in their bite of salad, as they took in Brent's effortless tribute to '80's era Stevie Wonder.  It sounded great and has made me rethink the merit of that tune, never one of my favorites from Stevie's pen but certainly a pop standard that can be very effective when the stars are aligned.  Ed Sanker was his typical professional self - he doesn't mess around.  He excels at that Steve Cropper style of riff-counterpoint that outlines the harmony without simply trudging through another series of barre chords.  Well versed in jazz, Ed played some real Pat Martino inspired lines and certainly copped the George Benson vibe (on Breezin' especially) over the lite jazz we produced.  Nice warm tone, too.  Another thing: the man sings every bit as well as Brent.  He sings these standards and really delivers them.  I think musicians like these may becoming harder to come by.  I mean, I hear the emotion that is being brought forth and I know these guys are digging deep into the song.  It's really quite something to be a part of when it's going down.  Ed, I don't think you'll ever know how honored I am to be supporting you on events such as this one.  I say that as an aside from something I'd written here earlier and since modified, but also as a vocalist who aspires to project as clearly as these lads do.  I've sang Summer Wind and The Way You Look Tonight and it's something I continue to work on.  We had three other fine vocalists rounding out the front line, with Verna Law and Kirk being the names I am able to reconstitute at this point.  They had a lot of fun cutting up and dancing, giving us some extra personality.

We began with jazz and mellow pop.  A lengthy list of easy listening for a black-tie cocktail moment and sit-down supper:  The Girl From Ipanema;  Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans?;  Satin Doll (does anybody play the same changes over that one?);  It's Only a Paper Moon;  L-O-V-E;  The Summer Wind;  Come Away With Me;  All of Me (in the key of G - how well do I really know it? - see below for the background on this thought);  The Way You Look Tonight;  Coming Home;  Breezin';  This Masquerade;  The Nearness of You;  When You Say Nothing At All;  The Boy From New York City;  Route 66;  Unforgettable; plus Kenny G's semi-recent black-tie Spyro-lite workout Sax-a-Loco.  It's a lot to keep track of, to be honest with you.  Glad I grabbed the fretless for all of that mellow stuff.  The Stingray was the right tool for the party set: Ain't No Mountain High Enough;  My Girl;  Function at the Junction;  Mardi Gras Mambo;  Hey Pocky Way;  Mustang Sally --> Shotgun (Medley);  Bad Girls;  My Guy (yeah, I flubbed that III7 chord, or is it really a V of vi ie V/vi?  BTW, James Jamerson played upright bass on this song.  Bass players know this already, but seriously, listen to his ridiculous runs near the end as the song vamps out.  It's transcribed in the Standing In The Shadows of Motown book).

When the Saints Go Marching In was performed with all of playing on the dance floor, with Brent on trumpet and Judy on accordion.  We didn't all abandon the stage: Verna kept the beat behind Brent's kit!  What a memorable number that I really wanted to be in (he he)!

The Green Room after the show.

Here's that cute little infraction sheet that I referred to earlier regarding All of Me.  In the key of C, it has enough tricky changes to confuse the wanna-be jazzer.  I suppose it was my own shortcoming, so to speak.  It was hard to remember the E7, Em7, A7, Am7 - for some reason, committing Stella By Starlight or Misty to memory was much easier.  That and the fact that it is almost always played in the key of C.  I've sang it before in C so the key must decent enough for guys to sing in.  Well, Verna sang it and we played it in G.  It was time to think fast!  I made it through rather well.  Think in terms of Nashville numbers and it all works out.