The Adrian Ash Group Presents A Tribute to Monk

Thursday February 17 I was back at Java Monkey with the Adrain Ash Group to celebrate the music of Thelonious Sphere Monk.  We had publicized it faily well and the crowd was there, although they were outside of the plastic since the weather was warmer for a change.  The group featured Taylor Kennedy on tenor sax, as Jason was working through the first set.  The music was very challenging for us.  Hard to conjour up the spirit of Monk on the spot, which is more important than it sounds.  Monk's music is quirky, humorous, syncopated, and bluesy.  There were several blues tunes and we tried to put a few together, grouping more by tempo than by key.  Here is what our set lists looked like:

Set 1

Straight, No Chaser
Ba-lue Bolivar Ba-lues-are
Bemsha Swing
Raise Four
North of the Sunset
Ruby, My Dear
In Walked Bud
Blues Five Spot
Rhythm-a-ning
'Round Midnight

Set 2
Blue Monk
Evidence
Humph
Crepuscule With Nellie
I Mean You
Played Twice
San Francisco Holiday
Shuffle Boil
Think of One
We See

There were many we didn't get to play, and I hadn't worked on Evidence, so I'm still not sure whether the bass walks on the head or catches the hits with the band.  Shuffle Boil was a great tune I had never heard of before.  I bought the mp3 on Amazon so now I am in the know.  We closed the night with 'Round Midnight and all along I had thought that should be the finale.  We did the correct changes and that makes all of the difference.  It would be great to really get this one down, with the intro and coda too.  It's one of those songs that nobody wants to call because everybody ended up playing the wrong changes due to the Real Book.  This band could do it some justice.  Maybe we'll try some of these again at some point.  The next themed night will be Sonny Rollins, so stay tuned.

We had bassist extraordinaire Evan Hodges show up with his beastly upright to sit in on a few.  He really has some wonderful technique and tone!  I have a lot to learn.  It was a treat to sit back and listen to them.  I hope I was swinging half as hard as he was.

Among the jazz fans in the crowd was another tremendous bassist, Billy Burke.  I've known Bill through Randy Chapman's various ensembles and he's always been a strong and solid player who keeps his flashiness in reserve.  I got to see some of his chops as he picked up my bass after our show.  He gave me some good pointers and got me thinking about getting it set up - I can see it needs more than I can do.  It turns out that I have always had it elavated too high for my stature.  I should have it so the nut is at eyebrow level.  Very well.