John Hancotte's Bass Desires: The Georgian Terrace Job

Sunday, January 29, 2012

The Georgian Terrace Job

The final Saturday of the first month of the new year. Not much was easy about this one. I was warned about the traffic (thanks Gus), so I took 285 around to I20, circumventing the slop. Platinum is a big group already - tonight we were a 10 piece with Dianna Crawford and Anton's friend Dashill Smith on trumpet. The placement of our sizable stage in the center of this cozy, odd shaped "Grand Ballroom" put us in the laps of our dining audients. As as happened before, we were just too loud to be rendering "dinner music". It had been a while for us as well. The full original 8-piece Platinum (with Gus) last performed on December 10, up in Alpha-tuckey (ex AM 640 talk show host Kim "The Kimmer" Peterson often used this made-up contraction to refer to the Northern nether-regions of greater Atlanta. I really miss hearing him on the air. WGST, you really blew it when you fired him and his staff). That's quite a while ago. Still, our first set was rather nice, opening with a jazzy, hip-hop beat-infused version of Coltrane's Lonnie's Lament. Listening now to the Crescent album version, with Jimmy Garrison's extended bass break, I wish I had run out there figuratively and got in a bass solo. By the way, how many Coltrane recordings are there on which John himself didn't take a solo? Can't think of too many! There was no sax solo on this one! Anyways, it sounded nice with Anton & Dash in octave-unison and blowing in a celebratory fashion. A nice arrangement, perhaps borrowing the vibe from Marcus Miller's version. Not a bad cat to get ideas from... Played my NS WAV with the strap accessory. So hard to see the dots with that contraption. I know I hit a couple of flat notes. Will try to get a better angle (and some reliable way to transport that wooden assembly) for next time. The tone of it is spot on, as far as I'm concerned.

The above was written while we were waiting to play. Once we got going, things went very well. In fact, the last set was wonderful. The parents were partying along with the younger folk, making it a lot of fun. Some highlights were Dash coming up to the front to perform some of the raps on It Takes Two, the Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock early nineties thang (with the James Brown wooo! yeah! sample that just doesn't quit!), Lexxi stealing the show once again with her beautiful rendition of Get Here, and lastly, a jaunty ride through Donna Summers' Last Dance, featuring Dianna. Nice all around. I should have joined Viriginia, Dianna, Anton, & Dash over at Churchill Grounds afterwards. I got pulled over by the police and received a traffic ticket for turning right on red at a NTOR light. I use that street a fair amount - Deering Road - so I should have remembered that sign. Of course, I was sober, so no worries. Still, it is never fun to sit there with the blue lights screaming in your rear view mirror for what feels like 30 minutes. Got to be more careful out there...