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 The myspace site is rather outdated at this point, as good as the audio and cool pics were.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?
No comments:
Post a Comment