Wines of Portugal

The Adrian Ash Group, with special guest Will Hollifield in lieu of saxophonist Jason Passmore, avoided any rain this past Thursday to play some neo-straight-ahead jazz and fonkalicious-fusion on the dry patio at Java Monkey.  The weather was good for us, unlike what erupted 2 weeks ago.  That said, my commute was a bit ugly.  The big news story unfolded right in my neck of the woods, or just as soon as I get clear from the woods.  It was fatal car crash involving 7 vehicles on 285 close to the Chattahoochee River.  This is close enough to 75 that it affected Binnie's commute home, which in turn delayed my start.  Stressful!  The soup had thinned out by the time I got on my way.

Will sounded great, as he always does.  He's fresh off some successful quartet gigs of his own, one being at a new venue in Alpharetta, The Velvet Note: Acoustic Living Room.  It appears to be a top notch jazz establishment in the 'burbs, and he sold it out!  Way to go Will!  By the way, back in my days of GSU I would try to hang with this cat Dave Worley.  He was, and certainly must still be, an incredible bassist, of the fire-breathing variety - i.e. he could nail Teen Town while scowling at you, as if to say "you got anything for me Hancotte?"  We were chasing Amy, as I recall, all in good fun as I was with someone else, and subsequently went our own ways.  Those were the days, weren't they?  Good to be able to look up an old crony and say "hey man, we're still at it and we haven't gone off the deep end just yet!"

Where was I?  Thursday we played through Beatrice, the Sam Rivers tune that I had been extolling the virtues of for this past week.  What a great song!  And yes, it's Binnie's birth name.  She had it until we got married, then took Sabina (her middle) as her first and her maiden Freeman as her middle.  Now, her sister Celia (formerly Becca) has daughter named Beatrice.  Funny and complicated, like any good family should be.  I hope he can play it again one day.  There really weren't too many other surprises: Back Track; Listen Now incorporating Freedom Jazz Dance;  Recorda Me...  Got to try to inject some new tunes into the tired playlist.  Can't risk getting stale, even if we're only doing this every other week.

Hawaiian Party with Crazy Marty at Heritage

We were ready to celebrate The King, Elvis, on what I believe was the 35th anniversary of his passing.  Heritage of Sandy Plains, a Royal Senior Care facility, played host to Marty in a duo setting with myself.  Thanks to Marty for considering me, as always.  It was a good celebration, complete with Hawaiian Punch, Pineapple Chicken, all the trimmings, and a fun bunch of young-at-hearts and fun-lovin' managers eager to cut a rug make some more memories.  We were happy oblige with a tasteful set list: Blue Hawaii;  Can't Help Falling In Love;  All Shook Up;  Margaritaville;  A Pirate Looks At Forty (Jimmy Buffett was another heavily requested artist);  Rock Around the Clock; Yes Sir, That's My Baby; and of course, that set closer we always say goodbye with: Show Me the Way to Go Home.  Interesting to play in a duo setting.  We've done it many times.  With no drummer, I'm more conscious of the meter.  Also more aware of exactly what I play, be it walking bass, pedaling on the roots, staying low to keep out of Marty's way, grooving and smiling...  Eye contact on jobs like these is rather critical.  These folks are enjoying themselves and it's certainly doubtful that somebody comes in to entertain them very often.  They want to see us having a good time and we want them to dance, if they feel up to it.  The staff helped and there were a few that were ready to hold onto us for dear life - um, too bad we were kind of busy at the moment!

Platinum at the St. Regis in Buckhead

It felt good to get back together again.  I even think the rehearsal paid off.  We played the new tunes we had worked on.  We played some old tunes we hadn't worked on: Jump Jive 'n Wail?  I shoulda looked at that one a bit.  I remembered it was in Bb but wasn't certain about the key change.  I went up a half-step and that sounded right.  The part with the syncopated kicks was a bit rough.  Where Have You Been --> We Found Love was great - I played Stick on it and in time, I might have that synth part down even better.  My sound was weird; better with a pure Stick tone (isn't it always better that way - The Stick has such a delicious harmonic-infused sound of its own).  I played Stick on several tunes in the last set.  I switched the compressor setting on the Boss to "Limiter", which is a much more heavy setting.  It does give it some drive and squashes it quite a bit, but I need to have loud bass on every tap.  That's my current solution.  Should mention that earlier in the week I finally got around to adjusting the string height on the bass strings.  Emmett set it up for optimum action, but I needed the strings higher at the nut in order to sound out notes at the 1st and 2nd frets.  Unfortunately, that extra half-turn of the screws at the nut allows for sympathetic vibrations to occur, even with the "fuzzy mute" in place.  I did lower the bridge screws by a half-turn as well, which kept the action somewhat in check.  Very little buzzing or fretting out, so all is well.  Now, the lowest notes at least are almost as strong as the the mighty 5th and 7th positions.  Glad I did that.  I used the NS WAV with my bow on the Call Me Maybe --> Firework medley, although my sawing back and forth lacked finesse and I sorta lost the groove until I sheathed the bow and started pumping out the eighth-notes.  Gotta comment on the Gallien-Krueger Fusion 550.  Lots of players opting for the "light as an iPhone" Class-D amps that are hot right now.  I'm very happy with what is most likely my 30-lb. 4-space rack (housing a Furman RackRider, which is rather old - don't think they make that model anymore).  The sound and the power were so nice; I noticed it right away.  The headroom was something I was really after.  It was absolutely delicious!  I brought the old Goliath II, so the 410 cabinet was helping out, in all honesty.  Still, I can't imagine it sounding too much better.  Very glad I was able to make that exchange - much thanks to Jim at Atlanta Bass Gallery for working with me!

Forgot to check inside the acoustic guitar case.  Ended up bringing my old Yamaha, which does not have a pickup.  Perhaps I should look into getting an external pickup like Derek did with his.  Something to look into, I guess.  We did I'll Be with me on bass (the EUB, in case you were curious) and Glen playing keys.  It actually sounded good like that.  I think Virginia wants it to be like the unplugged version with Warren Haynes playing that slide and whatnot.  I like the full band version, but we probably need to stick to her vision.  Great versions of My Funny Valentine and L-O-V-E, as sung by our resident star diva Lexxi.  Other wonderful news - my phone would not cooperate with the sd card and camera, so not many pics to choose from.  All in all, it felt good to get in there and get this done.  I had introduced many new variables: the new amp head, the new pedalboard configuration, the bow, the Stick (okay, not that new there but I hadn't played it in a while).  Luckily, it all worked out and I left feeling good about myself.  Can't say that that is always the case.

My rig with the new GK Fusion 550 atop my very old SWR Goliath II,
flanked by the Chapman Stick and Stingray 5.

Busted taking a pic.

Tony Staffiero played alto sax and keyboard.

Multitracking at the CCC with Billy Batts Ensemble + Plus A Few Charts For Your Reading Pleasure

We are on a mission to elevate our web presence and piece together an EPK for this most distinguished of jazzy, bluesy, jamming congregates of music performance groups.  The Billy Batts Ensemble shall soon have a spot on the web where we can hang our hats, share our pilfered charts, discuss our latest licks, trade secrets about that often used Boss pedal, boil our bass strings, oh the pleasures that await!  Walt pieced together a few items to allow for what turned out to be a very nice sounding digital 8-track recording.  There were some issues, as recording sessions always yield issues.  The hard drive may have been the culprit early in the evening.  Time permitting, Walt will get a chance to listen back and choose some of the finer moments, after a careful but simple balancing of levels and perhaps some fairy dust sprinkled for good measure.  We are going for warts and all, an honest recap of a typical evening on the bandstand.  When the red light is on, I always find myself playing a bit more carefully.  Well, last night I tried to get out of that space and be a bit more adventurous.  I think I was inserting some rather questionable chord changes into Chitlins Con Carne.    Sometimes an interesting idea can be taken too far.  Sometimes a simple, steady bass line is what the song requires and that being clever can turn out to be annoying upon repeated listenings.  I brought my fretless and my Jazz bass, to have a bit of contrast on the tracks.  My "new" pedalbaord got its first test run and performed very well, I must say.  I enjoyed having it at my disposal, with the switch between instruments go flawlessly.  I also liked having the SansAmp Bass Driver DI in line before the Boss ME-50B for the Jazz bass.  It warmed up the tone, all dials at 12 o'clock - ah, just like the old days!  Our set list varied from what we had originally planned.  I would like to try again, naturally.  My best moment may have been during my solo on Come Together.  I refrained from slapping, as it is just not what I am cut out to do and it feels like a cop out on a semi-funky groove.  Some of the more adventurous tunes were left out.  Mark also saw to it to bring a deluxe Nikon camera (with a super deluxe lens, of course) that we utilized to get some group shots, with one of the server's help.  The pics may look a bit stiff, but we gave it our best shot, so to speak.  Posing in the lobby of the Capital City Club made us look like preppy dads hanging out after taking the wives and kids out for a steak and salmon dinner.  All that was missing were our glasses of scotch on the rocks and some cigars.  I don't need to tell you that these are not those shots - my not-so-great LG phone camera.  Won't this blog get an incredible face list when i get a new phone one day?

Those curious fonts are my "corrections" to this otherwise near-flawless
lead sheet to Just Friends, taken from the Sher New Real Book Vol. 3.
Jazz players are drawn to those ii-V's, so that's what I inserted,
plus, that turnaround after the first A needed some work.

A very nice chart for Cantaloupe Island - helpful to those of us
wishing to play this on The Stick, perhaps.

Marcus Miller's Tutu has some nice counterparts.
A lot of information to convey on 2 pages.

My chart for When I Fall In Love,done years ago on an
older version of Finale.  I recently imported into Finale 10
and did a few quick tweaks.  It needs more work...

A "Pedalboard Within a Pedalboard" Project and a Platinum Rehearsal

Summer is winding its way down, as school has already began for some counties.  Cobb starts next week, so Jack will begin 6th grate at his new school, Dickerson Middle School.  Spencer will remain at Sunshine House where he will be enrolled in Pre-K, his first official school regimen.  I will continue on and report my progress.  I had been frustrated at using a pedalboard yet also having to set up differing auxiliary units depending on my instruments.  I had a vision of encapsulating all of the gadgets into one floor unit.  I emptied out the ol' closet under the stairs and found my old pedalboard I had bought from NYC Pedalboards.  It was a bit worn and neglected, but i did my best to re-secure the wrap and clean it up.  Mine was a 2-tier unit with an area for a Ernie Ball volume pedal.  I have since lost the 2nd tier and shall make do with the available  real estate.  I mounted the Boss ME-50B (thus creating the pedalboard within a pedalboard concept) onto it, along with some other often-used gadgets: my wireless receiver, SansAmp Bass Driver, an eq, and a Line Selector.  The Boss LS-1 is rather useful as a switch with level controls or as a mixer.  The mixer function can be used for the Stick, to blend the bass and guitar range signals together.  It also can deliver power via a daisy chain to other pedals needing 9 volts.  I also spray painted a power strip, as I could not find a black one with a 15-foot long extension cord.  I've since found a larger one at Sam Ash, made by Furman, but it didn't have a price.  Looked expensive.  It took a while to do all of this, as you can probably imagine.  Laying out the pedals and getting the cables to fit is certainly a big challenge, at least for me.  I had a buzz in the system after everything was wired up.  Ugh.  It turned out to be one of the power supplies.  Replacing it with a Boss supply made all of the difference.  I joined the power and signal cable together to form a snake - hope that is okay to do.  I had done it before on my older Pedal Train board that was primarily stomp boxes.  Here's are some pics of the finished product:

Absolutely riveting, I know.

Tuesday, Platinum held a rehearsal at Crossover Studios for the wedding reception this weekend in Buckhead.  I had been practicing my acro technique on the NS WAV 4 electric upright bass for a couple of newer things we're trying.  One is that ubiquitous pop ditty Call Me Maybe, aka Carly Rae Jepson's 30 minutes of fame.  It may be a simple pop song, but I took that as an opportunity to get more comfortable with the bow, as the rhythm section is sampled strings and such.  It is fun to saw away and try to generate a beefy low end on a dance tune.  We are joining it with Katy Perry's Firework, which I also planned to play a chunk of using the bow.  I installed my bow quiver onto the bottom of the NS stand to facilitate quick changes.  We'll see how that works out!  Don't forget the rosin!  I seem to need a lot of rosin to get a good tone.  Also, that Boss bass eq pedal is going to help as well.  Boost the lows a bit and roll off that highest frequency to suppress the scratchiness.  I had intended on mounting the Fishman Platinum Pro EQ onto the pedalboard, but I came to the realization that I would want that enhanced DI in a more portable fashion.  Thus, the Boss pedal was put into active service once again.  Doncha love those Frippian moments of clarity?  We also went over the Peter Gabriel orchestral version of The Book of Love.  I was planning to play arco on this as well, but it was decided to just have Glen do it.  Oh well, perhaps for the best as it is a father/daughter dance and we don't want any timing issues.  Here are some nice shots taken by Lexxi.

Anton laying down the fat riff on the Rihanna tune Where Have You Been
utilizing his sweet little  microKorg XL.
I've been since working on getting it tight on the Stick using a synth patch
on the Boss ME-50B -  not quite the same but the Stick really is nice to use on this.

Lexxi came over and took this with me.  Sweet!

Pea Ridge Pop Festival

It was the official grand opening of a relatively new guitar and drum store in Decatur: the Atlanta Musicians Exchange, or if you are web friendly; www.AtlantaMusicanSexchange.com - sorry, had to do it, and by the way, it does help you remember the name, doesn't it?  We had the slot after Mike "Swami" Schuleman.  He was delayed as he had an important phone call or two to make.  At least do yourself a favor and go to his band's facebook page: Swami Gone Bananas.  Their photo at the top of the page is worth your time, I think. Swami sounded great, opening with ZZ Top's Blue Jean Blues.  His set was cut short, as he started a bit late.  Then we got up to do our thing.

As it was The Adrian Ash Group (Adrian, Guy "Looper" Fenocchi, and myself), without a horn player, we had the good fortune to have Tom Olsen  join us.  He was on that Valentine's Day show we did earlier this year.  Funny how he didn't know the names of the tunes we called but he fit right in and filled us up with nice piano and organ tones.  He set up where I wanted to stand, displacing me to the center of the stage.  Not my most comfortable position.  I get nervous enough on these types of gigs.  The only hiccup I noticed was that he didn't have the form to Cantaloupe Island quite right.  He wouldn't play F minor after the Dm9 - he was going straight back to the top.  We also had one or two instances when we lost it on So What, which always seems to happen.  It happen during my solo, but I stand behind my form - AABA becomes AABAAABA, which is a lot of A's in a row, ie 24 bars of D minor to get through before the next E flat minor.  We played well, even a bit aggressive, so that helped our cause.  Folks seemed to like what we did, with Josie being perhaps the biggest crowd pleaser.  All in the name of keeping it going.  I was encouraged to bring a fretted instrument.  I can dig, although I always say that intonation is over-rated!  I brought my 6-string, as I wasn't certain if we were inside or out, and the 6-string is my default outdoor instrument.  It sounded good, although my chording was a bit rusty.  I wanted to be able to grab some of the pol-chords on Josie in particular.  I think it was good as I'm not certain if Tom knew those particular ones:

A/D
G/C
D/G
C/F

On the 6-string, I can grab 2 notes from the upper chord on the C and G strings, plus the lower bass note on the B or the E strings.  In the case of the first chord listed, A/D, I finger E on the C string at the 16th fret and C# on the G string at the 18th fret while also getting D on the B string at the 15th fret of the B string.  Probably easier to have diagrams to show my fingerings.  Anyways, I relate to the 6 and really should play it more.  If I could, I'd get a nicer one someday.  I've had this Ibenez since the days of Jellyroll Blue (our cd can be streamed in 30-second samples here).  I upgraded the pickups to EMG's - very good pickups and preamp, making the tone much more full sounding.  I played through the in-store back-line of a GK 200W amp into a no-name PA sub cabinet containing an 18' speaker.  It sounded decent, if not excessively crystalline.  It was fun to "vomit" all over those tunes, at any rate.  I wish the AME much success in the future, although it's a bit out of the way for me to frequent.

Caveat Emptor

The splendid TAAG quartet of Adrian, Jason, Guy, and myself were back at Java Monkey in Decatur for a fine summer evening highlighted by the wine tasting of various Chardonnays.  It was one night of music that I didn't hear a single bum note.  I never got lost in the heady excursions of some of the most challenging standards we've ever attempted.  My tone was immaculate, as I brought my upright and that can always be a bit of an ordeal.  For that matter, my intonation was spot on.  


Okay, I can't go on any further: we were rained out - the show was called after waiting over an hour.  It was a storm that gathered up and met over Church Street and chose to sit put until every raindrop had emptied from the pendulous clouds overhead.  Quite a fierce one, actually, with some severe thunder rumblings and the electricity momentarily cutting out several times.  The ubiquitous puddle of water where Guy would have been standing was certainly  the deal breaker for him.  Can't say I blame him.  I kept at them to play - silly me.  I started to ponder aloud that if I had gut strings on the upright, would that shield me from any possible electrical shock that might otherwise get me with the steel strings?  This is how I waited it out.  The staff at Java Monkey, in particular Garrett and Brannon, were gracious and took care of us as always.  I learned from Adrian that August 2nd was IPA, or India Pale Ale day - my favorite kind of beer, I suppose.  Java Monkey pours Stone IPA, a serious brew indeed.  Everything they serve is just top notch.  Thanks guys!  We owe them a significant night of music next time. - shall we say 2 weeks from yesterday?  Buyer beware!

Waiting in my car for the rain to stop...

No dice.

A dinner plate of "The Cranky" with a side of slaw (the best slaw dressing ever!)

Still going on

Time to head west towards home.

Eventually, we parted ways and on my way home I stopped into Steve's Live Music, where Randy Chapman was holding his own (and holding a semi-hollow Tele) with a stellar quartet in the newest music venue to pop up in Sandy Springs.  On the stage with him was Ron Roper on keyboards and vocals, Scott Glazer on Precision Bass, and Derryl Rivers on drums.  Ron and I go back a good long ways.  He is very kind in his praise of me.  We have seriously played hundreds of gigs together, long before I had the initiative to start this blog.  I miss hanging with him and Randy.  Hope to change that up down the road before we all get too darn old!  They sounded like they'd been playing for years.  Some nice Stevie Ray, Meters, and Allman Brothers before they had to call it a night.  Scott had a nice 'n tough solo with a righteous tube infused tone on the P-bass.  I really dug how he dug in hard.  That's how you play bass!  The venue is a nice light wood (ash, of all woods, comes to mind) and the stage is a good size.  The volume was truly kept in check.  I was pleasantly surprised at how comfortable the joint felt.  Hope to get in there one day with a decent band.