Adrian got the band back together for a sweaty good romp at the 2nd Annual Pea Ridge Pop Festival. This festival may be a bit on the smaller scale, but it was an all-day affair. The celebration was held at the highly successful instrument retail shop Atlanta Musicians Exchange in Decatur. Similar to last year, a brass band played in the slot before us. They wandered the parking lot with "Rebirth"-approved renditions of some great tunes. Sadly, the only one I can recall at the moment was Herbie Hancock's Chameleon. The sousaphone player got my vote as being the MVP in that establishment. Those cats earn their keep!
They were out front and it was past our time to begin, so we just went ahead and started while they were still vamping. Funny how our opening tune was another Herbie standard: Cantaloupe Island. It was rather lame of me to confuse this tune (yet again) with Watermelon Man. I wondered aloud (via email) whether we were playing this in the original arrangement or the more funky version as heard on the Headhunters album. Oops - wrong tune, fella. Guy set me straight. Guy Fenocchi on guitar, Jason Passmore on saxophone, Thomas Olsen on piano, and Adrian Ash on drums, along with your favorite bass blogger...
We finally got around to whipping out Affirmation, that hip George Benson Breezin'-era standard that was actually penned by José Feliciano. Adrian has been trying to get us to play this for a while now. Tom was into it as well. It fell to Guy and myself as far as getting it under the fingers. Guy ended up killing it. I learned it in our living room, subjecting Jack to the disco-fied jazzy flavors of George and the boys. He liked it, actually. I looped it at work one day, playing it over and over just to get the form into my head. We left out possibly the hippest part of the track; the syncopated riff near the end with all of those killer kicks. I wish we had done that. With three soloists, the form got a little big. That probably prompted us to get in, get out, and not get hurt. It went over well; I'm thinking we'll keep that one for next time. We also did a handful of Steely Dan, including Do It Again and our closing number, Josie. They gave me a solo on the latter and I spewed out as many long lines as I could muster. I was playing my Stingray, which may not be considered a jazz-approved bass but it does deliver a most decent slap tone, even with dead strings. I felt good about having the tunes in my head and not having to read anything. It is really so much better to not have a chart in front while I'm playing. As my friend Allen Cook once proclaimed, "If you need a chart, you don't really know the tune." Very wise words. It doesn't mean I won't be using charts next time...
Don't forget to "Recycle, Reuse, & Rock On!!"
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