A Night at the History Center

Virginia Rece sings Make You Feel My Love

Another tried and true wedding reception.  This time with a special jazz trio performance down in the backyard of the facilities.  Funny that it was actually 30 minutes of piano, then 30 minutes of a trio, adding saxophone and bass.  Why save that little bit of money?  Awkward to come into the set halfway through, isn't it?  Well, Glen made it easy.  As easy as he could.  We ran through Because You Loved Me and then one more before rain drops appeared.  So we went back to the ballroom and played a bit more up there.  We actually played So What.  I remember Glen likes to call that, and he corrected me once to not play the "response" of the chords, just the "call" of the lead bass line.  Paul Chambers played the line primarily on the G string, sliding between the high D and the E notes.  To my ear, it just never works as well as playing it on the D and G strings, without the slide.  Well, he was Mr. P.C., so that might have something to do with it.

We had 2 subs this evening: Tim Crump for Anton and Anthony Baker for Gus.  It's been a long time since Gus subbed out.  Well, Anthony sounded great.  He and I go way back, so we talked about the good ol' days and folks we hadn't seen in a long time.  He asked me about the songs, and I did my best to help him with tempos and endings.  Tim sounded fine, although he was underused.  Without a 2nd keyboard, that position is a strange one.  Anton has got it figured out.

The big tune to learn for this one was Wagon Wheel as performed by Darius Rucker.  It seems that they would have liked the original version too.  It was the final song of the night.  Everybody in the room sang along.  For my part, I played my NS WAV on it, still standing around from being used in the first set.  It is the kind of song that sticks in your mind no matter what.  We also played Say, which explains my guitar.  I had a broken pick which messed with my mind and picking.

We ate in our usual green room down in the schoolhouse.  It goes down in the history of the band as one of the worst meals ever served to non-inmates.  The jury is still out on what type of shoe leather was on the plate.  I ate it anyways!  The gang went over to Whole Foods across the street.  I'm not proud.  Actually, the cauliflower was decent enough.  Looking back, I don't know how I made it.

Anthony Baker

Dianna Crawford sings The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

Tim Crump and Benjamin Forehand

Samba Pa Ti

If you read my last posting, then you'll appreciate this one.  Here's a nifty condensed chart for One Note Samba.  This is in the key of G, just like Jobim and Getz with Astrud recorded it.  Good enough for me.  I really never understand it being charted out in Bb, particularly since The Real Book referenced Getz Au Go Go.  Well, Earl Klugh and Brian Bromberg both recorded it in Bb.  When you hear Brian play it on the upright, copping the melody along with the low roots during the solo bass intro, it makes sense.  So this was lifted from the Eb Real Book (6th Edition - improved font and typesetting).  Eb instruments transpose down a minor third.  I made some changes to reflect the Ogerman chart.  For your scrutiny:

One Note Samba  by Antonio Carlos Jobim
Lead sheet with correct chord changes
As recorded by Jobim (The Composer of Desafinado, Plays)
and Stan Getz with Astrud Gilberto (Getz Au Go Go)

One Note Samba: Billy Batts Esemble Reunites For Some Standards

It's been a spell since all four of us had played together.  Mark was out last time, Walt the time before, I may have missed one, good to have us all together once again.  Walt is so busy that he doesn't participate in a lot of Sweetwater Junction functions, so it is always refreshing to get in the space with his talents.  He brings a lot to the party.  We more or less played it safe, as we do most of the time.  Nothing wrong with that.  As a matter of fact, we called some tunes we haven't really played before as a group.  Thanks to Mark's impetus, we pre-arranged to add some new standards to the band's repertoire.

Among them, Jobim's One Note Samba was a standout track.  The groove is not an easy one, and the changes can be a bit strange, as the head highlights one note (or two) that is voiced according to some clever alterations. I like it, and think of the Stan Getz & Gary Burton version on Getz Au Go Go as the definitive version, as heard here.  It is the one I've heard the most in my long life.  It features Astrud Giberto on vocals, which is nice, but may take away points in terms of stretching out.  I just like the sound of that "live" album (I'm not convinced that it is all live, I think Corcovado is a studio recording), mainly due to the fact that Burton's vibes are the only comping instrument.  Another thing about the chord changes is that many people who play it vamp in the beginning on the V, at least the bass pedals a V note and chords move on top of that.  Then the head begins on the iii chord.  I'm only getting into this as I had never really analyzed it closely before.  The bridge or B section is 8 bars, the first 4 being a ii-V-I up a minor third from the original tonic (or I), the second 4 is a ii-V-I with a turnaround that gets you back to original key center by playing iv-V of the original I.  Confused?  There's more because as the composer played it, those ii-V-I's are really ii-V-I-IV7-I-IV7.

Other versions I have in my iTunes playlist are a tour-de-force upright performance by Brian Bromberg from In The Spirit of Jobim, The Earl Klugh Trio, Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd from Jazz Samba (the earliest recording I have of this song from 1962), and what I would think would be the original version, which is Antônio Carlos Jobim performing his song on his debut album from 1963 The Composer of Desafinado, Plays.  This version is in the key of G (starting on Bm) as is the Astrud Gilberto vocal one.  So check out the original, with a stellar arrangement by Claus Ogerman here.  It is perhaps the most classic now that get inside those flutes and strings.  So, while you listen, check out this chart I found.  This is the arrangement exactly as on the Jobim recording.  This is how the song should be played...

I also worked on the Bill Evans tune Peri's Scope, which certainly doesn't get called that often.  Mark had some good suggestions, along with Straight No Chaser and Blue Monk (yes, 2 Monk tunes).  Makes me recall a few years back when I played an All Monk show with TAAG.  We learned that Monk wrote a lot of blues tunes and they all had his stamp on them.  On this night, we played all of Mark's suggestions except for the Evans tune.  It was just a bit much for us.  Maybe next time.  I played Brian's Jazz bass as my upright was found to be completely out of commission.  I will scrape together some funds to try to get another one day.  Such is life as a neo-jazzer.

Everybody's Talkin' 'bout My White Shorts: A SSJW in the Piedmont Garden Tent

The 4th of July.  All this time, I had figured we were on the books for a swanky Independence Day celebration fiesta.  Well, I could have put it together that we were learning a Beyonce tune for some particular reason.  Oh well.  I was ready with some gear.  My amp was back and sounded good at Druid Hills, except for that feedback incident.  I also just purchased a 21' Monster cable to take the signal from my pedalboard to the amp.  Say what you want about Monster cables; I have for years.  Never bought them.  Well, they've been at it for a while now.  There are some other boutique high-end cables as well.  They put this extra braided shielding that does seem to make a difference.  I have had a slight noise issue that Jason made me aware of for, well, almost forever.  You'd think I'd have it figured out.  I tried his Monster cable and sure enough, it got rid of the noise.  I picked up one, a bass cable (now that part I don't like, they should all reproduce all of the frequencies) with a right angle end (not what I wanted in this case) that was marked on sale from the June pricing at GC.  I couldn't not get it.  It's doing it's job.  The connector plugs on these seem a tad bit thicker.  I've read complaints about how they make it so you have to use Monster cables continuously after using them once due to their girth.  Don't know about that.  Very glad to have a clean signal, finally.

I charted out the Beyonce tune Love On Top as edited by the brides to be - yes brides.  It wasn't a dual ceremony but a same-sex wedding.  The first I'd ever played for.  Does that sound right?  Jewish as well, so we played Hava Nagila.  I made 2 charts, one at standard and one a whole step down - Bey got some range!  So, Dianna and Glen said we may have to do it a whole step down - I pulled my chart out to reveal the lower key "Like this?"  Glen said that was wild!  I predicted it.  Yeah, I still rock the paper charts.  It's a great pop tune with lots of modulations.  Why doesn't every band with a female singer do it?

We had good food inside before the ceremony, with chicken, broccoli, and potatoes.  I had plenty of time to call my brother & sisters and then get into my suit outfit.  Went into the bathroom with my garment bag.  All garments were nice and neat, dry cleaned and still on hangers.  But wait - where were the pants?  My worst nightmare!  No black pants!  All I had were my white shorts!  I let everybody there know about my forgotten pants.  I panicked inside and started driving and calling everybody I could think of: Sabina, Brian, Dan.  I drove to Ansley Mall and shook my head at the fact that there was no place around to buy any black dress pants.  Plus, it was after 6 on the 4th of July - every place was closing for this national holiday.  Plus, we were to be on stage in 20 minutes!  Oh my.  I went back to the Park Tavern and Anton ended up saving me.  He let me wear his pants and he wore the dark pants he had with him.  Well, I am currently (and almost always have been) a 34/34, and he is not.  They were at least 2 sizes too small and if I had a picture I would share it.  Suffice to say I was not dressed to impress, but I was ready for the floods.  I cannot thank Anton enough for helping me out here.  He saved my skin, or saved everybody from seeing too much of my skin!  I left my belt behind the stage when I changed back into my shorts after the gig.  Need some new dress belts.  It's always something.

By the way, the loading ramp at the Park Taven is no fun for those of us using carts and hauling heavy gear.  Also, we had plenty of parking in the lot (the attendant waived the fee for us, bless him), but I heard it was full the following weekend for SWJ.  No fun when that happens.

My Brush With Greatness at Cafe 290: A Night on the Bandstand with Bumpin' The Mango

I hadn't been at Cafe 290 in a long stretch.  Actually, I went there with my friend Stephen to check out Geoff Gill playing drums.  So, I had met Paul Garrett, Tom Gibson, and Kevin Lyons through Adrian Ash.  They performed with Brett Warren at Java Monkey a while back.  They were also involved at one point or another in the Paul Simon tribute act Absynthe Makes The Art Garfunkel.  Adrian brings us all a little bit closer!  I had also known John Sandfort through a gig years and years ago at the Red Light Cafe (prior to the start of this blog) with eccentric guitar stylist Lloyd Warren.  John has also subbed in Platinum and is in high demand, as all of these top shelf players are.  So, Bumpin' The Mango is a 10-piece horn-driven band that nails some tough tunes, drawing from the songbooks of Tower of Power, early Chicago, BS&T, and Paul's inventive arrangements of pop tunes of yesterday and today.  They also shine on several original tunes that are really good.  Their singer Ian is a warm and engaging front man, blessed with a strong voice and great range.  He knows how to work the crowd and makes the show very entertaining.

So, they don't have a steady bassist.  I tell ya, the bass spot is quite challenging.  Copping the Rocco Prestia 16th-note groove is the Achilles' heel of many players, myself included.  Rocco can just do that seemingly effortlessly (is that dueling adverbs?).  Well, I got the charts and worked on it.  I had less than a week to prepare, and I had 2 gigs that needed a bit of time in between as well.  Not enough time as it turned out.  I had some great moments when I felt it clicking, and the time I spent with the charts paid off.  It certainly wasn't a flawless night.  It was incredible to feel the energy from this mighty group.  The horns were tight and punchy.  The monitor system was awesome, with a big subwoofer next to me providing lots of kick drum and a JBL Eon up high that sported the baritone sax that often doubled my parts.

I played my Precision, and for this show I stuck some foam under the bridge to mute the strings a bit.  I had always wanted to try that, like the old school P-basses like Jamerson and Babbit employed.  I still have round wounds though.  I wanted it to give an easy simulation of how Rocco gets that semi-muted tone on his 16th-note pulse.  His notes don't ring from one to the next.  They die off quickly, which gives the groove a vital space in the flurry of pulses.  To me, it gives the impression that the note has a bigger sound for less time, sort of like the sound has been squeezed by time.  It's an interesting setup that doesn't work for everything, but when it does, it's a great sound.  I thought it was a key element.  I also brought my Tobias as one chart called for a fretless 5-string.  I used it on some of the songs that needed a bit more sustain.  I used it on Frank's original, and that turned out powerful and organic.  I tried it on You're Still a Young Man, as the notes needed some sustained, but it was nixed after several attempts in soundcheck for various reasons.  Too bad, I love the tune and that 12/8 bass motif that Paul notated so well.

It was great to hang with Paul Poovey, my bud from the old Wild Rice days.  I also spoke with Gordon Vernick, my jazz instructor from GSU.  He gave me his latest cd, which I am loving.  Highly recommended adult jazz for the whole family.  Great sounding band and incredible sonics too.  So, that was my Monday night experience with Bumpin' The Mango.  I followed in a long line of great bassists who have sat in with them.  It was a lot of fun.  Maybe I'll get a chance to reprise my role of driving that Mango bus again down the road.

These pics are kind of weak, but they captured some moments that I spent at Cafe 290.  I don't think any others were taken that night.  I never got a clear shot of Paul, as he was directly in front of me.  Apologies to the leader.  Peace.

Geoff Gill

Frank Lisco

Gary Paulo

Tony Giordano

Kevin Lyons

Ian Michael Bruh

Dr. Tom Gibson

John Sandfort

John "Rocco" Hancotte

A Cozy Reception at Druid Hills Golf Club for the End of June

After too many weekends, I was able to get back to the heart of the musical matter - that being the delicious, sanctified grooves of Sweetwater Junction.  Once again, it was the eternally youthful collection of musically strong cohorts and their vast songbook.  We were playing at a wedding reception (oh really, the astute reader rolls her eyes) at Druid Hills Golf Club.  From the picture above, with Brian the Strat Cat procuring his stunt tones, it doesn't look much like the ballroom that I remember.  Surprise, the reception was in the lounge area.  Cocktails were enjoyed (not by us) in the adjacent bar area, but this glorified bar was where the party was going to go down.  The load in was via the front steps and the main entrance to the club.  I never mind a little legwork to get it done.  It's always a surprise that place like these don't provide some other form of service entrance

With dinner served early on, we played a light jazz set.  I squeezed my upright onto the cozy stage area.  I have been working on achieving a better upright tone.  Funny that I always call it upright here but at home and in general I think of it as double bass.  One thing I did was make certain that the pickup wheel on the Full Circle was oriented correctly.  It hadn't been that last time out at Fernbank, which is why the tone was so choked.  I had forgotten about that crucial detail.  The jack wire should be perpendicular to the bridge, towards the endpin for maximum clarity.  So anyway, I had played with the Boss Bass EQ pedal , which is 7 bands.  That pedal helps a bit with feedback issues, but with only 7 bands it can rob too much tone from the signal.  I remembered my Stick preamp system with the Rane AC-13, which is a stereo acoustic preamp.  With those 10 Mega Ohm inputs and the generous EQ, I was able to get a nice clear tone, at the expense of some hiss.  It worked well.  I think ultimately I will try to get a nice 31-band eq.  The ability to notch out those offending frequencies without destroying the tone is a major key to good upright sound with plenty of headroom.  Our set included Dan leading us through a splendid Dear Prudence.  Other fine selections were a brisk walk with Freddie Freeloader, a funkified-in-four All Blues, and a Bossa take on Chitlins Con Carne.  Hey, we also did the Bill Evans' "tune" Peace Piece.  Even Chris joined in on this one.  The vamp, something like CMaj9 to G7sus4(no 5) is a cool trance.  Is it the birth of modal jazz?  It came out just months before Kind of Blue.  Fun to get into that vibe, but might be better to do it like Bill did, solo piano.  I'm all for different textures.  Maybe do a guitar feature also.  Just no bass solo!  With the wedding party table only a few feet directly in front of us, we had to play whisper quiet.  It was less than ideal to ask us to play while they almost ate their dinner in our laps.  We kept it low, that's for certain.  My concerns of feedback from the upright were all for naught (now if only I could avoid squeeling from the P-bass!).

We enjoyed a great hot meal of chicken, potatoes, and veggies.  It was very tasty.  Then we sat around for a good spell.  They gave speeches and cut the cake.  The table in front of us was removed and then I packed up my upright.  Our main set turned out to be only 75 minutes.  It was much of the usual dance stuff that we do.  They didn't ask for any particular slant on the evening.  The funk medley with Play That Funky Music --> Superstition --> I Wish was particularly slamming.  One tune we tried at soundcheck was Could You Be Loved.  We had all worked on it and the vocal harmonies sounded great, with Dan taking the lower D and me heading up to high A.  I had a good transcription of the bass line - I think I've shared it before here but here's another chance to grab it:

Another one we tried was In Your Eyes.  Mark has the drum groove tight, which is the essence of many Peter Gabriel tunes.  I brought my Stick to try it on, although TLev didn't play Stick on it originally.  I still have it in the Baritone Matched Reciprocal tuning, with the 6th string tuned low B flat.  Slowly getting used to it, and love have the extra range down below.  In fact, the opening low B for this tune sounded great!  Can't do that with standard tuning.  Well, we played through it and discussed the various sections, but neither of these were brought out during the celebration.  Ah, maybe next time.  It was over at 10, which certainly was early.  With the load out and all of our stuff, I still didn't leave the place until about 11:15.  A fun night for all.

Jekyll Island Madness: no sleep, extreme heat, something sweet, & crazy peeps

Platinum travels again - what, this doesn't sound right!  We just went up to Nags Head, you say.  Yes, we did, and now for a reception down South.  I really didn't want to drive myself and couldn't seem to find anybody who wanted to ride with me (sniff, sniff).  Benjamin wanted to carpool, but on his terms.  His terms weren't so great - he wanted to drive down and then come straight back after the gig, but he needed to sleep on the way back and I would drive.  Well, after exhausting all of my possibilities, I took him up on the offer.  We changed it up by going down Friday night and spending the night in a cheap ol' Motel 6.  Had dinner along the way at a Locos Deli & Pub (yummy big burger, naturally, with a side salad and then after-thought seasoned fries - they looked too good to give up).  Met up with V, Di, and Jason once we got to Brunswick.  Jason shared his vodka so we made it a party until 2:30 am or so.  Thank you Jason!  Didn't really sleep too well, but then I never seem to on the road.

The next morning, Benjamin was on a mission to find a particular coffee shop.  I felt this was a good thing.  He had spent a bunch of time in St. Simons, so that's where we ended up after checking out of the Motel 6.  It was the Wake Up Coffee Co. located in fashionable Redfern Village at the southern end of the island.  The coffee was very good - ironically, we both ordered the same drink, an ice latte with 2 extra shots.  I generally don't go for lattes, as they have too much milk in them.  I prefer shots over ice and then add a bit of whole milk to the concoction.  That's my Starbucks drink of choice.  It was at least 90 degrees and just all out hot.  We drove over to the public beach and I wandered around for a few minutes.  It was just so hot.  Unbelievable.  I stood in the water and it felt like 80 degrees on my feet, easily.

Time had run out and we had to get over to the gig site for load-in and soundcheck.  A filet-o-fish kept me going.  We drove up to the digs and I realized that we had played here before.  It was the Crane Cottage (great info page here, read all about it).  It was built in 1917, so it's coming up on a big birthday.  One different thing this time - yes, our worst fear - we were in a tent this evening.  Not a tent like in Nags Head with air conditioning and all of those comforts.  This was an open air tent - really, just a roof over our heads to keep bird droppings from disgracing our pedalboards.  Outside and we're wearing tuxedos?  Okay.  I guess.

I had my Genz-Benz combo once again.  Not much clean volume in an outdoor setting.  Jason pumped me through the PA and it did sound quite luscious I must say.  We had some easy, typical dances to review and edit: What a Wonderful World, Unforgettable, Happy (to introduce the bridal party and groomsmen).  Over the Rainbow was the uke version, played from an iPad.  I now want one of those sweet little ukes that they sell in Guitar Sinner that have the pick up built in and pre-amp controls.  Even a cutaway for upper access.  A mere $269 or so and it's mine.  I'd like to be able to play that song, at least.  Or Hey Soul Sister.

With the a.c. tent, we ate a chicken sandwich.  With this hot air set up, we sat inside the Crane Cottage and feasted on a delicious meal of salad (a big one too), dinner roll with butter, a hot meal with zesty 'n moist chicken, veggies, potatoes, some weird peach-flavored sweet tea, and then later on, they hunted us down to give us key lime pie.  I'll take the heat and the good food, come to think about it.  It was awesome.  I ate a second salad and part of Mike's chicken.  Oink!  Another bit of good news was that we didn't have to wear our jackets.

The gig went well.  No equipment snafus and a generally fun crowd.  I'll tell you one thing, they had all been drinking since who knows when.  The groom came out as we were starting our jazz mini-set and I kept expecting him to fall face down and just start heaving.  He didn't; I guess he was just feeling very good.  He and his groomsmen were wild, taking off their shirts and acting like it was a frat party on homecoming weekend.  Is it any wonder that we were summoned to play an extra hour of overtime.  That was fine, but it made our departure even later and we ended up getting back to Atlanta a bit late for Ben's church soundcheck and rehearsal.  He wasn't too pleased, which I understand.  We had Mike Stone riding back with us (he drove a good chunk of the trip, so that was good), so we had to drop him off first.  I drove the final stretch, from Macon on.  Ugh.  I always say, never again, on those long rides back after the gig.  Maybe next time I'll remember that motto.

Okay, time for a whole mess of pictures.  Most of these are all self-explanatory.  Others, well, I warned you.  Those yellow towels at the end were a really great idea.  We were all just soaking wet by the end, so what better to pass out to the guests than a towel?

I like this one - you can see V taking a pic as well