The Band Leader

Whenever I find myself in a position of leadership, it is always interesting to me what the outcome of the task I am asked to do will be. When I was in school growing up I always hated those morons I got put with who would just sit there and not do anything. Or if I went camping and some idiot who wasn't supposed to even be there tell me I don't know what I am doing, I always enjoyed observing or predicting the outcome.

I get that every gig I play. Why? Because I am the leader of the band.

Band leaders are legendary. From Art Blakey to Duke Ellington to Miles to Kevin Eubanks to well whoever, band leaders have always given musicians the knowledge they need to be good band leaders themselves. Everyone knows the stories of Blakey teaching his sideman until he thought they were ready to lead they're own bands, where he would then let them leave the nest and try it out on their own. (almost every single jazz messenger became a famous leader)

Now a days one is expected to lead a band. In the old days you can just be a sideman and play or other peoples' groups and what not. Then jazz became lame and it was expected of you to be able to lead a group yourself if you ever want to eat.

From the moment I began my professional jazz career I was a leader. Of course being a horn player I had to be. In an era where gigs are hard to come by rhythm section players would normally play with as little people as possible for maximum money. Can you blame them? (I have had my fair share of stories about gigs and maybe someday I will just start posting them as they seem to get more ridiculous as the years go on.)

Whose the first cat they don't need? Well someone who doesn't play the entire time: a horn player.

So why would the least necessary instrument be the leader? You got me, but I have noticed over the years my sideman work has been dwarfed by my time as a leader. So who teaches me?

Well the most apparent lesson I keep learning about being a band leader is this:

Always have a back-up plan.

Famous?? Mother fucker I gig with the best.

Greetings Folks,

As the school year is wrapping up I am excited to devote more time to this blog and what I wanted to say about music and life here at Some Other Stuff.

First and fore most I would like to recognize a fellow musician who I feel is doing all the right things with maintaining a working, positive and creative career as a jazz musician. His name is Jason Parker, trumpeter, composer, educator and band leader from Seattle. He has a great sound, excellent band and full schedule. He is always blogging on his own site and I strongly recommend you go check it out: www.oneworkingmusician.com.

My quartet just had an excellent weekend this past, working at the Old School Saloon in New Haven and Park Central in Hamden. These are both my favorite places to gig. The crowd is always welcoming and even a little rowdy when we play. Park Central in particular loves those funky hits from the 60's Blue Note catalog: Watermelon Man, Red Clay, Cantaloupe Island, Mamacita, etc. If I added Song for my Father and Funji Mama to the book I will be all set. We actually get people turned in their chairs and bobbing their heads to the music. Not to forget we get applause!! Not polite applause from my mom in the audience, but the audience actually listens enough to clap after solos!! Very rare in jazz outside a NYC club.

Finding gigs is hard, any musician can tell you that and its even harder for jazz musicians. I am seriously cherishing the opportunity to play at these two venues. There are other places in CT where jazz is showcased but most places are exclusive for ridiculous reasons. One venue in particular is in Bethel and only accepts "famous artists." Famous?? Give me a break. Who does this guy think he is? Does he think Herbie Fucking Hancock is going to book a Sunday afternoon? I want to call the owner and say that I play with all the cats. "Oh yeah man, I have a regular gig jamming with Dexter Gordon every afternoon when I put A Swingin' Affair on my CD player." Or "I said hi to Roy Haynes once." "You haven't heard of me? You must not be too into the scene man, I am a cat!"

Its club owners like that who alienate a local working musician who hurt the music just as much as the club owner who advertises jazz as a rich delicate music. Wine Tasting gigs are horse shit too, no one plays those gigs other than the chance to make some bank. The point here is that there should be more showcasing local cats. There is a lot of talent here in CT and if you want to work here you should be able to.

Stay tuned.

Tuesday Album Covers: Back With A Vengence

The Art of Devotion

I've found myself lately in a musical rut. I hadn't been able to find the appropriate amount of time to practice my horn at what I consider an "efficient" level.

I hate saying that phrase "find the time to practice" because I do agree with most that, that phrase is bull shit. However, I stick the word "appropriate" in there to show that I am coming from another point of view.

What I am trying to say is that my desire to excel at my instrument is a complete obsession. There's not a moment that goes by that I don't think about playing...in fact I'm doing it right now.

About a month ago I felt like, with the help of Dr. Henderson, I was getting to a whole new level. Then soon after, felt like I was plateauing and not getting better. Then all last week and a little before I felt stagnate; the tunes I had started working on still unlearned and the concepts I wanted under my fingers not accomplished.

I decided this week to buckle down and no matter how many hours I've worked, how many distractions I have, to give my horn the "appropriate" time. I noticed that in the last two days how good playing has made me feel. Usually by Wednesday I am completely zombified. Not today, today I feel good.

My religion is to my craft. The craft of making music and finding solace in what I have devoted my life to do.

Tuesday Album Covers: Tom Harrell

You would never suspect by this photo, that there is a troubled mind behind that horn.

This is the best picture I could find, but I insist you check out his new album.

The Bare Necessities

Happy Wednesday Folks!!

I am sure if anyone actually checks this blog they must notice the influx of posts recently....Well I have been trying a little harder so there.

Last night I was the first rehearsal of a Flamenco band I was recruited for out of New Haven. Some serious cats in this band! The instrumentation is me on brass, classical guitar, cello and tablas and tunes written by the members. The group sounded great! Even with tunes fluctuating between 9/8 to 7/8 to 5/8 to 3/4 meter in one section of music, it has been nonetheless enjoyable and challenging. Stay tuned, we have a performance coming up soon!

So i have been showing the Jungle Book to my students this week because at first I was behind on my grades and such and thought I deserved, and so did the kids, a little break. Well this has become quite a hit in class. I have kids dancing and singing in class. Its funny how some things work so well with them when something very similar doesn't. For instance, I did a rhythmic lesson with them last week using the rhythms from West Side Story's tune "America" and the kids loved it. We chanted, clapped and moved to the switching rhythmic groups that make up the song. Then I showed West Side Story and the kids lashed out in complete revolt!! I put on a cartoon no matter how old and they get so into it.....

...or is it because the Jungle Book just has amazing music to it??

The Bare Necessities is by far one of the best, catchiest songs ever composed. It puts me in such a good mood every time I hear it!! The kids have been singing it in the hallways. Its like God Damn Sesame Street in the building!!

Any way, enjoy your hump day folks, go download the Bare Necessities and scratch your back, the weekend is almost here.

The effect of an album

Over the course of my CD collecting years I have obtain a fair amount of listening material. Starting with my early obsession of punk rock records including local and national acts, to my Miles Davis record grabbing in High School, to my religious allegiance to Blue Note in college, my conversion to Impulse in Grad school, and my search for new and original music in adulthood, I have been delving my ability to listen to every sound I can find.

Some albums of course I often return to with a consistent feeling of awe and amazement. One such album is Herbie Hancock's The Prisoner from 1969, featuring Johnny Coles, Joe Henderson, Garnett Brown, Buster Williams, Tootie Heath and others mixing the sounds of then Herbie's sextet which pre-dates the Mwandishi band with a nonet sound with added bass trombone, alto flute and bass clarinet.

I remember buying this album very late in my Herbie collection. I must have been 23 or so and I had been so eager to obtain all of Herbie's catalog, and two albums from the blue era were left: Speak Like a Child and The Prisoner.

A friend had burnt me a copy of Speak Like a Child and I can still feel the disappointment I had felt when I first listened to it. It is another sextet album with Thad Jones on Flugelhorn and he didn't even solo! None of the horns soloed in fact and I remember that driving me crazy. I had read how Herbie used the horns as a textural effect and during that period I was so mad. I felt like it was a tease of an album. Later as my ears matured I grew to love the album and one of its tracks, "Toys" became my favorite jazz composition to play.

I was hesitant to get the next album for fear of more disappointment, so for a year or so I put off getting it. When I finally did, and I am sure it was victim of impulse buying, I loved it. It was the first time I had heard Johnny Coles and thought his playing was so perfect for the sounds the band was making. Joe Henderson proves over and over he can play in any style or form and sound as buoyant as ever. The texture the horns make over the playing and the grooving are mesmerizing and Herbie's use of the fender rhodes is so cool you crave to hear it.

The tunes have great melodies and this brings me to my point. It seems the tunes on this album are being played more and more by modern players. Just recently on his debut release, Drummer Dana Hall plays "I Have a Dream." It is clear that the sounds of the original are so modern even all these years later that the tunes when played now, sound like they were written tomorrow.

These tunes seem to get within my soul, I feel hypnotized every time I hear them. Pretty funny for an album that I procrastinated.

Here are some recordings from recent albums that feature tracks from "The Prisoner:"

I Have a Dream; Dana Hall-Into the Light

Firewater; Jim Rotondi-New Vistas

The Prisoner; Uri Cane-Toys

from Speak Like a Child

Toys; Uri Cane-Toys

Speak Like a Child; Kendrick Scott-Reverence