randissimo

We don't have the snow down here in Toledo, Randy, but it is frigging cold. Not fit for man nor beast. Radissimo, What is a "lake effect"? TEN DEGREES!!! I'll see that and raise you TWENTY-TWO DEGREES BELOW ZERO, not to mention the wind-chill factor, as it's so whimsically called around these parts. Not a lot of snow, but that's not what makes it cold. I walked to work this morning, as usual and it was bracing, to say the least. It doesn't matter how many warm clothes you wear, it is still cold. The diabolical thing about Calgary is that it can be thirty degrees warmer tomorrow and later the same day drop again. Something about the Chinook breezes. But, what happens is that the snow on the streets melts into slush, then, when the temps drop again, they are skating rinks. Weird. "Lake Effect" occurs when the water temperature of the Great Lakes is warmer than the air. This causes lots of heavy and drifting snow and often white outs along west Michigan's coastal areas, sometimes moving 50 miles or more inland. Lake effect can sometimes last for days or occasionally a week or two.. I'm about 45 minutes from Lake Michigan and it's kickin' over here!

yo Deep, how's the weather in your neighborhood? Michigan weather right now blows! There's a real strong "lake effect" that has set up in west Michigan.. As luck would have it, we're starting a steady Tuesday gig tonight in a brew pub in Grand Rapids and the hi temp right now is about 10 with strong wind gusts and way too much snow coming down! ,, Lot's of white out action & snow drifting across the highways & freeways.. Problem is B3er & Joe G live in Lansing, an hour's drive from GR,, and with the wind gusts, the plows can't keep the salt on the roads and the snow just keeps drifting, along with the white outs... This time of the year sure can suck!

Just wondering what ya'll are thinkin' about the new year.. Will it be better? worse? the same?

Thanks Larry! As you know, we'll be playin' Founders every Tuesday thru January. February is contingent on how we do this month.. We need to get people out!

... I'm just waiting for "Modern Country" to merge with "Rap/Hip Hop".... B) Damm. Yngwie Malmsteem beat me to Classical Metal and now you've exposed my latest top secret project: New Country Hip Hop. Back to the drawing board! Yo 1-2-3-3-4-1-2-3. That's nutty!

... I'm just waiting for "Modern Country" to merge with "Rap/Hip Hop".... B)

That dude needs to be punched in the face. Hard. From a physical standpoint he's a rather large package. Maybe we can see what Lennox Lewis is up to. I'm missing something here.... Who is Toby Keith?? He sings that song, "I Love This Bar." He is all over the television. He is a mammoth. Here he is playing Pro U.S.A.-style guitar. He is an innovator in this particular style. Thanks for hipping me me to who toby Keith is... Though I like some Country (and probably because of it's kinship to blues & blue grass), I am admittedly out of the loop with this genre of music.. Especially with the superficial "Cutesy Pop Image" so called "Modern Country" I tend to associate it with GMC pickup trucks and road rage, mullets, people who can't complete a sentence without a double negative, flag waving jingoism, and too many discarded Marlboro cigarette wrappers & Bud Lite beer cans thoughtlessly strewn along the nation's roadways....

That dude needs to be punched in the face. Hard. From a physical standpoint he's a rather large package. Maybe we can see what Lennox Lewis is up to. I'm missing something here.... Who is Toby Keith??

Yo Deep, where are you hittin' New Years Eve? I've got a weird gig from 2 - 6pm outdoors bangin' on an assortment of tuned brake drums, suspended marimbas, and other strange percussion instruments.. The place is in Cadillac, Mi. If you're curious go to google and type, "sound garden, cadillac, mich"...

Ok, how does this become a race thing? Is this another variation of the "blacks have rhythm, whites don't" stereotype? Are black drummers better than white drummers as a rule? How about individual abilities and experience? Mike, I just find your statement kind of odd. Could you explain what you mean by it? Right on Leeway, I think there are lot of great drummers of the caucasion persuasion who have an abundance of rhythm! ( Like Deep ).. The thing I have always dug about Jazz is the fact that it has always been to some degree, an integrated music language bringing together musicians of many races. Jazz is not and never has really been exclusively a black thang.. In fact there was a somewhat outrageous statement made by Miles Davis that he could always tell a white player from a black player.. He was proven wrong on a few occasions and has of course had many white guys in his bands over the years..

Joe Morello of course! How could I forget my fascination at age 14 of his creative magic on those Dave Brubeck albums like "Time Out" & "Time Farther Out"..? Man,, I wore those sides out!!!

Though Buddy was truly an astounding drumnastic phenomenon and had some really exciting bands, I would have to say he's never been a favorite of mine musically. I've never really dug his approach to playing time and comping behind solos. Once in Chicago I had the choice of either going to the Jazz Showcase to hear Art Blakey or Buddy Rich at Mr. Kelly's... I ended up sitting in front of Art Blakey all night and was grooved out of my chair!

In addition to the great names already mentioned, may I add a few more who have inspired me? -Philly Joe Jones -Louis Hayes -Terry Lyne Carrington (recently heard with Herbie Hancock) -Hilary Jones (1993 with Tribal Tech) -Wilbur Campbell -Danny Spencer -Alphonse Mouzon (McCoy Tyner years) -Billy Cobham -Guy Viverose -Eric Gravatt (Weather Report years) -George Brown -Jon Christenson -Eddie Marshall -Randy Gellispie -Larry Bell -George Davison -Allejo Poveda -Aynsley Dunbar (Zappa years) -Antonio Sanchez -Freddie Waits -Billy Hart -Rashied Ali -Jimmy Hopps

Happy Birthness Sir Moose!

I would like to know what lazaro's favorite albums for 2003 are?

Hello!?!?!...... Is anybody here??? ,,.,.,.,. Wow....,,,,.... This thread sure has gotten quiet!

40 bucks (because it was going to a good home!) B) Very cool deal! It looks really sweet...

''Rules of Conduct for a Jam Session'' By Al Stevens (www.alstevens.com) This is a list of rules for jazz jam sessions: I developed this list over many years working in house bands and from sitting in at sessions with other house bands. Any resemblance between the behavior depicted in these rules and any particular performer is purely an unlucky coincidence. Be prepared. Before stepping up to the bandstand, pick a tune. Don't amble up and pore over your list with your back to the crowd. Walk up, say the tune and key, and count off the tempo. Don't blow in the microphone to see if it's working or ask for echo effects. The band did a sound check and got everything working properly before you got there. Have a second tune ready, but don't expect to do two tunes. The leader has to balance the schedule with the number of sit-ins. If the leader wants you to do another tune, he'll tell you, If not, don't get your shorts in a pucker. It doesn't reflect on your talent. Most likely. Don't do two ballads in a row. The crowd can't spend money if they aren't awake. Know your key. At least once you might have to negotiate the key for a tune. Only once, however. Even if you don't know what E-flat means, if they tell you E-flat is your key for "Your Feet's Too Big," write it down. Don't ask to sing "Love Potion Number Nine" or the like. That ain't a jazz tune and chances are the band doesn't know it or won't admit it so they won't have to play it. Do not assume that you should always come back in on the bridge of the second chorus and finish the tune. Sure, that's how Dinah Shore did it, but Dinah was limited to the constraints of a 78 rpm record. This is a jam session. Give every player an opportunity to play a chorus. The leader will tell you when to come in. At all times, follow the leader. If he signals you back in, don't be magnanimous and defer to the bass player for a bass solo. He might not like "The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane" and would rather just get it over with. If you sing, know the words. Don't use the microphone to announce the names of each player after he plays a solo. The crowd already knows who they are. You aren't fooling anybody. All that practice does is draw attention to yourself and away from the next player. If the band misses a change during your tune, don't make an issue out of it to deflect the blame from yourself. Nobody told them they were going to have to play "Sophisticated Lady" in D-flat without charts. Speaking of charts, don't bring complex arrangements to a jam session. Know some standards; the band can play them from memory. Many session bandstands have inadequate lighting. Many jazz players don't read well. Many vocal arrangements are too bad to be played. Avoid physical schtick. Don't toss the microphone from hand to hand, gyrate all over the bandstand, or use extreme body language to convey your Vegas-style stage presence. You aren't Bobby Darin, Sammy Davis Junior, or Madonna. Stand there and sing the tune. Don't sing or play a complex, contrived, show biz ending that you heard on a record. Use stock endings. Know what notes and vocal idioms signal tags and long endings to the band. If you hear the band playing an ending other that what you have in mind, go with the band. Why set up an unavoidable train wreck? When singing "Hello Dolly" or "What a Wonderful World," don't use a gravelly timbre trying to impersonate Satchmo. He didn't sound like that, and it only makes people uncomfortable. Besides, you'll damage your vocal cords and won't be able to sing after a while. Hmm. On second thought... Horn players, don't walk up to the bandstand and start blowing until you are invited. Don't stay up there all night, either. Play a tune or two and get down unless the leader asks you to stay. If he asked you up last week, don't assume it's a perpetual invitation. Don't play nineteen choruses per tune just because that's what Clifford Brown did. Clifford knew nineteen ways to play a tune. You probably don't. Most players have said all they have to say in two choruses.For ballads, one chorus is plenty. Or one half. Learn to tune your instrument. "Close enough for jazz" isn't funny and it's annoying. If you play sax, for example, and someone says to you, "We're showing a little more cork this year" (or "less"), understand what they are telling you. Don't carry on bandstand conversations while others solo. That tells the audience the solo is not worth listening to. Pay others the same attention and respect you want for yourself. Don't noodle on your ax during other players' solos. Don't use the opportunity to tune your horn, learn the tune, or just draw attention to yourself. If you do it during the leader's solo, you might not be invited back. Learn what "fill" means during vocals. Don't play lots of notes or long tones when a singer is singing. Stay out of the way. If you must make noise during a vocal, do it during the pauses between lyric phrases. That's what "fill" means. But it's best to just stand by and wait your turn. Just because you can play like Buddy Rich or Art Tatum doesn't mean you should. You don't have to show everything you've got on every tune. It won't impress the other players. All they're interested in about your solo is when it will be over so they can play theirs and impress you. If you have to play or sing in the keys of D, E and A, find a country western bar that allows sit-ins. If your key is F# or B, consider joining the local community concert orchestra. If you don't understand harmony, don't participate in improvised backgrounds during vocals or instrumental solos. You are certain to play some wrong notes, which makes the whole performance sound bad. Despite what you've heard, musicians don't get their choice of the ladies. Neither do drummers. Don't say "Yeah!" or "I hear ya' talkin', man," when somebody just played a really lame chorus. That tells the rest of us you don't know what you are talking about, and it makes the lame player think he's getting the job done. If someone calls a tune you don't know, don't play a chorus. If you don't know it, give us a break and take a pass. Don't commandeer the microphone and give a speech. The crowd is there to hear music not an educational lecture. They don't care about who wrote the tune, who recorded it, when you first heard it, when you first performed it, who your musical mentor was, what your cat's name is, and all that. After performing, ask the musicians if you "hacked meter." Don't worry about what it means. If they say yes, don't ask to sit in with any band ever again. Don't get one of your friends to approach the leader saying, "We want to hear Gladys sing." Don't you approach either saying, "Mildred wants to hear me sing my special version of 'Louie, Louie.'" These are contrived devices to get you up there out of turn, and everybody knows it. If you are really good, you will be asked up often. (Also if you are sleeping with the leader.) If you are not really good, you get your turn because that's what's expected at open mike, but you should not get excess exposure. Don't continuously remind the leader that some particular performer has not been asked up yet. The leader is on top of it and does not need your help. There might even be a reason why someone is not being invited up. Don't exit the premises immediately after your turn on the stand. Stick around, listen to the other players, and spend some money so the owner sees a financial benefit to hosting open mike jam sessions. Don't schmooze the owner trying to get the gig. That practice might just find you facing an angry houseband in the parking lot. Don't pass out business cards unless you are asked for them. Don't apologize all over the place for your performance. If you sucked, everyone already knows it and doesn't need you to remind them. If you did not, you are only fishing for compliments. Usually, you won't get one. The band plays for short bread and tips. Don't assume your performance exempts you from tipping. Quite the contrary, inviting you to sit in earns the band a generous tip. Put something in the jar, and do it conspicuously so everyone sees you do it. If these rules are not acceptable, consider making a karaoke bar your usual hangout.

He is also from my home town, Grand Rapids, Mi.. He and my father went thru high school together..

I think, as a general life rule, when you dislike your job you should find a new one. Many people, our pianist is one, act as if their job is a court ordered sentence. They need to listen to more jazz! Right on Bill

Welcome back Sir. Deepness

Man! Deep is gonna have a lot of posts to catch up on when he gets back!!

Phil, Dick Reynolds just sent me your new Cd for a Xmas present.. It's outstanding! Happy Birthday and the best of luck to you. That's really a great record!

I've noticed Jazz being played a lot on systems in super markets, restaurants, doctor, dentist, and business offices, shopping malls, and big home improvement outlets. From Carmen McRae, Chick Corea, and Pat Metheny to Miles Davis, Spyro Gyra, and John Coltrane. I'm not so sure this is a good thing.. When I first started noticing a greater occurance of Jazz in these places I thought it would help create a greater interest and awareness in the music.. However, all it's really done is replace a lot of corny and monotonous muzak, and people are hearing it in the same situations as muzak, while they are shopping or making appointments in offices. This I believe has taken Jazz out of context. So what used to be considered hip and creative jazz is now being pumped out as low volume wallpaper in retail outlets and offices and in the average mindset, it's still just muzak or elevator music.. And most of it doesn't have vocal lyrics.. So, IMO, when the average person hears Jazz in a more appropriate live environment or context, they're conditioned to think it's just background music to be ignored and not listened to.. Hence, the increased apathy and room chatter on the average gig these days in the lounges and restaurants..

Happy Birthness! B)